章 114: Chapter 112

6 Months later

The exploration fleet had exited slipspace, arriving inside of the new Galaxy. Onboard the Infinity, Axel was within his command center talking to Omni who was in the process of performing a long range scan of the new Galaxy. "Find anything interesting?" Axel asked, leaning against the console as he looked at the data being displayed on the screens.

"Currently, only a few high-density planets and numerous celestial bodies have been identified, sir. The detailed analysis is still being carried out." responded Omni.

"Inhabitable planets?" Catherine's voice was heard from behind him, and Axel turned to see her walk in with a data pad in her hand.

"Awaiting confirmation, Ma'am," Omni replied.

The group spent the next several hours poring over maps and data, using the ship's advanced long range scanner to identify potential colonization areas.

As they delved deeper into the data, they identified 2 habitable planets close to where they had arrived. Both planets were in the opposite direction of each other so the plan was to split off a small fleet carrying 10 Million people to colonize the planet which referred to as planet Alpha, while Axel takes the remaining fleet to the planet referred to as planet Bravo.

Thel 'Vadam was chosen to lead a small fleet of 2,000 ships and 10 million people to colonize planet Alpha. The location of the planet wasn't that far away so it would only take a few minutes to arrive utilizing their warp drives. Meanwhile Axel took the rest of the fleet to planet Bravo.

A few minutes later, the fleet had arrived above planet Bravo which is a tropical world covered by a verdant carpet of mosses, algae, and lichen, and possesses a thick oxygenated atmosphere. From their scans, the air was considered toxic to non-native life but it wasn't a problem as they could use their terraforming technology to make the planets atmosphere habitable to any species, while preventing the loss of native life.

Within the hanger of the Infinity, Axel had boarded his transport ship as the colonization process was about to commence. With him was Catherine and the Honor Guards, who were similar to Royal Guards in the sense that they protected Axel and other high ranking members of the Ascendency from any dangers.

Any race could be a member of the Honor Guard, as long as they passed the difficult test that was required for them to become a member. The Honor Guards were a testament to unity, with their ranks filled by members of every species within the Ascendency. He had personally bestowed the title of Honor Guard upon each member as it was a great honor to be named as an Honor Guard and it was a life commitment.

As they eclipsed the atmospheric layer of planet Bravo, the lush, green landscape stretched out beneath them.

"We are stepping into a new world," Catherine said softly from beside him. The transport ship descended smoothly onto the surface, landing on the brand new world.

The moment they stepped out of the aircraft, Axel had seen one of the colony ships which was hovering above the surface of the planet as a bright light descended to the surface of the planet. This was the terraforming process that all of the colony ships were equipped with.

The light scattered across the entire surface, reaching out to each corner of the planet. Nature was being reshaped before their eyes, to create a breathable atmosphere for any species that came to the planet. It was a perfectly controlled fusion of technology and nature.

Back on the Infinity, Omni was overseeing the terraforming process, "All readings are within normal parameters," he reported.

"Thanks for the report Omni, start the deployment of the Assemblers so we can start building a city" Commanded Axel.

Within minutes, the Assemblers began the process of constructing buildings, farms, and communication towers, the initial foundation of what was to become the new Capital city which he decided to name Arcadis. The planet was given the name Nova.

The Grunts and Yanme'e had showed extreme skill and dedication to the task they were given. They monitored the Assemblers and transported the necessary resources that the Assemblers needed to construct the city.

Meanwhile, Thel 'Vadam reported from Planet Alpha that it was a promising site as well. One side of the world always faces the sun, resulting in a scorching day side and a frozen night side for the other side of the world.

The colonization and terraforming process had already began which would make the planet habitable to all species similar to Nova.

As this was going on, a ship which had just entered the system through a Mass Relay and was beginning it's mission of exploring the uncharted systems of space. As they entered the system, they were detected by an Ascendency patrol fleet that was patrolling the system and surveying other planets within the system. The Ascendency patrol fleet had turned it's attention towards the newly arrived ship and prepared to initiate the first contact protocol.

The Ship that had just entered through the Mass Relay had also detected the Ascendency ship's and had attempted to reach out to them.

"This is Commander Xaries M'kyala of the Asari Republics, broadcasting on all frequencies," the voice transmitted in High Thessian through the communication channel. "We come in peace and seek to establish diplomatic relations with any spacefaring species within this system"

Captain Telos, in charge of the Ascendency patrol fleet, blinked at the transmission. He was not aware of what language the aliens were speaking nor did he understand what they were saying. He turned to his onboard AI, "Phoenix, can you decipher their language"

"Already done, Captain" replied Phoenix as he had already begun the translation process. The AI's ability to rapidly process and learn new languages was a highly sophisticated function that was learned from studying Forerunner technology.

"The message translates to: 'We come in peace and seek to establish diplomatic relations.'"

Telos nodded, "Is the main fleet already aware" he asked. "Yes Captain, the Emperor is aware and has given us permission to continue with the first contact protocol".

"Alright then, send a respond to the alien vessel" he instructed. "Tell them we received their message and are open to diplomacy."

Back on the Asari Republics' ship, Commander Xaries M'kyala received the response from the Ascendency patrol fleet and immediately set course to meet with them. She was surprised that the respond came back in her own language as she didn't expect them to know, but she decided to save her questions for later when she met with the aliens.