A/N:

Welcome!

First of all, a warning: This story is primarily A/U, meaning the events contained within are to be considered: Non Canon!

I draw slight inspiration for this story from: Mass Effect: A New Past, by BombSquad. [I say slight because ME:FW isn't based upon A New Past, rather I was inspired by the latter to make the former]

In order to set a premise, there will be time-skip points and timeline entries. I will also be making a conscious effort to create a Codex for the Non-Canon entries into the Universe.

Now, if anyone has any suggestions, critiques, complaints or praises, please feel free to say so in a review. (I read all reviews, and I'm checkin' 'em twice. [Yes])

Next, I'm not a professional writer by any definition. So if you see anything wrong with my story, any plot-holes, or anything of the kind, please let me know in a review, I'm constantly reading them and I'm constantly using them to improve.

Prologue

2124:

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration makes its mark on history as being the first space organization to successfully land a man upon Mars, and keep him alive and safe. As the world celebrates, NASA is silenced upon the discovery of an artificial construction found several miles from the landing zone. Said construction, despite having similarities to Human engineering, is not Human in origin, leading a flabbergasted Space Administration to almost completely change the goals and parameters of the mission. Very few physical items, such as baubles or technological devices, are found inside the construction - which, upon investigation, is decided to be a station of some sort, that seemed to be capable of supporting human life at one point in history -, and next to no data is found in the functional terminals, except for mentionings and references to a race called the 'Protheans'. It is assumed that the Protheans is the species that had created the outpost, but for reasons unknown had abandoned it almost immediately after it's construction.

2125:

The meeting of the Modern Global Military Powers, consisting of The United States of America, The Russian Federation, the Unified South American States, and the European Union, is considered successful in the public eyes: Mankind is soon to reach for the stars in colonization efforts. Behind closed doors, the militarization of space is authorized, blueprints for starships and space-weapons are drafted, in preparation for possible extra-terrestrial attack.

2130:

Finally solving the centuries-old problem of the Lightspeed Limit, the 'Warp Drive' is created, and tested upon an aircraft. Tests are successful, the space-worthy aircraft manages to 'warp' to the moon, and 'warp' back in minutes. The warp drive works on a simple concept, Jason McGraw, the scientist in charge of the breakthrough, had this to say: "Imagine, a piece of string. Now, for sake of argument, say it takes you an hour to travel across this string, from end to end. With the McGraw Warp Drive, we take the two ends of the string, and put them together. Turning the hour long trip and making it take only two minutes." The world celebrates, as true space ships are being built. The first true spaceships known to Human kind are military ones, outfitted with advanced modern weaponry: Rail Guns, high-caliber cannons, and point-defense laser turrets.

2133:

The question of just whom should represent the Human Race is raised, as no one nation of Earth should hold the indescribable honor of representing the Earth's children. Soon afterwards, the Human Systems Alliance is formed, to be the 'face' of humanity, in any sort of extraterrestrial contact. All ships that had been created by the Earth's military powers fall under the Alliance's banner.

2146:

The first civilian Space Ship is escorted through Warp-Space to the closest Earth-like planet to our star, Sol. The Alliance First Fleet escorts the colonists to Planet Eden, the First-Colonized world by the Human Race. Both worlds celebrate.

2146:

The Alliance Advancement Task Force is formed, they have a single goal: Make Humanity Stronger.

2150:

As Eden is mass-colonized, the fruits of the AATF are found: Artificial Intelligences. A failed experiment from Earth's previous century, these Artificial Intelligences are truly thinking machines. One was able to formulate [What the scientists believed to be] a consciousness in a few hours. Three hours after that, it asked it's first question, 'Am I Alive?'. The answer was simple: 'It's impossible to understand… But we consider you so'. And thus, all of the fears the movie-companies had given us about Sentient Synthetic Intelligences were put to rest, as the AI [It chose the name: Nikola, after Nikola Tesla] began working along-side it's creators to create the next incredible advancement: [INFORMATION REDACTED UNDER ALLIANCE INTELIGENCE ORDER: 13612998]

2150:

An object is found in the orbit of a planet at the edge of the Eden System. It is massive, several times larger than an Alliance Flagship. Work is begun to study the object, while Alliance Intelligence simultaneously works to hide it from the public eye.

2152:

After a global meeting, it is decided that the 'Tuning Gate' [Named after it's shape and design] shall be activated. Upon activation, one of the frigates passing by it's center of mass is attacked by an immense energy surge, and disappears as if it entered Warp Space. A report is sent back an hour after the ship is declared missing, they were launched towards another habitable Solar System, with another Earth-like planet located past it. Upon the frigate's return, the object was shut off and a meeting is called as to what it could be, and what it means. Due to the fact that it was in such a pristine state, it was decided that We are not alone, and we should expect 'neighbors' imminently.

2158:

On a hunch, a member of the AATF asks the Alliance to 'open' the Tuning Gate. One ship uses the gate to travel to the system it had recorded earlier, another ship uses conventional Warp Speed to reach the system. Several things are discovered.
First of all, using the Tuning Gate was thrice as effective, as it did in seconds what took the other ship several hours to accomplish.
Secondly, the Tuning Gate skipped over at least four systems, two of which had Habitable worlds. [The ship that used the gate had discovered at least four systems surrounding the exit-point's system, but none of them were among the ones that the Warp-ship found.]
The AATF begins to study the Tuning Gate, in an attempt to figure out how it works and how to replicate it's speed of travel.

2200:

The Human Systems Alliance [And all peoples therein] celebrates the new century. Progress into the study of Tuning Gates goes slowly, AI's have been able to learn how to turn them on and off in moments, but that's all. Humanity has yet to colonize another world, as they want not to spread themselves too far, and risk an Extraterrestrial attack on a planet they cannot reach. Eden and Earth stand as the only publicly Human'owned' worlds in the Milky Way. Eden is becoming more like Earth with each passing year, with gigantic, sprawling cities being quickly forged on one continent, and immensely successful farm plots forming on another. The third continent is to be considered an 'Earth' continent, meaning it will have a mixture of cities, towns, and farms. Estimates put the next planetary colonization effort to occur in 2205, on planet 'Valhalla', the second habitable planet not in the path of the Tuning Gate.

2201:

A flotilla from the AATF, escorted by the four ships from the Alliance First Fleet [One destroyer and three frigates] have jumped through a Tuning Gate, to an untouched one, and are planning on sending in an Artificial Intelligence, to allow 'him' to see everything before Human hands alter it.

Space. Many beings called it by many things, but Captain Byron Connor simply knew it as big. His ship, an Alliance Naval Destroyer, was big too, but that was compared to planetary measurements, compared to a star system, to a galaxy, or to the universe, his ship, let alone he himself, was terribly insignificant, like an atom trying to make its mark upon a planet. Though he interestedly noted that splitting an atom could easily make a mark on a planet, he pushed that thought aside as he admitted one thing: Space, in all its vastness and danger, was beautiful. There was absolutely nothing like exiting the Warp and, as your eyes adjusted and the feeling of acceleration left your gut, seeing the starlit void again.

"Eden Alliance Control, this is Captain Connor, of the SSV Reach reporting." Uniformly said the Captain of the lone Alliance Destroyer of the escort group of four military ships, and three science ships. The Captain rubbed his balding head, as he came to terms with what he was doing: Protecting a bunch of eggheads for several days while they try and understand things millennia beyond his race's technological capability. The aging captain appreciated one aspect of the mission, though: It was simple. All he had to do was survive several days of tormenting boredom, and he would be able to go home.

"Go ahead Reach."

"We're approaching Tuning Gate B, our AI, Rosenda, is about to activate it." Reported the captain, in a crisp, clear tone as his miniature fleet of ships soared across the silent, dark void.

"Understood. Report back the moment you can. Control out."

"This is it, people." Said the Captain, as he surveys his surroundings.

The circular bridge of Captain Connor's ship, the Systems Space Vessel Reach, contrasted the triangular design of the ship itself. In front of him was a map of known Human Space, a 'space-chart', as opposed to a sea chart. It was two-dimensions in appearance, not at all like the 3D Holographic charts on the more modern ships, but it served it's job well. Around him, forming an 'O' around his chair and the map, were walkways leading to the navigation center, and to the elevator behind him. Next to the walkways were depressions, in which communications were located. The captain smiled, as he saw one woman converse with the ship's Artificial Intelligence, Rosenda. AI's had gone a long way during their relatively short life. While initially, many were apprehensive of the AI's ability to coexist with humanity, primarily due to the 20th and 21st century's movies instilling them, these fears were dashed when an AI was responsible for detecting the 79-mile wide meteor that would have hit Luna, and then Earth only a few months after it was detected. The entire Alliance Navy worked tirelessly to remove the threat, and eventually, a combination Rail-gun and Mass Driver-assisted Nuclear Strike managed to split the meteor in two, and cause it to harmlessly float past Earth in two chunks. The people in the United States and in some parts of Africa got an amazing shooting-star show that night, according to the history books.

After the 'Great Artificial Rescue', AI's had become much more accepted in human society, and were integrated into many levels, including average society, naval, military, and even education. Funding was diverted towards the AI's in a show of faith towards this new 'SynthHuman' race, even gaining a token taxonomic classification, 'Synthesapiens'; and immediately after the funding was acquired, the AI's evolved to a point where the only difference between a human brain and the Artificial Intelligence's mind was the fact that the AI worked at a rate much faster than a human, and that the human had a body, and even then, AI's could opt to release themselves from their AI Disks and populate an android's body, the closest an AI could ever get to true life. Personality updates were among the many things that made AI's more human, and more acceptable in human society.

Captain Connor saw - in a camera image brought forth by Rosenda upon request - the Tuning Gate. It made him feel small, when he looked at it, not as small as he felt in Space, but small nonetheless. And he was in his ship, a Destroyer; an Alliance Destroyer was a marvel of modern engineering, it was nearly as maneuverable as a frigate, but was lengthier, had thicker armor, and had more firing power. An Alliance Destroyer was designed to go into the thick of it, to break the rules of modern naval combat and flank, suppress, and destroy the enemy using Warp Travel and several broadside and deck-mounted Rail Guns. When the calculations had been done, it was said that it would only take five Alliance Destroyers to take out a Space-Craft Carrier in a single volley. This was notable, as the Space-Craft Carrier was the next step up in class, and it would take ten frigates worth of firepower to take out a carrier in a single volley. Sadly, when calculations were done against an Alliance Dreadnought [The next step up in military naval vessel, from Space Craft Carrier], five turned to twenty. When pit against a virtual flagship, the AI simply said: Don't.

"Activating the Tuning Gate." Said the AI's synthesized voice; it spoke with a tone and speed of a young woman, it's tone and volume was light and friendly.

A moment after the AI's fleet-wide declaration, the celestial machine in front of them activated, and the massive blue orb erupted into a ball of energy, as the massive rings kept said energy contained. The Captain and the Artificial Intelligence had little idea how they worked, he remembered something about 'Dark Energy', but he knew even less about that.

As the Reach flew towards the gate, Connor felt a cold feeling run down his spine. When the Reach entered the gate's radius, large swaths of blue electricity arced to the ship. As the ship continued down the gate's length, more energy connected to the ship, until after a few moments, it was catapulted forward at several light-years a second.

"Arrived at new system. Activating scanner, scanning for exit Tuning Gate, habitable planets, and mining systems." Declared the AI, as it carries out it's own orders, "Friendly ships arriving in three… Two… One." And with that declaration, the rest of the fleet arrived behind the Reach, to stop suddenly next to the cold, dead celestial machine next to them.

"Open up communications to the other ships, make sure everything is okay." Ordered the captain, as he calmly sat back in his chair.

"Other ships responding, everything's green."

"Rosenda, are you ready for the transfer?"

"Yes Captain. I have scanned the system, there is another Tuning Gate at the opposite end of the system's star. This one shows active power signatures."

"Alright... Wait, what?" The suddenly alert captain, "what does that mean?" He clarified, fear creeping up his spine with all the subtlety of a water balloon.

"It is activated."

"Is… anyone else in the system with us?" The Captain asked, hiding the nervousness in his voice with a gulp.

"I detect no Anti-Engine signatures in this system, nor do I detect any other power sources, aside from the Alliance ships and the other Tuning Gate."

"Alright… Wells, contact the other Navy vessels, inform them of the situation, tell them to be on standby, and be ready for combat at a moment's notice." The Captain ordered firmly.

"Yes sir." Responded one of the communications officers, "what about the scientific vessels?"

"Tell them it's just a precautionary measure. Same one we took when we found Valhalla."

"Understood."

Five minutes later, the Artificial Intelligences from the scientific flotilla were pouring themselves into the Tuning Gate, learning everything and anything the could. Connor tried at one point to read a report, but found his head spinning after the first few sentences. The aging Captain wasn't stupid, not by any means, but advanced particle and molecular physics were something far beyond his level of education.

Several hours passed by, the aging captain could almost feel his dark wrinkled skin settle, and balding hair turn grey. To say he was bored was an understatement, but he wouldn't say so, nor would he show it, and as such he maintained his upright posture and stoic expression. He couldn't wait for the rapidly approaching Eden weekend, he'd been granted the week following off, in return for accepting this mission. He couldn't wait to see his wife, the last time they'd talked after was their daughter had gotten married, and that had been several weeks ago. The captain had fond memories of his daughter's wedding, and meeting his new daughter-in-law's parents for the first time had been a treat.

"Captain!" Roared the synthetic voice of Rosenda, suddenly the Captain realized there were several people calling his name, the AI had gotten through to him by using the phone in his pocket's speaker.

"What? What's wrong?"

"A dozen contacts just exited the opposite Tuning Gate, and have disappeared into Warp Space. Most likely they've detected us and are moving to contact." A communications officer urgently updated him.

"Update, new contacts, previous approximates wrong, estimated forty -" The AI cut itself off for a half second, "ninety seven - three hundred four - six hundred twelve - eight hundred forty four contacts and counting. All seem to be spreading out from the Tuning Gate from which they have erupted from."

"Recall the scientific vessels!" The Captain ordered urgently, his mind shifting into combat mode, "get them behind the Frigates and hail the ships coming in. Are they friendly?" He asked of the AI.

"Unknown. They do not match any known Alliance signatures."

"Wait, what?"

"They are not human, captain."

Several of the longest, most silent seconds in Human history passed as the Captain digested this information, " what are you saying, that they're... Alien? That this is a first contact scenario?" He almost whispered.

"Yes."

"Hail the ships on all channels and frequencies, but do not - I say again, do not - appear hostile. Prepare the FCP." No Human in history had ever given the official order to prepare the First Contact Package, drills had been run and scenarios tested, but never once in Humanity's space-faring age had they ever truly had to execute it. Connor cleared his throat, "my name is Captain Byron Connor of the SSV Reach, of the Human Systems Alliance." He said, his heart thundering in his ears as the AI recorded the message, "we come in peace, and we do not seek hostilities of any kind." He had to speak slowly, and calmly, anything - and his OCS instructors had stressed anything - could be misconstrued as hostile words, actions, or tones, "I hope your species and ours can coexist."

"Sending First Contact Message and Package on all available channels." The AI broadcasted, "estimated number of contacts breaching three thousand, and continuing to rise."

As the Captain waited for the AI to stop counting and bring up the scanners, he thought of the First Contact Package. In essence, it was a video greeting, recording a 'welcome to Earth' on several key societal locations upon said planet. It would show cheerful images of peace, friendship, love and brotherhood so as to suggest the same to whatever aliens Humanity may meet. Literal months had been spent after Eden's initial colonization on what exactly should be put in the message, some had argued to put in mathematical formulae to show our advanced state, while others had stressed we show our military to show that we were capable of defending ourselves. In the end, the current FCP had been decided upon, and once every ten years it was updated to show modern Humanity.

Good god… Aliens! Thought Connor, as it sunk in what was happening: First Contact. The First Contact! He, of all people, was going to be the human that decided the fate of every other one in the Milky Way, through a simple series of videos, statements and pictures. He couldn't believe that it was he, that would be the first human to find, meet, and speak to any aliens in the galaxy. He'd honestly wanted his species to have a military presence at least five times larger than it had, so it would be able to fend off any possible alien invasion or incursion, and maybe a planetary presence of at least twenty, with Eden being the most developed of the twenty, so it could be mistaken for the human homeworld, Earth.

I can only imagine what the crew is thinking… Thought the captain, before he got too impatient waiting for the AI and brought up the scanners himself, replacing the two-dimensional map of the star system with a two-dimensional scan of the star system. A sea of yellow dots were spewing forth from the Tuning Gate, Rosenda was reporting that the numbers were going upwards of five thousand, and showed no sign of letting up.

What have we stepped into? The captain asked himself.

Reaching to the stars will either prove the downfall or the uplifting of the Quarian race. An Ancestor had once said, as we stand at the precipice of true travel at speeds faster than light, we must consider what the ultimate unknown holds in store for our race, and if we can weather it without losing ourselves.

Admiral Sri'Zoran recounted these words as his ship, the Morrule, hurtled towards the Mass Relay at speeds beyond relativistic. The Quarian Race, once a proud and mighty people, now - quite literally - retreating from the galaxy in shame and in desperation. The Admiralty board of the Quarian Migrant Fleet had realized the desperate situation that had occurred in the recent decades. The absolute lack of resources to be found was a detriment to the fleet as a whole, the Quarian people desperately needed a home, but the only ones they could lay any claim to were getting farther and farther away with each passing moment. And any other untouched garden worlds would be bombed by the Turians if they tried to settle, effectively barring them to space, and dooming them to extinction. As it was, the Quarian Fleet was a shell of it's former self, where once it could have had an extensive engagement with the Turian Navy, and maybe even the Geth if they were lucky, now due to it's dwindling supplies and limited food, the once great and mighty fleet was fleeing known space. The admiralty board had decided that the Quarian people would have a home, that the Quarian people needed a home, even if they had to disappear from the face of the galaxy, and enter uncharted space to do so.

One day, The first Admiral of the Migrant Fleet had said, weeks after they had fled the Homeworld and had begun their exile, One day the Quarian people will rise again, with our heads held high. Space, as it were, was once considered the most great and most vast of unknowns, and within it we will find our destiny once again.

The Admiral shook his head, the Quarian Race would rise again, certainly, but not with their heads held high. The massive, looming Mass Relay seemed to cast an ever-present sense of gloom over the Admiral, as his ship hurtled towards it. Where once the Relay had been a spark of imagination and hope in their people, now it was the key to their existence, and the catalyst for their shame. However, Admiral Zoran knew that for all their shame, for all their centuries of torment and exile, when the Quarian people rose again, their Homeworld would be the first of many acts towards redemption.

"All paths begin with a single step." Zoran said softly, almost inaudibly, before his ship was catapulted forth by the Mass Relay.

Admiral Sri'Zoran Vas Morrule stood at the helm of his massive live-ship, as it was among the first to enter the border-system between charted and uncharted space. From here, it was a single FTL-to-Relay jump to uncharted waters, unclaimed lands, and lawless space with which to find a home and call their own. Out here, the Citadel Council had no jurisdiction, their laws held no weight, and out here in the deserts of the galaxy, would be where the Quarian people would find shelter, to lick their wounds, rebuild their fleets, sustain their people, and begin their society anew.

However, as an Ancestor had once said, the mysteries of space were only matched by their wonders.

"Admiral Zoran!" Loudly, urgently, said a Quarian naval man.

"Yes? What is it?" Asked the Admiral, as he looked around the dimly lit bridge to find the Quarian that had spoken up.

"I've detected something on the scanner, upon second glance, it looks like a small flotilla, seven ships." Reported the Quarian.

"Did we send anyone ahead of the fleet, to scout the system?" Zoran asked calmly.

"No sir, and it's not a Council Patrol either, they're not scheduled to run anywhere near this area of space for a Galactic Week at least."

"Then who is it?"

"Hold on… I've pinged their ships but the scans are coming up negative, they're not anything we've seen before." The Quarian looked from his terminal to his Admiral, "they aren't built to Citadel Conventions, sir, the Scanners can only identify that they are space-worthy vessels, they don't know what exactly they are... what is this, sir?"

The admiral was silent, for many moments.

"That they are civilian ships not carrying any identifications our scanners can pick up, they're mercenaries… or.." The Admiral paused, as he considered the unthinkable.

"Or?"

Certainly not. Thought Zoran, though Space was vast and their ignorance of it even greater, there could be no possible way a space-worthy species had slipped underneath the Council's radar. There was no possible way that the Quarian people would be the ones to meet, contact, greet, and welcome a new empire to the Galaxy. Statistics had once said that there could be anywhere from millions to billions of species out in space, but as Quarian history went on and the only races to be discovered were the ones that had already been discovered, they had all assumed the Galaxy was empty, that what they had found was what there was to be found.

There are two scenarios here. Zoran thought as he chose his next words carefully, each one more horrifying than the last. He visualized them in his head, the bridge going dead silent as he stared in front of him, a determined scowl hidden by his mask. What we are finding could very well be true Protheans, ones not yet ascended from this Galaxy... Or...

"This is First Contact." He thought aloud; the entire deck went silent, "But that is the least likely of all options, the chances that the Council has completely missed a space-worthy species is extremely unlikely, the universe might be a large place, but it is a small Galaxy. Send a message to the Admiral Shein, request a few military vessels to accompany us as we investigate. Make haste for the contacts."

"Understood sir."

"Admiral, Admiral Shein said he can spare ten ships from the Heavy fleet, is that satisfactory?" Asked a new voice, this one was much younger.

"Yes, Toral, thank Admiral Shein for me."

"Understood sir."

Several minutes passed, as the Morrule led a pack of ten naval vessels towards the dormant relay.

"Admiral, we're being hailed, it's a video and an audio message."

"Bring it on screen." Ordered the perplexed admiral.

A moment later, an image appeared on the ship's main vid-screen, it depicted some sort of non-Quarian with dark brown skin and a balding head, the man looked like an Asari, but without the tentacles or the crests on his head.

"My name is Captain Byron Connor of the SSV Reach, of the Human Systems Alliance." Said the alien in a strange, slightly threatening but also soothing language, "We come in peace, and we do not seek hostilities of any kind. I hope your species and ours can coexist." The bridge was silent, as the next video file loaded up.

"What do you think it said?" Asked one Quarian.

"Is this really first contact?"

"Tell us this is a joke being played, Admiral." One almost begged, "footage from when we first met the Hanar?"

"Shush, something else is playing!"

A new video appeared, of a solar system. The picture obviously was not drawn to scale, it depicted a sun on the far left of the screen, and eight planets to it's right, all of varying sizes. A red square appeared over the third planet from the sun, and the image changed to a picture of this planet from orbit. It was mostly water, but with many green continents and while clouds dotting it's surface.

Lines appeared above the planet - letters, the Admiral assumed.

"EARTH" A loud, synthesized voice said, before repeating it twice, then once slowly.

"Earth…" Admiral Zoran repeated, slowly, getting a feel for the odd word - or maybe, words - he'd just uttered.

An image of two aliens appeared next to the planet, "HUMAN" Said the synthesized voice, twice more, then once slowly. The image highlighted the one on the left, it was slightly taller than the right human, had shorter hair, and was slightly more muscular. "MALE." It repeated the word more, then switched to the smaller, more feminine alien, "FEMALE" It said.

The 'humans' disappeared, a new square appeared, and the picture zoomed into the corner of one of the continents.

"What are they showing us?" Asked a pilot.

"Their homeworld." Realized the admiral, as he saw the skyline of a beautiful, massive city. The image zoomed out and an enormous statue - presumably of an important figure in their society - made of some green material could be seen, as well as a large group of smaller aliens in front of it.

"Greetings, from the children of Earth!" Shouted all of the small 'Humans', in unison, before many break formation and start laughing and playing.

A new image, this one was of two 'Humans' embracing each other in what appeared to be an affectionate way. More images of more Humans, of all different shapes, sizes and colors, all embracing in an affectionate way, or making odd facial gestures that reminded Zoran of an Asari's smile. The video cut to a new feed, this one of a large series of castles, an alien wearing some sort of black veil, that covered everything save for it's eyes was the next to speak. It spoke in a language that sounded nothing like that which the previous people spoke. Several other people, of several other regions of this planet would go on to speak and greet the Quarians in their languages.

The video next cut to a small, silver dish. For a moment, nothing happened, but then a light blue holographic depiction of - what Zoran assumed to be - an elderly 'Human' appeared.

"Greetings." Said the hologram, "from the Cybernetic Culture of SynthHumans."

Now, two uniformed men appeared upon the screen. One was holding what was obviously a weapon, but he looked past the camera, the Admiral quickly realized he must be some sort of honor guard, most likely meant to subtly state that the 'Humans' were in fact, militarily capable. That fact alone made the Admiral wonder just how long the Humans had been in the celestial stage of their evolution, or if they were simply paying a bluff. The man he was guarding was wearing a black shirt and pants, with a white shirt underneath it, and some sort of collection of red clothing above the white shirt.

"Greetings, from the Human Systems Alliance. I hope we can enjoy a peaceful coexistence, we graciously await your reply." Said the being, in a deep but non threatening voice; the video then ended.

"What… Was that?!" Demanded a Quarian, hysterically.

"Are they going to attack?

"What did they say?!"

"What are they?!"

"Everyone calm -" Attempted the Admiral, but things were slowly turning to chaos.

"We're headed straight for them!"

"What if there are more?!"

"They might hit a live ship!"

"Everyone, CALM DOWN!" Loudly shouted Admiral Zoran, silencing the room, "Toral, send a response." Zoran cleared his throat.

"Ready."

"My name is Admiral Sri'Zoran Vas Morrule." He began, speaking slowly and clearly, "We wish nothing but peace, and safe refuge for our people." He looked to Toral and nodded, she sent the message.

"Slow the fleet's advance and send that message to the other Admirals, tell them we've a tentative First Contact scenario here, and no one is to look threatening." Ordered the Admiral.

Not until we know their military capability. He thought, he had no idea if these people were peaceful, like the Asari, or war-like, like the Krogan. If they were peaceful, they could very well have a small standing-army, but war-like species would need to be intimidated in order to make them docile, though that tactic didn't work for the Krogan, it simply made them excited. Zoran hoped he would end up doing the right thing for his species, this was a beyond lucky opportunity for them.

Codex Updated:

Tuning Gate:

Discovered in Earth-year 2150, the 'Tuning Gate' is the name given to the massive object found in Eden's system space. While it is unknown how the gate works, it propels ships at almost incomprehensible speeds. The Eden Tuning Gate managed to send an Alliance vessel to the Valhalla Tuning Gate, which was located several dozen Light Years away, in a matter of instants.

Alliance Doctrine TGG99243A states that any discovered Tuning Gates are to be guarded by an Alliance naval vessel, as it is believed that these are the main mode of transportation for Extraterrestrial forces. War strategies dictate that the transport system should be the first to be destroyed, should a war occur. This idea is kept in mind as Dreadnoughts guard all of the Tuning Gates known to man.
Currently, there are only two known Tuning Gates in existence, but it is suspected that there are many more.

Alliance Destroyer:

The Alliance Destroyers [Also known as 'Ship Grunts'] are the second from the bottom in the 'food chain' of the Alliance Navy.
Known to be able to take a beating and give one too, Destroyers are plentiful in all fleets save for the proposed stealth fleet, which would be comprised entirely of Frigates.
Destroyers are armed with a single Main Rail Gun, a dozen broad-side Rail Guns meant for close-quarters hit-and-run strikes, as well as point defense ballistic and laser turrets. Destroyers have very thick steel armor, and have McGraw Warp-Engines as their main mode of FTL travel. They are typically 900 - 1150 meters long, and are triangular in design.

Asteroid B299 Alpha Gamma Incident:

Known throughout the Human Systems as the 'Great Artificial Rescue', the Asteroid B299 Alpha Gamma Incident was a near extinction-level event, and humanity's first True test against an extraterrestrial force. The AI 'Nikola' was the first to detect B299, and immediately warned Ranking Alliance Officials, and within an hour, had ten plans to present him with.
After a lengthy engagement, the entirety of the Alliance Naval Forces managed to crack the asteroid in half, and send it flying harmlessly past Earth, Humanity's homeworld.

Quarian Migrant Fleet:
[Retrieved and copied from alien Galactic Encyclopedias]

The Migrant Fleet is the largest concentration of star faring vessels in the galaxy, sprawling across millions of kilometers. It can take upwards of three for the entire fleet to pass through a mass relay.

When the Quarians fled their homeworld, the Fleet was a motley aggregation of freighters, shuttles, industrial vessels, and the odd warship. After three centuries, all have been modified to support larger crews as comfortably as possible. As the Quarians achieved stability, they began weeding out the ships least suitable for long-term habitation, selling them and pooling the money to buy larger and more space-worthy hulls. This process is ongoing, as vessels wear out and break down.

While some ships enjoy dedicated cabins with full privacy and sanitary facilities, many more are former freighters, whose cargo bays and containers are pressurized and divided into family spaces using simple metal cubicle bulkheads. The Quarians enliven these austere spaces with colorful quilts and tapestries, which also help muffle sound.

The day-to-day operation of the fleet - traffic control, station-keeping, supply distribution, and so on - are under military jurisdiction. Though ship captains have the authority to deviate from their assigned positions and may leave the fleet at any time, they are assumed to do so at their own risk. As the Migrant Fleet moves around the galaxy, many ships split off to pursue individual goals, returning days or years later.

[Corrupted Data retrieved and repaired via AI interference.]

In {Earth Year 2198} , the Migrant Fleet suffered a majorly catastrophic incident, in which many food processors and creators aboard the largest live-ship in the fleet, the 'Rayya', utterly failed and have since ceased to work. Ever since the fleet's status has been deteriorating, and followed a failed attempt at emergency-colonization of a planet known to the Citadel Council, the fleet was forced to flee known space. The Council has yet to realize the fleet's absence, and it is unknown what it's goals for fleeing are.