United Nations Headquarters, New York City U.S.A., 2149 CE

George Silverman was nervous.

Today was the first day of his tenure as the American ambassador to the U.N., a prestigious position of course, but one that he was not planning on staying in. No, Mr. Silverman had larger plans, plans that involved him becoming the most powerful man in the United States, and those plans officially started now. The first thing he would have to do, he decided, was to make his name known, he had to do something that would allow the common folks to know exactly who he was, or who he wanted them to think he was.

As Silverman walked into the building sipping his lukewarm coffee he gained an irritated look on his face, he hadn't paid much attention to his itinerary for the day, more focused on getting his caffeine fix, and he was cursing himself for that. Tossing his half-full cup into a trash bin as he entered the delegation chambers, he stopped for a moment to take in all the majesty of the room, before moving to take his seat. As the lead speaker began to call out an attendance and explain the matters at hand today, Silverman began to zone out, fantasizing about relaxing in the White House, living the easy life, before retiring and publishing his memoirs to keep the money rolling in.

He was pulled from his daydream by the lead speaker saying "And now delegates, I turn the floor over to the only matter at hand today, 'The proposal of unity in Humanities future ventures into space by way of an Alliance.' Presented by Mr. Louis Begnoche."

Approaching the stand was a rather bookish man, his thick glasses rested on his average sized nose, his brown eyes were darting from place to place as he looked over the crowd, pulling out a handkerchief from his pocket he wiped away the sweat from his brow and readjusted his suit before leaning toward the microphone. "Hello, esteemed delegates," he began, his voice betraying his French ancestry, "It is an honor to be in your presence today. As for the proposal that I have brought, I understand that it is not the place of a simple citizen of any country to presume to know more than those who have been chosen to represent them, but this is a matter I am sure you must see."

Louis took a sip of the water provided for him as the delegates chattered with their neighbors, before quieting as he spoke up again. Saying in a voice that seemed to get stronger the longer he spoke "I am sure that you are all aware of the recent finding on Mars, of that store of information from an alien race. With the discovery that there once was alien life practically on Humanities doorstep, the next question becomes, are they still out there, and if not, what happened? As such, this is my proposal,"

Louis then turned to the screen on the wall behind he stood in front of, and at his turn the screen flickered to life, showing a symbol of two gently curving bold lines, coming together above the planet Earth that rotated as they watched. As all eyes returned to the speaker with now rapt interest he pressed onward "The Systems Alliance, a union of all the nations on Earth and all colonies that exist, and will exist. With a parliament of elected officials to make laws covering all of Humanity, we can effectively expand, not as individual nations of creeds, but as one race, one movement, Mankind."

At this, the various delegates began to nod their heads in agreement, muttering to one another, and overall in approval of this motion, all except George Silverman. Despite putting an outward look of calm and collected, inside he was having a nervous breakdown. 'It is hard enough getting your name out there here in America! How am I going to compete on a worldwide level, never mind including any colonies that spring up!' he thought, valiantly fighting the urge to chew on his freshly manicured nails.

Louis, seeing the support that was coming from the crowd decided to press forward with his plans. Speaking now with the frenzy of a man possessed "Yes! And in order to prevent disputes on Earth or otherwise, as well as to protect the various colonies that will be set up, all troops will be drafted into the Alliance Naval Forces!"

At these words the approving muttering began to die down, with many looking uncomfortable with the fact that their armed forces, their last lines of defense, would be disbanded. Suddenly, Silverman had an epiphany, how he could make a name for himself quickly and end the threat that this Systems Alliance presented to his career in one fell swoop.

Raising his hand Silverman called out over the din of the other delegates "Excuse me, Mr. Begnoche? A word if I may?" Not waiting for a response Silverman stood up and flashed his most dazzling smile at the various delegates before turning back to Begnoche. With a deep, boisterous voice he started "You claim that this Alliance of yours is for the betterment of Humanity, correct? Then please explain, why instead of a measure to better all of our lives, your proposal sounds more like the demands of a conqueror!"

With many of the delegates in shock, and Begnoche sputtering, Silverman pressed on "You ask of us to give up our armed forces, the men and women who dedicate their lives to protect us, and instead have them indentured to you? Who is to say you won't take those troops we give you and instead use them to subjugate the world, becoming a dictator to a powerless public!"

With many of the delegates now looking as if they had been betrayed, Silverman decided to press home and make his mark on history. Practically shouting at this point he finished "And what of our rights of self-determination? Under this Alliance of yours, if a dictatorship can even be called that, we would lose that right, and many others as well! You are merely trying to use the sense of wonder and awe that we all have been feeling at this discovery for your own personal gain, and I for one will not support you." With a flourish he returned to his seat, internally smirking at seeing many of his fellow delegates nodding at his words with angry expressions on their faces.

When the vote finally came around, very few nations actually voted for a creation of the Alliance, including France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, however every other nation voted against, preferring to retain their individual sovereignty in all matters.

Years later President Silverman would look back on that day and proclaim that it is what assured him the presidency, however historians would look back on it and account all of Humanities future problems on that one speech, a speech which truly would, change history.

HMS Revelation, Deep Space, January 17 2157

Jonathan Jones, known to close friends as JJ, was staring blankly at his terminals screen, despite the so called prestigious job of being on a scouting vessel. When he was first told his new assignment would be on one of the many ships exploring the now accessible galaxy, Jonathan was excited! He saw himself as a dashing captain, in the same vein as Captain Kirk from Star Trek, gaining fame and fortune before retiring early to be in the company of any woman he wanted. However the armed forces just had to crush his dreams, instead stationing him at the close range sensors, looking out for any stray asteroids or general debris that they had the bad luck to be heading right toward. Normally such a mundane job would be better suited for a VI, a virtual intelligence, but with any and all excess funding going toward more and more space exploration the more expensive items generally went toward the more successful ships.

The Revelation, obviously, was not such a one. In the ten or so missions it had gone through, each lasting a couple of months, they had only found one habitable planet. There was talk of just scrapping the ship if this mission turned out to be a failure, and that made Jonathan nervous, though not for himself. In fact, the reason for his nervousness seemed to be coming up with a cup of instant coffee, a luxury the captain gave on "The last run this ole girl will ever see,".

Coming close was a large Scotsman, with striking red hair and large happy blue eyes. The man looked like he could fight off a bear on Earth if need be, and Jonathan had heard stories the big lug had done just that before he enlisted. The man's name was Duncan McClain, born in the Highlands back on Earth Duncan now served as the engineer on the Revelation, and he loved the ship. Every spare moment Duncan had that wasn't spent with Jonathan, who he declared to be his newest friend on Jonathans first day, was spent tinkering on the ship in any available space, whether in the engine room, the power distributor, or even the cockpit itself. No room was off limits to Duncan, no one seemed to have the heart to tell the larger man he couldn't work to lower the lag time on the controls when they were trying to leave a star system.

The cup of lukewarm caffeine was placed in front of him as the brutish man sat next to him, saying with a rough laugh "Ah, was tha matta' wit' ya? Ya lookin like a wee lass who's crush told her he don' like her. Do ya think I don' care bout ya? Ya know I like ya, but Revy here comes first." At this he gave the panel a loving caress which caused Jonathan to give a small snicker, before reaching over and quickly drinking the liquid, gaining a smile and leaning back in his chair as the taste danced over his taste buds. Seeing his companions look after drinking the coffee flavored water Duncan gave a snort and said "Bah, ya wouldn't be havin that look on ya face if ya ever had real coffee. Tha U.N. don' let you grow it on ya colony do they?"

Jonathan stretched his arms above his head as he replied "No, they don't want to see what Earth-born plant and animal life would do to another world until we have some more colonies to rely on. So we are stuck with the stuff we find. I'm telling you, once we get some leave I'm taking you home and letting you have a Brahmin steak, one of the best things you'll ever have." Here his Scottish friend gained a disgusted look on his face before shaking his head and laughing. Just as the large man was about to respond a large blaring sound erupted, looking down at his console Jonathan was surprised to see an unknown object right in the middle of their path, too late to adjust the course, Jonathan hit the button to put everything into stopping. Thankfully they managed to stop several thousand kilometers before crashing into it, though once he got a good look at the object his jaw dropped.

Floating in space just in front of the viewing glass was a behemoth of a construct, vastly outsizing the small scouting ship. His chrome colored metal curved from a center point on the far left, evening out into two parallel arms, looking reminiscent to a tuning fork. Incased by the gentle curve of the construct was two rings spinning around an orb of light blue substance, element zero Jonathan recalled as he shook himself out of his stupor. He began to turn to call for the captain, when a hand clasped his shoulder and a soft voice gave out a melodic laugh, feeling his cheeks begin to color as he turned to the source of the sound.

Standing a little below Jonathans chin was a young woman, only a few years older than himself, with bright blonde hair and equally eye catching blue eyes. Her lithe form was currently accentuated by the tight fitting sleeping clothing the Royal Navy provided, though Jonathan forced his eyes away right as the woman spoke up " Well, looks like this ole' girl still has some fight left in her huh? Man, are we going get a huge paycheck for this one! Do you think we could convince the higher ups to give us a cut of the tax this thing is going to make?"

That reminded Jonathan of the reason so many nations were scrambling for Mass Relays, as the monoliths were called. After the discovery of the first extra-solar Mass Relay, the U.N. had passed a law stating that the first nation to discover, and reactivate, a Mass Relay had the rights to claim it and charge a fee for any foreign vessels passing through. Currently the Chinese had the most Relays controlled, pushing out cheap, and in some cases incomplete, ships to stake their claims, the Americans had the second highest, although theirs were more strategically valuable than the Chinese.

Breaking out of his stupor once again, deciding he would need more coffee to stay awake, Jonathan noticed the captain working furiously at a console, more than likely trying to remotely activate the Relay, meanwhile Duncan was working on sending a message back to the nearest outpost, giving their location. Deciding to make himself useful and make another pot of coffee, foreseeing that this would be another sleepless cycle for himself, he was surprised to see another object closing in on the radar.

Turning to alert the captain he was stopped as he glanced out the viewport, stunned by what he saw. In simple terms it was a ship, however that was nothing to balk at, almost all nations had a space program now a days. No, what made this ship different was that it was decidedly unhuman, while most ships were sleek, and minimalistic, this ship seemed to be the opposite. It was bulky, with none of the smoothness other ships showed, it also had a strange design, looking similar to a bird in flight.

Before he could even make a sound, the captain was up and barking orders, Duncan began to try and set up a communication channel with the mysterious ship with no effect. Suddenly the captain turned to Jonathan and spoke in an extremely calm voice "Jonathan, I want you to get in the shipboard escape pod, and head back to Shanxi. Tell the Chinese what you've seen here, the location of the Relay, and give them this if they don't believe you." Here she handed him a small computer drive, holding up a hand to stop and further argument, finishing "Listen, you're the youngest person here, you got a bright future ahead of you. We don't know who these blokes are, but since we can't set up communications with them we have to assume they are hostile. The other ships, the rest of humanity needs to know that we. Are. Not. Alone. For the sake of everyone else out there, besides you couldn't make Duncan abandon this ship for anything, and a captains supposed to go down with the ship right?"

Jonathan looked at his captain in the eyes, taking note of the tears streaming down her face, he realized, as a pit of dread settled in his stomach, that she was completely sure she was going to die, but she couldn't take the risk that the aliens were friendly. Taking a deep, shuddering breath he gave a salute to his first two crewmates, praying to whatever Gods were listening that they would be safe. Muffling a sob Jonathan turned and ran to the only escape pod that was on the ship, it luckily had an FTL drive since the captain was afraid of the ship breaking down out of communication range.

As Jonathan Jones shot away from the Revelation he would witness a sight that would leave him with many a sleepless night for years to come. Just as his ship initiated its FTL drive, the much larger ship suddenly light up with bright bursts of light, and almost immediately after the Revelation began to shake, before the entire ship exploded outwards. Realizing if the explosion did not end his crewmates, that the vacuum of space would soon finish the job. Feeling completely numb Jonathan did not even register the one sided battle fading to the bright lights passing by indicating his nearing destination of the Chinese colony of Shanxi.

United Nations Delegation Room, Arcturus Station, January 19 2157

Word had quickly spread from the authorities on Shanxi to the wider community, there were disbelievers of course, some claiming it was simply pirates trying to remain hidden, or a rival nation, or even that it was a giant hoax. However these claims were suddenly muted when a British patrol fleet entered the area, finding not only the remains of the HMS Revelation, but also a now much higher number of unknown ships. After exchanging small shots back and forth the British fleet was able to escape and let the rest of their race know, this was no hoax, this was the first contact they had awaited, and it was christened with the blood of the innocent.

The chamber of the United Nations, taken off Earth when concerns over bias to the home world came up and allowed them to move to a neutral station, was in complete disarray, many were calling for a widespread mobilization to push these aggressors from their borders. Others called for a much more subdued reaction, saying that they should begin peace talks immediately as the enemy must have more advanced technology to be patrolling this deep into neutral territory, as nothing had been picked up from any possible alien colonies. And a small faction was in favor of allowing the British to fight on their own, as they were the only ones the aliens had so far attacked.

Ivan Asimov was the representative from the Russian Federation, and once the clamor in the room grew too much for even his near infinite patience, he stood up and gave a mighty yell, silencing almost everyone as all eyes drew to the young Russian. Speaking with a deep, yet at the same time booming voice he said "Friends, is this what a threat will turn us into? Children squabbling and willing to abandon each other at a seconds notice? If so than perhaps these aliens should eradicate us, for we would surely do it sooner or later if we cannot even have a civil discussion. Now I understand the concerns many of you have about facing off with an unknown enemy, our plight might seem helpless, we may be signing our own death warrents by choosing to take up arms instead of bowing our heads."

Suddenly he slammed his fist on the metal desk, giving out a loud clang as he continued with more conviction than ever "But! We can not stand idly by while we are divided and conquered, neither can we show weakness to this foe, they have claimed first blood by destroying an unarmed scouting ship. Will we let the sacrifices of Captain Donnelly and First Mate McClain go to waste by letting their murders put the rest of our race in chains? Never! But, a single man is incapable of defeating a giant, and so too is one nation able to defeat this threat. We must band together to drive this foe from our shores, put aside petty squabbles and join as one unstoppable force. If we do not then there are only two outcomes for the human race, either we are eradicated completely, or we are taken as slaves. Personally, I deny either choice, I would rather die on my own two feet with a gun in my hand, than live a complacent life on my knees. I ask not for your allegiance, and certainly not your loyalty, all I ask is for you to help your fellow man in this, our hour of reckoning. "

Without another word the large man sat down and simply gazed at the other occupants of the room. By the end of the day the vote would be cast, and the United Nations and all its member states began to prepare for total war.

Authors note: Hello there everybody! If you are reading this then you have either enjoyed my work, or have put up with it to see where I would go with it. In either case I thank you for seeing this through, and ask you to tell me what you thought of this, what I did right, and what I did terribly wrong. Well, this is a bit shorter than I would like for a story chapter, but since it's the first for this story and my introduction to this universe. I hope to see you all next time!

And as always, stay classy internet.