Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. This is the first chapter of Return of the Fallen.
Summary: A force long since vanished from the face of the galaxy has been unearthed by Cerberus. Will this event save humanity, or damn it to extinction.
The Naruto portion of this fic is AU. So I don't want any complaining about how I'm not following the manga.
Not much else to say here so read and enjoy! Oh, and I don't own Mass Effect nor do I own Naruto.
Ch.1 Discovery
1700 Hours
January 25, 2185 (Earth Calendar)
Skia Polemistis System (Unexplored)
-Normandy SR-2 CIC-
Commander Issac Shepard stared at the galactic map display with concern. Their current flightpath had them traveling to a system perilously close to the Perseus Veil, right on the fringes of Terminus space. Looking at their destination planet he saw that it was sickly gray in color, a clear indicator that there would be no life to greet them there.
Anyone with an ounce of spaceflight common sense knew that you approach the Perseus Veil at your own risk, the reason being that any systems beyond the veil belonged exclusively to the Geth and any ships caught on the wrong side of the veil were sent back with their entire crews turned into Husks.
The commander was interrupted from his thoughts when the voice of the Normandy's pilot, Jeff "Joker" Moreau, came over the comm system. "Attention all crew members, we have arrived in the Skia Polemistis system and are 1 hour away from our target. Our proximity to Geth space has us at yellow alert for the duration of the mission. All crew members standby."
Shepard looked around the CIC at all of the crew members manning their posts, all of them keeping a constant eye out for anything that could compromise their mission, various firearms dangling from holsters on every crew member. Though the Normandy SR-2 had stealth systems that made it virtually undetectable, the crew wasn't about to be caught off guard in a place like this. Shepard nodded to no one in-particular before turning around and proceeding to the elevator and, from there, to his quarters to prep himself for the mission.
-Captain's quarters—-
While Shepard was putting on his N7 armor he thought back to what brought him and his crew so far out into Terminus space...
A race of beings known as the Collectors were somehow kidnapping the entire populations of human colonies all across Terminus space, and thus far the Citadel council had done nothing to find an explanation citing that the colonies in question were 'outside their jurisdiction.'
This is where Issac Shepard came into the picture. Two years ago a Collector ship destroyed the previous Normandy and left him a corpse floating in space. A human splinter group known as Cerberus found his body and spent billions of credits in order to bring him back. After an eventful reuniting with the land of the living he met with the leader of Cerberus a man who, ironically, called himself the Illusive Man. The Illusive Man set Issac on the trail of the Collectors and sent two of his best operatives to help him: Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson, a former Alliance soldier and a high ranking Cerberus operative respectively.
After investigating Freedom's Progress, the latest colony hit by the mysterious Collectors, and reporting back to the Illusive Man, Issac was told that he had to assemble a team to fight the Collectors. The Illusive Man forwarded him several information dossiers on individuals who fit the necessary criteria. This team was to be made up of a variety of operatives of varying specializations, each of them the best in their respective fields.
So far the roster was as follows:
The first member recruited was a Salarian doctor by the name of Mordin Solus. One of the greatest minds in the Galaxy, and former member of the Salarian Special Tasks Group. Once he was recruited he immediately set to work trying to figure out ways to counteract the Collectors advanced bio-technology.
After him came the elusive vigilante known as the Archangel, later revealed to be Shepard's former teammate, and best friend Garrus Vakarian. A Turian soldier and former C-sec officer, Garrus had extensive training as both a frontline soldier and a sniper making him an all around very dangerous individual.
From there Issac went after a person who could very well be the most powerful human biotic ever, Subject Zero, a.k.a. Jack. Held on a prison ship awaiting release into Cerberus's custody for Shepard's mission.
Shepard's train of thought shifted, he thought back to the meeting with the Illusive Man that put the Normandy out here so close to the Perseus Veil. It was a meeting that he'd had a hard time getting off his mind, and for good reason too...
-flashback: 3 days ago-
It had been about two weeks since Issac Shepard returned to active duty in service to the radical pro-human group Cerberus and so far things were looking grim.
The Collector homeworld lay on the other side of the unmapped Omega 4 mass relay. Any non-Collector ships that tried to go through it never returned. Despite the best efforts of Cerberus's numerous science teams, no headway had been made in finding a way to get the Normandy through the relay safely.
The Collectors themselves were nearly impossible to track down. Their advanced bio-technology allowing them to arrive at a human colony, knock out it's communications, abduct all of the colonists, and retreat back through the relay before anyone was able arrive to stop them.
At the moment the Normandy's crew found themselves getting anxious. Cerberus command was still gathering information about potential team members and the Collectors hadn't made an appearance since they abducted the entire colony of Freedom's Progress almost 3 weeks ago.
At this point nerves were at an all time high, all of the crew members were expecting something bad to happen any day now. Each crew member with family on a Terminus colony was afraid that one of their families could be on the next colony to be attacked and were trying to warn them in time to move to the core systems.
The anxiety of the crew nearly exploded when the Illusive Man himself suddenly requested to speak with Shepard. Immediately the thoughts on everyone's minds were that the Collectors had made another appearance and some might not hear from their families again. Shepard steeled himself for apparent bad news and made his way to the briefing room.
Shepard stood perfectly still as the scanner identified him before projecting his hologram directly into the Illusive Man's office. The man himself was currently sitting in his chair staring at the superimposed star that served as the rooms only form of illumination. The Illusive Man turned his chair around to face the commander; as he was every time he was contacted he was currently smoking a cigarette. The Illusive Man fit the image of an amoral billionaire to a tee. He had the expensive suit, his silvery, almost white, hair was close cropped and always in place. What stood out most about him however were his eyes, pitch black against the star in the background with a glowing blue design that overlapped his irises. The way he spoke had a way of making you distrustful of him, his tone always had a slight condescending edge to it, and his demeanor always suggested that he knew more than he let on. Shepard didn't trust the Illusive Man, and he made sure that the Illusive Man knew it, but so long as the Illusive Man had the information and resources that he needed he was forced to work under him.
"Shepard..." he greeted tapping his cigarette over an ashtray on the chair's armrest. "Are you aware of the meaning behind the term 'independent invention'?"
Shepard raised an eyebrow, usually this man was straightforward and never beat around the bush. "I can't say that I am."
The Illusive Man explained. "The term 'independent invention' is used to describe two cultures that have never interacted with one another in any way somehow coming up with nearly the exact same idea."
Shepard nodded his head in understanding. His eyes however, narrowed; what was he getting at?
The Illusive Man continued "One of the most prominent examples of independent invention occurs when we look at the ancient civilizations of Egypt and South America." He made a hand gesture and a variety of pictures of ancient pyramids from both cultures appeared in front of him. "Both civilizations constructed pyramids of differing designs as a sign of devotion to their gods. These two civilizations never came into contact, or had any knowledge of each others existence and yet they both managed to come up with the exact same idea."
"Fascinating..." Shepard replied, not really interested. "What does this have to do with the Collectors though?"
"Nothing," was his answer.
"...I'm sorry?" Shepard said with a small amount of ire. If this meeting had nothing to do with his and the Normandy's mission, why was he here in the first place?
"The Collectors have, thus far, been completely silent. We're keeping a close eye out for any signs of activity from them but so far they haven't done anything obvious. It's because of this brief respite that I have called you here today. One of Cerberus's other cells has discovered something monumental; this same cell recently contacted Cerberus high command with an urgent request for a squad of highly trained soldiers, so I want you and your team to head to their location to back them up.," The Illusive Man told him.
"Back up? Don't you have normal Cerberus personnel for that kind of job? Why do you need me and my team when we have our own mission!" Shepard was irked at this point and his tone showed it.
The Illusive Man took another drag on his cigarette, not phased in the slightest by the commander's rising anger. "Normal Cerberus personnel are insufficient for a mission such as this. This particular Cerberus cell is located in the Skia Polemistis system, which in turn is located dangerously close to the Perseus Veil."
Shepard's eyes widened, and his anger disappeared. That explained the need for his team. Having a research team be located close to Geth controlled space was a dangerous gambit. Whatever this cell was looking into it had to be big to risk Geth attacks. He decided to cut to the heart of the matter. "What exactly is this cell supposed to be researching?"
The Illusive Man smirked. "Independent evolution." he answered.
Shepard tilted his head in confusion. "Independent...evolution?"
The Illusive Man nodded. "If independent invention is the creation of one idea by two separate cultures that have never interacted; then independent evolution is having the same species evolve in two different places without having interacted. In this case the research cell has discovered the ruins of a now extinct civilization on one of the planets of the Skia Polemistis system."
Shepard nodded his head. "I'm no scientist but I do know that the odds of such a phenomenon occurring are astronomical at best. How do you know that your research cell didn't just find the remains of a species that wound up there by accident and managed to adapt?"
The Illusive Man's smirk grew wider. "Because Shepard, the race that this cell has discovered...is human."
If Shepard's eyes could have gone any wider his eyeballs probably would have fallen out at that last statement. "...H-how is that possible!" was all he managed to say.
The Illusive Man took one last drag on his cigarette before snuffing it in the ash tray. He exhaled sounding disappointed "The cells top scientists are still unsure as to how a separate branch of humanity came to be on this planet. We probably won't ever know, a fact that disappoints me greatly. However, the cell's top scientist reassures me that there are still relics from this civilization that could not only give us clues as to who they were but may help advance us, their brothers, further in this galaxy."
Shepard held back a grimace, Cerberus discovers another branch of humanity and instead learning more about them as a whole he's just interested in using what they knew to advance him and his. "What other information can you give me on the planet we'll be going to and on this race of humans as a whole?"
"The planet itself is dead. We hypothesize that a mass extinction event occurred sometime in the past eight hundred to a thousand years and it left the world with little atmosphere to speak of, so you and your team will need environment suits. As for the humans that lived there, as near as the cell can figure, the human civilization in question had most likely thrived long before the extinction event occurred. They apparently were able to build settlements capable of matching a medium sized town and had an architectural style strangely reminiscent of the buildings found in ancient Japan." The Illusive Man motioned with his hand again and some new pictures popped up showing exampled of the ruined buildings, all of them bearing a strong resemblance to ancient Japan just as he had indicated.
Shepard nodded his head once more. "Now then, let's get down to what needs to be done. I've already sent EDI the coordinates for the Skia Polemistis system. Once you get there you will find the research cell's ship, the CSV Alexandria, in orbit around the planet. Talk to the team's head scientist, Professor Jonathan Crull, he'll fill you in on any other information you may need and will give you your mission specifics. Can I count on your team to do this Shepard?"
"My team is the best, you yourself saw to that. The six we have so far will be more than enough." Shepard responded, reminding the Illusive Man of his role in this.
"Very well then. Good luck Shepard."
-flashback end-
Shepard finished securing the last piece of his armor, and made his way to the elevator, his re-breather helmet attached to his belt. The elevator descended to the CIC and he began making his way to the port side airlock, his teammates already equipped and waiting for him as he got off the elevator.
"Commander." Saluted Jacob Taylor.
Shepard nodded at him and he dropped the salute, he then let his eyes drift from one teammate to another assessing how prepared they were:
Miranda Lawson was currently wearing her usual attire of a form fitting white bodysuit with black sleeves, the Cerberus emblem emblazoned right over her left breast, right over her heart. She currently wore a look of absolute seriousness, which belied her interest in learning about her race's newly discovered cousins.
The team's other two humans, Jacob Taylor and Jack, were of a similar mindset. Jacob was wearing a Cerberus bodysuit as well, with the same black and white color scheme with the Cerberus emblem in the same place. He, like Miranda, had a look that said he was all about business, but if you looked at him more closely then you could see a small spark of wonder in his eyes at the thought of seeing this new civilization.
Jack was currently dressed as one would guess a common biker thug to dress. Low slung jeans, a black leather vest, steel toe boots, and a reflective visor obstructing her eyes. Despite her potentially psychotic temperament and cold indifference, she too expressed curiosity and disbelief that other human races existed.
The teams two non-human members were completely astonished to learn what Shepard had told them, one much more so than the other.
Garrus Vakarian was suited up in the new, military-grade, blue lit armor that was provided in order to replace his damaged Archangel armor. When he first learned of this extinct human sub-culture, needless to say he was shocked, not that something like this could happen, but given the Turians encounters with humanity and humanity's penchant for adaptation, that this human sub-culture went extinct. He constantly maintained that since humanity tends to fight tooth and nail for what they want or believe in this race must have run up against something bad to have been wiped out completely.
Mordin Solus, dressed in his standard scientist attire, was the one who took the news with the least amount of surprise. Although he was still thoroughly shocked, he was more curious as to the evolution and potential variations in DNA in this group of humans from the ones originating in the Sol system. When he first heard the news he rationalized the discovery by saying that even though the odds of such a thing occurring were astronomical, it was not by any means impossible for two species to evolve so far away from each other.
Joker's voice came over the comm system. "We are beginning docking procedures with the CSV Alexandria, all Normandy personnel stand by for docking."
Shepard and his team made their way to the airlock doing their best to ignore the rumbling and shaking caused by the two ship's airlocks linking. As they were walking through the corridor between the ships they were able to get a good look at the Alexandria via the windows placed on the walls. It was about the size and shape of a standard Systems Alliance cruiser. An excellent choice for a mission such as this, it would have a crew size of about 50 minimum to 100 maximum. Half of the crew could be planetside and the other half would still be capable of mounting a defense if something unsavory came their way.
As they got to the end of the linking corridor, the door opened up to reveal a man in scientist garb with glasses and graying-brown hair. He had an annoyed look on his face, suggesting he didn't want to be there greeting Shepard and his team. "Greetings commander Shepard. I am Professor Jonathan Crull. I'm the scientist in charge of this research cell." He said in a neutral tone.
"It's a pleasure Professor. I was told that you requested my team as backup against Geth attacks. Let me introduce my team..." Shepard responded, and then proceeded to identify his team members for the man, absently noting how his face tensed when Garrus and Mordin were introduced.
"Yes, please follow me. We'll be heading to the med lab. What artifacts we found that were still in good condition are being stored there." With that Jonathan turned around and began walking down the hallway without so much as a look back, Shepard and his team following behind him.
As they were walking some of the team decided to speak up and ask some questions that had been eating at them ever since they were briefed on the mission details.
"What exactly have you found out about these humans and their culture Professor?" Miranda asked.
"We've discovered disappointingly little compared to what we hoped to have by now. We know that these people share much in common with people you would find on Earth's Japan. Their architectural style and what little we've found of their writing bears striking resemblances to the same styles found in ancient Japan. Even some skeletal remains found in various cave systems throughout the world have features reminiscent of the Japanese." The professor answered.
"Doesn't it strike you as odd that a race of humans can evolve here and somehow develop a Japanese culture?" Jacob spoke up, skepticism evident in his tone.
Professor Crull shook his head. "Our lines of thought followed almost that exact path. At first we thought that this place was an early human colony founded by people of Japanese descent. It wasn't until we brought up the first artifacts for carbon dating that we discovered that these remains had been down there for over eight hundred years, placing them here long before humanity had discovered electricity let alone space travel."
"Interesting explanation then. How these humans... (Inhale)...came to live here?" Mordin added.
Jonathan grimaced at Mordin's speech pattern, but nonetheless answered his inquiry. "At this point in time we only have theories as to how humans came to live on this planet. Theories ranging from dimensional rifts to alien abductions, but that's all we have...theories." He answered solemnly.
"What about anatomy of new humans? Any dissimilarities to note?" Mordin continued.
"It'll be easier for me to answer that when we get to the med-bay. But suffice it to say, there are some significant differences we've discovered between us and these humans. But, that wasn't even the biggest discovery we made." The professor had an almost excited tone as he said the last sentence.
"Then pray tell, what was the biggest discovery you and your team made?" Miranda pressed.
Jonathan smiled. "The biggest discovery, Ms. Lawson, lies deep within the planet's core. Perhaps this planet's biggest difference from our Earth is the presence of several heavy and radioactive metals not present in Earth's core. The whole planet is abounding with several unique types of radiation."
"Radiation? Could that be why this culture died? And furthermore, why would you send people down to the surface of this planet if the planet itself is radioactive?" Shepard exclaimed.
Their guide was quick to defuse the situation. "Calm down commander. The radiation permeating the planet is, for all intents and purposes, benign. I've had teams rotating on and off that planet for almost two weeks and not one person has suffered any ill side effects...at least not yet." He added as an afterthought.
Everyone was silent for a time as they continued making their way through the Alexandria. Eventually they came to an elevator. Stepping inside, the professor pressed the button for the crew quarters, mess hall, and medical station deck. The elevator started to descend.
"So tell me something Professor, how exactly did Cerberus discover this so-called 'lost human civilization?" Garrus asked. Despite his curiosity it was obvious that he didn't quite buy that a lost branch of the human race could just be found so far out of the way.
The professor frowned at the question. "Though the civilization that existed here is now extinct; Cerberus probes detected the energy resonances I told you about earlier. However, in addition to that they also detected a large energy source emanating from just below the planet's surface. My research cell was called in not long after and we promptly sent down a scouting team who discovered the first ruins." he replied succinctly.
"Energy Sources? Still active power generators?" Mordin asked.
The professor sighed and looked upwards in contemplation. "We aren't sure what the energy source is. What we do know is that it is located in a vast underground cave system located in a large mountain range in the north-eastern portion of the planet's main continent."
The elevator doors opened and everyone inside disembarked. A couple more minutes of walking found them at the medical station where they saw various items placed on the tables and shelves ranging from rusted and damaged metal weapons, like swords, knives and shuriken, to several decayed scrolls whose contents were nearly illegible thanks to their age and decay. It was like a museum exhibit on ancient culture. There was even an entire human skeleton on an examination table.
Professor Crull walked over to the skeleton. "One of our greatest finds-" he said with pride "-an entire skeleton featuring what several generations of exposure to their planets unique energy signature did for their evolution." He motioned Shepard's team to move in closer for a better look.
"One of the first things apparent about these humans is their unique bone structure. The bones themselves were about two to three times as dense as our own. This would have had the effect of increasing bone durability, lowering the chance of breaks; however this would increase their weight by the same factor. As if to offset this particular trait these bones are incredibly porous, this would take off enough mass to put the bones at about what our own would weigh without sacrificing durability. The porous nature of the bones would have also allowed for more efficient knitting when a break does occur." Crull pointed out excitedly.
"Incredible..." Jacob spoke up. "This would make them particularly effective in close quarters combat. They could take more punches before the bones would give in."
"Precisely." Crull nodded at Jacob, then looked at the skeleton and sighed. "If only we could find a single strand of their DNA. Apart from bone structure these humans are just like you or me, skeleton wise at least. As it stands we are unable to determine what other evolutionary traits these people might have that makes them different from us, skeletons can only show so much." He said.
After that the professor got quiet, most likely thinking of what he could find if he just had a single strand of these human's DNA. The silence was broken by the ships comm system buzzing to life, "Professor Crull, you're needed on the bridge. Ground Team Beta just reported in, it sounds like they found something big."
The professor's eyes lit up with childish glee, it was like Christmas had come early. He rushed out of the med bay, pausing just long enough to beckon Shepard and his team to follow him. A few minutes later they arrived on the bridge where the professor began talking eagerly with his subordinates over the ships communicator. "This is professor Crull, ground team beta, go ahead!"
An excited man's voice came over the comm system. "Professor, we've found it!"
His eyes widened "What! Are you absolutely sure!" The professor's voice was ecstatic but laced with doubt.
The man on the com spoke again. "Yes sir, there's no doubt about it. It's sitting right here in front of us. However, we're gonna need some heavy equipment if we're gonna get it up to the Alexandria"
"Consider it done! I'll send everything you need down on the next shuttle." The professor replied quickly and then proceeded to write down everything his crew member listed.
He turned to Shepard and his team. "Commander Shepard, I would like for you and half of your team to make the trip with the heavy equipment."
Shepard blinked. "Is that really necessary...we do have our own mission here after all."
The professor's eyes narrowed. "Trust me commander if you knew what we've just found you'd realize that this is exactly why the Illusive Man chose you and your team for this op." His voice adopted a frustrated edge that only served to pique Shepard's curiosity.
"And what exactly have you and your team found?" Shepard questioned.
"In the time I would waste explaining it to you; you would have been there and learned first hand. Ground team beta's leader will fill you in once you get there. I assure you that this is very much worth your time." If the annoyance in the professor's voice wasn't obvious before it was now.
'He really doesn't like his orders being questioned.' Shepard thought absently. "Alright then, Mordin and Jacob will come with me on the shuttle." The aforementioned nodded and made their way back to the elevator. "-Jack, Miranda, and Garrus. I want you three to stay here and keep us notified of anything unusual. Alright?" Two 'Yes sir's met his ears and one "whatever" from Jack. He too made his way to the elevator and from there to the cargo bay and the waiting shuttle.
-2 hours later-
After getting the cargo, which consisted mainly of drills, lasers, and explosives, loaded; the shuttle took off for the uncharted world taking with it Shepard and his team. As they got closer to the planet they saw the state of the surface in detail. The gray color of the planet as seen from orbit belied the sheer desolation one would find if they came in for a closer look. The planet's surface currently looked like the end result of a nuclear apocalypse, oddly enough there were several large craters marring the ground at several locations that reinforced this notion. Any trees that were alive before were now broken and black; ironically the only thing keeping them from turning completely to dust was the very lack of atmosphere that killed them in the first place. Any animals that called this planet home had died long ago, only dirt, sand, and the odd skeleton remained to warn anyone insane enough to venture here that there was nothing worth finding amongst the dirt mounds that were once hills and the multiple, crumbling mountain ranges.
Jacob whistled. "What do you think happened that would cause this?"
Shepard remained silent, wondering the same thing. Mordin spoke "Possibility: based on evidence of craters. Suggest either multiple nuclear strikes, or asteroid storm. Crater placement suggests the latter"
"Whatever happened here in the past isn't our concern right now. We just need to get whatever the ground team found and escort it back up to the Alexandria." Shepard interjected.
Jacob nodded and went quiet, but Mordin was a different matter. "Not curious about the past commander? -Inhale- Those who do not learn from the mistakes of the past. Doomed to repeat." Mordin replied.
Shepard clarified. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious Mordin. But it isn't my job to speculate, that task belongs to the crew of the Alexandria."
Mordin seemed to accept this and remained quiet for the remainder of the trip, but his mind continued to race with various scenarios and possibilities.
-Planet's surface: 30 minutes later-
The shuttle touched down on a crudely marked landing site just outside of a large cave. A man in an envirosuit was there to meet them as they disembarked.
The man introduced himself; his voice was distorted by his helmets speakers. "Commander Shepard! I'm Christian, the guy in charge of ground team beta. I'm the one who called for the equipment earlier."
"It's a pleasure Christian. Where do you want the mining equipment" Shepard replied cutting right to the chase.
"We'll use the LOKI mechs to deliver the equipment. If all goes as planned you should be out of here with the cargo before the day is done." Christian motioned towards the cave and a few humanoid robots appeared. They made their way to the shuttle to begin unloading the equipment while Shepard and his team followed their guide into the cave.
-10 minutes later-
The cave was nothing special. It was pretty much the same as any cave one would find on earth...except for the one big difference being the numerous, small, sparkling gems embedded into the walls. "What kind of gems are those?" Jacob asked as they were walking through a chamber lit by spotlights.
Christian chuckled. "We actually don't know. They have an atomic structure unlike anything we've ever seen. We have been able to determine that they are able to mask energy signatures significantly...but not completely." He added, anticipating the next question being 'how did you find this place then?' His voice then gained an excited tone. They were now walking through a long tunnel a green light at the very end. "But, these crystals are small fry compared to what we've found deeper inside."
"So far I've heard next to nothing about what we're supposed to be escorting back to the Alexandria. Would you mind filling us in?" Shepard's annoyed voice cut through the Christian's euphoria.
Christian chuckled nervously. "My apologies. I hadn't realized the professor hadn't filled you in. What we found is the source of a mysterious energy signature one of our exploratory probes detected."
Mordin blinked. "Power generator?" He reiterated.
Christian shook his head. "Not a power generator per se. What we expected to find was a piece of technology that somehow survived. What we found was..." He walked through the passageway into an eerily green glowing chamber. "...this." He finished with pride.
The chamber they were in was about one hundred feet high and about 200 feet in diameter. The other five members of Beta were there examining every inch of the room. In the center of this room was the source of the chambers glow...
It was a giant crystal.
A crystal unlike anything Shepard had seen before. Its size alone was cause for pause; it was about nine feet tall and four feet in diameter. It was opaque; the light it emitted prevented one from seeing through it. A column of rock jutting down from the ceiling held the crystal upright while it's lower half was attached firmly to the ground. The crystal itself was shaped akin to a spiral, constantly twisting around it giving it a flowing texture. Shepard noticed that this crystal appeared to be of the same as the smaller gems coating the cave walls.
Of his team, Mordin was the first to speak. "Crystal emanating energy? Radioactive?"
Christian nodded. "Created by the unique mix of heavy metals and radioactive substances inside this planet's core, this crystal is indeed radioactive. However, the radiation it gives off appears to neither be harmful nor have any sort of effect on us at all."
Mordin brought his hand to his chin in a thinking gesture, after a minute he spoke. "Long term effects?"
Once more Christian nodded. "That's what we theorize. We believe the radiation doesn't begin showing effects unless a person remains nearby for an extended period. We have yet to establish an exact time frame but it is quite likely that for any effects to occur would take years, maybe even decades."
Jacob chose this time to interject. "What type of radiation are we talking about?"
Christian sighed. "Once more, we aren't sure. Until we can better comprehend what we've found we've decided to unofficially call this particular type of radiation: Echo Waves or EWs for short." He was silent for a moment as he gazed back at the crystal. "There is still so much we don't understand about the universe despite how far we've come. This is just one more thing we have yet to understand, but once we get this crystal to our research bay on the Alexandria, I'm sure the understanding will come with time. "
"That was a very profound statement." Shepard observed.
"I suppose it was." Christian replied turning back to Shepard and his team. "It's true nonetheless."
"How long do you think it will be before the equipment is set up?" Shepard changed the subject.
Christian looked at the cavern entrance towards the LOKI mechs making their way to the crystal, pushing or pulling hovering carts containing heavy mining equipment. "At most I'd say an hour or two to get everything set up and properly calibrated. Until then there's pretty much nothing to do but wait. I'll answer any questions you may have until then..."
-2 hours later-
Two hours came and went for the Normandy team. In that time they were able to get a decent grasp of the full situation of the research cell. They were apparently trying to fully determine the extent of the evolution these people went through due to their exposure to the EWs. Because taking samples directly from the planet's core was impractical and very dangerous they decided to look for and obtain any EW emitting substances. Originally they tried taking the smaller crystals that dotted the caves interior but found this one large crystal and the rest, as they say, was history. The only problem with getting the crystal out of the cave was its incredibly durable structure that required heavy machinery to crack.
This brought them to right now. Shepard, his team, and the entirety of Beta were standing near the cavern's entrance. All around the crystal formation were various pieces of mining equipment. Drills along its base to dislodge it from the rock, and plasma cutters up top to cut the crystal down from the rock column without damaging too much of the crystal itself.
Once everything was set up Christian ordered all of them to stand near the cavern entrance just in case the drilling destabilized the cave system and they all had to run to escape a cave-in.
"Is everybody ready?" Christian yelled.
Multiple 'Yes's filled the air. At that he brought up his Omni-tool and typed in the start-up command.
The drills lurched as power began flowing through them. They began to shake as the drill bits began to spin. A quiet whine could be heard emanating from the plasma cutters, indicating they were charging.
A couple of minutes passed of letting the equipment warm up before Christian typed another command into his Omni-tool. On cue, the drills moved forward and began to grind away at the rock holding the bottom part of the crystal in place. At the same time, the mining lasers fired off, launching beams of white hot plasma at the crystal's top most section. At this point it was all just a matter of waiting for the tools to do their job.
A few minutes passed without any visible changes...
15 minutes passed and the plasma torches had succeeded in melting through the outer layer of crystal. The drills still had not made much progress.
At the 30 minute mark the drills had finally succeeded in cracking the rock below the formation. The top part was almost three-quarters of the way to done.
Finally, after almost 40 minutes of solid drilling and cutting the crystal began to wobble, as the torches had succeeded in cutting the top part of the formation away from the main body. The wobbling turning pivoting back and forth in the same spot, each time getting farther out. Then, while digging up a large amount of rock in the process, the crystal broke free from its rocky confines and fell to the ground, emitting a clear pinging sound as it struck the floor.
Christian let out a bark of laughter before shutting off the equipment. The rest of the ground team cheered, seeing their great discovery on its way to being understood. They all rushed forward, Shepard and his team included, wanting an even closer look at what the drills and torches were able to do. The entirety of the ground team was practically salivating with glee, all with thoughts of what they could glean from a find like this.
At that moment, however, it seemed that fate had a surprise or two in-store, for no sooner did the research team begin discussing plans on how to move the giant crystal, than did the crystal begin to glow brighter than before. This gave everyone pause as a seemingly unknown reaction began to occur within the crystal itself as it continued to brighten, threatening to engulf the whole cavern in its light, and forcing all present to tint their visors or risk eye damage. Thinking quickly, Shepard ordered everyone to make for the entrance fearing the crystal was about to explode on them. Nobody argued, and everyone ran not wanting to be to close when the reaction reached its climax.
When they reached the cavern's entrance they turned around and saw the crystal erupt in light so bright that even with the visor tint up at maximum everyone gazing upon it was forced to cover their eyes lest they go blind from the crystal's radiance.
After what seemed like hours, everyone's vision started to clear and they saw that the crystal was no longer glowing. In fact, it now looked as clear as a pane of glass. The research began to rush forward, concerned that the crystal was damaged, when Shepard stopped them "Wait! Let me and my team go first, just in case." They nodded amongst themselves and Shepard began a slow, methodical walk forward towards the now dull mineral.
When he got up next to it his eyes widened and a gasp escaped both his lips and the lips of his comrades, because inside the crystal...
...was a human.
-End chapter-
And that, ladies and gentlemen is chapter 1 of Return of the Fallen. I would like to thank my betas: Snipa, Tutor Verum, and kokirilink for helping me to get this story up and running. Thanks for everything guys!
One or two notes: The outfits worn by Garrus and Jack are the ones they get from the alternate appearance pack, if you need a visual.
A note to all readers, my update schedule will most likely be erratic at best as I am prone to bouts of writers block. I will do my best to update in a consistent manner but I will promise nothing.
As per fanfiction etiquette: read, review, and bear in mind that flamers will be fed to a Thresher Maw.
