March 14, 2397 AD - In FTL to Unknown System, Takeda Mining Co Civilian Sensor/Scout Craft Kai

Kato Toshi stifled his yawn, after nearly a week of dealing with company bureaucracy and the authorities, his team was finally given the green light to begin exploration of the star systems on the opposite side of the local relay.

"We are two minutes away, Mr. Toshi." His pilot informed him.

"Very good, begin system scans upon entering the system and link the results to my datapad." After the pilot nodded in confirmation Kato allowed himself to smile, all of his work was finally going to come to fruition, soon he would be able to get the raise he had been looking for, or even be given control over the new sector's resources, the last system they had scouted had large deposits of uranium and helium in readily tappable locations and even a habitable planet perfect for future expansion.

Breaking him out of his daydream, his pilot once again spoke; "Exiting FTL in five… four… three… two… one… entering realspace, sir. Sensor data is on your datapad." Kato looked down at his datapad as the system was mapped out before his eyes. It was an unremarkable system, really, with a young, blue colored star and two rocky, uninhabitable planets separated from a small gaseous planet by an asteroid belt. Kato frowned, the young system was unlikely to bear fruit for his enterprise. Suddenly, a new alert appeared. There were starships in the system.

28th Day of the 5th Month of the Year 2655 GS - Zynac System, Migrant Fleet Cruiser Neema

Admiral Han'Gerrel stood proudly over the Neema's command bridge. Despite the routineness of acting as the vanguard of the Migrant Fleet for an FTL jump, the professionalism and discipline of his crew were envied by even Turian Captains.

"All ships accounted for, sir. Awaiting your orders." His navigator informed him.

As Han began to give orders, he was interrupted by his sensor specialist; "Sir! Unknown vessel just dropped out of FTL on the other side of the system!" The mood on the bridge suddenly changed, gone was the stale and calmness the veteran crew gave off. In its place was a flurry of furious activity as the new arrival was scanned and Captains of other vessels reported in for orders, however, the discipline of the crew became impossibly more apparent as Quarians refrained from shouting over one another. The sensor specialist spoke up again; "Sir, sensors have confirmed the existence of a 100m long craft of unknown but most likely not of military design approaching the gaseous planet. What are your orders, sir?"

Han clasped his hands together, going over his options in his head. The vessel could just be a new Turian pleasure yacht jumping around the galaxy at leisure, or it could be a Batarian scout craft looking for appealing targets for slaving operations. He could just turn and jump back to the Migrant Fleet, but if the ship was hostile it could track his destination and possibly put the fleet in danger. He could order the ship seized by Marines, but if the ship was a scout ship it could call upon its fleet and possibly destroy his flotilla, putting the Migrant Fleet in perpetual danger as his ships couldn't just be replaced. Furthermore, he couldn't shake the strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. Looking up to his command staff, he saw them patiently waiting for his orders. "Open communications with the ship, attempt all frequencies." As he heard the crew sending their affirmatives, Han turned toward the ship's communication display and waited.

March 14, 2397 AD - Unknown System, Takeda Mining Co Civilian Sensor/Scout Craft Kai

Kato cursed under his breath, who could have beat him to the system? The Governor had assured him that no one else would be given the rights to use the relay until he returned. He brought up a more detailed scan of the ships and began analyzing them. The first thing he noticed was the size and number of the ships, a dozen 600m craft, and 18 300m craft. No corporation would spend the resources to bring so many and such large ships on an exploration mission, nor would they spend the resources on such an unremarkable system. Nor would a military send a fleet to unknown space. He was brought out of his frustrated musings by his pilot; "Sir, one of the unknown ships is hailing us. What should we do?"

Suddenly self-conscious, he stood from his Captain's chair and straightened his suit. Clearing his throat, he ordered; "Answer their hail, let's find out who is in our system." He looked at his communications display as the bust of a figure began to appear. The first thing he noticed was the figure's mask, a smokey glass or polycarbonate surface covered the figure's face from the mouth to the forehead leaving just the eyes visible, what he assumed was a mouthpiece or breather over its mouth, and an elaborately designed tan and brown hood covering the top of its head. After a moment to make sure the connection was solid, Kato spoke; "I am Captain Kato Toshi of the Kai of the Takeda Mining Corporation. With whom am I speaking?"

Instead of replying in Japanese, or any language his translator had, which was quite extensive including every language recognized by Japan and then some, the person on the other end of the line turned its head and said something to someone else on his ship in a completely unknown language. This puzzled Kato, who would speak in a made up language in this situation? His question was soon answered, but not how he expected and certainly not the answer he expected as the figure on the screen held its hand up to point at something. Kato paled in shock and nearly fell into his chair as he staggered back, the being on the screen had three fingers, that thing was an alien.

28th Day of the 5th Month of the Year 2655 GS - Zynac System, Migrant Fleet Cruiser Neema

When the small ship answered his hail, Han didn't entirely know what to expect to see on the other side. But he did not expect what was. He looked at the bust of the being up and down. If he was less educated, he may have mistaken the being for a Quarian or an Asari. While the figure's face was very similar to a Quarian's, it lacked facial markings, its chin was more defined than a male typically has, its eyes were more slanted and narrow than a Quarian, and its skin tone was far too dark to be a Quarian's. That still fails to mention the lack of a mask. It was clearly not an Asari either, as it possessed hair, appeared to be male, and was a shade of tan yellow and not blue. As Han took in the details, he thought to himself, did I just make first contact with a new alien race?

Before he could consider the question further, the alien began speaking in its unknown language. Yes, definitely a new race, Han thought to himself. He turned to his cyberwarfare team, "Get language data on that ship, this is useless if we can't communicate." He then turned and pointed at his communications officer, "Send a message to the Migrant Fleet that we have made first contact." As he finished his orders, he noticed the alien suddenly looked distraught. Must have realized he just made first contact, Han thought to himself. Seeing nothing better to do, he brought his hand over his chest and said, "I am Admiral Han'Gerrel of the Quarian Conclave. We wish for nothing but peace and prosperity between our peoples'." As he finished his statement, which undoubtedly the alien couldn't understand, he was approached by one of the cyberwarfare specialists.

"Sir, the alien vessel has advanced firewalls over some of its data, but we have located what we believe to be its translation software. We will have its data unlocked in just a few moments."

Han nodded, "Very good when it's done apply its data to our translators immediately. Don't want them getting jumpy." Han faced the communications screen, once again analyzing the alien. The creature wore a solid burgundy colored jacket with a white undershirt and a blue colored piece of clothing seemingly dangling from its neck. As they stared at each other for a few awkward moments, the silence becoming more and more unbearable with each passing second.

Suddenly, the communications officer shouted at him, "Translation package received, sir. Applying now." Han let out the breath he unknowingly was holding in, finally, he thought.

Turning once more to the bust of the alien, Han spoke again, "Excellent, can you understand me?"

Han allowed himself to smile as he watched the alien's shocked appearance. "Yes." It said, "How did you… Nevermind, what are you? Don't look human to me."

Han's grin broadened, judging by the alien's diction it appeared that these humans had not made contact with another race before. "I am Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema of the Quarian Conclave, it humbles me to be the one to initiate contact with your race. Speaking of which, and I mean no offense, but are you who we should be talking to about establishing diplomatic relations, Mr...?"

The alien shook its head rather violently, which Han found to be an odd greeting; "Oh! Right, you probably couldn't understand my introduction." The alien let out some air through its nose, which Han assumed was some form of amusement if this race followed Quarian and Asari biology and customs. "My name is Kato Toshi, I am the Captain of the Sensor/Scout craft Kai and am in the employment of Takeda Mining Corporation. As for your question, no, I wouldn't call myself uhhh, qualified to make any agreement between you and, well, anyone." The alien chuckled, making Han more sure of his earlier assumption about the aliens nasal action. "But I could get you into contact with the Governor of Gifu, or the President of my company, whichever you prefer. Though it may take some time to get the connection setup." The human held his cheery look, either hoping to get out of the situation and put the issue of first contact into someone else's lap or because he found something good in being helpful.

Han, though, was rather curious why would he put me into contact with a businessman rather than a politician? "That would be most helpful Mr. Toshi. How long would this contact take to initiate?"

The human shrugged, "Could take a day or two, maybe even a week depending on how well the coms buoys we've laid down work. Wasn't exactly our job to make sure they work well. Even longer if you want to get into contact with my company, they're back on Takeda. Which is much further away, by the way."

Han waved his hand dismissively, "The Governor will suit us just fine. We would also most likely be able to get to the planet faster than your communications if you send us the location of it."

The human averted his eyes from his own and bit its lip, what Han assumed was him weighing his options. "That could work, but I'd advise that you travel in one of your smaller vessels to avoid too much attention." He then looked down and moved his arms, sending navigational data, confirmed by a ping on the Neema's nav board.

Han smiled, he liked the way this human thought. "Very good Mr. Toshi, I look forward to the fruits of this diplomatic mission. In the meantime, we shall depart." Han turned away from the screen and motioned to cut the feed. "Send a duplicate of the transmission to the Flotilla and prepare for jump home." Han once again proudly watched the diligence of his crew as he was informed the human vessel had jumped out of the system.

Codex Entry:

Takeda Mining Corporation

The Takeda Mining Corporation was founded in the early days of Japanese colonization of the stars in 2300, hailing from the Japanese colony of Takeda, a middle colony world with a population of around a billion in 2400. The company itself is one of two major raw resource based Japanese companies, the other being Amago Engineering (See entry for more information). Takeda Mining Co has for a long time had close relations with the Japanese government, allowing it to claim several systems for exclusive resource extraction. This closeness, despite being heavily criticized by many organizations throughout human space recently has allowed for Takeda to grow vast amounts in a short amount of time and employ ever more people. Despite this, Takeda is best known outside of Japanese space for being the company that discovered the Quarian Migrant Fleet, Humanity's first contact with an alien race.

AN

And there she is. I've had this idea floating around in my head for a long time now and have made several attempts at writing it, but none of them panned out the way I wanted them to. This is actually a completely different first contact than the others I've attempted, those being turian and batarian, so maybe that's why I found this one easier to write.

I look forward to reading your comments about this, it truly helps me stay focused and improve upon the story!

Edit: Fixed incorrect Galactic Standard Date. Which somehow messed up everything? Good thing I made a backup.