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Stargate: Mass Effect

Chapter18: The Citadel Council

May 25th 2183
Xi System
Tyron Nebula
TSAS Normandy
Cockpit

The Normandy floated silently under cloak just out of range of the defence fleet around the Ori Citadel. The massive superstructure looked identical to the one back home and just like the one back home it took quite a while to locate. Thankfully none of the ships in range had been able to penetrate their cloak so they were able to go unnoticed while they scanned the various ships in the area.

"They've certainly got quite the fleet huh Commander?" Joker commented.

"There are approximately three hundred and seventy two ships in the area. I believe I have located their flagship too," EDI informed.

"Let's see it," Sheppard nodded and a hologram of one specific ship appeared beside Joker. "That's a lot bigger than their other ships...looks just a little bigger than an O'Neill-class."

"According to comm traffic it's Destiny Ascension; it seems to be a dreadnought," EDI responded.

"Orders Commander?" Joker asked over his shoulder.

"Take us in nice and slow but tell engineering to keep the Hyperdrive ready. We might need to leave quickly if things go south," Sheppard gave the order. "Get ready to drop the cloak and hail that ship on my order."

"Aye aye," Joker called as he guided the Normandy towards the massive alien dreadnought.

"Drop the cloak and raise shields. Do not power up weapons unless I say," Sheppard ordered.

"Disengaging cloaking device now," EDI reported. "Switching cloak to shield...shields are up...and we've been spotted."

"Activity?" Sheppard questioned.

"Several ships have changed course and are moving to intercept. A number of carriers are launching fighters," EDI replied.

"Open a channel," Sheppard ordered.

"Channel open," Miranda was the one who spoke.

"This is Commander John Sheppard representing the Terran Systems Alliance and its allies. We have come to discuss your actions and attacks on our government. Please respond," Sheppard spoke clearly.

"...Sir, one of the Turian ships is firing," EDI reported.

"Joker, evasive action," Sheppard ordered.

A Turian dreadnought had moved into range and fired one the Terran frigate as soon as it was able to. Not even waiting for confirmation from his higher-ups the Captain in charge of the Turian warship ordered to attack and fired off several mass accelerator rounds at it. The Normandy accelerated, dodging one of the projectiles as the others struck its shields.

"Bring us around and return fire. Use the Asgard cannons," Sheppard ordered. "Let's show them we are not to be messed with."

The Normandy turned sharply at speeds that just didn't seem possible for a vessel of its size and moved to engage the Turian dreadnought. The gun ports on the nose of the Normandy opened and light blue superheated plasma erupted from four forward cannons. The beams struck the Turian warship one after the other, battering away at its defences until nothing remained. The first hit cut through its kinetic barriers and the other three shots burned through the vessel until it broke apart from secondary explosions.

"Come on Sheppard, this is a waste of time," Jack grunted in annoyance.

"I hate to say it but I have to agree," Jacob added. "We're barely out in the open for a few seconds before they decide to take a pot-shot at us."

"I say we get out of here and go home. What's the point in staying?" Kasumi suggested.

"Commander," EDI spoke up. "We are receiving a transmission from the Citadel...it's for you."

"...Put it on," Sheppard gave the order.

"This is Councillor So'hera of the Asari representing the Citadel Council," a woman's voice sounded through the speakers. "Stand down and land your craft. I promise you will not be harmed and we will discuss this matter with you here on the Citadel."

"...You seem to be mistaken Councillor," Sheppard said back. "We do not trust you after seeing your actions towards us...I will not have my ship land on the Citadel and allow your people to lock down my ship's systems with the control interface."

The silence that followed was golden...

"I bet the hag thought we wouldn't know that," Jack scoffed.

"I do not know what you are talking about," So'hera responded after a moment of silence.

"Sure you don't," Sheppard said dryly. "We will transport over to the control tower shortly...if you try anything I will authorise the deployment of several high yield warheads on the Citadel...this is your only warning...Sheppard out," the channel closed.

"Well that went well," Joker said cheerfully.

"Move us into beaming range," Sheppard ordered and turned. "Ashley, Jacob, you two are with me. Kasumi, Jack, Kaiden and Zaeed, I want you four to beam in at separate coordinates and see if you can hack their networks. EDI, as soon as they're able to establish a connection I want you to download everything you can about these people. Force deployment, territories and anything you can on the Reapers."

"Aye aye skipper," Ashley nodded.

"Miranda, you have the Conn," Sheppard said as he proceeded down the ramp.

Joker just grinned as he remembered that one old saying he had kept hearing throughout his career.

"It's one of those days..."

May 25th 2183
Xi System
Tyron Nebula
Ori Citadel
Council Chambers

"I say we destroy them now before they bring their weapons to bear on the Citadel," the Turian councillor suggested in a snarl. "They dare to show their faces here after their actions against us. And they destroyed another one of our ships too! We will not stand for this!"

"In case you have forgotten it was the Turian Hegemony that attacked their ship and invaded their space. None of the other races in Citadel Space have done so," the Asari councillor brought up.

"This is only because of the technology these 'Terrans' have demonstrated," the Salarian councillor countered.

"It doesn't matter," the Turian councillor sneered. "C-Sec will take this 'Commander Sheppard' into custody as soon as his shuttle lands; once he is in our custody his ship will not dare to fire on the Citadel."

"...What's that?" the Salarian councillor inquired as several columns of light appeared near the stairs.

"What?" the Turian councillor took a step back in surprise as the lights died down to reveal three humans, two male and one female. "How did you get here? Guards!" almost immediately security teams appeared from the side corridors.

"Not exactly the warm welcome I was expecting," Ashley muttered with her rifle raised.

"Were you expecting something else?" Jacob asked her amused.

"I'm Commander Sheppard of the Normandy, representing the Terran Systems Alliance and its allies. You have committed several acts of aggression against my government and I am here to discuss this matter. I would also appreciate it if you weren't constantly pointing guns at us," Sheppard stated clearly.

"Lower your weapons," the Asari councillor ordered and the guards reluctantly did so.

"How did you get here? What do you want?" the Turian councillor demanded rudely.

"We have matter-teleportation technology for use in getting around," Sheppard responded simply.

"We'd experimented with the idea but we were never able to get it to work," the Salarian mused.

"You dare to come here and enter this chamber like its nothing to you? No matter...we are willing to discuss the terms of your surrender," the Turian councillor smirked.

"We're not here to surrender," Sheppard said coldly. "We are here because we will no longer tolerate your ships entering our space and attacking our people. Do so again and we will make you regret it."

"Go Sheppard," he heard Joker through the comm.

"You attack one of our ships unprovoked without responding to hails and even without a declaration of hostilities. You then invade our space and launch an attack on one of our worlds. Now that we've come looking for you in order to stop this from going any further you demand our surrender? I'll tell you right now, that is not going to happen," Sheppard declared to the room.

"Perhaps we can come to an agreement in order to prevent the war from escalating," the Salarian councillor suggested. "After all the Turian Hegemony on behalf of the Citadel Council were merely upholding our laws during both incidents with your people."

"You mean their law dictates that they must attack wondering ships and invade sovereign territory? Interesting," Sheppard smile coldly.

"Why you-" the Turian councillor started.

"Your ship reactivated a Mass Relay which is against our laws," the Asari councillor cut in. "And the invasion of your space was authorised in order to inform you of the dangers throughout the galaxy."

"Oh please," Ashley muttered as she held back a groan.

"Yes well...we don't answer to you," Sheppard said back. "We're peaceful explorers and unlike you and the Asgard we plan on mapping the entire Mass Relay network."

"You can't do that," the Turian councillor snarled angrily.

"We can and will," Sheppard told them. "You may like your comfy lives sitting here and keeping your fleets close to home. But we're different; we have both the capacity and the will to go further than others dare to tread. You probably made that law because you found something in the universe and didn't like it and decided to leave it until it went away. We've encountered dozens of civilizations across three galaxies and even if we don't like what we find we still push forward."

"Silence!" the Turian councillor demanded.

"Your race appears impulsive," the Asari councillor commented.

"I believe we are getting off track," the Salarian councillor brought up.

"Yes, we still need to-" Sheppard stopped when he heard his radio filling with static.

"Normandy to shore party...damn it Sheppard answer already!" Joker shouted through the comm.

"We hear you; what is it Joker? I'm a little busy right now," Sheppard asked into the comm.

"We got company," Joker replied nervously. "It just came through the Mass Relay...three hundred and seventy-six ships led by a Reaper."

"...Beam us back aboard," Sheppard ordered.

"What is this?" the Asari councillor asked as alarms started to blare across the Citadel.

"Trouble," was Sheppard's only response before he and his teammates disappeared in columns of light.

May 25th 2183
Xi System
Tyron Nebula
TSAS Normandy
Cockpit

The Normandy broke away from the station as a fleet of dozens of ships descended on it. The moment Sheppard had been beamed back aboard he had took off towards the cockpit, passing frantic officers and marines on the way.

"Report?" Sheppard ordered as he entered the cockpit.

"Kasumi and I managed to hack into the Citadel database while you were over their Commander," EDI spoke up. "According to the data we gathered the ships with the Reaper are from a machine race known as the Geth. Scans show heavy Mass Accelerators and extensive numbers of Naquadah-enhanced nuclear missiles aboard their ships."

"Great, more Replicators," Joker said through gritted teeth.

"Joker, get us clear of the Citadel," Sheppard ordered.

"I'm already on it," Joker responded as the Normandy shot away from the Citadel.

"Can we dispatch a message to Eden Prime?" Sheppard questioned.

"Not while inside the nebula," EDI replied. "I may be able to send a message through the Mass Relay however...give me some time."

"Time is something we are running out of," Sheppard said grimly as he looked out at the looming Reaper-led fleet. "Battle stations!"

Author's Notes:

Sovereign and the Geth attack the Citadel and the Normandy prepares to do battle with them along with the Citadel defence ships. It sounds like an even fight, right? The again since when do the Reapers play fair?

As for First Contacts gone wrong, the Vulcans in Star Trek came in after WW3 and Earth was pretty much destroyed. They played the role of friendly neighbours and helped get Earth back on its feet. If they had encountered Earth prior to that then they probably wouldn't have involved themselves with Earth at all.

And B5s contact with the Minbari was a disaster even if Earth had already made first contact with other races. The Minbari still had still pushed to commit genocide against humanity and came damn close to doing it too. Humanity only survived because Delenn picked a fighter craft out from the battlefield and found out he was their long-dead spiritual leader.

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