Prologue
The stars shone bright as the Milky Way swirled with tranquility. Numerous systems traveling in unison as they spin with the motion of the galaxy, while billions of stars seemed to drift, ebbing and flowing as if with a current. Yet, this thing of beauty is scarred with the remnants of war and death. Debris travels throughout with the ghosts of fallen warriors and the empty shells of their defeated enemies. Remains of the Mass Relays are carried along with the war torn battlefield. Those stranded away from their homelands have been forced to start anew in the systems they were assigned to protect. Some just drift in the black nothingness that is space only to have insanity or death follow nearby. Communications to their respected homes are still capable, but barely.
In the Artemis Tau cluster, a lone frigate drifts idly without knowledge of where to go. Rations were beginning to run low, fuel was running nearly dry, and many of the crew had either died from simple illnesses due to the increasingly scarce medical supplies or self mutilation of suicide. The number of deceased continued to rise as the dreary months in space kept passing. Within the upper decks of the ship, the Captain sat behind his desk as a nurse hands him a holographic tablet.
"Where are we now?" say the man in a disheveled military uniform.
Now longer than military standards and starting to show shades of grey, his dark brown hair hung in front of his drained face. Stubble covered his chin as he looked at the medical reports of the deceased.
"We're hitting into the hundreds, sir." addressed the young nurse.
The man let out a sigh as he tossed the report down onto his desk. Startled by his reaction, the nurse jumped back. Just like the man, the nurse's features were becoming less than what she was before they became stranded. Her auburn hair looked as if she hadn't showered in weeks; her uniform covered in small splatters of blood and stains of chemicals.
Putting his face in his hands, the man asks, "How long before we run out?"
Looking towards the ground, as if ashamed, the nurse tenses as she hugged another holographic tablet tightly to her chest. "Doctor Phillips believes...believes it may only be a few more weeks before we exhaust our supplies, sir." she faintly replies.
Getting up from behind his desk, the man, standing at about six feet tall, walks over to the young girl. Like a scared puppy, the nurse takes a hesitant step back as the man approached her. Putting his hands on her shoulders, the man, in a second's time, brought the girl into his arms. Shocked at what was happening the nurse didn't move. "I'm sorry.."
Her paralysis subsided as she realized that a drop of water touched her neck. "I'm sorry for putting you and everyone aboard this ship through this hell..." the man said as his voice wavered with sadness.
Tears began to well up in her eyes as she put her arms around the broken man; tablet falling to the ground. "We swore to follow to you to the ends of the galaxy no matter what. For those still living...". She leans back to look into the man's hallowed face, "We shall keep our promise to the very end, sir."
Stepping back, she adjusted her uniform. Wiping away the tears from his eyes, he looked at the young nurse, seeing that same beautiful woman he met back on Eden Prime.
"Susan, you don't have to address me as sir." he said sheepishly.
Susan smiled back with tears still streaming from her eyes, "You're my commanding officer. It's only fair to the rest of the crew that I address you as 'sir', sir." After a quick salute, Susan exited the office to hurry back to the medical bay.
Captain Jack McGunnel began to walk back to his desk begrudgingly. Even through everything that this ship has been dealing with, that woman is able to still put on a smile. God I love her., he thought to himself as he pulled his chair out. Just as he was about to sit down, a cadet flew into his office, almost getting taken out by the door.
"Sir! We got a message from Alliance command!"
In disbelief, Jack came to the exhausted cadet asking, "Are you sure it was from the Alliance? We've been floating in this star cluster for countless months and out of no where we get a message from them?"
The cadet took a few deep breathes to regain his posture. After saluting, he replied, "Sir, it isn't just a message. We have a live transmission from Admiral Kalminov."
Why now? Why of all times do we finally get a transmission from Alliance command? What the hell have they been doing?, Jack angrily thought to himself as he and the cadet made their way to the Comm Room. Going through the corridors of the ship, the remaining crew were still hard at work keeping the ship in working order. Remembering what Susan said to him, he became confident that he would return his people to their families. The doors opened to the Comm Room. A long table sat in the middle of the room while several people stood around it. As he looked around the room, he recognized a few of the faces.
"Carl, what are you doing here?"
Carl was standing in the corner donned in his lab coat and square rimmed glasses. His orange hair contrasted with his near pale white skin. Pushing up his glasses with the base of his hand, Carl replied, "I, Jack, am here because I was asked to be here, by him."
Carl pointed to the table where, at the center, stood a four foot hologram of a man in uniform, covered in medals and ribbons. "Hello, Captain McGunnel."
Standing at attention, Jack salutes to the hologram, "Admiral Kalminov, pleasure to see you sir."
"Likewise. It's been a while since we've been able to get in contact with any of our ships since the end of the Reaper war. How are you fairing captain?" asked Kalminov.
Just as Jack was about to reply, "Nearly half of the crew have either offed themselves or just became weak and let their poor frail bodies wither away like spoiled goods." said a voice in the corner of the room.
In an instant, everyone in the room turned towards the young soldier leaning against the wall with his shoulder.
The room went silent. Nothing but the young soldier's heavy breathing and the humming of the ships engine could be heard. Kalminov's hologram kept its posture while staring at the angered young man. "Captain McGunnel, who is this cadet?"
Recovering from the shock, Jack turned back towards the Admiral, "This is Private Ryan Hutchinson, sir. He was new on the ship when the Reaper war began. Battle-wise, he was at the top of his class."
The young soldier continued to stare at the hologram with an immense hatred. Still looking at the boy, Kalminov suggested, "What happened Captain? Why has this cadet lost any sense of respect for his superiors?"
Jack, standing at attention, looked at the private with sorrow, almost as if scared to answer the question.
"Captain?" asked Kalminov, now looking at Jack with a soul piercing stare.
"I..." the words couldn't come out. Try all he might, Jack couldn't bring himself to say the truth.
Before he could finally make the decision to say it, Ryan, with a spiteful tone, informed the admiral. "He sacrificed my squad and another to save his own hide. Then, he nearly left us behind to die."
"Private Hutchinson, even though a tragic and undermining event has happened to you, for the sake of this conversation, please, hold your tongue." the Admiral said with his teeth clenched together.
A darkened silence, once again, filled the room. The feeling of guilt and anger clouded the atmosphere.
"Now, Captain Jack McGunnel, is what this private has said true?" questioned Kalminov.
Jack felt the eyes of everyone in the room lock on to him. His stomach felt as if he was just stabbed and was twisting the blade around to insure more pain. "Yes, sir..."
The Admiral let out a deep sigh, "Why?"
Just as Ryan was about to beat him again to the explanation, the admiral gave him a look of warning, "Speak another word and I will make sure that you will never see the stars again."
Taken aback, the private looked up at the hologram, looked at Jack, and then receded back into his corner. "Thank you.", said Kalminov, "Now, if you don't mind, please Jack, tell me what happened."
Knowing there was no way out, Jack began to tell his side of the story. "We were in the Antaeus system supporting the Quarians in the fight. A fire team was sent down to planet Trebin to help the ground troops. Private Hutchinson was a part of that team."
Jack continued on to explain how the reaper forces overran the team only to eventually kill the ones they went down to protect. It was a lost cause. The combined numbers of the Quarians and the human fleet were dwarfed by the sheer size of the enemy.
"What happened next, Captain?", asked Kalminov.
Keeping his eyes down to the ground, Jack regretfully pressed on. "The Quarian officers and I sent out a retreat to all units, as well as transport ships to get our men out. I had to personally drive one due to some of our pilots being killed when we took damage to our cargo area. As I flew towards the planet to the extraction zone, I saw the bodies of my crewmen floating in suspended animation. Their frozen corpses stuck in looks of anguish and despair."
Jack began to falter in his speech. His fists clenching, he went on. "Dodging debris and reaper ships, I finally made it down to the extraction point. The fire team was still a little ways out, so I landed in an area where they would be able to reach the ship while I covered them. As soon as they came over the hill, my heart sank into the deepest reaches of my stomach."
Saying this, Ryan shifted in his corner while muttering something under his breath.
"Out of the five people that went down, three remained in the group. I laid fire down upon the enemy thinking that would help them. Private Hutchinson was in front while his fellow soldiers were trying to keep up. It was only a matter of time before I realized that a dreadnaught class reaper was heading to our position. I had to make the choice of saving one life or risking all of ours to get out. Knowing either way was going to end up in losing something, I chose to save Hutchinson. As soon as he got in, I immediately started taking off. Once the door closed, I heard the screams and yells of the others begging for me to open it. I couldn't do it, sir. I had to leave. We left the extraction point as the sounds of agony could be heard from the two soldiers dying."
Heaving a broken sigh, Jack finally looked back up at the admiral with sorrowful eyes.
"I see." the admiral placed his hand around his chin nodding.
"What you did was a hard choice, Jack. I now understand why the private would have much distaste for you. But..", turning around, Kalminov looked towards the broken soldier in the corner. "What would you have done, private? "
Ryan turned towards the hologram, eyes bloodshot, with a look of uncertainty. "I would have at least tried...like Commander Shepard" At this, Jack heaved a sigh of regret. The young man began to walk toward the center table, "I would've faced the odds and saved my fellow comrades even when they were against me." He stood at the edge of the table, fists clenched, eyes filled with rage waiting to hear the Admiral's reply.
The admiral stood up tall, slightly puffing out his chest, "What your captain did was the hard choice but it was also the only choice. He gave you, private, the chance to fight again. Instead of sitting in the corner and wishing they were still alive, you need stand up tall and live with your fellow soldiers still in heart. Live and fight for them. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want you acting this way."
Ryan placed his hands on the table, tears streaming from his face, remembering the friends that he lost. Trying to keep his composer, he did everything he could to keep it in.
"Miss Holloway, could you please escort the private back to his quarters?", asked Jack.
The young nurse, standing four feet away from where Ryan was sobbing, went over to him and led him out of the room.
"Now.." Kalminov said while clapping his hands together, "On to business. Captain, I hear your ship and crew are stuck in the Artemis Tau cluster. How close are you to the system of Sparta?"
"We have been floating near that system for almost a year now." explained one of the crew members sitting in the room.
"Is that so?" asked Kalminov.
Jack adjusted his uniform and stood at attention, nodding to the crew member then looking back up at Kalminov. "Yes, sir. After the destruction of the mass relays, we've been drifting. We haven't been able to make contact with anyone until now. Has the Alliance been able to get communications back up and running?"
A look of worry shadowed the Admiral's face. "We've been able to get only a few networks back up and running, this being one of them."
Some of the crew members in the room whispered to each other with excitement.
"We may finally be able to go home."
"I can't wait to see my family again..."
With an authoritative resonance in his voice, the Admiral quelled the whispers. "Everyone, please listen. Though we may have gotten a few communications up..." Everyone stared at the hologram with anticipation.
He sighed, "Though we may have gotten a few communications up, there's no way we can bring you all home."
The air became heavy with a depression as the unbearable news was given. "The reason I contacted you was because of an anomaly we detected within Sparta. I'm sending the data to your scientists. Hopefully they can put together an idea of what's happening." said the Admiral.
Jack turned toward a man sitting closest to the entrance with a concerned look, "What's it look like Adam."
Adam shifted his feet as if nervous at what appeared as his Omni-tool lit up. The humming of the ship was all that could be heard as the young man looked at his screen, pushing his hair back with his other hand with a look of confusion.
"Adam!" The young man jumped back as Jack broke the deafening silence, "What does the information say?"
Unsure of how to reply, Adam looked back down at the screen and tried to find the words, "Sir, the data shows abnormal energy readings coming from the system's sun. It seems to be...dying."
"That's impossible." said Jack. "The sun in that system should still have hundreds upon thousands of years left on it."
The admiral nodded in agreement, "And there lies the problem. We need you to go find out what's happening and if need be, stop it."
Jack turned towards the hologram with disgust, "But sir, we have barely any rations or medical supplies. Our ammo is all but depleted and the ship has little fuel left. How do you expect us to carry out this mission?"
Admiral Kalminov's face tightened in anger, "Are you disobeying an order Captain? Find out what's happening and then we'll go from there. End of story."
Kalminov turned and left the middle of the table, dissipating.
A voice cracked over the intercom, "Your orders Captain?"
Jack leaned against the conference table with his head down, "King, take us into the Sparta system."
The pilot sigh sounded over the intercom, "Yes, sir." The roar of the engines sounded in the distance as Jack looked to the people within the room, "Everyone get back to your stations."
All the people in the room took a second to collect their bearings and began to leave. Why us? Why do they still not seem to care? As soon as everyone had left the room, Jack spat at where the Admiral once stood, cursing at the now empty table. Once finished, he turned and left to go to the bridge.
"We're just now coming up behind the planet Ontamalca, sir. We should be seeing the sun any minute."
Jack stood behind the pilot, arms crossed, waiting to see what they were sent to find. "It's been days since his transmission. This better be damn good. After this, we'll have nothing left."
The pilot looked around his seat, "I'm sure it was for good reason, sir. Maybe it'll help us get back to the Sol system."
Scoffing at the pilot's comment, Jack replied, "I highly doubt this will help us get back but...it would be nice." Just as he finished a siren began to sound on the pilot's display. "What's going on?", Jack asked.
Frustrated yelling was sounding behind the captain as a scientist began pushing people out of the way yelling, "Captain! Captain! We have to turn back!"
Jack walked a few steps towards the hallway that led to the CIC yelling back to the scientist, "What do you mean?"
The scientist, out of breath, spoke in broken words, "The...the sun...it's worst than we thought..." A shadow filled the bridge as the ship finally came into view of the sun.
"What in God's name...", Jack froze in place as he turned to see what was happening. "It's...black."
The once bright sun, lighting up the system of Sparta, was now as black as night. Though it had no visible light, it gave off a glow that covered everything in a film of darkness. Leaving the planet behind, the ship began to slowly drift towards the black sun.
"What's going on?" Jack couldn't hide his fear at the horrific sight.
The scientist, staring blankly at the dark circle, droned in reply, "It seems the core of the sun has been...drained. Drained of the energy that once powered it."
Jack quickly turned towards the almost zombie like man, "Drained? How can one drain a star of it's energy? That's impossible."
A muffled sound, much like thunder, resounded through the ship. Jack ran into the CIC and up onto the platform showing the Milky Way before him. "Get me through to engineering." A beep followed, "Hank, was that you guys? Did something happen to the engine?"
An older man's voice echoed throughout the room, "No, sir. We thought that was something coming up from where you were, sir."
"Captain!", the display of the galaxy dropped as Jack looked towards the hallway seeing the young scientist looking at him with horror. "The data readings are going haywire! I think the sun is some how still active!"
Running back down to the front of the ship, Jack reaches the young man and begins fast walking to the bridge. "How is that possible?" Jack asked.
"I'm not sure, but it looks like it's coming back to life...which sounds strange in itself." The young man scratched his forehead while trying to explain the situation. "With the way it's looking, it could possibly be— "
Before he could finish, an enormous blast of energy exploded from the dark sun. The ship's lights and engine died as crackles of electricity covered the hull of the ship. Slowly getting up, Jack yelled out, "An EMP?! What the hell is going on here?!"
Recovering from the massive hit, the scientist scrambled to get his omni-tool working. Flickering on, he gasped, "Captain, we need to get the ship back up and running."
A massive twist formed in the captain's stomach, "King! Get us out of here!"
Getting up from his squatted position, the scientist turned towards the front windows of the bridge and pointed; tears and horror filling his eyes. "It lives..."
As if a mouth had opened on the dark sun, everything within the system began to move towards it. The crew began panicking and running about, trying to get to some kind of safety as the helpless ship moved faster and faster towards the abyss. Running up to the map platform, Jack orders to get with engineering again. "Hank, get this ship up and running now!"
Screams and yelling could be heard over the intercom as the older voice came through, "We're trying, sir, but whatever came through seems to have fried the engines!"
Jack, in a panic, yelled in reply, "Just get it fixed and hurry!"
More and more, the ship continued to increase in speed as the planets and other debris disappeared within the center of the sun. "C'mon, c'mon. Get this ship going." Jack was holding on tight to the railing of the platform.
As if praying for a miracle, he glared at the black abyss that was swallowing everything. Suddenly, the lights and displays began to flicker back on. "King! Get us the hell out of here!"
"Yes, sir!" Slowly the ship began to slowly turn around, although still falling towards the sun. The scientist, stumbling, ran to the platform where Jack was standing, "Sir! There's something else!"
"What now?" Jack replied in annoyance.
"The sun, sir. I finally figured out why it was giving off such strange readings!"
Jack came down and looked at him with a puzzled look, "Why?"
In an excited, yet scared reply, "The sun had been taken over by something and has come, quite literally, back from the dead."
Stepping back, Jack stared at him with amazement. Another rumble resounded throughout the ship as the lights and engine died once more. Jack grabbed the railing, trying to prop himself up only to notice that there was something showing up on the galaxy map. A face. A grotesque face with shining blue eyes, as if almost robotic, with the skin of a mutilated corpse but yet human.
"What the hell..." Jack stared at the fuzzy display until it yelled with a metallic screech, "MAKE US WHOLE!"
The display exploded sending shrapnel flying everywhere. Jack woke up to the sight of fire all around. Pushing himself up, he felt stuck in place. Looking down, he found a piece of the railing, pierced through his abdomen, pinning him to the wall. He grabs for the long piece of metal only to have his grip slip from the blood covering it. Giving up, he sat back as he felt himself losing consciousness. The scene of his fellow crew mates was that of a war zone. Many were strewn about, limp, mangled. Some were still alive while missing limbs, screaming in pain, crawling to loved ones and friends alike. A veil of black covering all that was before him. Tears streamed down his face.
I never got to see that beautiful smile, one last time...
His eyes closed as the ship was consumed into darkness.
Thank you to all that have been reading my FanFiction and have also followed the story! This is a newly updated version of the original Prologue. I went back through and edited a TON of grammatical errors and just simply punctuation. I've now made it a goal to myself to completely finish the story in two months time. I will also, hopefully do a chapter a week. Once again, thank you for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy it as much as I have!