Mass Effect, PlanetSide 1. Chapter 1: Contact

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.  
**


	2. People of the Terran Republic

**"****People of the Terran Republic, a new shocking revelation has been revealed upon us by our nation's brightest minds. Today at 3:00 AM, aliens have been discovered, emerging out of the deep shadows of space and onto our very doorstep. However, these aliens have not come with good intentions; indeed, they have brought us a chilling dispatch. We have sent them a message of peace and tranquility, wishing purely nothing but the friendly cooperation between our people and their species. However, they have rejected our notions of peace. They have outright refused our warming welcome. These nefarious invaders shot down and destroyed our ships filled with scientists and civilians who came to greet them with open arms. They are heading towards us as we speak, bringing only death and destruction in their wake. They are a serious and looming threat, not only to our nation but also the entire human species. These things seek our death; they seek the annihilation of all humanity, leaving nothing but charred remains of our once proud and stable Republic. Do we want to give these aliens the satisfaction to demolish and destroy our homes, our lives, our very children? Their weapons are powerful. Their technology is unmatched. But our iron spirit, the fire in our hearts, filled with the energy of a thousand suns, will never be extinguished! With the combined might of the Terran people, these invaders will soon know our true and terrifying colors. We will never submit, never be subjected under the will of these malevolent beings. We will fight. We will die for our people. We will never release the trigger of our weapons in our arms until every single one of those things wither and die under the heels of our glorious Terran Republic. We will wipe these invaders off the surface of our beloved planet and eventually beyond the outer reaches of our solar system. They will regret their decision to threaten and harm our people. Our strength and power will emerge and prevail. Victory is our tradition. Loyalty until Death!"**


	3. Chapter 2: Capture and Interrogation

Chapter 2: Capture and Interrogation

Several Republic ships tried to flee the scene of battle, but soon the turians were on their tail. Juxtaposed to the engines powered by Element Zero, theirs manufactured by Nanite Systems were inferior in terms of efficiency and propulsion. It wasn't long until the turian spacecrafts flew right beside them, side by side.

"Soldiers of the Hierarchy, prepare to board."

Tildven spoke as he watched over the crowd of soldiers armed for battle.

"These humans have tried to illegally activate a dormant Mass Relay! And they thought they could get away with it? By activating the prothean artifact, they risk the lives for those who live in safety for another possible Rachni war!"

Cheers rang out in the bay area.

"You all may be wondering, why we are not blasting away the remnants of their little _fleet_. We need information! These humans are here for a purpose! Are they trying to reignite the war like we fought all those years ago? The war where we were held back by the leashes of spineless cowards? The war where those responsible enjoy the seat of the Council while we were scorned and mocked for our upkeep of the law?"

"Do you all want to seek vengeance for the ones you have lost?"

"They started this war! And we will finish it!"

The bay area went alive with cheers of approval; his words fueled the growing energy emanating from the soldiers.

* * *

Four turian frigates lined up against the spacecraft, hull to hull. The avian white and orange ships looked sleek and agile, a far cry in appearance compared to the blocky utilitarian grey and red ship of the Republic. One ship flew to the human's spacecraft lower hull. The tunnel grew as it extended outward to pierce though the hull of the enemy's ship.

*Clang*

It made contact through the hulls. The edges of the bridge glowed brightly as it melted the sides of the wall, creating a perfect square entry into the ship. With a deep and heavy thump, the cut out panel fell over, its edges still radiating with searing heat. Two engineers, who were unfortunate enough to be near, narrowly avoided the massive piece of metal from falling over their heads. Sensing that the intruders may attempt to breech their ship through here, they chucked a flat object to the ground. Two three-barreled turrets suddenly appeared in a hazy green glow, protected by glowing red kinetic shields.

The doors to the frigate opened, a few turian foot soldiers pouring out of it. The moment the humans saw turians in the hallway, they immediately pulled the trigger. Ammunition was fed into the turret by the large rectangular magazine kept under. Hundreds of bullets spat out of their barrels. The first two quickly fell under the sheer bombardment of lead. Their bodies tumbled back and blocked the view of several other turians. The stopping power behind the force of the bullets prevented any them from aiming and firing back, as they were used to the light but deadly grain of metal propelled near the speed of light. The kinetic shields used by most races of the galaxy can withstand far more punishment than ones deployed by Nanite Systems, but they weren't invincible, eventually leaving them just their armor to protect themselves with.

In what took place in a span of twelve seconds, the mounted guns did eventually overheat from continuous fire but left two more dead cluttered in the bridge. Turians were quick to jump at this opportune moment to move quickly forward. Firing back with their assault rifles by the dozen, the turrets were soon chewed up into useless scrap metal; the red shields held on for a little longer before giving away entirely. One Terran engineer managed to retreat behind cover in time while the other fell dead a split second too late. His shield sustained one shot before shutting down; his armor offering nearly no protection against projectiles traveling at near light speeds. With respawn technology limited to the surface of Auraxis, death out here was permanent.

The surviving engineer called for reinforcements via nearby radio, all the while trying to avoid the oncoming fire from the advancing turians, who were now rushing on board. He heard several heavy footsteps from his left and right, accompanied by the bell-like sounds of brass cartridges ringing against each other. Five heavy soldiers with mini-chainguns ran and took cover behind the wall leading to the breeched corridor. Turian soldiers were quick to react, shooting down one of them before he could even activate his nanite overshield. Even with the heaviest armor given to a soldier sans MAXes, they still do not have the ability to defend against their weapons. The remaining four huddled behind columns set in the walls. Nodding with each other, they popped out simultaneously and initiated their overshields.

They unleashed nothing but complete and total hell; their weapons roared in flames as they sent a hurricane of lead down the hole-ridden hall. Compared to the staccato-like reports from the turian's assault rifles, each of their mini-chaingun may as well be a platoon of trigger-happy infantry shooting out of each of their four barrels. Their bullets may not be fast as theirs, but they're fast enough to be overwhelmingly deadly. What they lack for penetration they make up for raw power and an unrelenting avalanche of bullets the size of one's finger. Spent cartridges rained down all around their feet, building massive piles of brass against the corner of the walls. Four turians immediately crumpled under fire, their shields and armor unable to withstand the deadly streams of bullets all at once. Heavy soldiers knew that the narrow corridor was a death trap and the door to the bridge made an excellent choke point, but so did the turians. Some huddled against the walls of the extended bridge while others crouched behind the wall columns. As the heavy soldiers' magazine eventually ran dry, the human's massive spacecraft shook like a sudden earthquake, most likely other frigates of the turian fleet breeching other points of the ship.

A heavy stumbled to the ground as he struggled to retreat behind the corner. One turian seized this opportunity to retaliate. He leaned out behind cover and took a shot to his exposed chest, hitting one of the Republic heavy soldiers. His overshield absorbed the shot, but it proved more powerful than a standard lead round, instantly deactivating and leaving him vulnerable. With three more shots, the heavy fell to the ground hard and never got back up. The remaining three ducked away. Before the turian aim for another, the engineer from before popped out and emptied his entire magazine with some kind of three-burst pistol. The rounds were ludicrously ineffective; the alien's shield deflected them with no difficultly. By his behavior, the engineer seemed to have expected that his pistol was near useless against them, and immediately hid behind the column.

Just as the three heavy soldiers slammed in a new fresh magazine into their guns, several turian soldiers appeared down the opposite hall. The heavies were flanked by another group and were caught completely unaware. It was too late. They turned their barrels around only for the three to be shot down. No doubt the turians virtually have the ship under their control. The surviving engineer ducked and weaved behind scattered boxes and columns to avoid shots fired at his back. He fled through several halls until he entered the evacuation pod bay. Only two pods remained; the rest were long gone, taken by those who were fast enough to get here. The engineer saw several bodies laying about the floor, spun the tale of how the previous situation in the bay played out. Seven heavies, two medics, and ten alien bodies were long dead and gone, surrounded by their own pool of blood. The engineer thought of jumping in one of two remaining escape pods, but he opted against it. What is to prevent the aliens from shooting him down? The others may have suffered the same fate.

He heard several footsteps behind him, the aliens hot on his tail. Looking around the bay in desperation, he scanned the area for an empty large box big enough to fit his body. There, at the far corner, was a trunk sized munitions crate. The engineer quickly jogged towards it, taking care to avoid stepping on blood to prevent a trail of bloodied footprints leading to his hiding spot. He pushed the cover off and checked if it was empty. Nothing in the container, most likely picked clean when the aliens were first encountered. He can hear the footsteps behind him grow louder every second. Wasting no time, he climbed in the box, closed the lid shut and huddled within the dark, legs tucked into his chest. He could hear the muffled sounds of their approach; aliens speaking to one another in the same bay. Several more footsteps, he heard barking sounds from one alien before the sounds of their presence eventually diminished. The only thing the engineer could hear clearly now was his rapid-beating heart.

* * *

Escape pods were much faster than the standard frigate built in orbit, owing for its incredibly small and light hull. With a length of about two civilian vehicles, they were optimized to fit around fifty people, though a few more can be squeezed into if need be. At the rear of the craft, a detachable fuel tank and engine served as a mean to propel the pod forward, climbing up to a top speed of about 400,000 miles per hour. The acceleration was carefully maintained as to not severely injure its occupants with excessive gravitational force. Because of its relatively small size, the fuel reserve can be rapidly emptied within forty five minutes at full throttle. Periodic ten second thrusts from its engine helped negated this problem, giving it the proper forward momentum required to return safely back to Auraxis. By estimation, they should arrive there in a few hours. But with their current situation, time does not exactly look favorable for the escapees.

A bunch of people being shoved into a miniscule metal pod like a rusted old can of sardines did not improve the atmosphere. It was so unbelievably packed in; one can barely move their arms, let alone their torso. Morale here was at pitifully low, some whispered with each other while others chose to keep their heads low. Admiral Cooper was disheartened as he watched his crewmembers sulking down against the metal seats. He was the Admiral of once was a proud fleet, now responsible for the deaths of several hundred people. No man or woman can shake away this experience for the rest of their lives. On the planet, death is inconsequential. To see their friends die and never come back is absolutely devastating to their hearts. He sent a message of peace, but they refused. What have they done to antagonize these aliens to the point of their deaths?

Nothing. They just opened fire.

Of course, they could have misinterpreted their message as some kind of threat. Aliens who have never visited humanity before could never possibly know any human language. But what alien would open fire immediately after his transmission was sent? It was as if they knew exactly what they had said. And yet, they fired at them anyway. Or maybe they had translator software so advanced, nobody on Auraxis could even remotely fathom. Cooper knew not the answers to his questions, and struggled to find reason for their attack.

** "****People of the Terran Republic…"**

Through the radio, a powerful and authoritative voice, spoken through a synthetic-voice changer, brought an inspiring speech to the citizens of the Terran Republic. It seems that they have anticipated the absolute worst case scenario in the events of first contact. News of an alien attack force on their way is a surefire way to travel through command quicker than a speeding bullet.

As he continued to speak about the inevitable retaliation for the alien's atrocities, it gave the people within the smelly cramped pods a newfound sense of hope; a newfound sense of justice. It reignited their sense of duty and strength. They have been given the reinsurance that

It may be possible, just possible that all factions on Auraxis may band together to find a common enemy, or quite possibly two factions against these aliens and their newfound ally. There's no use to keep the Hairpin a secret now. They're coming to Auraxis whether Cooper likes it or not, and everybody on the planet will soon know of the imminent alien invasion.

* * *

Brass cartilages from spend rounds piled up along the wrecked hallway, clanging together like small bells every time Tildven took a step forward, strangely reminding him of a ceramic shop he occasionally visited somewhere back in the Citadel. Activity thrived around him. Medics were quick to tend to the wounded and the rest took the bodies of their fallen comrades, seeing they get a proper burial. He cranked his head at the walls, completely riddled with two different kinds of bullet holes. The usual crater the size of one's iris and the larger ones where one can slip a finger through. The corridors of this ship were overwhelmingly drab and metallic, sometimes outlined with yellow paint and a white snake-like symbol. There was no sense of beauty in their aesthetics. Several of their red white and black flags adorned the walls of the ship's bridge, clearly a sigil for some kind of malicious mercenaries or corporation. A turian ran around a corner to address him.

"General!"

"This had better be good news."

"Sir, our troops have captured several humans who surrendered themselves to us."

"Good," he replied, idly kicking away a spent cartridge away from his feet. It noisily rolled down the floor before joining the rest of the brass pile, "Good. See to it that our captors be compensated for their outstanding work."

"Oh, and bring this news to the Admiral as well. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to interrogate him." He grinned.

The messenger stood to attention before running back into their lead frigate.

* * *

Sivyndas paced around the bridge in agitation, racing with the morbid thoughts of strangling the life out of that accursed so-called General.

_Disobeyed a direct order from me, will he! He was assigned under my command and yet blatantly disregarded me, as if I was just another obstacle in his self-centered mind! Justice this and revenge that. That's all he ever raves and thinks about! Ever since that spirit damned Incident-"_

"Admiral, a shuttle has just arrived in the cargo bay. The prisoner on board has taken to a secure area. Tildven wishes you to interrogate him." Kyrus spoke through the intercom, unaware that he was interrupting the Admiral thoughts.

_Now somehow he's taking the reins of this operation. Apparently I lost some authority among the fleet._

"In which room did they confine him in?"

"Level 2, hall 3, room B21."

* * *

Steadily nodding to himself as if to acknowledge his answer before entered the elevator located near him.

A human clad in grey and red armor sat alone in the brightly lit room. On both his shoulders displayed their prominent triangular symbol. He faced a one-way mirror, two turians sat on the other side to watch him closely. Although locked in with no chance of escape, his facial expressions still remained stoic. His weapons were relieved from him, to prevent any sort of retaliation. Sivyndas strolled around the human like a hawk watching his prey. The human refused to show any signs of weakness.

"What is your name?" the turian questioned.

"I do not understand your language."

Sivyndas groaned in frustration at his statement.

"Don't be ludicrous. I know all humans have a translator."

The interrogated prisoner showed no emotion, reacting as if he was being scolded by a squawking parrot. All he heard was alien gibberish.

"I'll say it again. I don't know your language."

In the old days, he would have knocked him some good sense with his fists, but he felt he was above that. He was sworn against the use of violence since that inevitable day; torture never brought straight answers.

_Tildven._

Sighing in defeat, the Admiral activated his vocal translator on his omnitool. He sorted it out several times to select the correct mode and software, from species to language to dialect. He noticed the human staring curiously at his arm enveloped in an orange glow. Sivyndas paid that no mind and chose English from the lengthy list of spoken Human languages. Everyone had their own dialect within each solar system in the galaxy, several thousand dialects in different languages with each species. Without any translator tool, communicating with each one of them would be nothing but a complete nightmare. He spoke again to him but slower to be sure the software worked.

"Do you understand me now?" Sivyndas pushed the words out of his mouth.

The human nearly jolted in his seat in surprise, but quickly returned to his calm and stiff posture.

"I assumed the translator worked."

He remained passive, only tracking Sivyndas' movement with his eyes. The turian halted his movement to sternly look at the human.

"You activated a dormant Mass Relay. Such activation is strictly prohibited by Citadel law, and those responsible for such actions will suffer extreme repercussions and consequences."

The prisoner sat there to process his thoughts.

"I know nothing about this Mass Relay, vanu alien bastard." He finally spoke.

The Admiral, his mandibles twitching, stared blankly at him as if he just asked a question so elementary he may as well ask what two plus two is. Is the slang vanu a new name the humans called the turians?

The air around them hung in silence as both of them said nothing for several seconds. Eventually, the human was struck with realization, "You meant our activation of the Hairpin? Apparently dabbling with your technology equals death."

Sivyndas raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, the 'Hairpin', as you call it," _Who confuses turians with protheans? Something is wrong these hidden band of humans._ He though before asking, "Why did you activate this 'Hairpin'?"

The human just sat there as he tried to formulate an appropriate response. He could deny everything, although…

"We were seeking a way back to our homeworld. We believe that the Hairpin may return us there."

"Hmmm. And your homeworld is..?"

"The third planet from the son out of nine within the solar system far from here called Earth."

_Don't they make unnecessary huge political battles bickering over the proper status of the ninth planet?_ Sivyndas thought, trying to form some humor in him mind, but was soon flooded with speculations. It is possible that the Alliance could have secretly operated a discrete group behind the Council's back, but theories like that were extremely improbable. Sivyndas couldn't see anything the soldier wore that remotely resembles something Alliance made, let alone the entire galaxy. From what he's seen of their armor, they were woefully inadequate against a standard issue Phaeston assault rifle, only capable of sustaining a few shots before shattering. Even the common pirates and slavers that seemed to plague the Terminus Systems were better equipped. But why would he admit originating with Earth. Surely if he worked for the Alliance, he wouldn't just spout the location of their home planet. This will inevitably cause uproar between the Council and the Alliance.

"Who do you work with?" He pulled up the second chair on the opposite side of the table.

"I do not work with anybody," he firmly stated, "I proudly serve the Republic's military and I will continue to do so until my dying breath."

Sivyndas swore he muttered something about a conglomerate under his breath, but it was too faint for him to properly make clear.

"This… Republic is the governing body of your people?"

"The Terran Republic has kept peace for over a millennia after the closing Great War."

Sivyndas leaned back on his chair. The Alliance was recently formed by the humans several decades ago, before that fateful Incident. This makes this 'Terran Republic' far older than they. But no records concerning this so called Republic were found inside their history databases. If it was redacted, sooner or later, it will be leaked on the extranet, and one can find almost anything in here if one can search hard enough. Nothing said anything about them or this Great War he mentioned. And the fact they got here when the Relay hasn't been activated…

"How did you reach here in the first place without the use of a relay?" He eyed him curiously.

"A wormhole appeared in our solar system." His jaw clenched, preparing for a punch to the gut by his captors for such a preposterous excuse, but it never came. His interrogator still sat in his chair.

Sivyndas flexed his mandibles, a silent vexed sigh hissed between his plated lips. He decided to play along to see how far his story will carry. The turian checked his omnitool if his recording software was on.

"A wormhole you say? And how was it presumably formed?" Sivyndas got up and resumed his walk around the captured human.

"It randomly materialized at the edge of our old solar system with no explanation."

Sivyndas took mental note to check the Alliance's record for this supposed phenomenon before continuing his interrogation.

"And when did this wormhole appear?"

"2640." The human said flatly.

The turian froze in sudden disbelief. He dabbled around his omnitool several times before continuing.

"I'm sorry. I believe my translator must be malfunctioning for a moment there. Would you as to be so kind to repeat the year again?" He asked, feigning politeness as he could.

"The wormhole appeared in the old solar system in the year 2640." The human rephrased.

Sivyndas subtly shook his head; clearly annoyed at the ridiculous answers he was given. It might be possible that this 'Terran Republic' used a different calendar in comparison to the standard galaxy calendar. No planet orbited a star the same everywhere else.

"You said 2640, correct?" He couldn't tell if the human was really joking. Sivyndas still haven't gotten the hang of reading human facial expression properly. This human's stoic face made it much more difficult for him, though the same could be said for human reading turians.

"Yes. I have."

The turian asked him a simple question.

"What is the year today?" He waited for an answer.

"2875." He habitually answered.

Sivyndas' jaw dropped in surprise. Two turians behind the mirror did the same.

"I believe your were mislead by faulty data, because today is 2180."

It was the human's turn to open his mouth in shock.

"Impossible. Are you suggesting that we have time traveled?"

"I am the one who is asking questions, not you." Sivyndas leaned over the table.

"Our computers showed no records of some sort of contact with your kind."

"Neither has ours."

At a loss not knowing where to continue on from, Sivyndas left the interrogation room and left the prisoner to gather his thought about all this. It's very possible he just lied with the most outlandish answers given to him to mess with his mind. Truth from a captive is very hard to come by.

"Admiral, we have scavenged some of the enemies' weapons from their spacecraft," the turian soldier stood to attention, "They were brought to the armory for examination. Belarus is waiting for your arrival."

"Thank you for your report. Inform him that I will be there soon enough. You are dismissed."

"Sir." He saluted once more before leaving. At the corner of his eye, he saw the asari diplomat, pacing around the hallway with her arms folded across her chest. Sivyndas knew from first glance that she was not happy in the slightest. If looks could kill, he would already be dead on the ground.

"Are you trying to start another war here?" The asari spoke with contempt. The pit in his stomach grew deeper.

"Our anticipation for a new alien species has misguided us. Do not fret, I wi-"

Issaria dabbled on her omnitool until a recording blared out of her arm.

_"__Are they trying to reignite the war like we fought all those years ago? The war where we were held back by the leashes of spineless cowards? The war where those responsible enjoy the seat of the Council while we were scorned and mocked for our upkeep of the law?"_

Sivyndas formed Tildven with his lips in scorn.

"Sometimes I doubt the Council's ability to handpick people into powerful positions." He muttered to himself.

"Why have you selected a belligerent idiot like him to lead the fleet?"

"That was not my choice," Sivyndas defended, "He was assigned to me."

"Assigned to you?" Issaria questioned, her hand resting on her hips.

"If I had the choice, I'll make sure the media will write up his obituary before I deal with him."

Sivyndas looked around his shoulders before speaking.

"Listen, we will talk later about his."

"Again with the postponing of our conversation," she rolled her eyes.

Sivyndas ignored that comment, "Meet me in my quarters in four hours. Now, with the issue at hand…"

"The human."

"Yes, we need more information about them. What he has given me brought me nothing but confusion. Could you extract further details from the prisoner? I have to tend to my duties."

With her ability to mindmeld, she can access the thoughts of an individual. She could access

"Very well," Isarria sighed, "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you."

Without further words, Issaria passed by him and entered the interrogation room. With that done, he walked towards the elevator to descend him down to the armory, like the pit of his stomach. Reaching its destination, the elevator slowed down. Sivyndas shook his head before stepping out. He saw a table absolutely filled with the enemies' captured weapons. Several soldiers stood at attention as the admiral walked in. There stood Belarus, with blue markings covering half his face. He was inspecting the strange human weapons laid out before him. He lifted his head to see Sivyndas walk in.

"Ahh, Admiral," he saluted, "Come in, come in. They possess weapons I have never seen before. Granted they are a little primitive juxtaposed to our mass accelerators, but I do have this strange fascination with human gunpowder weapons."

"I haven't seen you this eccentric before. The guns aren't candy."

Belarus dismissed that comment.

"There's something about them that draw me in. But disregard me for now. Walk around and analyze them. As fascinating as they are, one must wonder why they arm themselves with relics."

Sivyndas only nodded as he strolled around the armory. He found it slightly amusing for these humans of the "future" arming themselves to such primitive chemical propelled weapons. The humans he knew phased out their bullet slinging arsenal for well over a century ago, switching for the modern mass accelerators every soldier uses today. He eyed over a box full of those brass cartridges and took out a single round. The shiny projectile weighted like a paperweight and aligned it against his finger to measure its size. The bullet's shine reflected his eyes as he twiddled the projectile between his fingers. Sivyndas tossed it back into the box before directing his attention to the middle table laid out before him. He lifted up one bulky object with four barrels protruding at its end. Phaeston assault rifles were light and easy to carry. This weighed in a good forty pounds. Its sheen gave away its rusted texture. From the reports during their takeover of their ship, these things were terrifying to fight against. Miniguns weren't unknown but they weren't common. They were too large to carry around and needed surplus supplies of metal blocks and thermal clips. These; however, were portable. Sivyndas placed the enormous weapon back on the table and scanned for another weapon. He picked up what looks to be a pistol. It had a laser emitting device attached to the bottom of the gun for aim assist. None of these weapons can be folded automatically to be placed tightly on the back of a soldier. Sivyndas peered out the window; the massive blue gas planet, currently a bright glowing dot, drew near the fleet every minute. Eventually two massive moons orbiting it will become visible to the naked eye.

_Unless they can systematically build soldiers and weapons out of thin air. I don't see them putting up much resistance against us._ He grimly thought.

* * *

"What is your name?" Issaria asked with a soft voice.

The human didn't reply. He only stared in surprise at the asari, clearly unnerved at the striking similarity between the two.

"I was never a part of their fleet, you must understand."

He continued to keep silent.

"I'm terribly sorry for what happened to your people."

The lieutenant said nothing. He was too busy gazing at her face, shocked at how similar they both look if you remove the bluish purple skin and her crested head.

He flitched when he saw Issaria raising her hand over to his temples, unsure of the asari's actual intentions.

"Do not be afraid." She said, laying her fingers above the wide-eyed human.

* * *

"Commencing retrograde burn." A female voice spoke from the pod.

Cooper felt like a heavy bag was crushing his chest, as his pod made its quick decent into Auraxis' atmosphere. The walls began to feel warm; the pod's outer surface began to glow red in heat. From the ground, civilians could easily mistake the fifty pods' reentry for a meteor shower, flying quickly towards the surface.

_The invasion draws near. The life of everybody on this planet is at stake. Terran Republic, New Conglomerate, Vanu Soverignty, it matters not. They will target all of them._

* * *

The growing crowd, gathering around at the base of the building, roared with energetic applause.

**"****They will regret their decision to attack the human race. They will flee in plight. We must band together for the betterment for all Humanity or we will die separated and be buried underneath the mounds of history."**

* * *

_For three years, the remaining fleet drifted across the endless depths of space. Conflicts between those of board quickly boiled into an all out brawl. One ship and several hundred people were lost. On the year of 2643, scientists uncovered a new planet filled to the brim of familiar flora and climates, with an atmosphere incredibly similar that of their homeworld. The first human colony was established immediately, marking the first space settlement outside the solar system. Science and research facilities detached themselves from the ships and flew down the planet. They landed on the alien landscape, dotting the surface with massive super structures. What followed the discovery of the planet was even more remarkable of a find. They have unearthed never before seen alien technology beneath the lush surface of Auraxis. The Terran Republic began to incorporate some of these "Vanu" technologies into their own. The most important and valuable technology of them all was the introduction of "nanites". This ancient alien nanotechnology was a revolutionary find, as it allows anything to be instantaneously reconstructed. Building materials, vehicles, firearms, and among others can be formed on demand with a press of a button. Even organic beings can be reconstructed. Upon death of a person on the planet of Auraxis, they can be resurrected at any nanite station scattered around the continents of Auraxis. It wasn't long before scientists of the Terran Republic found out that the entire planet was an artificial superstructure. This newfound technology gave rise to Nanite Systems, a manufacture based solely around alien nanotech._

* * *

**Author's Notes: Initiate the butt clenching.  
**


	4. Chapter 3: Hostiles

Chapter 3: Hostiles

The giant blue gas planet dwarfed two of its smaller orbiting moons, its winds easily blowing at several magnitudes greater than any storm found on any other rocky planet. One moon was desolate and barren, filled with nothing but the overwhelming abundance of dust and grime. The other was an earth-like moon, filled with teeming flora, climates, and a proper atmosphere. They were far enough away to avoid heavy exposure to the planet's extreme radiation belt, but close enough to share a stable elliptical path around it. As the turian fleet approached, one could see several brief flashes of light bursting brightly around the surface of the moon, illuminating the cloud's silhouettes.

"It would seem that their colony has already been shrouded in war."

Sivyndas surveyed the holographic scan of the moon. Their intense battles raged all over the alien globe, not just confined within a certain island continent that was seemingly scattered across the ravaged world. It seemed almost unnatural to him, these continents. Massive disconnected and abnormally square landmasses with their own unique climate and geography. There were arid deserts, snowy wastelands, lush mountains, swampy congested forests; all in their specially contained areas separated by large bodies of water. The lush moon could become a valuable estate, as they were difficult to come by. It is a shame that an ongoing war was tearing it apart.

"A civil war?" Kyrus guessed. It was a good a guess as any.

The Admiral shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe. But a war of a scale this immense couldn't have started just a few hours ago. No, it looks as though that their war has started far before we even knew this system existed."

No region of this moon was left unscathed from havoc of war. Everywhere he scanned his eyes around the holographic globe, red dots continued to appear in every conceivable location. The human colonists were fighting amongst themselves in massive theaters of never-ending aggression.

_This isn't just a colony with petty civil battles, fighting over trivial issues._ Sivyndas mused, a web of theories being spun in his mind, before mentally hitting himself for nearly forgetting something important.

"Excuse me for a moment. I must return to my private quarters."

* * *

Tildven sat quietly in his chair, keenly observing the chaotic moon before him. In his head, he liked to imagine the thunderous boom reverberating against his ears every time an explosion burst from the clouds. It does not matter soon. They'll just swoop right in and end their petty little conflicts there on the surface before they could ever even hope to respond appropriately.

"The enemy is at our gates," Tildven mumbled to himself, "Or rather, we are at the enemies' gates."

The intercom spoke against the vacant silence in his room.

"Sir, we have identified a large number of artificial satellites orbiting the planet's moon."

"What kind of satellites?" The general asked; his voice began to tense up, "Are they an imminent threat to us?"

"Negative. They're mostly communication though they are lightly armed with chemically propelled weapons. They are transmitting an unexpected amount of heavy radio waves as well as frequently dropping containers from its interior towards the surface."

"And they're not manned?" Tildven eased his minor anxiety.

"I assumed they were. Perhaps the ejecting pods indicate that they were evacuating upon having visual on our incoming fleet. However, this is strangely abnormal. They're frequently ejecting pods far greater than the maximum capacity of their satellite's hold."

"How so? Like they appeared out of thin air?"

"I do not know."

Tildven leaned closely to the windows, "Monitor them closely. Have our guns be trained on them but hold your fire until I say otherwise."

"No, actually. I retract my words. Let us wait for Admiral Sivyndas' command. I'm sure he hates my very being after I disobeyed his previous order. Let's not give him more of a reason to court martial me for insubordination."

"Affirmative." The intercom replied before cutting out.

The Hierarchy greatly frowns on the act of disobeying a higher ranked individual and Tildven knew that all too well. He did occasionally felt a tinge of regret from his blatant disregards of Sivyndas' orders, but was soon subsided for his eagerness for extracting revenge against the Alliance. To think that they could get away with activating another Relay filled him with outrage, his blood boiling in his veins.

* * *

"I hope the prisoner didn't give you too much trouble." Sivyndas spoke as he stepped out of the elevator.

Issaria sat on the nearest chair, reading through her notes on her omnitool, "He was usually calm during my presence and proved to be quite cooperative. He masked his anxiety quite well."

_We were supposed to be discussing about Tildven's recklessness and insubordinate actions. But in light of recent activities, I suppose it's best to start with the prisoner first._

"Have you retrieved any valuable information from our captured prisoner through your mindmeld?"

"Alarming." She replied, "They legitimately do not know the existence of Mass Relays prior to their discovery of the Thal-Unknown Relay."

"The Thal-Unknown Relay?" He arched his eyebrows.

"Unless you prefer to continue calling it 'recently discovered Mass Relay', it's a perfectly acceptable placeholder for a name."

Sivyndas didn't doubt Issaria's ability to mindmeld. He didn't have such abilities and had no position to judge what he can't experience.

"So, history repeats once more. Humans come across a Relay, ignorant of its true purpose. They activate the device out of curiosity and eventually land themselves in an uneasy situation of continuous unrest between us as them."

Issaria only nodded, noting the odd coincidence between this and the first contact war.

"When I reached into his mind, the most of my visions I saw were composed of nothing but fighting. Their war, I have discovered, lasted there for several generations of humans. It existed here for several hundred years, more than quarter of our life expectancy."

Sivyndas slowly sat down as he gathered his thoughts.

"I recently speculated that a war this massive couldn't have started precisely overnight. I didn't realize that this war has persisted for that long," he pondered, "But who are they fighting against to allow at this scale? Surely the batarian slavers or those ruthless mercenaries haven't come across them before us."

She shook her head in disagreement.

"From what I've seen, there are no more than three groups of humans that currently inhabit this moon. Predictably, they all hate each other."

"And I'm assuming one of them is this so called Terran Republic."

"Yes," Issaria agreed, prodding around her omnitool until a familiar red triangular symbol appeared, "And the others, whom we have yet to encounter. Even with a successful mindmeld with the human, I still do not have proper knowledge about the other two groups. The one I have melded with is afflicted solely with this Republic and the only information I can acquire from their rivaling factions was from prolonged exposure to their government's biased propaganda machine and limited captured intel from their enemies."

"Explain to me as much as you possibly could, from the visions you have gather from." Sivyndas leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

"Very well," she quickly scanned through her notes, "This Terran Republic was formed together after this Great War that supposedly occurred on Earth centuries in the future."

"Time travelers then." Sivyndas lightly chucked. Issaria only rolled her eyes at his response.

"That info was retrieved from the prisoner's education session when he was a child."

"I apologize for my interruption. Please continue."

"They are extremely conservative, as you can see from their weapons and armor."

Sivyndas nodded, following her words.

"Their opposition embellishes their armor and vehicles in blue and yellow; they call themselves the New Conglomerate. I believe they are a band of corporations who opposes the Terran Republic's policy. Of what they oppose, I lack details. They are armed with similar ordinances of gunpowder weapons as they but these are integrated with magnetic coils, to accelerate the speed of the bullet at cost of fire rate."

"A much more primitive form of our mass accelerated weapons." The Admiral said, "And the final group?"

"They adore the colors of purple and cyan. Vanu Sovereignty if I recall."

Sivyndas sat straight up having heard the name.

"Vanu, vanu, I have heard that name before but where?" He tried to recall the name being first mentioned to him, "The prisoner! He accused me of being one, though I have no clue what the name means or signifies."

"Vanu is a name given to a long extinct species, possibly protheans. Their technology was excavated from the moon's surface and was integrated some aspects of their tech into their own."

"This Vanu Sovereignty are technology worshippers; these vanu technology to be more specific."

"We use prothean technology and merged it into our daily lives, but you don't see us being constantly awestruck by it or having to build a holy shrine," the Admiral joked to himself, "So a 'vanu' is just another name of how they call the protheans. However, why would they mistake us for protheans?"

"Because these secluded people, who reside in this system, have never known what a turian is, or any Citadel species for that matter."

"There, another coincidence between then and now." He gravely spoke, "Besides being technology worshippers, what other details can you draw from."

"Quite unbelievable actually, they possess laser and plasma weaponry."

"Lasers? Plasma? You're telling me they figured out how to create hand-held light-focused weapons where millions of salarian scientists struggled to assemble one, let alone a working prototype?"

"They didn't create them from scratch. These weapons have been reverse-engineered, at least from what I can speculate. It's clear that whatever technology that was unearthed on that moon gave them a leap in certain fields of technology. However, what fascinated me more than lasers was the fact that they possess resurrection technology."

"Resurrection? Truly?" Sivyndas widened his eyes. He loathed the feeling of becoming skeptical of her words. His thoughts of about Tildven's actions were subdued, now filled with the mind-boggling realization over what she had just said.

"Yes. During our mindmeld, it was very clear that our prisoner has died multiple times during the duration of their prolonged war."

"Died several times?" He questioned, a tone of uncertainty in his voice, "Are you sure you didn't misinterpret his susceptible frequent unconsciousness as death?"

Issaria felt mildly offended for Sivyndas to insult her ability to mindmeld, but she eventually let it slide, "I know what I said and saw. He died from a nearby explosion; miraculously resurrected from the dead and into a room of advanced tubes. Shots to the face and heart; miraculously resurrected from the dead. Lethal fall; resurrected. Driven over by an armored vehicle; resurrected. Every vision of his rebirth from death makes no sense, driving me utterly mad to no end."

"There has to be some kind of a logical explanation for all of this. He couldn't have just returned into the living every time he died."

"Not just him. Everyone who came from this moon possessed the same resurrection phenomenon. I saw his friends die on their battlefield, only then to be brought back to life not a minute later. They were all healthy and able, as if their previous death never even existed."

"And their rivaling factions?"

"Just the same. It is the main reason why their firefights take an absurd amount of time to finish."

"Their ship we boarded previously showed no such evidence of this resurrection. Some of them have died and so far, none we saw got resurrected."

"I wouldn't know the answer to that."

Sivyndas sighed in frustration.

"If the protheans had resurrection technology, our archeologists would have found plenty of evidence from their ruins, particularly on the Citadel."

Issaria pondered a different theory, "Or perhaps this technology could be a secretive project hidden from public view, being experimented with at the far outer rim of the galaxy where no one could ever bother them."

"We don't even know if this technology even originated from the protheans in the first place!"

"Look," Issaria spoke flatly, "We can't just sit here and pointlessly bicker over this supposed connection between these vanu and protheans when we both lack evidence to suggest for or otherwise."

"We can't just barge into their warzone and ask politely. Tildven already made the brightest idea to destroy their only fleet; no doubt hating our very presence here. We could have diffused this situation with peaceful talks."

"What is done is done. We do not have the power to change the past."

Sivyndas only groaned in irritation.

"If we stop now, they will surely retaliate against us," he rubbed his temples, "How am I supposed to command the fleet when one half sides with Tildven while the other begins to doubt my abilities to command? I need you to return to your ship so I can quietly dwell in our newly discovered information."

Issaria gently bowed her head before leaving his quarters. Sivyndas sat alone in his room as the elevator door closed.

* * *

Herald Cooper felt dazed, slowly climbing out of the escape pod. Several more of them landed not far off, no doubt experiencing the same state of dizziness as he was. Hundreds of medical and government vehicles surrounded their area of landing like moths to a lamp. He gently coughed clear his throat at the moment a dust cloud breezed against his face. Clearing his eyes, he gazed at the hive of activity before him. He hasn't seen that many civilians clumped together since he attended hist first annual speech from the government. Cooper suddenly saw an influx of people moving aside to form a clear road to him. A sunderer in the distance drove in the direction of his escape pod. The vehicle rolled up near him to his right, proudly bearing the symbol of the Terran Republic. Cooper dusted off his uniform for representation just as the passenger door opened, revealing a short, stout man in a uniform similar to the one worn by the now-former Admiral. He boasted heavy features on his face, now wrinkled with age.

"Admiral Herald Cooper?" He spoke, holding his peaked cap between his arms.

Cooper gave the proper salute to a higher ranking officer, "Yes, I am."

"You are uninjured and in healthy walking condition. Come with me inside the vehicle. _They_ would like a word with you."

_I guess the government is too big of a word for him_. Cooper thought, noticing his heavy emphasis for 'they'. He didn't exactly look forward to reporting his failure to them.

"I will follow." He humbly replied.

* * *

Two figures quarreled loudly in the dimly lit room.

"Tildven, with their utilization of resurrection technology, our forces wouldn't stand a chance against them!"

"If what you say is true, then our forces would face no problems. Out here in the vast emptiness of outer space, death is permanent. Death on this particular moon would be but a slap on the wrist. Our forces could just be brought back from the dead just as easily as they!"

"And with what facts did it make you to draw into that conclusion?"

"Facts? The ship we have boarded contains the very same humans that originated from this moon. We have scoured their spacecraft for any surviving humans and the ones that were dead never came back to life. If what Issaria said is true, then this resurrection would apply only to those walking on the surface.

"Think of the implications of this resurrection technology we could gain! With this, the Hierarchy will become the dominating military force in the galaxy for the next millennia!"

"And if they don't work?"

"Even if ours cannot, our superior weapons and technology far exceeds their primitive capability for battle. Within a few short hours, this planet will soon be rid of these scumbags."

"Your bloodlust is a growing concern among the soldiers here."

"Bloodlust," he dismissed that with a casual wave, "I think you've gotten way to soft. You once commanded a fleet with strength and confidence, but those days are over. You've grown too incompetent as a leader. It's a wonder why people follow you at all! I was assigned to your command and yet eighty percent of all this fleet prefers to follow under my command voice rather than yours. You are nothing but an informer, a device to introduce information to fill our ears, so that we, the more able ones, are ready to act upon it."

Sivyndas tightly clenched his teeth, holding back his growing temper.

"These bands of humans have planted the seeds of their own destruction the moment they activated that dormant Relay. It's only a matter of time before somebody goes in to fulfill their inevitable fate."

"If we just stand here and watch until they retaliate," Tildven continued his tirade, "The councilors will know of our failure to uphold the law. What will the consequences be then? My earlier insubordination would pale against such an event where they will strike back. And do you really think they would be accepting of another 'strange coincidence' excuse between this and the Relay 314 Incident? For all we know, the humans we have captured were brainwashed by their local government into believing that they really are stranded in deep space, that they have no prior contacts with any other species."

"There is undeniable proof between the collaboration of this Terran Republic and the Alliance, and I will heave over every single stone on this moon until I find them."

"You will order to prepare the ground troops for battle."

* * *

Hundreds of turian dropships left their hanger bays and soared towards the chaotic moon. One small squadron of fighters flew around to shoot down any satellites that came across their sights. The remaining forces were divided evenly as possible to be deployed on every continent. They glowed brightly with unimaginable heat as friction from the air rubbed against the belly of their spacecraft. As they slowly descended to the surface, only did they realize the full scope of this war. Enemy aircraft fighters filled the skies with bullets, explosions, and the smoking trail of debris, but that did nothing to deter the turian dropships.

Caught unaware, the human aircrafts were swatted out of the sky by A-61 Mantis Gunships. Their element of surprise did not last for long. Enemy forces were immediately alerted by the presence of a new enemy. Mosquito fighters, flying by nearly two dozen, unleashed its hail of missiles towards the sudden presence of alien invaders. Ten turian gunships erupted into heated flames, sending their ruined hulls careening uncontrollably to the desert ground and leaving behind a charred crater of reckage. The turians realized their underestimating and quickly broke off to disallow easier target acquisition of them. They made a quick distraction, so that the bigger dropships, containing hundreds of soldiers and several dozen tanks, can swoop down and land in safety.

* * *

Fifty Prowler tanks rolled up to the edge of the cliff before initiating anchor mode. Their drive sprockets extended out and dug into the ground to keep the vehicles in place. During lockdown mode, energy to the engine block ceases; instead, diverts them into weapon cycling and barrel cooling, effectively increasing its fire rate and reload speed by a considerable amount. One hundred cannons roared continuously with the sound of heavy thunder, spitting a massive hail of high explosive shells. Their twin barrels kicked up a flurry of dust behind them as they rained down above the heads of these foreign aliens. Several sunderers were strategically parked behind the armor column, supplying them with repairs and ammunition. Sunderers outfitted with Advanced Mobile Stations served as a readily deployable spawn point for recently deceased soldiers to enter the heat of battle.

Sergeant Herman Williams, soldier of the 9th Brigade of the Terran Republic 24th Division, wiped his red, bug eyed goggles free of grit, trying to line up his sights from his T9 CARV on those alien birdmen. His weapon spat a hail of bullets on one of them. His shields never registered for his bullets. His armor fared no better as heavy bullet punctured clean through the metal plates. The alien crumpled to the ground as one round went through his neck, a gush of blue blood sprayed out like a water fountain. Another salvo thundered from the Prowlers main cannons as Herman ducked down to reload his gun. Looking to his left, he saw another heavy peaking over the edge to fire, only to duck down again when his Nanite shield instantly dissipated from a single shot of those alien weapons. A medic ahead of him went down in two shots, punching clean through his nanoweave armor and straight through his internal organs. Herman winced as his body hit the ground hard before deconstructing under a haze of sickly green. These vanu aliens appeared out of nowhere and already they took over half their territory away. They were too busy giving those Conglomerate rebels hell to notice who was killing who until it was too late.

"Let's get those rockets flying!" Somebody shouted from behind.

On cue, Herman felt several pounding footsteps behind him. Several MAXes, Mechanized Assault Exo-Suit, equipped with MR-1 Fractures on both of their massive arms, dug in place by stomping their feet into the arid ground and unleashed a hail of rockets below. They were designed for anti-armor, but worked well enough to combat infantry units at long ranges. Chainguns at this extreme distance were hopelessly inaccurate, no matter how many bullets you fired. A swell of adrenaline and pride filled Herman with enthusiasm as he watched them standing over the edge as a proud display of Terran might. One explosive shell sent by the roaring guns of their Prowlers was managed to penetrate through the walls of a building before detonating inside.

Realizing that his weapon was empty, Herman reached down to his belt to grab another magazine, but his hands felt nothing but dusty air. Loathing at his own ability for not keeping his ammunition in proper check, Herman activated his built-in speaker merged inside his composite mask.

"I need ammo over here! I'm dry!" His synthesized muffled voice shouted among the chaos. A nearby engineer acted on command as he tossed a Nanite ammo pack to him feet. The satisfying sounds of resupplying ammunition were like music to his ears. Several magazines materialized on his personnel, allowing Herman to insert a brand new magazine into his weapon encrusted with dirt. Satisfied, he pulled the side lever to chamber a new round into the barrel.

"Thanks," he said, but the engineer didn't hear him, running to repair a nearby damaged prowler, its engines pouring opaque black smoke from sustained damage. More alien gunfire erupted below, taking down a few Terran soldiers on the cliff. They returned in kind, shooting away a dozen soldiers who were foolish enough to be exposed from cover. At the corner of his eye, he saw the same medic being reconstructed by a green grid. He was gunned down a few short moments ago, only to reappear back into the land of the living, all alive and well. With his medical applicator on hand, he quickly huddled back to action to provide onsite healing and resurrection.

"Medic! Where's the combat medic?" A heavy assault trooper yelled. He held his hands over a small puncture hole lased with blood. His wore the standard composite armor with a symbol of a skull painted on both his shoulder guards.

Herman scanned around for the medic he just saw before, but that medic simply disappeared. He was nowhere in sight. Realizing his situation, Herman took off to a nearby sunderer to switch class and equipment. With a quick dabble of the red interface, a wash of green temporarily enveloped him before his very appearance changed from wearing a massive bulky armor to lighter version. Snatching the medical applicator from his utility belt as he ran, he sprinted towards the injured heavy, now in critical condition.

"Hold still." he pulled his assault rifle behind his back and aimed the medical applicator at his grave injury. It emitted a beam of glowing green energy; the soldier's wound seemingly disappeared under its light, as if he was never injured in the first place. The soldier's blood evaporated and his damaged armor was simultaneously repaired. With a nod of thanks, the heavy ran back towards the front lines. With his chaingun equipped, he sprinted quickly down the hill and took cover behind a large boulder. Enemy fire chipped away at his cover, but the rock was simply too large to be destroyed.

From their vantage point high above the invaders, the 9th Brigade had tremendous success in fending off the majority of the alien ground forces. The guns of their prowlers still pounded the ground below with their deadly explosive shells. Fighting against them, Herman observed, was somewhat peculiar. In most firefights he has been in for most of his battle-hardened life, vying over the control of the point usually lasted for no more than two hours. What contributes this factor is the result of Nanites System rebirthing and reconstruction technology. Until their infiltrators can successfully hack their terminals to deny them their vehicles, fighting still took ages. However, this battle against the vanu invaders went on for no less than thirty minutes and already the alien's numbers began to dwindle greatly. Herman half expected them to materialize again from Nanite rebirthing chambers, ready to fight again, but none of them came out. Isn't this their technology? Why aren't they using their own advanced creations?

"_Attention all platoon units, keep up the fire on Quartz Ridge. Friendly galaxies are approaching your positions,_" static filled his ears before returning to normal, "_They will be dropping behind enemy lines. Diver-_," multiple explosions can be heard behind the radio, several agonizing screams echoed, "_-re taking fire. We are taking heavy fire from enemy aircraft. I need delta and bravo at the warpgate now-_" The communications went static. Herman felt a chill down his spine.

Several alien gunships hovered above Herman's position and destroyed several more prowler tanks. The MAXs managed to take down one, but the rockets were simply too slow to combat swift aerial units. Herman kicked up dirt as he ran for the nearest cover he could find. A few of his squad mates and the heavy he rescued before followed suit. Up ahead was a fairly large boulder inclined diagonally. They dived behind the massive rock as the invaders began to unleash their weapons. Several prowlers evaporated into a ball of flame, sending chunks of scorched metal arcing midair and landing atop of allies unfortunate enough to be nearby.

"Where's our damn skyguards?" An engineer yelled behind his composite mask. He shoved a new magazine into the stock of his NS-7. He twisted the dial on the side of his weapon to chamber in a new cartridge. He instinctively hunched down as alien bullets continue to chip away their cover.

"We lost them, Geoff. Those damn vanu bastards destroyed them all before they could even get a chance to get single shot out." A heavy snarled, trying to dust off his chaingun.

"They don't look like VS scythes to me. Look a little closer, Henry." Herman spoke, narrowing his eyes at one of those alien aircrafts. One flew directly over their head; its pilot completely unaware of several Terran soldiers hiding just below.

"Whoever they are, they shot us down," Henry retorted, "We'll return the favor," loading his striker, prepped and ready to fire.

The hunkered group heard the booming sounds of several explosions nearby. Flaming debris of prowlers and sunderers were hurled over their heads and smashed straight into the ground.

"_They're pushing us back! We lost all AMS sunderers!_"

"_Keep fighting! Don't let up!_"

Without those advanced mobile stations, allies were unable to deploy near the heat of battle.

"_Platoon waypoint is actual. All units fall back to Hvar Tech Plant. I repeat, all units redeploy to Hvar Tech Plant. All surviving units retreat. Enemy aliens and New Conglomerate forces are coagulating to the north._"

"Damn!" Geoff cursed before pointing at Herman, "Get the beacons out now! We might be able to fend them off a little longer!"

Herman patted around his utility belt before gripping around the beacon with his hand. He held down a button on the side before extending its long white tube outward. Usually, a light would be emitted from the end to signify its successful connection with orbital spawn from above. The light emitter was muted; just like Herman's goal for keeping the front lines operational. He tapped, knocked, and banged in hopes that it will turn on, but nothing worked.

"Why isn't my goddamn beacon working?" Herman yelled over the chaos, recklessly pushing in and pulling out the tube of the beacon, "Is it broken?"

The radio, apparently listening to his every word, answered for him.

"_Negative, squad leader charlie. You're not the only ones with problems getting this shit functioning. Turns out, the orbital spawn stations were offline for hours. Those things blew them up from straight from orbit. As of now, the beacons are nothing but glorified batons. Right now we need everybody at the tech plant if we're going to fight off these assholes."_

"Great." He spoke under his breath, before forcefully throwing the beacon against the cave wall. It bounced away harmlessly, nicking the wall instead.

"No way to get our downed troops closer here."

"Then we'll die in a blaze of glory, pop back into the living, and do it all over again."

"I rather retreat to safety than to be riddled with bullets in excruciating pain every time I want to go somewhere."

They immediately ceased their chatter as they all heard the approaching footsteps of alien foot soldiers, barking out orders in their strange language. Henry was quick to react, dropping his Striker to the ground to get his chaingun slung across his back. He lined up his laser sight and let loose a wall of lead at their position. Bypassing its shields, the chaingun's absurd fire rate completely tore apart the bird alien to bits; his bloodied torso now garnished with the holes from the bullets of his gun. The heavy soldier finished off the alien's accomplice with another simple pull of the trigger. Geoff threw down a pack of replenishable ammunition when a hidden alien appeared from behind and jabbed his knife into his back.

Herman was about to fire his weapon at him, until another birdman tackled him from above, knocking his gun away. His weapon clattered against the dry ground and tumbled down the face of the hill, much his dismay. Henry finished off Geoff's killer and turned to aim his weapon at the alien on top of Herman, only to click uselessly. The alien struggled to shoot as Herman tried to wrestle its gun away from his face. Herman attempted to pull out his chain blade from its metal sheath but to absolutely no avail. He watched in horror as the alien pulled out a smaller weapon from his back, a pistol, and took aim at Herman's head. Herman slammed his eyes shut as he prepared for the worst. The shot didn't happen. Henry took his chaingun and slammed right into the alien's face. It rolled of off Herman as it clutched its head, shrieking in agony. The heavy withdrew his repeater from his holster to finish off his suffering. Realizing that they were already falling behind from the 9th brigade tactical retreat, they took off up the plateau. They ran in a zigzag pattern and ducked under every rock, boulder, and tree in an attempt to throw off the aliens' aim.

* * *

A human donning a large white backpack went down with no difficulty. Pardis Artum reeled back behind the wall as soon as he saw their vehicles back at a ludicrous rate. He forcefully pushed out a used thermal clip. Still radiating with searing heat, it clattered around and left scorching impressions on the metal floor. Pardis reached for his pouch to retrieve another one when he heard the screaming high-pitched whistle of an approaching enemy shell. He and several others braced for its impact, slamming their bodies against the floor. The building they hid shook violently from the eruptive impacts of the enemy high explosives. Bits of shrapnel still penetrated through parts of the walls, severely injuring anybody who stood near them. With that ordeal over, one soldier peeked out to take a shot when a stray bullet slammed into his chest. His torso was thrown back, heaving thorough his damaged armor.

"My shields are malfunctioning!" He yelled and scrambled back behind the safety of the wall.

"Is it their weapons?" Pardis asked.

"Our shields worked fine against them during our boarding mission. There's absolutely no reason for all our shields to suddenly stop working now." Another spouted. They all ducked as red tracers shot away the window. Pardis brushed off broken shards of glass from his shoulders before pulling out his pistol.

"No EMPs were detonated here since our weapons still function. Something is very wrong here."

Pardis sighed, somewhat reluctant to preform this act. He pulled his sidearm out from his holster.

"Alright. Hold still."

"Wha-"

Pardis aimed for his lower foot and pulled the trigger without further hesitation. A blue wall formed and blocked his shot.

"Look. Our shields work perfectly fine."

"You shot at me!" He shouted at him.

"I aimed for your foot. My shot never harmed you. And your shield deflected it. Now stop complaining and fight!"

No matter what they did, no matter how much they shot and killed, the enemy never seemed to dwindle. In fact, he noticed that they seem to be getting larger in numbers.

_Why aren't their shields working at this time?_ His head pounded as he tried to reach for an answer, ramming in a new thermal clip into his rifle. Another explosion rocked the building, bits of scrap metal bounced around the interior. A piece the size of his rifle grip ricocheted off his armor. It was with that, his mind clicked together. It suddenly dawned on him why their shields weren't functioning here. These humans fire rounds slower than their mass accelerated counterparts. They're far enough away for their bullets' velocity to drop just below the minimum speed level for their shields to activate. During the boarding of their ship, their shields worked because they were in close-range, facing against their weapon's initial muzzle velocity. Lower velocity means their weapons are a little less lethal at this range, although anyone could still die from one stray bullet to the neck or head. Their forces were already down to half their capability, while they seem to conjure up their own soldiers from thin air.

"Down!"

One shell managed to fly into the gap of the windows. It smashed into the far back wall before exploding. Those who were caught in the blast were given a quick and merciful death. Pardis slumped against the ground, struggling to hold his stomach together.

More bullets flew overhead, but this time, they came from the opposite direction. Turning around, he saw more humans flanking them. But these weren't the same ones they were fighting before. They wore bulky, box-like armor, colored with the hues of blue and yellow, unlike the slightly more slim-lined red and grey of the other faction. He then noticed a shrub a few meters ahead of him through the window being unusually warped. Trusting his gut instincts, he aimed his assault rifle towards the direction of the lone shrub. A blue and black figure abruptly materialized from thin air and-

_BLAM_

The shot narrowly missed him, grazing his left cheek plate and leaving behind a deep bloody gash. His shields worked this time, but it vanished as soon as it appeared due to the bullet's devastatingly raw power. Pardis stared wide in disbelief before quickly overcoming his shock, aiming his rifle once more and riddling shooter with mass accelerated grains of metal.

"Spirits, they have invisibility cloaks." He caught himself saying.

In the distance, their massive tracked armored vehicles, armed with a single large barrel instead of two mounted at the sides, rolled in by more than a dozen. Jiris IFVs and ML-77 Missile Launchers fired upon them, but most of its damage was absorbed from these vehicles' uncanny ability to absorb them by a bright glowing shield, apparently summoned at will. Four of their tracked vehicles went down in a display of bright flames. The remaining dozen paused in their tracks to fire back. Their shells were deadly, one of their own hovercrafts exploded after sustaining five shots to the front. The turians fired more missiles at them, but that did nothing to curb the tide. They were explosives, manufactured to detonate on impact. What they fired were rigid shells, designed specifically to engage with enemy armor. Both sides lost an equal amount of vehicles.

Four Mantis gunships soared through the air and over the cliff to attack where the armor column resides. Whatever damage the gunships did behind the lines, they were beginning to withdraw from the cliff. With the other faction pushing hard against their rear, they had no choice but to move forward. The body of the human sniper he killed moments ago was nowhere to be seen. Only a pile of green mist remained where he once lay. Pardis had no time to wonder where the body went, quickly following everybody else away from the advancing blue troops.

Ten C77 Tyrus rolled up to the facility that sat on the base of the cliff while their IFVs provided covering fire for the advancing turian soldiers.

"We need to get closer to the enemy!"

His heart sank as he saw the massive road leading up to the plateau, flanked on both sides by massive inescapable cliffs. A death trap. Looking over his shoulders, Pardis saw the advancing hoard of enemy soldier and tanks.

_I hope the other battalions fared with better success on the other continents._

* * *

Herman panted laboriously through his composite mask as he climbed above the last mound of dirt to the metal walls surrounding the tech plant. Henry followed closely behind. Lugging around with the amount of armor they have, it surprised Herman for them to be moving this fast uphill. It requires a tremendous amount of effort for anyone to walk around with 420 pounds of heavy gear and weapons on one's back. Geoff should already be ahead of them, stepping out of a tube in his brand new constructed body.

"Are they really that stupid to climb up this road? It's a death trap, an easy choke point. We can practically shoot rockets right on top of them!" Herman listened to a loud-voiced individual not far off.

"Looks like they're getting a little cocky," Someone piped up, setting up an anti vehicle turret on the ledge, "I love shooting down smug assholes."

The same synthesized female voice announced the battle's progression through their helmets.

"Attention. The New Conglomerate has captured Indar Excavation site." Another phase nearly caught nearly everybody by surprise, "Attention. [insert name here] has captured Quartz Ridge."

"Those terrorists are leading those aliens up the road, right into our trap!" Another smirked, "At least, they're helping us sandwiching them in. Involuntarily."

"_Where are my goddamn Prowlers? Get your head out of your asses and set them up for ambush ASAP!_"

More soldiers began to pour out of the deployment building; the once dead troops seemingly resurrected back to full health. Some made their way to a nearby vehicle terminal. The vehicle pad flared green with life as it began to construct multiple prowler tanks. In a few short moments, well over fifty Prowlers appeared out of the bloom to the uninformed, their engines growling with power as they rolled out of the southeast gate leading to the tech plant. The previously lost skyguards began to roll out as well; its four barreled 40 mm flak cannons had the terrifying capability of shredding any enemy aircraft with an explosive cloud of lethal shrapnel. Side by side, they began to anchor up along the end of the road and waited for the alien's arrival. What the birdmen have lost, they cannot replenish. The soldiers of the Terran Republic can simply be reborn again with the aid of Nanite technology.

"_Did somebody order a fresh batch of hellfire missiles?_" The comms gleefully blared out.

Twenty four Mosquitoes hovered over the worn tech plant and soared above the cheering crowd of Terran soldiers. With alien infantry and vehicles packed together like a stuffed olive, they made easy targets for the air force to fire at. The alien gunships flew in to defend their troops caught in their ambush, but the skyguards' flak cannons halted their efforts. In unison, the mosquitoes unleashed a hurricane of air-to-ground missiles, absolutely decimating anything in its blast radius. In a few short seconds, they've annihilated the majority of alien ground troopers. A few survivors were left, but those can be captured. They raised their hand above their heads as a gesture of surrender.

"Now, _that_ is what we call tactical superiority."

* * *

"Eat shit!"

Monroe fired his Sweeper at pointblank range, sending the birdman careening backwards and splattered the wall behind it with sticky dark blue liquid. He wiped his visor clear as he looked to see his squad making quick work of the remaining aliens in the building.

"I think we got them all."

One squadmate reloaded his Stiletto, shoving in each individual birdshot shells. They were exceedingly devastating at point blank range, but lacked power and accuracy over medium to long ranges.

"Hell yeah, that'll teach those sons a bitches," he spat on one of the alien corpses, "You don't fuck with the NC and get away with it."

"Hah, let's see how they like it when I jam my Jackhammer up their asses."

Monroe said nothing, walking over to pick up a dropped alien weapon from the ground. It looked almost identical to weapons carried by the Vanu Sovereignty. Only this alien rifle was more matte grayish in color, unlike the shiny cyan and purple the creepy cultists seem to adore. Deciding that this would sell for a hefty price, he packed the strange gun in his backpack.

They stepped out of the building wrapped in glimmering snow. More of these vanu alien fighters appeared overhead, battling their Reavers in fast paced aerial combat. Missiles flew every which way while ones closer to the invaders let loose their deadly M-30 Mustangs. The larger alien aircraft hovered above the ground before landing. More alien soldiers climbed out as well as retrieving several hovercraft tanks of their own.

"We're not done yet." Monroe said, pumping his Sweeper, "Their invasion just got started."

* * *

_Conflict arose from the surface as the remnants of the Republic struggled to maintain order among their colonies. The Nanite technology, once thought of as revolutionary, threw an imbalance of power between the disgruntled colonists and the Republic. As a result, they have restricted all forms of alien technology from their domain. The sudden draconian enforcement was not taken lightly. Soon, a splinter faction was formed under the title of the "New Conglomerate", a group who seeks to restore freedom and rip themselves the shackles of tyranny that is the Terran Republic. Such concepts of freedom were given by large corporate monopolies and mercenaries who seek the almighty profit over the lives of others. A second faction soon formed, after the Terran Republic's restrictions of alien technology. They call themselves the "Vanu Sovereignty". They believed that these new technology will further the evolution of the Human species. War broke out among the three factions, vying over the complete control of Auraxis._

* * *

**Author's notes: jk;afdskl;jdafsklj;dafsl;kj  
**


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