Warning: I do not own Mass effect, that belongs to EA/Bioware(I wish I did though)
Bold: other speaking
Bold: other thinking
Hi: normal thinking
Hi: normal speaking
A/N: I'm ashamed … truly I am, you think after so long there would be at least a few but noooo, only one exist and that hasn't been updated in centuries. Well I'm here to fix that right now and right here no more words people here we go
But just a few things also i'm perfectly ok with you guys giving ideas or story but all i ask if you giving stories is that none are bashing, reason why? Simple, I've always believed that bashing ruins a good story, and trust me I've seen plenty of good story ideas only to be ruined by bashing.
And if you are giving a story please note I will be doing ONE chapter, NOT the entire story because I want to give other people a chance as well.
(4/13/19): Dammit! This damn single chapter took more three years to make, with a lot being school and procrastination, but yeah here you go everyone the whole story. Sorry if there are any issues but I'm kinda of tired after spending so long making this.
P.S
Expect slow updates because a different fate is my piroirty at the moment.
CITADEL 2157 CE
"Avina, is that the last of the meeting for today" asked Tevos as she finished the meeting with the elcor ambassador over new eezo trade deals.
"Yes Councillor Tevos, you also have some recent emails as well, do wish me to show you some" replied Avina.
"Any of immediate importance Avina?" asked Tevos.
"The top email on your list is from matriarch Benzenia, it states that she and her daughter, Liara, are on their way to the restaurant you have booked Councillor Tevos" replied Avina.
"I see, inform my secretary that I'll be leaving" replied Tevos.
"Of course Councillor" answered Avina as she logged out.
AZURE SHELL
The Azure Shell, one of the finest restaurants on the Citadel with its customers representing the wealthy and powerful on the ancient station. For many it would take years just to get a reservation … unless you were a Councillor.
"Benzenia, oh it's been too long since we've meet face-to-face" greeted Tevos as closed the distance between the two.
Matriarch Benzenia, leader of house T'soni, smiled towards the Councillor as she wore a bright sun colored dress made and embroidered by the finest asari artisans."Councillor Tevos, it's has been indeed some time since meet in person old friend. Tell me, how has your job been treating you" replied Benzenia.
"~chuckle~ Oh the usually Benezia, but please let us not sully this meeting with dull topics, besides, is that little Liara I see next to you" said Tevos.
Benezia gave a nod as she motion her daughter,who silently stood next to her, to greet the asari Councillor.
"Oh, umm it's an honor you Councillor, and yes it is me Liara" awkwardly greeted Liara as she gave a small bow.
"And it is my pleasure to meet you again, but come, let's go to our tables, there we can talk as much as we want without worry" replied Tevos as she motioned the a nearby waiter to take them to their table.
The trio quickly were seated in nice small cozy corner of the restaurant were there where few customers so that way they did not need to worry about being overheard. The three quickly ordered there meals before the waiter took their menu.
"Now, I've heard from your mother that you are taken the career of being an archaeologist is that true" asked Tevos.
Liara gave a nod, "That's correct, I guess you can say that I've been fascinated on how such a great empire could have mysteriously disappeared like that. But for now I've decided to be a part time teacher at the university of Thessia at moment" answered Liara.
"Just fascinated my little wing, why I remember as if it was just a few years ago that you used to dig around the park we used to go to, hoping to find some relics" teased Benezia, earning a chuckle from Tevos and purple blush from her daughter.
"Mother!" exclaimed Liara in embarrassment
"Oh now I wish I could've see that, oh I wonder how the local police faces would be when they saw what your daughter has been up to Benezia" commented Tevos.
"I won't lie that it wasn't quite amusing" replied Benezia.
The rest of three continued on with their discussion as their meals arrived, and after a delicious meal Tevos and Benezia continue their chat as Liara excused herself from the chat and left towards the top of the restaurant where she stared upon the night "sky" of the citadel and the serpent nebula that surrounded the ancient station.
"~sigh~, Why did mother even take me here, she should know that I'm not good with social interactions, goddess I must have made a fool of myself …" muttered liara under her breath as she took a deep breath from the crisp air of the station to soothe her.
"... but, I guess it wasn't all that bad, I mean I gotta visit the citadel so that is a plus-" said Liara before she saw something out of the corner of her eye.
Looking past the traffic that filled the sky she saw something … odd, she stared at the mass relay in space and it was … wavering?
"What the … that … that isn't right at all" thought Liara as she the wavering mass relay.
Quickly the relay began wavering even more, but before Liara could do anything a blinding light quickly flooded the citadel leaving her and rest of inhabits temporarily blinded before the light died down and they
CITADEL, LOWER WARDS
Currently Garrus Vakarian was having quite the busy day, after a rather botched mission Executor Pallin had decided to "reward" Garrus with 5 month long night-shift which now has led to the problem in front of him.
Currently he was in a clinic owned by a salarien going by the name of Mordin Solus, a rather eccentric salarian but none of the less a spirits damn good doctor. Right now the doctor was currently caring a female quarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, next to the quarian was hulking krogan clad in blood red armor who went by the name of Urdnot Wrex.
Now while Garrus did not know the full story he did know that when he was on patrol in the lower wards his omni-tool informed him that a fire fight has happening nearby, by the time he had gotten there Wrex had manged finish off most of the opposing group leaving Garrus to deal with the stragglers.
By the time he was done a low moan could be heard as he went towards the source with it none other than being the quarian, laying in a pool of her own blood.
While Garrus may have been many things, being a man of morals was definitely one of them, he quickly scooped the girl into his arms before bringing her to Mordin's clinic, one of the few places he knew that the quarian wouldn't be discriminated.
Lucky for him he arrived just in time for Mordin to administer the necessary antibiotics as well as seal up the wound, a second later and the quarian may have been a goner.
While the doctor was dealing with the quarian the krogan he meet earlier soon entered the clinic, and from what he was able to gather from the rather stubborn krogan was that he was hired by the doctor as protection.
Why the doctor needed protection he sadly didn't know. But, for the moment making sure the quarian didn't die was his current objective.
"Antibiotics should be working now, would recommend lots of rest as well as avoidance of future conflicts, would be rather detrimental to your current health Miss Zorah" advised Mordin as he administered another does of antibiotics.
"I'm more worried how much this is going to cost me doc, also, I didn't mean to enter that fight, those damn bosh'tets dragged me into it" replied Tail.
"Don't worry about cost, completely free Miss Zorah, would go against my code as a doctor to charge you just to save your life as it was just moments ago" said Mordin, surprising the young quarian by his kindness.
"Oh … umm, thank you very much than I guess" softly replied tail.
Mordin gave a nod before turning his attention to garrus. "Now, what can I do for you officer" asked mordin.
"Well answering about the firefight will be greatly appreciated" said garrus as he eyed wrex with weary eyes.
"Ah yes, must have been rival clinics, don't like competition they do" answered mordin.
I highly doubt that other clinics would send armed people to drive your business away doctor" argued garrus.
"Feh, trust me turian things here in the lower ward are harsh and people here really don't like people shaking up the status quo" answered wrex as he turned the TV on.
Garrus merely stayed silent as he looked out of the window as the rest did there own things.
Minutes of silence passed before wrex broken the silence minutes later.
"That doesn't seem right" commented wrex as he stared at the screen.
"What do you mean?" Asked garrus, wrex merely motioned them to the screen as he turned the volume up.
xxx TV xxx
BREAKING NEWS
"JUST A FEW HOURS AGO THE CITADEL FLEET HAD DISCOVERED AN UNKNOWN SPATIAL ANOMALY NEAR THE RELAY, A SCIENCE SHIP HAS BEEN SENT TO INVESTIGATE"
xxx Clinic xxx
"Hmm, spital anomaly near the relay, quite interesting" muttered mordin.
"Hmph, probably nothing, give it a few weeks and people wouldn't even remember it" said wrex.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that krogan,a spatial anomaly so near here isn't something I haven't heard before" argued garrus.
"Sure let's go with that" said wrex.
The screen soon changed as it now showed the relay as the screen zoomed out to show the interior of the science vessel as well as two salarians.
the rest of the vid was nothing more than a discussion on what the anomaly was and theories as about what it could do. Garrus and Wrex quickly lost interest as they realized that it wasn't going anywhere while mordin went back to monitor tail's health leaving the quarian the only one watching the news.
As watched the news vid she focused her attention towards the anomaly, the anomaly itself looked like some kind of rippling near the relay. Currently it was looked like it was simply just staying there, and while Tail was not a scientist she at least knew that what garrus had said, this wasn't just nothing.
As the vid continue tail immediately realized something, the anomaly … it was rippling even more at a faster pace. But before she could open her mouth to tell the others the ripple stopped for a moment before a bright light exploded out of the ripple and than everything was covered in blinding light.
LOCATION:UNKNOWN TIME: UNKNOWN
"keelah se'lai, my eyes" said Tail as her eyes began to slowly adjust to the light. "What was th…" said Tail before she looked out the window. Her mouth opened in surprise as she saw what was out there … or what wasn't there.
Gone was the black space and nebula that surround the citadel, in its place was pure white space and there was nothing there, not even the relay.
"Spirits … what is happening" muttered Garrus as he too saw what was outside. Wrex and Mordin were also shocked by what they saw as well.
...
...
...
"W-Was that the anomaly fault" said aloud by tail as tried to reason why this even happened to begin with.
"Could be, no, very well have been anomaly … some kind of rip in space time, new dimensional or maybe sub-dimensional plane or maybe something else" theorized Mordin as he began to mutter possible explanations at a pace even rapid by salarian standards.
While this was happening in the clinic on another part of the citadel one could see Tevos currently walking down a hallway before the door in front of her automatically opened to show the other two Councillors valern and Sparatus there already with a small group of specters with them.
"Valern, Sparatus" greeted Tevos before her facial features grew cold. "Can someone please explain to me what in the goddess name has just happened" ordered Tevos as she sat near the rest of her fellow Councillors.
One of the specters in the room stepped up, a turian with with palaven clan markings, as he brought out his omni-tool and showed displayed a few charts and graphs. "Councillors, forgive me but sadly at the moment we do not have any solid idea on the exact cause for this event, at the moment our science teams believe that the anomaly founded a few hours ago near the relay may have been the reason why."
"I see …" muttered Sparatus "... though what our fleets, are they still with us" asked Sparatus. The turian spectre gave a nod, "Yes Councillor, the citadel fleet have reported in and they saw that no ships are missing" answered the spectre.
"Well that's all good and all but what about the civilians, how are they reacting to this" asked Tevos.
"The executor has informed me that C-SEC currently has the situation under control though people are demanding for answers for what is happening" answered the spectre
"I see … tell the executor that the council is investigating the situation with utmost importance and will inform the people when a solution has been found" explained Tevos as she motioned the specters in the room to leave. Giving a curt nod the specters departed from the room, leaving the Councillors to themselves.
"Valern …" said Tevos as she turned to the salarian Councillor who been quite for the entire time "... do you have anything else to add, I'd haven't heard anything from you yet."
"Hmm …" said Valern as he was brought out of his train of thought "... apologies, just thinking about how we even got here, personally i believe it may have been because of the anomaly" replied Valern.
"Do you truly think so Valern" asked Tevos.
"Must be, how else would we even be here … ~sigh~, would be nice to have some sur'kesh tea, would help-" said Valern before a bright light covered his hand for a brief moment. When the light died down the three Councillors could only look in shock as in the hand of the Councillor was none other than a cup sur'kesh tea.
"B-By the spirits, what was that" exclaimed Spartacus in surprise by what he had just saw.
Instead of replying the salarian Councillor further surprised the other two Councillors by taking a sip from the cup.
"Valern, what are you doing, you have no idea if that cup is even poisoned" said Tevos in shock.
…
"Authentic" was all Valern said as he put the cup down. Valern than raised his hand up before speaking another salarian dish which then flashed unto his hand. "Fascinating, absolutely fascinating, this place seems to somehow allow people to speak the drink/meal of their choice and make it appear from nothing … fascinating."
…
…
…
"So … i guess that we don't need to worry about food running out than" said Tevos after a few minutes of silence.
"Hmph, just because we don't need to worry about food doesn't mean we don't have other problems. What about energy, medical supplies, weapons, & etc.., we're still cut off from the rest of the galaxy and I hope I don't need to remind you that we only have a limited supply of those things." explained Spartus.
"That is a problem, but I don't think it is something we need to worry in the immediate future. The station itself is capable of supplying its own power and while we do have a finite supply of medical supplies we could began rationing our supplies … or, if a theory is right" countered Valern as he raised his hand up and asked for a pack of bandages. Moment later a flash appeared before a pack of bandages appeared in his hand .
…
"Well Spartacus, I think that solves our medical problem than" said Valern as placed the bandages away. "Besides, we should focus on the immediate, how do we explain to the people what just happened."
"Good question what CAN we even say about all of this" said Spartacus.
Before any of the Councillors could come up with a reply a bright flash covered the room before it died down to show a large white screen in the middle of the room, but it wasn't just in their room only, all throughout the presidium humongous white screens could seen littered throughout the place.
Moments later a bit of static was shown on the screen before it finally showed a heavy robed figure standing in the middle.
"Ahem, I do hope this is working" said the unknown person, duel voice with one male and the other female.
"Anyways … Greeting people of the citadel and the various races that preside in it, my name is … … well, I guess you can that is a secret. Now I do believe you might be wondering what is happening, or I hope you are gods know how the master will be if you are not, and the answer is quite simple."
"My master is bored, now before you get angry you should know that it was he who brought you all here and he is the only one who can send you back. Lucky my master simply wishes one thing from you and trust me it is a very simple task. In a few months from now a turian fleet will intercept a new race called humans, but before you do meet them my master wishes to show different universes on what the humans could potentially be."
"No doubt that many of you will question how is that possible you and that answer is simple, these white screens will allow you to observe the different universes of humans. Simply watch the universe and once you are done my master will send you back to home, oh and don't worry about home my master has stopped time there so that way you don't have to worry about it."
"If any of you have any questions than I recommend that you stow it and just watch the vid because this is the last time I'm hopefully have to talk to any of you again … goodbye" said the unknown person before it disappeared leaving a countdown timer.
The citadel as a whole could only look in shock and surprise on what they had just heard, while quite a few raised their objection the people could only looked at each other as they got as comfortable as possible as they waited for the timer to come an end.
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
The screens slowly turned black as somehow the light around them also began to dim, almost like if they were watching a movie or something.
Moments passed before a small green light could be seen afar, slowly the light began to get nearer and nearer till everyone could see what it was
TAIL 10
MORDIN'S CLINIC
"Heh, looks like your up pup" commented wrex as he grabbed some alcohol from the hidden stash in the clinic.
"M-Me,how do you even know if it is even me to begin with, there are plenty of quarian with that name" argued Tail as she stared out to the screen.
"Oh come on Miss Zorah, don't you want to be famous or what" teased Garrus.
Tail merely grumbled back at the cop.
The title slowly faded away as the darkness returned, however, soon little dots began to appear as the screen was brought downward to small garden planet. The planet was mostly covered in water with seven continents scattered around.
"Earth, a small little dot in a immense galaxy, though at first glance this little ball of dirt may not seem much but if you would take a moment and look at it closer you will realize that this small planet has much to offer" spoke an unknown and gender-less voice.
The camera zoomed into the planet, passing through the clouds and into the vast expanse of earth continents.
"Earth can be many things, it can a beautiful paradise with creatures that make awe in their beauty" said the voice as it showed stunning pictures of some of the most beautiful places on earth as well as the animals that live there as well, earning many awes and ohhs from the people of citadel.
"However …" continued the voice as the image changed "... earth can also be a living hell, as you could burned alive in the merciless deserts, or frozen to death in heartless tundras, or maybe simple death by the predators there" said the voice. The images changed to show what the narrator had just said as the visible heat waves of the deserts, icy blizzards of the tundra, and vicious predators that lived in the environment as well as other places. Many Krogan and Turian looked far more interested than before with a few now interested in going to these places.
"But most importantly, earth is home to very interesting species, humans, a species that not only survived but prosper on this planet, reaching heights never before seen in their own history before" said the narrator.
The last of the previous images soon disappeared leaving once again only darkness as the people of the citadel waited for the reveal of the humans.
…
…
…
Slowly an outline could be seen, two figures could be seen one had a more masculine look while the other had a more feminine look to it, both of them were bipedal as well as having five digits on each hand. Eventually the image became more and more clearer before the full image of humans could be seen
WITH THE COUNCIL
"By the goddess, the humans they look so … asari" breathed Tevos in surprise as she and the rest of the asari were the most shocked by the appearance of the humans.
"Indeed, could be possible cousins species or maybe some lost colony" commented Valern.
"Maybe Valern … maybe" replied Tevos.
xxx Liara and her mother xxx
In another part of the citadel Liara and her mother were currently watching what was happening in there hotel room as they two could only look at awe on how similar these humans were to themselves.
"Mother, those humans look so similar to us and especially the female, why if made her blue and replaced that fur on her head with a crest as well as cover up those ears she could easily pass as an asari" said Liara.
"Indeed my little wing, but I think you should focus on the male, goddess he looks like some kind of male asari. They almost resemble those crazy male asari theories as well" said Benezia.
Liara could nod in agreement with her as mother and daughter continue to watch what would happen next.
"But, for all of humanity's achievements none could have prepared them for what was to come next" spoke the voice in a ominous manner.
The camera zoomed back to the overall planet before it spun away from earth and focused its attention onto something else.
The camera quickly zoomed in on what seemed to be a … capsule of some sorts, it flew through the night sky. It soon passed the Earth's moon before minutes later began to enter the Earth's atmosphere and disappeared.
In an instance a green explosion appeared before it rapidly covering the whole planet. Soon earth had become nothing more than a glowing ball of green goo.
The people of the citadel could only look in horror as they witness the destruction of humanity.
"But …" said the voice as camera zoomed back to the planets gooey surface "... Just because they didn't expect it did not mean it made humanity weaker … no, they became stronger." As the voice finished a hand sprang from the surface, surprising everyone, before it began to change into something … alien.
xxx With Liara xxx
"Goddess" spoke Liara in shock as she witness the death and revival of humanity. "Did that capsule do all of that".
"It seems so little wing, but I think the important question here is not how but why. Why would anyone force something like that onto a species, especially one that hasn't left its home planet" said Benezia as stared at the transformed hand.
xxx Clinic
In another part of the citadel Mordin looked at scene not with horror but interest.
"Interesting,some kind of bio weapon,species must be extremely advance to able to create a weapon of that magnitude" said Mordin.
Wrex gave a snort at the salarians direction "hmph, definitely more powerful than the genophage that's for sure" replied the battle master.
"But who would do something like that, those humans didn't do anything, they were still pre-space flight society" asked Tail to herself.
"Who knows kid, maybe there's more than meets the eye with this race or maybe they got in the way of another race, the galaxy isn't a kind place you of all should know that" answered Wrex as the mood became more gloom in the clinic.
LOCATION: EARTH
TIME: MANY YEARS LATER
In the glowing ball called earth the people of the citadel could see massive cities sprung up around the planet as the camera focuses itself to the largest one.
The city itself was huge, even by council standards, the buildings that made it up were dark grey and back with large pipes connected to the seas of green goo as it was pumped back into the city. In the city all the buildings themselves did have another common look among them, a green hour glass symbol was on the face of each building.
The people looked at awe as the camera zoomed to the largest building that stood in the center of the city, the tower easily touched the very clouds themselves as a powerful green glow excluded from the building.
Inside the building a council could be seem. A large circular table surrounded a single human. Each human on the table could not be seen, the only indication of there presence were the glowing green eyes that occupied each seat.
The camera turned itself to face the human standing in the middle. A tall red haired female who wore a formal military uniform that was dyed in deep navy blue.
"Commander Jane Shepard …" spoke one of the Councillors in deep regal tone. "... You have been called here to the elder council on the basis that you wish to discuss something about the relay races."
Shepard herself straighten herself out as she spoke in softer but regal voice. "You are correct elder Councillor, I had called you here to discuss about the fate of the relay race."
"Fate of the relay races?" What nonsense are they speaking now" asked Spartus aloud.
"Hmm, they speak it as if our fate is already sealed" commented Valern as watched the screen with a greater interest.
While Spartus and Valern continue their comments Tevos merely stared at the screen as for some reason a sense of worry wormed its way into her stomach.
"And what about them Shepard …" asked another voice in a annoyed tone "... We've already agree to leave them to the ascendant. I simply don't understand why you are so vested about the survival of a bunch of doomed species."
"Bullshit, the citadel races are not yet doomed, there is still time to help them, we can save them" bit back Shepard with a hint of anger underneath her voice.
"Hmm, you aren't wrong in that regard, but that doesn't explain why we should" spoke another voice this time in a more elderly tone.
"Why? Because it's the right thing to do Councillor …" said Shepard as motioned her arms out "... We humans have been gifted with powers beyond any other species imagination, we have the power to not only save them but show them a better path to true cooperation."
"Hmph, you are naive to think that the relay species can be redeemed Shepard. The turians and asari are too stagnated and would never agree to change unless we destroy their civilization.
The salarians would try to back stab us the moment they don't need us. The batarians … well I don't think I need to explain that one. Too many krogans just want to make credits and kill themselves. And while I could go on and on about the relay races I think you get the " spoke the annoyed voice.
The citadel races could only look in shock as well as surprised at that human casually insulted each of the races as if it was nothing.
"Hah, I gotta say those humans definitely have a quad" chucked wrex at how casually the human insulted the big three races like that.
"I hope that doesn't bite them back, asari can hold a grudge for a really long time even worse if an matriarch gets insulted then your doomed" commented garrus.
"Would be bad if that were to happen indeed officer, though more curious of the Councillor himself, if to judge by the voice, seems to almost some kind of resentment to our races" added mordin.
"That where you are wrong Councillor, they can be redeemed, the asari, while a long life span species and slow to change, can be shown change, all that's needed is to find the right people and put them in the right position. That goes for both the salarians and turians as well.
The krogan follow those who hold strength, all we need to do is show we are the strongest and they will listen to us. We can show the relay races the right way, what matters is that who do we choose to represent and where do put these people" argued Shepard.
Before the annoyed Councillor could retort an unknown voice spoke. "Enough" spoke the voice that seemed as If several voices were speaking at the same time in different tones.
The attention of the council turned to head of the table were the voice came from. "I have heard enough from both of you, you both made good statements and I have reached a concussion" spoke the voice. " But before I explain I need to contact a few people, we will call you back in a few moments Shepard" said the voice as it motioned her to leave.
Shepard gave a formal bow as a green glow covered her before she disappeared from the council.
"Impossible, humans have developed teleportation technology, more advanced than I've have expected" said mordin.
"I didn't know that was even that was possible. Think of the energy requirement need for that to even work" commented Tali as she discussed the possibility of it working in this universe with the doctor.
While Tali and Mordin were discussing about the teleportation technology Garrus only look what that Shepard person had said and it made him uneasy that they talked about infiltrating the citadel governments and manipulating their species.
…
"What's your problem there turian you seem like somebody told you that you just drank some rychol" commented Wrex as he eyed the turian.
"We'll learning that some species wants to infiltrate our societies and manipulate us tends to that" replied garrus in sarcastic manner.
"Hmph, didn't you listen to the person the screen previously showed, right now we're looking at a different dimension so it's probably that the humans of our dimension aren't like that we're seeing" explained Wrex.
…
…
"Huh, didn't really see as the smart guy here krogan" said Garrus
"Haha Turian haha" dryly replied Wrex.
As the flash of green died down the citadel could now see Shepard now surround by a small group of other humans who looked at her with worry in their eyes. One of the humans stepped forward, a female human with back hair brought into a bun wearing similar clothing as Shepard.
"Guess the meeting didn't goes as plan skipper" asked the female human.
"Preaching the choir Ashley preaching the damm choir" muttered Shepard as her shoulders sagged a bit as her voice became more relaxed.
"Well what did they even say" asked Ashley.
"I think the rest pretty much want to say no to my request, however, I think I got the first elder though" replied Shepard earning a surprise look from the other people.
"Jesus, Shepard if you got the first elder to agree with you than I doubt you need to worry about anything else, the other elders would never argue against the first" spoke a male human with dark skin.
"I hope so Anderson … I hope so" said Shepard as she and the rest waited for what felt like an entirety before a green glow covered Shepard as she was teleport-ed back to the council chambers. This time there were a few key differences, the biggest one was that the other Councillors were no longer there as their green eyes could not be seen, only the eyes of the elder could be seen.
"Shepard …" greeted the first elder as it motioned one of its hands towards Shepard to come closer.
When the arm passed through the darkness and came into the light the people of the citadel showed great shocked as unlike the rest of the humans the elders arm was completely pitch back with small dots scattered around, almost like looking into a galaxy.
Shepard moved herself near to the elder before as the shadows that covered the room began to fade, allowing the citadel to see the first elders true form.
"By the goddess" gasped Liara as she stared at the first elders form. It was unlike anything the young asari had ever seen. Unlike the other humans this one barely resembles like one to begin with, the elder skin was covered in solid black, excluding his hands, which are white. He has tiny white star-like spots all over his body, giving him the appearance of a starry night sky. His eyes are green and lacked pupils, and his forehead bared three horn-like protrusions.
"What is he, he can't be human they look nothing alike" gaped Liara.
"I wouldn't say that little wing, there are many things that could be considered impossible yet in the end were possible … besides remember the scene with the capsule, seems that there was more than we could have imagined" advised Benezia.
Back at Mordin's clinic the salarian was like a mini-gun with how many word he was speaking every minute. After a few minutes of non-stop talking did Mordin finally take a breath.
While the salarian was still talking some deep breaths Wrex looked at the elder with a great deal of uneasiness, there were few things that Wrex truly trusted, one of the things he trusted was gut feeling. Right now his gut feeling was practically screaming at him to avoid angering this elder and that made Wrex uneasy.
Tali and Garrus looked at elder with fascination by the physical looks of the elder.
" … We have discussed to great length on your request young one" spoke the first elder, "And after much thought we have decided to allow your request."
"I-I'm honored that you would allow my request first elder" thanked Shepard.
The first elder gave a small nod before speaking again "however, there a you should know about your request that you need to follow before I allow it."
"Like what elder" asked Shepard.
"Well … let us show you" said the elder as a bright light covered the screen. A large piece of text soon appeared saying
ON THE PLANET NEMASS
before the text and light faded to show a medium size garden world. The camera zoomed into the planet, passing through the atmosphere and clouds before focusing a certain quarian.
"I-Is that me" said Tali in surprise
*Well, unless you share the same enviro suit or at least the color/design with another female quarian then probably" answered garrus.
"But hey, at least your famous now" added Garrus.
…
"That doesn't really assure me officer" drly replied Tali
Currently Tali'Zorah was having a pretty boring day. Know many of you might ask why was she having a boring day?
To understand why you must understand why she was on this planet to begin with. A few weeks ago she was hired by an asari archaeologist named Liara T'soni. Right there where on a planet called nemass in the attican traverse were there was an abundance of prothean artifacts.
Lucky for her boss was an actually nice person and treated her as such instead of trash. Though she wasn't the only there it seemed that Liara had also hired some mercs as well. One of them was a ex-citadel cop named garrus vakarian, another one was a krogan battle-master Urdnot Wrex, and a salarian doctor, Mordin solus.
They were a rather nice bunch, treated her fairly so that was a plus in her book. But at the moment they were having a slow day as they were waiting for a shipment of parts needed to repair the mining droid leaving Tali to stare at the night sky with boredom.
"~sigh~ kaleeah, what to do Tali what do" muttered Tali to herself as she stared at the night sky. "Hmm, I wonder, could I possibly reroute the coupling to … nah, that would overload the core" said Tali as she shook her head against the idea.
"~sigh~ all this theorizing isn't going to help us, maybe a walk would clear my mind, yeah, that doesn't sound like a bad idea" said Tali as stood up and dusted the dirt from the suit before she took a random direction and proceeded walking.
…
After an hour of walking Tali stared at the night sky as the young quarian pondered on her current situation. "Well, this isn't exactly expected when my pilgrimage, though it could have been worse … really worse ~shudder~ " thought Tali as she remembered the stories she heard about quarians that ended up in slavery or indentured servitude or worse.
Shaking her head as she banished those dark thoughts Tali looked upon the sky as she admired the beautiful night sky of nemass. "Though … it wouldn't hurt if something interesting would happen" whispered Tali to herself.
As she stared at the sky Tali noticed something falling from the sky. "A meteor? Well that's a little odd" said Tali as looked at the meteor, as she did Tali soon noticed something.
Usually meteors should have burn up by now or shrunk a bit by now yet it wasn't … and it was heading straight towards … her.
Tali barely had time to react as the meteor zoomed towards her. Diving herself into some nearby bushes she activated her barriers and went into a fetal position. The meteor slammed into the earth, causing the ground to shake as nearby trees were forcibly uprooted and random debris bounced harmlessly of her.
After waiting a few minutes Tali poked her head out as she surveyed the damage, near the crater most if not all the foliage were blown away from the impact as small fires could be seen scattered around the ground.
"What in the ancestor's name was that" said Tali aloud as got herself off the ground. Slowly but surely Tali went to the crater, as she got the edge she saw some kind of ... capsule.
"This is not going to go well" commented Spartus as he looked at the quarian slowly inch closer to the capsule.
"Possibly, capsule design looks similar to that of previous capsule, yet, coloring and minor differences can be seen … human design. Could this be part of the humans first elders plan" asked Valern as he looked with rapt interest.
"Maybe a weapon of some kind, maybe some part of Shepard's plan to 'enlighten' us. Who knows Valern but I one thing for sure that this isn't good news for any of us" answered Spartus.
"Now Spartus, you shouldn't immediately assume that, there may be more to this than we immediately know, we did seemed to have skipped a bit before reaching this scene. Let us watch for now and see where this leads" advised Tevos as she sat back and continue to watch what would happen next.
"Once Tali got near the capsule she pulled out her omni-tool as she began to scan the outlier. As she did her face morphed into one of confusion as her omni-tool informed her of unknown and exotic material made up the capsule.
Attempting for another scan, this one more stronger, she brought her arm near to the capsule. As she did a loud click was heard and the capsule began hissing.
Tali quickly retracted her arm as she made distance from the capsule and pulled out her shotgun. She brought it up to aim as she waited for the capsule to finish opening itself up.
Mist poured out of the capsule as a green glow shone out.
…
…
…
After waiting for more than a few minutes Tali slowly inched closer to the capsule, peering into the capsule Tali saw something … odd.
Inside was a bracer, colored in black and grey, in the middle of the bracer was large symbol of an hour glass with four tubes connected to the rest of the bracer.
"What the? Is that a bracer" said Tali to herself. Bringing her omni-tool arm up she attempted to scan the bracer. As she did the bracer began to move before jumping and latching onto her arm.
In a burst of fear Tali began to pull and rip the bracer off of her.
"Keelah, get off of me" grunted Tali as she fruitlessly attempted to pry the device off.
After what felt like hours for the young quarian Tali stopped her attempt to get the bracer off as she leaned on the capsule for a brief respite. "What is this thing even made of" thought Tali as she took a deep breath and looked at the device.
"Why did this thing have to latch on my omni-tool arm specifically … ~sigh~ calm down Tali, let's take a deep breath and look at the situation more carefully" thought Tali as she took another deep breath as she looked at the device more carefully.
"Alright, now let's see … it doesn't look like a weapon but I shouldn't cross that off. It looks inert right now, so maybe I can get it looked by someone and if I remember correctly there is a council outpost here so maybe I can get help there … if they don't kick me out first" said Tali to herself.
"I should probably head back to the group,don't want them to get worried about me"said Tali as she turned around and began to get up from the crater. As she did Tali brought her leg onto a more fragile part of the ground, the ground broke underneath her causing Tali to fall back to the ground as well as the top part of the bracer to slam on to the ground.
"Ah my head, stupid piece of rock" muttered Tali as she rubbed her head but as she got back up she noticed something happened to the bracer. The symbol part was extend upward, allowing Tali a glimpse of the interior of the bracer. The hourglass symbol was now producing a green hologram with an outline of an asari-oid like creature.
"What the … keeleah, what is this" gasped Tali in surprised as she grasp the extended symbol, turning it to the sides she saw how the hologram changed figures as each time she shifted it the left or right. Curiosity overridden her mind as she kept shifting it until she came back to first outline.
"So there is 10 different figures than, hmm I wonder … should I … but maybe it could be dangerous … or maybe it may help my pilgrimage … mmm … oh ancestors please protect me for what I'm about to next" whispered Tali as she pressed down onto the symbol.
As she did Tali closed her eyes in fear what would happen next.
…
…
…
"Hmm?" Was Tali's reply as she opened her eyes to see nothing had happened. "What? Oh don't tell me it's broken … ~sigh~ grea-" sighed Tali as the symbol glowed a bright green as a familiar voice spoke.
"Sorry for the delay their, new DNA I had to catalog but now that's done, so have fun as heat blast" spoke Shepard with a sing song voice.
Before Tali could reply the green light grew brighter as it quickly engulfed the quarian. As it did the people on the citadel widen their eyes on what they saw next.
Glowing red rocks came out of the bracer as it covered the body completely, red cracks appeared as flames covered the head,hands, and feet.
"What in the spirit's name" gasped Spartus as the turian Councillors mandibles open in pure shock as he saw the quarian literally transform into a completely different alien.
"Impossible, not even with the most advanced genetic engineering can that happen … you can't transform into a different species … especially an alien like that" whispered Valern to himself as he just wittiness the impossible become possible.
Tevos looked in both awe and shock at that little machines capability. She felt a great desire to study the machine, image the possibility with it, people of all species could now interact with each other in a way never before heard of. Yet, she also felt a great fear of the destructive capabilities as well,if in the wrong hands enemy operatives could easily infiltrate their societies and cause great ruin.
"Spirits let this not be our humans, think about the security, how do we deal with a race with such capabilities. Their technology must be leagues above ours" said Spartus as he tried to form plans to deal with these humans.
"I hope so as well, would need to extremely cautious when we interact with them" added Valern.
At Mordin's clinic Tali looked at the scene in silence as she saw herself from another universe transform into a completely different alien.
"Hey Tali, you ok there" asked garrus with concern in his voice as he grasp the young quarians shoulder.
Tali gave a slight jot as she turned to face garrus, "huh, oh, yeah I'm ok just getting used to … well seeing that" explained Tali.
"Yeah fair enough, if I say my other self turn into a completely different alien I would probably be speeches as well" said garrus.
"True would be surprised to see someone transform , though I'm quite fascinated with the watch itself, this humanity is clearly advanced … or maybe the green goo is the reason" interrupted Mordin as he came into the discussion.
"Maybe …" said Tali as she turned to Wrex "... What do you think umm Wrex."
The krogan gave a snort as he opened his mouth,"seems interesting, though I would like to see what else you, or in this case other you, can transform into, maybe it will be something interesting to fight" commented Wrex as he gave the quarian predatory grin, causing Tali's back to shiver.
While that was happening the two T'soni members look at the scene with great shock and surprise by the quarians sudden transformation.
Liara looked at the watch with great wonder, thinking that maybe the machine may have the ability to turn into a prothean as well, if it could than it would be an invaluable part of helping to understand the disappearance of the prothean.
While then young asari was thinking that Benezia looked at with great worry similar to that of Tevos. The matriarch feared the destructive powers of the watch yet also wondered the possible benefits of the device if used correctly. "These humans must be brought under the guidance of the asari if this is what their species capability is."
"Oh, my head … kelela what hap…" asked Tali to herself as she massaged her head with her hand … that had five fingers … and was on … fire.
…
…
…
Tali brought her other arm up which was also on fire as well as covered in glowing red rocks.
Tali slowly went back to the capsule, she looked at herself on the sides … a head covered in red flames stared back.
…
…
Back at the camp Wrex decided to find where did the group quarian was, it would be bad news to lose the teams only engineer to something stupid. Currently he was walking through a nearby forest, after a bit of investigating the krogan discovered that the girl headed into the forest. Now he was wandering around looking around for the girl.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH" screamed an high pitched voice that sounded very similar to the teams resident quarian.
Wrex went towards the source of the noise, eventually he reached to the crater were laid the most bizarre thing he had seen. Covered in flames was some kind of asari-oid creature, the aliens body was made up of glowing red rocks. Before Wrex could react to the sight of such a creature the alien attention snapped towards where he was, the alien looked surprised by his sight and it's back was against the frame of a very large capsule.
"Who the hell are you" growled Wrex as he brought his rifle out and glared at the unknown alien.
...
"W-Wrex, its me, Tali" said the alien with a slight shuddering.
…
"Tali?! What in karlos name happened to you?" asked Wrex
MINUTES LATER
Now the scene had changed again now showing Tali now being examined by Mordin who looked extremely fascinated by Tali's new form.
"Fascinating, it seems that your complete genetic makeup has been completely rewritten from the ground up" exclaimed Mordin as his omni-tool scanned the young quarian.
"To simply but it miss Zorah you've become a different alien."
"Gee, it's not like I saw that coming" replied Tali in a sarcastic tone.
"Terribly sorry if that isn't what you wished to hear …" apologized mordin "... But whatever technology used to turn you to what you are is easily beyond current citadel tech level, simply put it, this may be your new form."
"Great" muttered Tali as placed her hands on her face "how can I go back to the flotilla like this, I can't go back like this … ancestors, how would my father react to this" asked Tali to herself as she begin to panic a bit.
"Well at least you don't need to worry about a flu killing you in a instant" said Garrus, in an attempt to cheer up the quarian.
"Hmph, yeah but I can't really grab anything" countered Tali as she grabbed a pile of dirt in her hand. As she did said pile of dirt began to quickly melt before Tali dropped it back on the ground.
"Well umm … at least you can say your hotter than the sun" weakly replied garrus.
As Tali was about to open her mouth the hourglass symbol on her chest began to glow red as a loud beeping noise came, to few seconds later a red flash covered her body, forcing the rest to cover their eyes for a few moments. As the light died down it revealed tali but now in her original form.
"W-What?" Muttered Tali as she saw herself back to her old form.
"Fascinating, it seems that you can stay in a different form for certain amount of time, must need more scans" exclaimed Mordin as he brought up his omni-tool.
Before he could take more scans Liara pulled his arm back as she gave the salarian a stern look. "Now mordin, while I'm also interested in this new development don't you think Tali needs some rest after all of this" reasoned Liara.
"Hmm, not wrong miss Zorah may be exhausted, would be possible, very well will do scans later for now get rest" ordered Mordin as he left the room to study the scans.
Liara looked over to the young quarian as she shot a smile to her, the asari than proceeded push the Wrex/Garrus out of the room leaving Tali as the only in the room soon after.
As Liara and the rest finally left the room Tali gave a tired sigh as she brought her knees up to her chest.
"Hm, so the device has a time limit, that will definitely be useful for us" said Spartus aloud.
"I wouldn't say for sure Spartus, for all we know maybe the device itself it the one who has a time limit" argued Valern causing Spartus mood to sour a bit.
To the other people on the citadel they saw the device and its potential the same as Tevos.
The asari saw these humans as a race, or at least the matriarchs, that had incredible potential as shown in their technology but needed the wisdom of the asari.
The turians looked at the technology these human had with great awe but with a healthy amount of fear as well, worried about how a battle between the citadel and humans would go as well as the cost.
The salarians looked with rapt attention, as many began discussing the potential that the device held as some members of their society began coming up with ideas on how it could be recreated.
Most of the other species looked with similar interest/fear but we're content with watching how this go as few were thinking of making some toy versions of the watch.
The quarians looked at the entire thing with rapt attention as a few realized that Tali was in fact the daughter of one of the admirals. But for many they saw the device as something that could help there species, if it could turn somebody into a different species than maybe it could help with their species immunity system problem.
The krogan saw was a device that would let them fight more interesting creatures … not really surprising.
"kelela, what are you" whispered Tali as he raised the strange watch over her head.
…
"Come on, I know you can speak, you don't need to stay quiet" spoke Tali waiting for some kind of response from the watch. Sadly the watch did not answer preferring to stay quiet than speak.
Seeing nothing can be done Tali decided to push the subject away before heading to her room and slept for the rest of the night. The next day became a blur for the young quarian as she spent a good duration with Mordin on studying what 'heat blast' can do as well play around with what the watch can do.
Currently Tali knows that there a total of 10 aliens that she can supposedly use, including heat blast. However, she has yet to transform into any of them partially out of fear of what could happen.
Right now Tali could be seen playing around with the the watch as she and the rest were waiting for the spare parts to arrive as the sun was already setting.
"So Tali …" asked garrus as he approached the quarian "... Anything interesting you found for the watch?"
"Hm , oh nothing much garrus, whoever made this thing was good and I mean very good, even I barely understand how this works" replied Tali.
Garrus merely made a grunt of acknowledgement.
…
…
…
"So … what are you going to do" asked garrus.
"Excuse me?" Asked Tali.
"I mean what are you going to do after this" clarified garrus.
"Oh, well I was thinking of heading towards a nearby quarian community here, afterwards … I guess back home" answered Tali. "What about you garrus" asked Tali.
"Me? Well, I thinking about heading home, personal reasons" explained garrus.
"Ah" said Tali.
The two fell into silence as they waited for their shipment to come. As the group waited seconds became minutes before minutes finally became hours.
"~growls~ what the hell is taking so those pyjacks so long to get" muttered Wrex as annoyance was clearly etched into his face.
"Normally I'll say it's probably pirates but recently pirate activity rate have low as well as they should have informed us that our shipment has been attacked by now" replied Garrus.
"Maybe pirate attacks have begun increased again" replied Liara.
Garrus shook his head "No, like I said they should have informed us by now if they were attacked."
While the three of them were discussing that Mordin was currently going over the data he acquired from Tali. So far this heat blast species was almost completely made up of super-heated stone and fire save for a few extremely heat resistant organs.
Some of the ways the organs prevented themselves from burning up were completely revolutionary and the doctor had no doubt such findings could great help both firefighters as well people suffering from major burns.
But before the doctor could continue his omni-tool began to glitch unexpectedly, for a brief moment this happened before it stopped. Mordin turned his head to see if his other co-workers were suffering the same thing and to his momentary surprise they too had.
Before Mordin could open his mouth a loud screech was heard forcing everyone to cover their ears as something. Before the group could do anything a large object sailed through the sky before slamming down near the group throwing them through the air before slamming back to the ground.
"Ack, is everyone one ok" coughed Liara aloud as she tried to wave the dust from her face, the grunts and groans of her people brought relief for the young asari.
"Goddess, what was th-" questioned Liara before her eyes widen in horror as here jaw dropped. From dust clouds everyone could see what came near them.
Standing 40 feet tall was an asari-oid looking mech with three insectoid legs as well two large claws. Clad in sinister purple plating the mech eyed the group with its glowing crimson eyes.
"What in the goddess name is that" whispered Tevos in both shock and horror at the sight of such a machine.
"A heavy mech of some sorts, must be heavily armed, an infantry unit of some kind" theorized Spartus.
"Impossible, making such a mech like that must be costly to produce as well as maintain has to be some kind of special unit" argued Valern.
While the two Councillors argued the rest of the citadel looked with horror as the mech began firing crimson red beams at the group.
"Gang away" shouted Garrus, dodging the crimson beam as it slammed into the ground nearby, as he was propelled back by sheer shock wave.
"Hah, stop trying to run you pyjaks and grow a quad. Can't you see this thing ain't gonna give up till one of us is dead" growled Wrex as he fired a carnage round at head of the mech.
"Would advise a tactical retreat to a better position, current leaves us to open unknown enemies weapon" commented Mordin as he fired a cryo blast at nearby arm joints of the mech.
"I have to agree with the doctor Wrex, we're sitting birds here" agreed Liars, throwing a warm as the mech.
The team continued to lay a constant barrage after barrage at mech, but to there dismay it seemed to have no real effect as the kinetic shields simply shrugged off the attacks as if it hadn't affected it, not even electronic warfare was able to breached the alien coding.
After a few minutes of constant firing the unknown mech finally responded. A loud screech covered the area, forcing the team to cover their ears. While the team was incapacitated the mech raised both it's arms into the air before slamming them onto the ground, causing the ground to break and further incapacitating the team.
"Oh keeleth my head" groaned out Tali as she was barely able to push herself off the ground. A rush of pain shot through her leg and soon fear she quickly checked for any suit punctures. To her relief it was only a sprain leg nothing life threatening.
Before she could relax the rumbling from the ground reminded Tali of the major problem. Tali scuttled over to some nearby rocks as she surveyed the damage the mech wrought. She could barely see her teammates as the dust began to settled down none of them look like they could take another round, well maybe Wrex, that last attack took all of them off guard.
"Keeleth, there's no way we can beat this thing … is this it … the end" panicked Tali.
The rumbling began to grow signing the approach of the mech as her own panic increased with each step. In an act of desperation she looked over to the watch, quickly activating it she began to scroll for any type of species that looked they could be useful.
"Ancestors please let this be useful" pleaded Tali as pressed down onto the watch.
"Good choice kiddo" commented shepherd as a brilliant green light encased Tali.
xxx Clinic xxx
The people of the citadel looked with awe as light green crystals emerged out from her suit, covering her entire suit as two yellow crystals covered her eyes.
Garrus whistled at Tail's new form, "Well you certainly don't look squishy anymore"
"Yeah ... and I'm shinier" added Tail. Amazed by her others new form.
xxx Council xxx
"Amazing, a species made up of minerals of all things" awed Tevos.
"Whatever material there made of looks like it could take a round or two" commented Sparatus
"Interesting, whatever world they must come from must have some very unique properties" spoke Valern
"Diamond-head!" roared Tail.
"Diamond-Head ... well that's ... unique I guess" commented Garrus as he dodged a stray beam.
"Well that form better have something useful" Wrex growled
"Y-Yeah, ughh let's see" Tail said, trying to get a feel for this new form. Well at least till a red beam hit her squarely in the chest. Throwing her back a few meters.
"Gah! Ah, that ... that, hey, that didn't hurt that much" Tail realized, getting herself off the ground.
Only to see the drone charging straight at her.
"Eeppp!" Tail cried as she raised her hands, only for dozens of crystal shards exploded form her hand. Embedding the drone as it feel on it's back, competently dead.
xxx Clinic xxx
"He-Hey nice going there Tail" cheered Garrus, giving the young girls a pat on the back.
"Impressive, some kind of natural defense for that species it seems. Though I wonder, how do they regrow that loss mass?" Mordin wondered.
"Heh, looks like the runt is growing up a bit" Wrex commented. Ignoring the indigent cries from Tail.
xxx Council xxx
"W-What!, h-h-how! How did she do that!" Sparatus demanded to know. Mouth opened at seeing the creature literally create incredible sharp shard from itself.
"Shouldn't be even possible. how would that species even be able to regrow all that mass, and how did it even shot those shards in the first place, Specialized organ?" added Valern.
Tevos was silent but she too agreed with her fellow councilors. That shouldn't be possible yet here it was. All it did was further cement her beliefs that action must be taken quickly the minute the humans arrive.
...
"Is it dead?" Tail asked nervously
...
...
...
The drone exploded into a firey mess for scarp metal and wires.
"Yeah ... I think it is now" Garrus said.
"Little obvious now turian" Wrex muttered.
"So, what now?" Liara asked aloud
FIN
xxx Citadel xxx
With that the screen turned black and quickly replacing it was count down screen showing 24 hours on it and just starting to count down.
With that the denziens of the citadel were left to there own thoughts about what they just saw with a large question in there minds.
"Who are these humans?"