Aboard Envoy Ship UNSC Versailles

The UNSC's Diplomatic Corps stood at attention on the deck of the Versailles, a Parks-class armed diplomatic corvette, right in front of the ship's main airlock. While one would normally scoff at the idea of an 'armed' diplomatic ship, but the UNSC Navy's desire for safety meant that every single god-damned ship in their fleet would be armed to the teeth, or at least armed enough for them not to have any sort of issue holding off pirates and their skiffs, or the various bastards like the Biotic Cultists they'd been hounding for the past few years.

Present were the Admiral of the Battle Group that had come to greet these new aliens, an actual civvie envoy who looked about as nervous as any sane person would be when it came to dealing with aliens, not to mention an entire platoon of Marines armed to the teeth with standard-issue MA40 assault rifles, BR75 Battle Rifles and M90 Shotguns. Their faces were hidden behind masks and tinted goggles attached to the standard Marine's helmet and, around them, faint blue shimmered against the green of the BDUs. Their kinetic barriers.

The hard thump of pressure equalization echoed into the hull of the UNSC ship, causing a slow rumble as the two ships' power systems mated and their atmospheric standards seemed to take a moment to acclimatize to each-other. Once docking was complete, the bulkhead door opened, revealing a slew of aliens clad in similar, yet differently-ornamented suits. Some carried weapons on their backs and had tan suits with armored plating on their masks.

The envoys, presumably, stepped forward, hands interlaced in front of them. The leader, a man clad in an ornate black-blue suit with patterns on the cloth that wrapped neatly around his waist and that acted as a hood, greeted them, "Greetings to you, representatives of the Black League," his voice filtering through a translation system connected to his suit's systems. It sounded almost perfectly human, save for the suit's filters and reverb. "I'm Kal'Zoris vas Rayya... Representative of the Quarian Migrant Fleet."

"Greetings to you, as well, representative Zoris," The Admiral spoke, a hint wary, "I'm Admiral Combs, UNSC Navy. Welcome aboard the Versailles. I wish to apologize for the rude greeting we gave you, but we weren't expecting guests this side of the Galaxy for... Maybe another eighty years," And he arranged his uniform's collar. There was clear confusion amongst the ranks of the Quarians, going by the sizes of their glowing eyes growing.

"I understand," Kal hummed, "Perhaps we can speak of this in a proper briefing, then."

"Right," He nodded, "Right this way," And he motioned to the door to their right, "Decontamination procedures and security checks are this way, then we'll head right over to the central area of the ship for discussions. Follow me and my Marines, please," before turning toward said door and, alongside the rest of his staff and the escorting Marines, walked with the Quarians through the hallways operating the decontamination system. Showers of specialized mixes, non-toxic to normal life, sprayed into the room, generating a mist that would kill any and all germs known to man. Those unknown would hopefully know to back the fuck off.

Next, came the security checks. Allowed to keep their weapons, though under the watchful eye of the UNSC's Marines, the Quarian escorts marched, guarding the procession of diplomatic and military staff alongside their counterparts. Their weapons looked odd to the eye, folding ones that hanged off their backs, but that resembled, at least in basic form, standard assault rifles.

Both sides kept their weapons stowed now, as the group entered the massive central area of the ship. A dome made of thick reinforced glass separated them from the void. The ship floated in geosynch orbit above the gas giant where this First Contact had been made. In the center of the room, below the dome, was an oak table, large enough to fit twice the procession currently present.

Already seated at the table were staff of ONI Section 1, ONI Section 3, Civilian sector representatives and other UNSC diplomats, occupying approximately half the table. All of them stood up, the soldiers and their own industrial sector bigwigs greeting the Quarian civvies respectfully, while the ONI agents, though as curt and respectful as could be, stared at the aliens with a hint of distrust.

In truth, distrust was something that could be felt as emanating from every non-Quarian in the room. As the Marines of the ship's garrison scattered around the domed room and formed a perimeter with the Quarians' own Marines near the exit. Kal felt the stares their newfound encounters gave them as they sat down, but he simply ignored it and said, "A pleasure to meet your people, Admiral."

"Pleasure is all ours, Representative," The man replied as he sat himself down face-to-face with them, "Let's start, then, shall we?"

"Indeed," The Quarian nodded as they leaned back into their seats, "This, I assume, is a preliminary meeting, correct? We will have more talks?"

"It's our first series of talks, yes," The Admiral nodded, then leaned forward and told the ONI agents, one of which held a device, "Begin recording..." Before he watched the guy press the button. "First Contact Protocol Zero-One, initiating phase two:Discourse. Species encountered named:Quarians. First representatives present, Admiral Roman Combs, UNSC Navy First Fleet and represeintative Kal'Zoris Vas Rayya, as you said?" and turned to Kal. Kal nodded. With that, the Admiral said, "Alright. Let's begin. As a representative of the Quarian people, mister Zoris, you are to answer for the Fleet's actions in correspondence with entering into Black League territory at 12:45 Standard Time, 25th of December, 2732..." time which seemed to stun the representative.

"That's..." The man blinked, "What time system are you on? That's an impossible date and..."

The man nodded, "It is a long story we'll get to, representative Zoris. We wish to ask about those who arrived on our territory first, obviously. A fair exchange, no?"

Zoris sighed and nodded, "Very well. To answer the original question, then, our fleet jumped into this sector of the Terminus Systems on the basis of resupply with fuel and Element Zero from a nearby cache. The Migrant Fleet is, as the name hints, a migratory corps of several thousand ships of varying sizes and types, containing the last few million of our population after we were pretty much exiled from our home world."

"Exiled?" The Admiral felt a sense of familiarity, "Understood... War?"

"Yes," Kal replied, noting the look in the admiral's and other allies' eyes. Was it a war that drove them here, too? Were they also refugees who merely chose to settle somewhere instead of living their lives on their Fleet? He offered, "A Cataclysm that befell our people nearly three centuries ago, in fact, if you wish to hear of it. For posterity's sake."

"Of course," The Admiral nodded, "Then we'll tell you a bit about ourselves, considering we're in similar hot water."

"Understood... My thanks," Kal stated, then hummed, cleared his throat(A slight distortion audible through the suit's speakers), before continuing, "The Cataclysm that befell our people is known as the Geth War to us. It was a long, bloody war, where our creations, the Geth, began to slaughter us in a mass machine uprising across Rannoch. Millions upon millions of our people died, slaughtered by what were supposed to be menial servant robots that somehow acquired sentience."

The Admiral blinked, "Your machines gained sentience... And then attacked you..." He repeated. Kal and his group nodded in confirmation, "And these Geth, these sentient machines, did that of their own volition? What even started the war in the first place? Because I find it unlikely that artificial intelligence capable of rational thought would have started a war with no basis beyond total extermination of their former masters. That's the realm of old Science-Fiction movies."

"We don't recall... Many of our records of the start of the Geth War were lost when Rannoch fell. What we know is hearsay and rumor," A female voice from among the Representative's group spoke softly. She bowed and said shyly, "Pardon my interruption, Admiral, Representative... I am Shaare'Surrel vas Morningstar, a historian of the Quarian people."

"Your intervention is welcome, historian Shaare," One of the Admiral's ONI reps replied, a smile on her face. The Admiral and Rep gave nods of approval to the young woman, before all turned back to the matter at hand. The ONI Rep introduced herself, "I'm Lieutenant Tabitha Cross, ONI Section One. A historian myself, keeping track of our own people's records from before our Arrival."

"I see..." The Rep nodded, "A pleasure to meet you as well, Lieutenant."

"Likewise, sir," She nodded back, then interlaced her fingers on the table and said, "Go on."

"Indeed," The Admiral hummed, "And your people fled the Geth, remaining mobile on your thousand-strong fleet for, what, the past three centuries?"

"Yes," Kal replied, "Geth are particularly aggressive toward organic beings... I'm surprised that you haven't encountered them, in fact. They would normally have passed through areas such as this from the Perseus Veil, scouting out targets, raiding, doing whatever. You'd have expected at least a momentary encounter with one of their scout vessels, or even a small picket..."

"Odd. We haven't encountered anyone else before you," The Admiral shrugged. This was getting strange.

Kal, confused, asked, "How long have you been in the Terminus Systems for...?"

"In our particular corner of space? Coming up on 200 years," The Admiral replied... And the entire group of Quarians paused. He told them, "Our group mentioned the Arrival, the event that brought us to your Galaxy. We're not Native to this place, representative Kal. Quite the opposite, in fact... I'm allowed to declassify the following based on clearance level EMERALD of the UNSC Code..." And he opened up a tablet, sliding it toward the Quarian rep with its translation software active.

As the Quarian and his group started reading it, they blinked and took pause, Kal asking almost fearfully, "This is a prank you plan to pull on every First Contact, corr-" before he scrolled down to the images that confirmed it. The Human-Covenant War, a conflict that might as well be over in their Home Galaxy, burned onto their alien retinas. Plasma bombardments from orbit from Covenant vessels, Marines and infantry fighting in the burning cities, the destruction of Harvest, Jericho, Miridem... Reach.

"Keelah..." Whispered Shaare, her voice audibly cracking, "We're... So sorry..."

The Admiral shook his head, "Nothing to be sorry about. This is our national idenity, who we are and why we are. We're the descendants of those who came here 200 years ago, those who would not fall to the enemy's Sword, but build up the strength so that, maybe, if and when we got to go home, we would be able to reclaim our lost planets or avenge them... We are the Black League, Humanity's rage against the quiet night... It is in the song we chose as our call to war," before he cleared his throat and sang in a nigh-untranslatable language, "Arise, o' Motherland. Arise, for a fight to the death! Against the dark, alien hordes, against their vainglorious wrath!"

"Let our Noble Wrath wash over like a wave! This is a People's War! This is our Sacred War!" The entire crew chorused the song, their chests welling. Most wore smiles. Even the Marines' were visible behind their cowls and helmets, all of them snapping salutes. Despite the prideful looks, it seemed even 200 years could not stem the wrath of a people scorned like this. Kal and Shaare could see the fury behind their eyes, the hatred for the aliens that had broken their homes, killed their loved ones and caused them to come here in the first place.

And both momentarily thanked their ancestors' lucky stars for the fact that they had initiated a friendly first contact with them, as even their Historian, who seemed a more spindly, small woman, broke into song with all the gusto of a soldier marching off to this War, what more could be called a Crusade, against hostile xenos. Kal'Zoris told them, "May your Ancestors rest well... I'm certain they're proud of their children."

"Your words are kind, Representative," The Admiral replied, "Our peoples have many things in common in this regard. Both driven out of our homes, both fighting for our survival. We, however, could not simply live on a fleet, no offense to you... It is why we picked out our homes, landed and built ourselves up for the past two centuries... If negotiations go well, perhaps, you may join us."

"... You would offer that to aliens so similar to those who burned your lands...?" Shaare seemed dumbfound.

Combs gave a knowing smile, "You'll understand if and when any sort of agreement forms between us and you, miss Shaare. We have a mission here, too, before we can return home to our lands. One you'll learn of in time," before humming and calling up someone with refreshments and food. The group of Quarians watched the food approaching and Kal, a little concerned, look to the Admiral.

"... Not to seem ungrateful for the refreshments and food, but... Are they Dextro?" He raised a brow.

The Admiral blinked, "As in-"

"Dextro-Amino Acid compatible... We're a Dextro species that might get sick if we eat any kind of food that isn't..." Shaare rubbed the back of her helmet. The Admiral hummed, looked over to one of the Scientists in the group and raised a brow. Said scientist showed them to give her a minute, before standing up and marching to a nearby lab. Kal said, "Oh, please, no need to worry, we can just call up our own food if need be."

"If you wish..." The Admiral nodded. Well, this was strange. First species of this kind they met... He hummed and asked, "Miss Shaare, Representative Kal, I have to ask you something..." and noting the looks of worry, he told them, "The UNSC actively utilizes Artificial Intelligences in its works. We have a great deal of them operating everything from jump calculations for our drives to shipboard weapons to enhance accuracy."

A few horrified exchanged glances later, he sighed and said, "Durandal, if you don't mind..."

"With pleasure, sir," A familiarly-human voice spoke. A figure formed on a holographic display, stunning the Quarians. She had short hair and wore a shirt, pants and boots normally utilized for UNSC PT. She gave a quick salute and kindhearted smile, then said, "Representative, Historian, members of the Quarian delegation. I am Durandal, Seventh Generation Smart Artificial Intelligence, UNSC ID Code DRNDL-0452-9... We have much to talk about."

"... Keelah," The Ambassador murmured, then looked up to the Admiral, who smiled kindly.

Some months later, Ingalls

In the fields of Ingalls, Marines, Police and massive crowds came to watch the ships landing in the planetside dry-docks. They were not the massive Quarian LifeShips that had been plastered all over the news recently, the ones that the HPP and their voter base could not shut the hell up about 'invading our territory' and 'taking over swathes of land meant for humanity'.

No. The first ship to land was a small agricultural vessel, no bigger than the standard UNSC Corvettes usually serviced at these planetside drydocks. In the third row of 'Docks, it touched down in front of a waiting crowd, watching to see what kind of upheaval they'd bring with their arrival. When the hatches, doors and ramps opened, a hundred Aliens first stepped off the transport.

Wary, the Quarians, clad in their lifesuits, took the first steps off their transport and toward the soil of an alien planet. There to meet them, the governor of Ingalls took steps forward, a smile on her face. She wore a standard UNSC HAZMAT suit worn by the Marines, though lacking in the armor plating and more tied with lead-linings and cleaned so thoroughly, they nearly stripped the color out of the cloth. It was a courtesy welcome to be wearing a lifesuit similar to that of the people they welcomed.

She gave the leading woman of the agricultural ship Kerry a nod, then extended her five-fingered hand toward her. The woman, clad in a suit with red cloth wrapped around, resembling a dress and skirt out of Indian culture, gingerly gripped the human's hand and, for the first time in their recorded history, the Quarians shook hands with another species that did not judge them by their existence as migrants, but rather welcomed them for it.

A UNSC Photographer took shots of the Second Arrival, as it would be called in the news. On Ingalls, Hanshin, New Reach and a dozen other planets, HPP supporters would protest silently about the arrival of the Quarians. The Admiralty board would debate their presence, helping these aliens and keeping their disappearance from the wider Galaxy.

"... Today, in a historic meeting between the people of the Second Arrival and the UNSC's Admirals, a policy of cohabitation and integration was decided-upon by the Admiralty with a 72% Pro against a 19% Against and a 9% Abstained. The HPP's waning grip on the political scene seems to have unnerved some of the local citizens here at Ingalls, but the Quarian people are being welcomed with surprising kindness by their fellow Exiles. Oh, there's some right now," A Reporter spoke from the scene in the middle of Ingalls's second largest city, New Boston. She walked up to a Quarian and a Human that were haggling about a trinket and asked, "Greetings. I'm Larisa, a reporter for the Central News Broadcasting Company of the League. Mind if we ask a few questions?"

"Be my guest, ma'am," The human peddler replied, grinning and looking to the Quarian woman, "I'm Jake Basilone, formerly Marines, now sellin' stuff here."

"Yuha'Yul vas Venbay. Greetings to you, miss Larisa," The Quarian spoke, her voice jovial, soft and friendly.

"Well, mister Basilone, miss Yul, let me begin by saying it's quite interesting to see a Quarian and Human haggling for... What seems to be a holographic display..."

... The holovision was background noise, however, for a meeting on Ingalls. Durandal, the UNSC Artificial Intelligence first introduced to their Quarian allies, spoke to a meeting of the Admiralty Board, which now included temporary, unelected Quarian Representatives from the Quarians' own Admirals, including Cula'Xen, the Fleet Admiral in charge of the former Quarian Heavy Fleet, their military arm. She told them, "It is good to see the apprehension about the United Nations Space Command and Black League's overall usage of AIs has somewhat faded."

"It's still not completely gone," A female Admiral spoke, arms crossed to her chest.

"I didn't expect it to go away over night, Admiral Laadda," The girl stated, "But it is why we're here, to dispel various myths and things that came from the first meeting and any subsequent ones an AI could not attend. As stated during first meetings with Representative Kal'Zoris and his group, I am Durandal, DRNDL-0452-9... And I am here to explain the process by which I was created."

Noting that the entire room had gone silent to listen, the AI nodded and began, "Human Artificial Intelligence, especially Sixth and Seventh Gens like me and my other siblings, are created through the scan of a deceased being's brain and the creation of digital neural pathways very similar to those of the host brain. In my case, however, I was created from the brains of a clone kept in cold storage for the past hundred or so years, a clone nobody sans probably the person that planted it in storage beforehand knew about."

She told them, "While this name may mean nothing to the Quarian people, to the UNSC as they know her, it means the world. I was created after a clone of Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, a legendary scientist among our ranks that presumably perished on the planet Reach, the last bastion before our old Homeworld. My form was a scan of the clone's brain tissues. It's why I took the Avatar I am right now, that of a young doctor Halsey. It seems to be bog-standard in clones like me, because even a more famous AI belonging to legend, one Cortana, took her form."

"So, let us understand," Xen started, his voice calm, "Human AIs are not 'programmed' as normal. You spawn them out of the brains of the dead...?"

"An oversimplification of the process, but yes and no," Durandal replied, smiling at the confused Quarians, "I'm no more dangerous than your average household appliance at the moment. Mostly due to storage space necessary for me to run all my systems at one hundred percent and the fact that I don't exactly have any physical desire to harm any sentient in this room, myself included."

"This is incredible and terrifying at the same time," Xen replied, cupping his own masked chin.

"And intriguing," Laadda's smile was audible behind her mask. She was head of the Research Division of the Quarian Fleet. A division that was still being merged with the UNSC's on Hanshin and here, on Ingalls. "What are your limitations, then, Durandal? Aside from processing space required for you to operate at Full Power, I mean. There must certainly be some drawbacks."

"Human AIs also have a lifespan of seven years," Durandal told them while the RnD staff of the UNSC remained eerily quiet, simply confirming things with nods, "I have lived five of those years in service as the shipboard AI for various vessels, ranging from the Moscow to the Versailles being the latest. After seven years, AIs experience rapid degradation of their thought capabilities due to overstress. We literally think ourselves to death. It is why Final Dispensation Protocols are enacted just as we hit the Seven Year deadline."

"Oh," Xen hummed, "We're sorry."

Durandal shrugged, "It is what it is, admiral," then she smiled, "I serve mankind and her allies. If I have served well for my lifespan, I'll die with a smile on."

The sincerity of that statement seemed to send the Quarians into a moment of pause. The kind of loyalty exhibited by a being created by sentients, as sentient as them, but with a much shorter lifespan and much stronger thought capability was stunning to people who'd, so far, been hounded by their own creations. Durandal, noting this moment, continued, "With these thoughts in mind... I may bring up why we asked for you to attend this Extraordinary Meet, Admirals."

She looked over to the leading Admiral atop her chair. The elderly woman, now pushing far more than any other normal human before her, offered a nod to Durandal, who smiled and continued, "As we know from records, the Geth War was started when your machines gained Sentience..." and she already saw then tensing. She pressed on, however, "As allies and friends to the Quarian people, the UNSC and their AI Staff offer the following..."

"... That I and a few of my siblings go to negotiate with your children," She spoke, which caused a small upheaval among the crowd of Quarian reps who absolutely abhorred the Geth. Durandal waited for them to settle down, adding, "While we deeply appreciate your concern with your sentient creations' ability to kill..." and glaring at one of the Quarian' Admirals, "Dare I ask why your Research Ships have dead Geth aboard? Why you're researching them... Admiral Laadda?"

That got the room to immediately quiet down. She continued, stern, "The UNSC fully believes in the rights of all sentients, be they Machine or Organic. One of your ships was not able to purge its databases and inventories before our troops and scientists started checking aboard, much to their protests. The Alarei's staff admitted to experimentation on your supposed enemy..."

She furrowed her brows, while the UNSC staff behind her murmured. She then told them, "We know what you've all done... At least the most recent history. You've admitted to a couple of these feats yourself, but nothing quite like an entire ship designed to tear Geth apart at their base code, see what makes them tick. Horrifying, but not unexpected of someone fighting a machine enemy."

"Our survival was paramount," Laadda voiced, lowering her arms to her sides, "We did not expect to find a friendly nation anywhere in the Galaxy. As you see from the records we share, nobody quite 'likes' pilgrims with no home... We thought..."

"And you did find friendlies now," Durandal stated, "Were you ever going to tell us about this?"

"Yes," Xen stated, sighing, "We were. When our people were safe... Most research ships have logs saved on secure and encrypted drives on the Lifeships of the Fleet, for safekeeping in case we have to decommission them or leave them behind. We would've handed the data over to your people the moment we knew ours had homes to return to... And maybe help to fight the Geth should we need it."

"Humanity doesn't wish another war," The leading Admiral of the UNSC stated rather bluntly, her voice harsh, "It's why nobody shot first when you came into our territory, Admirals... And it is why Durandal was approved for this mission by ONI. She has the capabilities to both chat up your beloved creations and understand what the hell happened between you all. We will find out the truth."

Despite the fear in the Quarians' reactions... They could not deny their newfound allies this.

As for the Geth? They would meet. ONI would make sure Durandal had a way in.