First Contact With An (Normal) Interesting Family

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It's the start of the second month and I still find my reflection strange, or maybe I should say unique, it must be fairly uncommon for a lady to have giant white horns on the tops of their head.

Well looking at my full body mirror in my room aboard this oversized ship, I like my family look so goddam hot.

I have ridiculously long white hair that turns a gold like colour on the tips, the skin is pale like I have heavy makeup on, but I don't, my eyes shine a molten gold colour which is cool I suppose.

Also, my face can make some amazing reactions, I have to admit I do indeed have a mighty fine arrogant evil expression, it feels so natural to do as well, though that's most likely from the alien urges that have been ingrained into my mind.

Finally tearing myself away from the mirror I begin to float, yes I can float but more importantly I can fly, heh never using the filthy ground again peasant.

Well, most of my family can float and fly.

So, I begin to exist my extremely large and very lavish room fit for either a queen or goddess, take your pick.

Exiting my room leads me to an equally amazingly well-designed hallway with a wide width area and if I had to guess maybe two and a half story tall ceiling space, and ever so often I'd come across wall painted or carved stone statues made by professionals who have mastered their craft to make some of the most beautiful pieces of art I ever seen.

Well, they mostly depict a Great Angel in gold and many other Armoured beings plus some woven in story telling aspect, it was very easy to tell how revered these figures are in these artworks, I couldn't help but be mesmerized and in awe at the portraits grand scale, they sometimes stretch on for many hallways and wrapping around corners.

Through the many twists and turns, I also came across the crew here and there.

Most were simple humanlike beings that acted too real to not be taken for an actual human, they still freak me out and often I need to remind myself that they do not have free will nor are living breathing beings despite their looks.

The Space Marines though I can at least feel comfortable knowing how inhuman they are, even with passing by the 1st Company Honour Guards standing by unmoving at their posts didn't elect the same unease I felt towards the most human looking crew.

Eventually I'd arrive at the bridge after taking a turbo lift and tram to get there, one of the disadvantages of having much less living on such a large ship is that it takes a while to get anywhere.

Now the bridge itself was massive as well, you could probably hold a small tennis match on the main floor where all the sensor posts are along with flight control and all those other somewhat important stations.

The Command area housed the Helmsmen, Communication station, Fire Control and the many tactical posts and command table here in front of the admirals throne, it's not a small dinky chair with some bells and whistles, it's a very large throne made to fit someone bigger than the Space Marines.

So, you can imagine how comical it would look when I see my former Dad now Mother sitting in it with my Mom floating at their side while my siblings were fussing over the command table showing a projection of the current solar system our ship was currently in.

Gazing at the table I see it showing the usual star at the centre and the accompanying different sized celestial object in their orbits with small readouts on each giving different reports form the sensors stations along with outbound scout flights.

What drew my attention was the red flagged projected unknown icon flashing at the edge of the system.

I didn't need to be a genius to know we'd be involved in something interesting if not headache inducing.

"Hello everyone, so what have we found here" I greeted and questioned causally giving a small wave as I floated over to the table while gazing at the projected unknown projection.

"Evening to you Leo, how was your spa day" my seated Mother responded to me with a small smile.

Right, I should somewhat explain some of the features on this ship.

So, while the Red Tear has all the things you'd expect from it, hanger, gun batteries, storage and cargo along with mess halls and barracks, there all in their logical positions.

It's the illogical and reality defying aspects is what we should focus on.

Let's start off with the biggest one, the 5 Star Beachside Resort with a fairly sizable town village filled with different cultured amenities like strip clubs, casinos and karaoke sushi bar, then we got the miles long ocean with a reef filled with sea life and actual oceanic currents plus the mind-boggling day night cycle.

This oddity alone leaves us utterly speechless; I mean normally we'd ask 'how is that even possible' but considering our change and acquirement of the Red Tear and its complement along with dying and meeting the FIRST 'basically god' a reality defying area of space that shouldn't be possible felt a little, subdued.

Now as I said, that's the first one as it was the biggest and most eye catching, now its time to move onto the more "smaller" ones.

The second one would be the Reception Halls when you come aboard the Red Tear through some of the main Airlocks on either side of the vessel, the Halls are very finely decorated with reflective marble flooring, stone pillars holding up statues of Marines and the Great Angel, plus there are murals and an expansive wall to ceiling painting showing the Primarch with Bal and the Emperor with Tearra.

The third section of the oddities had the Reception Halls guide the guess towards the Grand Throne Room, which was a large area of space fitting in dining tables and there was an equally large space for a dance floor right before the Thrones themselves.

And well, that was it really, everything else including our rooms and some hallways were surprisingly all a part of the ship, so says a rather mysterious letter that subsequently erupted into flames once it was read through.

"Fantastic" I replied back, before then putting my full focus on the unknown icon.

Getting a closer look I immediately recognised the imagery of the largest object.

A big, long dual structured station with a turning fork pulsing with electrical energy, the reports showed it to be outputting a large amount of dark energy.

There was also several vessel's not too far off from the alien station either, in fact those void ships also look incredibly familiar to me as well.

"Heh, two more things that shouldn't exist are here" I mused to myself.

There are about five obviously human designed ships hovering around the Mass Relay which belong to whole other fictional universe, one that my younger sister is rather obsessed with.

Glancing over at Kelly, I can clearly see the stars in her eyes as she is taking in the design profile of what she calls a Stalwart light frigate with two Pairs heavy frigates among it, the other two much smaller ships I've never seen before, just that they look like a manta ray in shape.

I could make a good, educated guess that the UNSC are studying the Mass Relay, they must think it is of Forerunner make, for them it was a logical assumption if not incorrect, my siblings and I knew what it was, well more so my younger sister and I as the other members of the family were never really interested in video games much less their stories, so it was up to Kelly and I to brief them on the crossover universe we found ourselves in, well it'll be mostly Kelly explaining to us the fine intrinsic details about said fictional worlds.

So, the four of us began a long session of inquires to the youngest member of our family.

Kelly explained at length about the strengths and weaknesses of both fictions and the myriad of problems each had to deal with, though while she could confirm the possibility of this being the era of the First Contact War for the Mass Effect universe she was less sure on what era the UNSC were in.

She also did her best to answer our specific questions.

"Should we worry about the Flood" "They've been dealt with…I think"

"When do the reapers arrive" "Bout 20 years give or take"

"Should we help the Council" "ah, not sure really, there not really competent when it really matters"

"Shall we help the UNSC instead" "Defiantly"

There was a bit of pause now as our Mother was thinking about what to do next after the end of the little Q and A session we had.

I'm certain we'd approach the UNSC to arrange some sort of alliance or treaty of some kind, there was a strong feeling in me on wanting to assist them, both from my once human sentiments and from my alien urges.

I think my Passive Skill, [Defender of Humanity C] is pushing me towards that option.

"Alright I've made my decision" we all turned to look at our Mother whose red eyes shone with determination as she stood up while was also about share her verdict.

"We'll-"!![ALARM MULTIPLE UNIDENTIFIED FTL SIGNATURES ON SENSORS] a klaxon sounded off interrupting our Mothers decision as the automated notification system alerted us to the new contacts that where appearing on the command tables projected holograms.

Looking at the images popping up I could see about 18 yellow blips quickly moving on the map showing a directed course for the human vessels around the active Relay.

"Kelly" Mother snaped her name out with tone nearly demanding for an explanation.

"ah-I, it-it has to be a Turin patrol fleet, I didn't expect it to happen like this but, the First Contact War is about to begin, it's the only thing that makes sense to me" at first as a surprise stutter Kelly faithfully delivered a most likely scenario at what was taking place in the projected images on the command table.

"Thank you, Helm get us under way, best speed to the Relay on the double" whoa I did not see such a decisive order come out of my Mothers mouth.

but as the order was relayed the ship shuddered and I could see on the table out position rapidly moving towards the Mass Relay.

New charts and predictions on our movement line came up showing the estimated amount of time the Red Tear would reach the desired coordinates.

The time had us arriving in over 20 minutes and looking at the destination area one of the smaller human vessels winked off the map.

A Grimm realisation swept over me, the War had begun, and we were too far away to save that small expedition fleet.

Soon the last of the smaller unidentified ships winked off the map leaving the three UNSC frigates against 18 unknowns, we were not going to save them, as I mentioned we are too far away.

However, it seemed my Mother knew this and decided that this was unacceptable.

"Prepare for a micro-Warp jump, but this ship in-between those frigates and the Turins" with another snap order the bridge went into a flurry of actions as the window bulkheads began closing and the Notification System began announcing the FTL transition we were about to be experiencing.

New calculations appeared on the terminals showing a 20-minute journey reduced to a handful of minutes as my Mothers orders were put into effect.

Before the shutters fully closed, I spied the familiar Warp Rift opening in front of the Red Tear.

[WARP TRANSITION IN 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. WARP TRANSITION SUCCESSFUL]

[EXITING TO REAL SPACE IN 1 MINUTE]

The ship shuddered as the tactical map changed to show our ship blinking across the star system all the way towards the active combat zone around the Mass Relay.

"Prepare Wing Squadrons for launch, and have all weapons charged and ready to fire once we exit" my Mother announced yet another, and once again display came up showing the Aerospace assets that were going to be participating in the void battle to come.

There were also readouts on the numerous weapon mounts coming online as the gunner were calibrating their systems for use, all from the Heavy Lance turrets, the broadside Macro cannons and the prow torpedo tubes.

[ALERT EXITING TO REAL SPACE IN 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.]

[]

For the Captains and crew aboard the UNSC vessels they were absolutely terrified from what they were facing, yet duty and cold determination kept order among them, to keep them preforming their tasks.

Barley five years have passed since the Great War otherwise known as the Human Covenant War, even if it was heralded as a victory, to those who fought and still lived, to even say that humanity won was nothing more than a joke, an empire of over 800 worlds was reduced to a mere handful in just 27 years from an advanced nigh unstoppable force that was the Covenant, a multi species conglomeration working on a caste system and religious like governance was devoted in cleansing all of humanity and they had the territory and advanced industry to do it as it far surpassed anything the UNSC could do to stop them.

It was only thanks to the Schism amongst the Covenant ranks that this juggernaut of an foe was even stopped from finishing off humanity, the empire was thus fragmented into multiple warring factions which caused so much damage to the species within the empire itself as the cast system showed its glaring flaws, warrior casts could not farm new foods nor create the items necessary for equipment maintenance nor anything else other than fighting, and those regulated to such duties thus could not defend themselves from the warlords within the warrior casts from taking over and ruling with near tyrannical oppression, so few would even ruled with benevolence like with the Arbiter the former Supreme Commander of the Covenant Thel Vadimir now leader of the Swords of Sanghelios.

Even with those five years of peace, rebuilding the near shattered realms of humanity was not a walk in the park, the reclamation of Glassed worlds would take decades of work to reverse the damage done to them.

Worse though was that humanity itself was deeply traumatised from the genocidal war with the now defunct Covenant, all of humanity was greatly xenophobic and wanted nothing to do with any other intelligent lifeform in the galaxy.

With the UEG given overall leadership of humanity's direction back from the wartime regulations the UNSC was still largely in charge though, fact is the members of the UEG tasked UNSC HIGHCOM with the duty of ensuring that if another Second Great War happens, humanity must never again be fighting a hopeless war that threatened them with extinction.

This meant using all the data from reversed engineered Forerunner and stolen Covenant tech thier fighting capabilities, the Armies and Fleets of humanity would finally actually have a chance in a fight without needing 3 to 1 odds to even scrape up a win.

Every single existing piece of equipment was refurbished with an extensive refit while new designs and classes were drawn up to improve or replace currently used items at the UNSC disposal.

Thus, the frigates currently engaged in battle with the Turin patrol fleet were actually managing to fight back and score some kills without being utterly annihilated within the first minutes of engagement.

The new energy shields were paying for themselves for all they were worth and once they go down the new and improved armour would finally show its worth against something that wasn't a plasma lance.

Make no mistake they would still loose this battle, only one ship need to live, so it was decided that the two Paris heavy frigates would stay behind and sacrifice themselves so the lone Stalwart could retreat and alert the rest of humanity that their worst fear of another hostile alien power attacking them has occurred.

UNSC Jolly The only Stalwart light frigate of the fleet was burning in several sections but yet surprisingly still holding steady in spite of the near overwhelming incoming fire it was receiving from the 18 unknown contacts which were miraculously reduced to 15.

The Captain was doing their best to hold themselves together as they were young like many of the UNSC navy replacement Captains, the pool of recruits was so small now and qualified personal was a near speck in the bucket.

The only thing that they were focusing on was getting their ship and crew out of the combat zone and back to UNSC controlled space so they could warn FLEETCOM of the hostile alien contacts that had attacked them without warning.

"SIR! Massive Energy Readings Detected Right In Front Of UNSC Dango And UNSC Mavis, It Looks Like A Slip Space Rupture" a frantic call from the sensors officers station sounded off and what they said sent an ice-cold chill down everyone's spine, their skin was rapidly paling as this dreadful situation seemingly turned into a nightmare scenario.

'Covenant' was the first thought on everyone's minds, and with fear the eyes of all humans turned their sights towards the massive tear in space appearing right in front of the Pairs frigates line of fire.

While the fear still remains a comforting reassurance settles on everyone as what comes through the rift was a vessel that was definitely not Covenant in origin given the design profile was not like a graceful sleek purple hulk but a near crimson red blocky hull much in line with UNSC ship design, in fact it looked distinctly human like especially with what could only be described as golden angelic statues erected on some parts of the behemoth of a ship in front of them.

For a brief moment the fighting from both sides stopped as they took time to take in the sight of the Red Tear.

"Oh dear God, Please don't let this be another hostile alien race" the Captain muttered the prayer in a whimper.

As if God were listening, a miracle was given, the visible turret mounts on the ship turned towards the void opposite that of the UNSC frigates and fired bright white lances reminiscent of the Covenants plasma lances into the great beyond followed closely by yellow streaks of what could likely be MAC rounds along with hundreds of Aerospace craft launching from bowels of the vessel.

In that singular moment the humans of the UNSC could breathe, relieved but still fearful of the monster in front of them that took a defensive stance before them.

Little did they know of the absurdity of what the next few weeks would bring.

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