Let me tell you a story, a story I learned a long time ago. 20 years before Saren unleashed hell on Eden Prime, there was a nebula known as the Orbis System. A little far off from most of the home-worlds, but once you get there, the long travel would be all worth it. Many say it was a paradise for all alien races; like all the troubles and problems that plagued the entire galaxy were left on the doorstep.
But there are two reasons as to why it's only a story. Those 20 years ago, the system went dark. The Mass Relay apparently went offline, leaving entire families separated from each other. And with the system at least five hundred thousand lightyears away, there was no way to get there in any amount of lifetimes.
And here's the second reason. The Relay went back online, just a day ago. The Citadel has called upon their greatest resource, Commander Yuri Shepard, finally returning from the Terminus Systems after dealing with the Collectors, to go out and investigate Orbis. Learn what happened 20 years ago that caused all connection to be severed, and clear the way for the Council to re-welcome Orbis back into the fold of Council Space.
Shepard can't do it alone. Besides the crew he picked up with his dealings with Cerebus, two former members who previously declined the previous mission are coming aboard the Normandy SR-2, as well as two new specialists sent by the Alliance.
This is a journey of wonder. This is a journey of terror. This a journey of optimism. This is Mass Effect: Into The Sun.
The Normandy, and by proxy the Orbis System, were just five minutes away. Liara fidgeted in her seat on the shuttle. She couldn't help it really. Even as the greatest dealer in information in the entire galaxy, she couldn't shake the feeling of giddiness in her. Here she was, once again going on a adventure with the marvelous Shepard into a system she hadn't been to since she was a child.
"There are no bathrooms on this craft, T'soni." Wrex grumbled.
"Sorry if I act like a Terran dog." She quickly apogolized. "One of my first digs were out in the Orbis systems. I believe that the planet was named Hic Fodere."
"As much as it pleases me to once again stand back-to-back with my favorite human, my plates inch to remind me that I got scammed way back when. Make sure we steer clear of a place called Vivat. Makes Tuchanka looks like Pokitaru."
"Your opinion is regarded well." Liara replied, with a faint smile. "I suppose you want to size up the two rookies on your own?"
"Did your homework, like a good asari." Wrex grumbled.
"I take it that the person you appointed to relief you as explore was the lesser of two evils."
"Wreav can lead, but no further than a foot from his throne." Again he grumbled. "The only reason why I left is because the Council offered me a deal I couldn't turn down."
"Being the fifth Council race is a plentiful reward."
"Damn right." Wrex got out with a laugh. "The krogan are ready for this. We gotten past our days of eating people we didn't like." Before Liara could continue, the intercom crackled.
"It looks like we're ready to dock." The pilot's voice came over the intercom. "Make sure you got everything before disembarking."
Wrex flashed a toothy smile. "Ready to take the first steps?"
"Let's."
The Normandy was alive with activity. Officers were running about to get things ready, engineers were swarming all over to double check all systems, supplies were being delivered and stored, and old friends were greeting each other.
There wasn't much room to move around. Aisha flashed her 2nd Lieutenant badge to get onto the greatest military ship in existence, not to board another cargo ship. After spending a year projecting a ship of useless Volus materials, she was hoping to work alongside the heroes of the Citadel and the Terminus Systems, not to be cramped again.
She gritted her teeth as she passed through the crowds with both hands, not caring if anyone got hurt. Where the hell was Shepard? How could let things get this carried away? As she got pressed from both sides, she noticed two krogans warmly shaking hands. Aisha mustered her strength to make way to the two.
"Clan Leader. It's a honor to serve side-by-side to you." Grunt proudly proclaimed as the two shook hands.
"And the same to you." Wrex warmly said. "It's…"
"Hey." Wrex turned around to see a woman with dark skin and hot-red hair approaching him.
"What?"
And in a second, Wrex got stumbled back when the average-sized human woman head-butted him. If it wasn't for the fact he was quite used to this, he might have been knocked on his ass. This caught the attention to everyone in the room as they looked on.
"You're taking on too much space. Move somewhere else." Aisha asked as politely as she could before entering the elevator. "Fourth floor." She asked, and she descended.
"We haven't even got started, and we already made a new enemy." Grunt grunted out. (Sorry)
"Almost felt it there." Wrex grunted. "She must be one of the new guys."
"Indeed." A woman's voice called out to them. Both krogan turned to the voice as Miranda walked up to them. "Her name is Aisha Bashir. 2nd Lieutenant, trained as a Vanguard. Has…forty counts of violence against her. The Alliance sent her our way as a…" She cleared her throat. "…as a 'bodyguard' for Shepard."
"Really now?" Wrex started to laugh. "Being around Shepard is only going to double her record."
"She's not as bad as Jack." Miranda pointed out. "And Shepard has more or less calmed her down."
"I just wish she would move up to his quarters." Grunt added his two cents in. "Two people were not meant to sleep under a bulkhead. Makes too much noise. Like at night." Miranda and Wrex decided to have a talk with Grunt later on. He knew about mating, just nothing about human mating.
"So, the other rookie." Wrex switched subjects. "Got anything on him? Does he got the quad for this mission?"
"Well…" Miranda picked up her datapad and looked around for the information. "Ah. Name's Sylvin Wallace. Goes by Syl for short. Not much on him. Just enlisted as Serviceman 3rd Class, Engineer class. Strange." She tapped around for a bit. "Usually the Alliance has more than this."
"You bosh'tet!"
Again, everyone's attention turned to the other side of the deck now, as the quarian Tali was standing above several boxes of parts and a short young man. As he got up, people could see he looked much like a 21st century slacker, with his rimless glasses and thick stubble.
"Sorry." Was the first words he got out as he picked up the fallen boxes.
"Fine, fine." Tali calmed down as bended down to help collect boxes. "Just don't take so many boxes with you. How were you expecting to see anything?"
"Though the holes." Syl replied.
"What holes?"
"The ones…that, ahh…came when the boxes shifted around?"
"Oh, boy." Tali sighed, the weight of the idea that he was going to assist her during the year journey. And here she thought that dealing with the upcoming Reaper invasion would be the worst possible thing.
"So we got a tough-ass and a dumb-ass." Grunt summed up.
"Good." Wrex laughed. "Always nice to have some meat shields that won't be missed."
"Now then." Miranda broke away to address everyone on deck. "Shepard will be giving a ship-wide broadcast soon once everything is settled. But if you wish to meet him in person, he's the Cargo Bay. But finish your primary duties first."
"Really?" Syl shouted, while tossing the boxes into Tali's hands. While she tried to hold her ground, Syl ran to the elevator and jumped in, not caring for the fact that Tali had fallen to the ground and the boxes completely giving away and letting the parts spill all over the place.
And all the senior crew could was to sigh and move on.
Yuri knew the feeling of pressure. Not peer pressure mind you, but rather the constant weight of duty. He just finished dealing with the Collectors, the Shadow Broker, and the Overlord Project. To be more detailed, he fought against a race of colony-kidnapping Reaper loyalists, the greatest kingpin of information and his deep cover agents and a illegal project that forced a man to undergo a horrifying transformation into a VI. And now, having returned to his dream job as a Alliance officer, he was being sent out into unknown territory yet again.
Who knows what's out there? Another group of Reaper supporters? A even crazier broker of information? Satan Project? A evil Conrad Verner?
At least he was given several good reasons to go out into the unknown. Liara and Wrex could afford to leave their positions to join him this time. All of the people that Cerberus nicely 'donated' were sticking around. And the Council was more than happy to send supplies and soldiers to join them. So at the very least, it would be as hellish as the Traverse…hopefully.
"All right." A voice drew his attention away from the both the datapad and his thoughts. "You like?"
Oh, right. The last good reason.
And there she is. With hair on her head. Well, the sides were still shaved, but Yuri did like the ponytail she put on. Because the belt got burnt up during a rough reentry (Leading to one ensign's ribs being cracked for a rude remark) she traded it in for a less-revealing shirt and a studded jacket. Honestly, Yuri would have missed the old bald Jack…only a little.
"Love it." Yuri smiled.
"Guessed you thought that." She jumped off the platform and into the open arms of her boyfriend. "So, we got yet another insane mission on our hands."
"Oh yeah." Yuri put her down. "A little less insane."
"But still, something hardcore." Jack jokingly punched Yuri's arm.
"No doubt." Yuri sighed. "I was hoping for some down time, but I'm thrown into the breech yet again."
"You could just quit." Jack yawned and stretched her arms up.
"I love this job." Yuri said as he picked back up his datapad and tapped away at some orders. "It's just the mission. I'm more used to six weeks long missions, not a entire year."
"So quit."
"No."
"Then stop complaining."
"Can't argue with that." Yuri just threw his arms. "But still, orders are orders. And you're along for the ride."
"And you locked the escape pods to prevent me from pulling off a 'see ya, suckers?'"
"Good thing I thought ahead, huh?"
Jack again punched Yuri in the arm, this time a bit more harder. Yuri rubbed his 'wound' as the two reached the end of the cargo bay. "Hopefully we don't hit a meteor on the way out. If you survive and everyone doesn't, it's going to be hard to explain why nobody could escape."
"I'm joking, I'm joking." Yuri shrugged. "But you're not going to bail on me, are you?"
"Nah. I'm coming along on my own free will. Things were interesting with you around. Firefights, explosions, insane people, sex…"
"Everything we want in a nice wrapped package."
"Hell…"
KKKRRAAASSHHH
The two stopped their conservation to notice a Serviceman picking himself off the ground after colliding with a tray of boxes. Yuri and Jack shared confused looks. The Serviceman looked up, noticed Yuri, and extended his hand out. "Commander, I amazed to meet you!" He said. Yuri raised a eyebrow. "Oh, right. Serviceman 3rd Class Sylvin Wallace." Yuri then shook his hand.
"Welcome aboard." Yuri welcomed. "You're the new Engineer?"
"Yeah." Again, Yuri's eyebrow raised a notch. "Oh, sorry. Yes, and I just meet Chief Engineer…err…"
"Problem?"
"Do I refer to her as Neema or Normandy?"
"Tali will do fine." Yuri instructed. "We're less formal around here. We do have some regulations around here, but you can relax as long as you don't go around and harass anybody."
"Okay!" And with that, he did rolled his right arm around, tucked his thumb in, and crossed his arm across his throat before taking off.
"We got a handful." Jack sighed.
Yuri just groaned.
Everything was set. Ship fueled, cargo loaded, crew settled. All it needed now was the traditional cast off speech.
"I take it that after you retire, you got plans to get into politics." Joker 'joked' as Yuri walked into the cockpit.
"What makes you say that?" Yuri asked perplexed.
"I don't know…" Joker shrugged. "You just have that air about you, the ability to talk people down, as well as make crap up on the spot."
"True." Yuri chuckled. "Actually, I've been working on the speech since the briefing."
"No cue cards?" The two turned to see Garrus enter the area.
"Don't need them." Yuri replied.
"That's actually a good thing. I don't even have the fingers to count how many times a politicians needlessly endanger himself with cue cards."
"Really now?" Yuri egged on.
"Oh yes." Garrus groaned, recalling some unsavory memory from his days as a officer aboard the Citadel. "When they bend down to pick them up after dropping them, they're open to snipers. And they always drop them at one point. We got some more important going on, so I'll tell you guys later about I nearly died thanks to a single index card."
"For once, I'm interested." Joker piped up.
"Right." Yuri cleared his throat. "Everything is set, everyone is ready. Let's not keep them waiting." Joker nodded, and flipped some switches. With a soft hum, the broadcast channel opened up to the entire ship. Yuri sat in the co-pilot seat and spoke.
"This is nothing new to us. Most of us just got back from a mission into the unknown; a mission many said would kill us all. Expect nobody died. We all came out alive. Our mission may sound tedious: explore a lost nebula for a year. But we have no idea what to expect. The intel is over twenty years old, so everything we actually know may be lies. The entire system may not even exist."
The crew started to mumble to themselves.
"But this mission is no different. We go into the unknown, and we come back. That's all we need to do. This is nothing new to us. The only thing new is supplies and crew. We got a long year ahead of us, but let's make this a year NOBODY will forget. Now then, remind me something. What are we?"
"WE ARE THE CREW OF THE NORMANDY!" Proudly replied everyone on the ship, save for the new people and the more socially reserved.
"I thought so." Yuri patted Joker on the back. "Now, would you kindly?"
"Gladly." And with that, Joker hit the thrusters.
For nothing to happen.
"Huh." Garrus was the first to speak on the entire ship.
"Mr. Moreau." Yuri asked after blinking several times. "Why isn't my ship moving?"
"Good question." Joker choked out. "Uhh…ED-I!"
"I'm currently looking into it." ED-I chirped as her avatar popped up and started to check the systems. "Something of unknown origins has attached itself to the main thrusters and is preventing them from firing up." The people in the cockpit turned to face each other to figure out what exactly that meant.
"Unknown origins?" Garrus repeated. "You don't think…"
"The device is not of Reaper, Collector, or of Geth origins. The device is also not of custom design; as it has all of the finishing of a factory-made device, with current technology." ED-I finished before she flashed white for a second, meaning she had found something else. "A second check has revealed a mark that belonged to a company that existed twenty years ago." The others in the cockpit had only one thing on their minds.
"The Orbis System?" Joker asked, breaking the silence.
"Correct." ED-I answered.
"Wait wait wait." Joker stuttered. "But nobody has traveled from Orbis to here yet, or vice-versa! Right? It…it hasn't changed since yesterday, right?"
"I've been checking with the Mass Relay logs every hour." ED-I inquired. "There has been zero activity for both coming and going. Nothing has traveled here or there."
"Figures."
A unknown voice came from behind the four of them. As they turned, they saw nothing but the hallway into the cockpit and the crew managing the computers in said hallway. But Garrus' trained eyes did see something moving forward, but only a faint ripple of light.
"Infiltrator." Garrus informed the others as he drew his sidearm, aiming down the center of the hall. Yuri followed suit while Joker just remained still. He forgot to replace his emergency firearm after he used it in a shooting gallery. The ripple stopped near the entrance, and a small laugh came from the direction of it. "You got ten to drop the cloak." Garrus ordered. The figure agreed, and appeared a tall Asari dressed all in black, and with a dark look on her face.
"So you aren't behind on technology as we thought." She said as she leaned back on a bulkhead.
"Tactical Cloaks are fairly common." Garrus replied. "And fairly easy to detect."
The Asari shrugged. "Then again, talking out loud does diminish the possible threat." She got back up, swinging her arms forward like it was nothing more than a lazy day for her. "So, you're Commander Yuri Shepard." She pointed to him, who remained solid in place. "Hero of the Citadel, man who turns suicide missions into cakewalks…" She opened and closed her hand as she talked. "You seem to be…unremarkable."
"Sorry that I didn't dress up for a unexpected guest." Yuri spoke up. "Who are you, anyway? And how did you manage to get aboard?"
"I walked in." The Asari replied. "You really need to run scans on transport vessels. Anybody could hide in the cargo hold and twiddle thier fingers waiting for the ride to end."
"I'll keep that mind." Yuri replied. "Name. Now."
Again, the Asari shrugged. "Forza Z'Oni. I'm your welcome wagon to the Orbis System." She spread her arms out wide. Nobody went out of their way to hug her, so she dropped her arms. "Fine then." Her hands started to glow with a white biotic energy. Yuri and Garrus' suddenly dropped their pistols. "Surrender your vessel and allow me to take you to where you…"
Forza went flying back, like a bungee jumper whose cord just hit full length. Samara had pulled the cord, and Forza went right into the awaiting clenched fist of Grunt. The squishy Asari went back the way she came, but managed to recover in mid-air and land on her feet. But this point, Garrus and Yuri had already reclaimed their firearms and were approaching her . Forza tensed up, and let out a large biotic wave all around her, pushing everyone near back and blinding other further away. While the others were busy getting their balance back, Forza had went invisible.
"ED-I!" Joker started furiously tapping on his holoboard. "Can you detect any signs of her?"
"I'm sensing a masked life sign in the Cargo Bay." ED-I informed. "She slipped through a duct."
"Come on!" Grunt called from the elevator with Samara in tow.
"Is anyone nearby?" Asked Yuri as he grabbed a rifle form the emergency closet. He tossed one to Garrus as they raced towards the elevator.
"Yes. 2nd Lieutenant Aisha Bashir and Serviceman 3rd Class Sylvin Wallace." ED-I replied. "I'm sending them a warning as we speak."
"Good!" Yuri shouted as the elevator descended down as fast as it could.
"I'm good at juggling."
"No."
Syl sighed. Aisha groaned for her response and then turned around to resume checking the crate for anything contraband. The two had been given, for their first duty aboard the Normandy, double-checking cargo. A tedious chore, sure, but after they ditched Cerberus after their true intentions came into the light, you had to make sure that some double-agent hadn't snuck a explosive aboard. If Cerberus could resurrect Yuri, it's nothing to him to make a sensor-avoiding bomb.
"Do you have any interests?" Syl finally asked. Aisha didn't even move her body in anyway to respond to him. When Syl opened his mouth and made a noise, she threw a packed instant lunch of mashed potatoes at him, and it landed right into his mouth. He spat out the package, and turned around to get back to work.
"Can I have your name at least?" He asked as he dug through some engineer tools.
"Aisha." She replied in the most deadpan voice ever heard by the human ears. She immediately went quiet.
"Okay." Syl replied with a smile. "My name is…"
"Be quiet." Aisha shot back with the same tone of voice. When Syl turned around to look at her, all he saw was another packed lunch before he turned right around to get to work. But he waited until she put the thing back in the container before attempting to speak again.
"INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER IN CARGO BAY. INTRUDER IS CLOAKED."
The blaring alert immediately broke the ice between the two, and they immediately got to work. Aisha reached behind her to grab her Eviscerator Shotgun while Syl grabbed his Geth Plasma Shotgun.
"You got training with that?" Aisha asked.
"I'm not a good shot, 'kay?" Syl shot back as he leapt over a container to take cover. They kept quiet and looked around the bay for the intruder. They didn't see any ripples of light, let alone anyone else. Syl got a little anxious, and started to wildly shift around in his position to look for any signs of action. Aisha tried to motion over to him to get him to stop. He continued to do so.
"Stop!" She harshly said under her breath. He finally did, but before firing off a shot in a supposedly random direction.
"I see it!" He shouted back. Aisha rushed to his side to see a faint glimmer of light move behind a crate. He missed the intruder, but barely. Aisha darted after it with shotgun ready. She turned the corner and quickly fired off a shot, but again the shot soared past the intruder. Gritting her teeth, she readied her biotic charge as she continued to run after the target. She then heard Syl's shotgun going off, indicating that the intruder must have doubled back.
Hoping to corner it, she activated the charge down the same path she just traveled on. Her shoulder made contact with something soft and invisible, knocking it far away.
"Gottya!" Aisha declared, using the leftover biotic energy to quickly make her way through the cargo to where Forza landed. Her cloak had gotten smashed by the impact, and now she faded in between visibility and invisibility. Her hand forced, she withdrew her measly small pistol and pointed at the approaching Syl. One shot, and the stairs in front of her exploded in a mess of molten metal.
"You see that!" Syl shouted as Aisha also took cover.
"The Orbis System must have a hella of a armory." Aisha grinned as she rounded the corner of the crate and fired off a shot. This time, Forza got hit in the shoulder by three pellets. She did manage to temporality activate her cloak in time to escape from the incoming gunfire.
"Damn you!" Forza answered as she fired two more shots, causing more explosions to cover her. Finally, the cloak device just fell off, completely destroyed. Growling even more at her bad luck, she continued to fire off more shots in random directions, not really caring if she hit her pursuers, just as long as something blew up was enough to please her.
"And here I thought you were the sneaky type."
Forza felt the tip of a inferior gun touch the back of her neck. Jack had gotten the drop on her.
"So…" Jack rubbed the back of her neck with one hand. "I can make this easy. Either knock you out cold, or kill you quick."
"You're a biotic, aren't you?" Asked Forza, having felt a strong biotic presence earlier. "You could have done both earlier."
"True." Jack sighed. "But I'm trying to be nice and all. So…surrender or…"
"DIE!" Forza quickly ducked and turned 180 to push her fist into Jack's stomach. Jack dropped her pistol in shock and managed to block the punch. Forza followed up with more punches and kicks, but Jack easily blocked and finally countered with a biotic-charged punch. Forza fell to the floor on her back, and before she could get up, Jack stamped down on Forza's stomach, and again pointed the gun.
"HA!" Forza shouted, her eyes getting more stained by the second. The once calm Asari now acted like a mad dog. "Your technology is light-years behind ours!"
"A headshot is still a headshot." Jack replied, before turning her head over to the main cargo area, still smoking. "Hey! New guys!" This small distraction was enough for Forza to smack her left wrist. Jack looked down to see the Asari's body dissolve into red swirling light and then vanish, leaving Jack's foot to land on the floor where the body used to be.
"What…" Syl came in first, his face dirty from blast marks. "What happened?"
For once, Jack didn't have a smart remark.
"Teleportation?" Yuri asked amazed.
"Ship-to-ship." Thane confirmed. "The Orbis System do indeed have technology beyond ours." He shook his head in near disbelief. "And it took only one person to nearly take down this ship."
"But Forza had the eyes of a amateur." Zaeed chipped in. "She knew how to use her stuff, but she left herself open to several attacks."
Thane shook his head in confirmation. "Her biggest mistake was announcing herself in front of us. If she kept her cloak up and kept quiet, she could have easily took us out and commandeered the Normandy." He raised his a hand to his chin in thought. "Speaking of which…where would she take us?"
Yuri sighed. "We need to get to the Orbis System pronto then. I rather walk into a trap than to be lead around like a slave." The others in the meeting room went quiet, realizing that Yuri had started to think about Mindoir again. "Joker, set a course to the first planet in the Orbis System. How long will it take?" Yuri asked over the comm.
"According to reports…about two days."
"The Mass Relay is that far away from civilization?" Asked Zaeed.
"Another mystery to be solved when we get there." Yuri grumbled as he exited the room. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in my quarters getting things ready." Jack followed behind him and the two entered the elevator and went up.
"You're worried." Jack asked halfway up.
"A little." Yuri sighed. "We got a lot people on board, and I have the feeling this mission is going to be tougher than the last." Jack scoffed.
"The mission involving a supposed dead advanced race, transformed to work for their enemies; those enemies being destroyers of all life mind you, kidnapping entire human colonies to make a destroyer of all life is easier than exploring a single galaxy?" Jack held back her laughter.
"Call it a gut instinct." Yuri replied. "Or I'm overdramatizing." He shrugged as Jack shook her head in disbelief.
"What does your past experiences tell you?" Jack asked. Yuri took a while to think of his response, and spoke when they reached the top floor.
"They're telling me to be ready for anything…even a Reaper like Sovereign could be sleeping around in Orbis." Yuri groaned as he flopped down on the bed. "I haven't done anything today, and yet I feel like I fought all throughout Omega armed only with a broken pistol." Jack sat down on the bed and started to pet him like a cat. "That does feel better."
"Ah. Poor baby." Jack chided him. "Don't worry, I'm here. The crew is here. What ever comes our way…we can handle it just like always." Jack slowly started to scratch the back of his neck, again like a cat. "Besides, my gut is saying to me that we'll have plenty of free time during this mission…" She started to stroke his chin.
As Joker made the jump into the Orbis System, so did Jack and Yuri.