The Fuse Is Lit…Run Away

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(AN: if there are any mistakes report here)

(AN: Keter Family Servant Stats have been updated)

"While it is regrettable and tragic that the exploratory teams were lost, it is a miracle that this lone third party seems to be willing to offer their support to us in light of the attack on your expedition, so I would like to thank you Captain for braving through uncertain territory and gaining open and most importantly friendly dialog with the leaders who command the Red Tear, however I feel that we need clarification on the crew and those you've met aboard that ship."

Captain Anderson along with the other two Captains who journeyed through the Artefact were all in a High Priority meeting with the UNSC-Security Committee, all branch leaders from all different departments were all present through the screens.

First was the de-facto leader of the group, Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood, the Chair and Chief of Naval Operations.

Next is Admiral Serin Osman, washout Spartan II number 019, Commander and Chief of the Office of Naval Intelligence.

Next was the Generals for the UNSC Marine Corps, Army and Air Force, Hogen, Strauss and Dellert respectively.

Finally, we have the rather new position but equally important position for Spartan Operations, it was first founded by Rear Admiral Musa Ghanem, another Spartan II washout 096, before handing over the post to Spartan III Jun-A266 making the former Sniper the new Chief of Staff of Spartan Operations.

Normally Anderson and the other Captains would be reporting to their superior who would then send their reports to the Fleet Admiral for review and decision making.

However, the situation they found themselves in and the events that have transpired demanded the attention of the highest authority which should have been the President of the UEG, however the Committee has the power to take control over all department branches within human space and use them as they deem fit, much like what they did during the Great War.

This may look like an overreach of ones position and abuse of power, but suffice to say, the members of the Security Committee were taking what Anderson and the Captains before them said very seriously, as the last time an unknown alien power attacked, Humanity very nearly went extinct.

They were not going to allow for another alien faction to do a repeat.

Thankfully though despite the horrible disadvantage the Captains were put in, recovered battlefield data showed that the upgrades the existing Fleet received from stolen and reversed engineered tech painted a rather reassuring picture, three refit Frigates lasted far longer against an overwhelming force and even managing to score a few kills, preformed much better than war-time vessels which needed 3 to 1 odds to just scrape up a victory.

But while the Heads of the UNSC felt much better, there was the unease about the third party that intervened, they could help but be suspicious which was natural.

"As I said in my written Report, while the crew are mostly human looking aside from what I assumed to be their Spartan equivalent Super Soldiers, the leaders while may appear human from a glance are distinctly inhuman, as you've no doubt seen from the recordings" Anderson was right in everything he said, he still had trouble believing what he saw within that Throne Room, they were terrifyingly beautiful.

He still wonders how the one called 'Charlie' was on fire, how 'Leo' and 'Kelly' had horns and why they were all floating without any sign of technological assistance, also, why did they call their names as 'Mortal Names', a part of his mind found it be arrogant but again the inhumanness of them somewhat clashed with it.

"Regardless of their nature, we'll continue with negotiations and if we're lucky, we might become more than allies, but until then we will watch their every move, and should they be found tricking us or react with aggression we will respond with the appropriate action." Other than Jun and Osman, the rest of the committee heads responded positively.

"Now then, lets focus on this new alien threat." A series of video footage dicpicting the short battle between the Frigates and the unknown Hostiles began playing, some sections of the video was paused and turned into a 3d format that showed calculations, what they were Anderson could only guess as his attention was mainly on the Heads of the Committee before him.

 "Unfortunately without any form of intel on them, these aliens will temporarily be called Alpha Zeros, I would ask for ONI to send in their Prowler Fleet to find anything of use aboard the destroyed wrecks and begin long range scouting on the systems beyond Artefact." Osman just nodded her head as she was looking intently at the data she was seeing from the battle and periodically looking at a tablet by her side.

"As for troops and ships, given the combat data we have, I am inclined to send in 2 Battlegroups of Refits and a Modern reserve Fleet, once ONI and future battles show us what we're dealing with only then will I authorise more assets into the field, until then we need to know more before we enter a total war mode" with those words another view screen came up with 3 columns which began sorting through all manner of UNSC vessels, judging at how quickly all this was being sorted out, Anderson believed that an AI with the Committee trust was doing most of the work.

Soon the screen depicted three battlegroups showing some serious firepower.

Two of them obviously showed Great War Era ships and in them like many frigate types but so few cruisers and some rare carriers in the mix, Anderson was deeply surprised to see a Punic Supercarrier leading as the flagship.

And for the third it was made of the newer post-war ships like the new Autum heavy cruisers and new frigates like the strident and Mulsanne, and then there was the two Vindication Light Battleships in the lineup, those two ships alone made Andersons spirits sore, he only really heard rumours about them, but he knew that they were the first Battleships to be built since well, since forever really.

The three battlegroups combined brought the number of ships up to near 80, though the 3rd battlegroup was the largest by only 10, overall though Anderson wished for more but that single engagement seemed to not concern the Committee all that much despite the depressing history of nearly all naval battles the UNSC has partaken in.

"Captains as we get this all sorted your orders along with any ONI Prowlers in system, are to monitor the Artefact and to report for any sighting of the Alpha Zeros that travel through the Artefact, you are not to engage, just monitor, I estimate the battlegroup once formed and under way will take at least 11 days to arrive."

Though one question simply needed to asked.

"Sir, the unknowns aboard the Red Tear, wouldn't it be prudent to ask them for aid given how they are also hostile towards the Alpha Zeros"

The fleet admiral merely smiled at that before tapping a terminal.

An image appeared before the Captains and Anderson couldn't believe what he saw for on it was a symbol of Earth and under it three capital letter saying UEG along with the Presidents Seal

"An ambassador has been dispatched though given the distance and capabilities of a modified civilian craft they won't be there for a while, for now, aid from those beings would be appreciated, I believe you'll do well as a liaison for now given how you've managed friendly dialogue between us, do you think you can manage it"

"I can mostly give my best shot Sir"

"Then that's good enough then, you all have your orders, good luck gentlemen"

Then the screens thus switched offed.

Anderson let out a weary sigh while dragging a hand through his hair as his mind began running through all possible ways to carry out his orders.

Personally, he really didn't want to go back onboard that ship with those…people, mainly because he didn't want to be the one to be playing politics, but he is too smart to not realise how important it is especially in his current situation.

but he had orders, and he would follow them to the best of his abilities, all he and his other fellow captains needed to do was just to stay out of the fight while keeping a low profile whilst spying on the newest threat to humanity.

It would be tedious but with the Prowlers out an about they shouldn't have too much trouble, plus if he somehow managed to get the crew of the Red Tear to help out then that would be a great stress reliver, also with such a large fleet coming in as backup that too made Anderson feel much better.

So, he made his way to the bridge and instructed his Comms officer to establish a link to the Red Tear to inform them of what was going on then to see if they could meet in person, though this time he would be the host.

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As soon as the feed ended, the Chief of ONI wasted no time at all assigning the appropriate number of Sloops and Prowlers to head off into the Shanxi system to acquire the information aboard those alien vessels beyond the Artefact.

She also set aside some 'special orders' as well.

Soon though she received a ping on her personal terminal, it was a message from an upcoming ONI agent that was recently promoted.

/Objective Complete: bait has been placed on URF HQ, the Sharks are coming, local UNSC Forces have been 'tipped'/

She had to supress a smirk worming its way onto her lips, 'the things we do for humanity' is what she thought.

That said in light of this new alien threat and how competent this agent was, it seemed about time for ONI to expand it capabilities.

"BB, prepare a draft, a new Section 3 Division Branch will be created today" a holo table showed two swirling boxes appear while bringing up a file on a certain adult male working with ONI.

"I suppose you already have candidate in mind for leadership Admiral" the boxes flashed as it was talking to the Chief of ONI, the AI didn't receive any visual response from the Spartan II washout.

"Indeed, do inform Harper that he has an appointment with me in the next two weeks" an idea on what this new divisions goal was forming in her mind, for these particular aliens, they needed some very ruthless dogs show them that they should of never of messed with humanity.

Never again shall they face extinction, never again.

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Upon exiting the Anvil Valkyrie with my family and 1st Company Honour Guard, the stark difference between the UNSC frigate and the Red Tear was very apparent, as the Tear was very decorative the Jolly as the frigate is called was very dreary in a strange, charming way as it made sense given that this a military ship.

The hanger space was spacious enough to house Pelicans and some ground vehicles like the tucked away Scorpion tanks and Warthogs where mechanics and engineers were working away at their assigned pieces of equipment with the main vehicle operators near them as well.

I could also spy many marines and regular crewmen on the gangways and garages basically staring at us while we met with Captain Anderson once more along with Spartan Fireteam Normandy and a procession of ODSTs.

"Your Highnesses, welcome aboard the UNSC Jolly would you please follow me towards the conference room where we can discuss certain matters in privet"

"Of course, Captain, please lead the way" my Mother said to the man.

It didn't take very long to get where we needed to go given how this ship was many times smaller than the Tear, though that also translated to its halls as there were a bit cramped in some places where the Honor Guard had to bend down sometimes.

Nether the less we made it to the conference room where most of our guards stayed outside while the lead Captain came in along with the team leader of the Spartans.

Once we all seated, Captain Anderson wasted no time and got a holographic screen running showing the Shanxi system and another system which seemed to be dubbed as A1 Exist Point, he then started speaking to us.

"The first thing I would like to get out of the way is to thank you for accepting this meeting with me and to the UNSC as a whole, I've been tasked to be your liaison until the dispatched ambassador from the United Earth Government arrives, until then the second thing I would ask for is your assistance for the certain conflict my Nation will have with the Unknowns which we've termed as Alpha Zeros"

We were briefly silent as we thought about what he said, it is fortuitous that we were getting an ambassador, it would give us a unique position of power where the government would no doubt ask for insights of the greater universe and for technology while also trying to get us to be more than friendly with them.

As for Andersons second point though.

"It is good news that your government has sent an ambassador to further our relationship, and as for the alien threat you face, we will provide you with the assistance you need provided that we are present and have the final say in whether we will help you or not in any talks about defence or attack, is that acceptable" my Mother said before then continuing gesturing towards Kelly.

"Youngest here would have much desired information about those who have attacked you" that was an eyebrow raiser, I didn't expect for our Mother to put Kelly on the spot like that.

Anderson looked happy while trying to keep a composed disposition, but obviously he would be very sceptical.

"Really, you know who and what the Alpha Zeros are?" he question was pointed at Kelly who was remarkably collected given her nature and all.

Kelly nodded her head.

"I do" she took time to pause and think about what she was about to say, she needed to talk in a way that didn't give way to an image of a teen child that was really into a certain product that boarded onto obsession which sadly she already was such an individual.

If we were going to sell the centuries upon centuries old space farers that have seen some shit.

"The beings you refer to as Alpha Zeros, are known as Turians, an avian spices that have armoured exoskeletons to deal with high amounts of radiation given their Homeworld weak magnetic field, their government is called the Turian Hierarchy, a militaristic and disciplined society, but what's important right now is that their kind acts as Galactic Law enforcers for their version of a Galactic Community" Kelly gave pause as we saw Andersons expression become Grimm as he heard the term 'Galactic Community'.

"Tell me more, specifically, this Communities overall fighting capabilities" at Andersons request Kelly obliged him.

"If your thinking about their tech level and the overall threat they pose then what I next tell you will put those fears to rest, the Turian Hierarchy along with the other races apart of the Citadel Council have fallen into a technological trap by another group of beings which makes their technology inferior and advanced at the same time, but we'll talk about that in the future" Anderson nodded at that while typing something into a little tablet by his side, likely taking notes of key facts.

"Their tech operates on Mass Effect principles and its source Element Zero, a dark matter substance that can increase and decrease the mass of objects among other things, primarily their main offensive means are kinetic based weapons, much like your ships they all have Mass Accelerators but their firepower as you've already experienced isn't too unmanageable to deal with" Anderson once again nodded at that fact, he already knew his enemy used their versions of a MAC only it was much more weaker but had a faster firing rate.

"Course because of this the only form of shielding the enemy has is against physical attacks thus they have no way to properly defend against energy attacks like high powered lasers or plasma and such" at this Anderson became confused.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but why haven't these aliens invented much less tried to make use of energy weapons then, it just slightly mind boggling that such a society of different beings would not even try and come up with something new" it was a valid question which Kelly explained.

"Unfortunately this leads back to that tech trap and that one of the leader races promoting such tech as the be all and end all, to them Mass Effect tech is simply the most advanced form of tech as another avenues into new ideas would be too costly and would never bear any fruit" it was brief and left much more to explained but we all knew that Anderson would likely get more information from the Codex in Council Space or perhaps be in on secret military intelligence talks with ONI that would reveal much more than what we really knew.

For now, Kelly continued.

"Now then, as for their Navy you'd be pleased to know that likely the biggest ship your military might fight is no longer than a kilometre and that there are very few of them in all of the Navy's in the Citadel Council" once more Anderson had to speak up again.

"That can't be right, surely there must be vessels far bigger than that" he said with a bewildered expression to which Kelly just shook her head at.

"They do have a ship that's fairly big which is bordering onto 3km but that just it, and its regulated to guard duty at an area of space which is the seat of their governance, and believe it or not, there is a treaty among them that deliberately limits how many of their so called "dreadnoughts" can be built" once more there was a long pause between us.

For the rest of the meeting, it was Kelly explaining bits and pieces about the society of the Citadel Council and those somewhat affiliated with them, while I tossed in my two cents about them as well from time to time.

Eventually the time reached the hour mark where Kelly decided that she had given captain Anderson enough information about the Citadel Council races and some of their policies like the ban on AI and how they made slavery technically legal on one of their colony worlds.

The less said about the Batarians the better and the region of space outside of the Councils jurisdiction.

Overall, I don't think we painted them in such a good light that I really cared all that much, they couldn't do a dam thing about us nor the UNSC and the splintered factions that once made up the Covenant.

However, there was the matter of the Reaper threat, I've noticed that Kelly has yet to bring it up at all, it was a pretty big deal as it would be something that needed everyone to combat against, and while the Red Tear is a formidable ship it is just one ship that can be overwhelmed against even the most inferior yet numerous species that lay in the galaxy.

Obviously I'd need to talk to Kelly and the rest of the family about how we could potentially deal with the Reapers.

Those things did have a massive disadvantage though which was the Mass Relay network as they too were bound by it and human worlds were nowhere near any Relay so that made the Reaper threat to Humanity a near no factor compared to the Council races near overreliance on them.

And while I cared not for the leaders of each alien government I would be a monster to ignore the common citizens who would be in the line of fire.

Suffice to say if I wanted the innocent to survive then perhaps it would be a good idea to cause an arms race between Humanity, ourselves and the Council races just so all would be that much better in terms of strength once the Reapers arrive in force.

It will be very easy thing to do, all it requires is many dead good duty abiding alien soldiers and hopefully latter down the line a mountain of slaver corpses.

The meeting then came to a close, Anderson gained valuable intel from us, 'the ancient space fares', and a cooperation agreement with us to battle alongside the coming UNSC Battlegroup, until then we'd be on the extreme edges of the Shanxi system with an open comms line to the in-system UNSC craft.

However, we also be keeping a very close eye on any ONI Prowlers that "accidently" strayed too far near the Red Tear.

All intelligence agencies really were all the same.

Soon after some small talk we departed from the light frigate and back to our ship.

It only took 7 days for a Turian fleet to appear beyond the Shanxi Relay and move towards the remains of their lost patrol fleet, in those previous days a whole slew of ONI Prowlers and Sloops picked those wrecks clean of all the information that they could get out of them which was quiet a substantial amount.

The Turians took their time to scour over the debris left behind, it also gave us and the underway UNSC Battlegroup lots of time to formulate a battle plan, with intel from the wrecks and the knowledge on where the enemy was and how many of them there were, the UNSC Battlegroup leader deemed that they didn't really need the post-war reserve fleet to intervene in the coming fight, this was simply because while the fleet was nearly three times the size of the defunct patrol force, they only had a single Cruiser weight ship.

Even the Battlegroup leader was baffled to hear that the aliens considered it a mighty all-powerful dreadnought, everyone including myself would love to see the faces of those flightless birds once they eyes on the Punic-Supercarrier.

Though, they'll definitely try diplomacy first to try and avoid a conflict, but we were most certainly ready to fight should negotiations fail.

Unfortunately, the Award for Darwinism goes to the one on the other end of our cannons.

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