Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way with BioWare, nor do I have any involvement with either their Dragon Age or Mass Effect teams. They're responsible for all of it, I'm just doing this for fun and not profit.
So basically I was hopping on the Inquisition hype-wagon and came across a few Dragon Age stories set in modern times. 'Gee,' I thought for no particular reason, 'I really do like that idea and can't even explain why.' Sadly none of those I found quite hit the note I was hoping for, which is when my brain offered 'You ought to write one in the Mass Effect timeline.'
To which I quite sanely replied 'Brain, that is a horrible idea. Make it so.' and here we are.
"Navigation is reporting a clean jump through the relay; drift is reading at slightly over twenty-three hundred k which leaves our ETA for orbital entry at approximately o-three-hundred hours. All systems are green, initiating FTL drives in three, two, one…"
The calm voice of the pilot over the intercom was temporarily lost as the ship's engines kicked into full gear with a pleasant hum that vibrated through every corner of the frigate. Elissa Cousland found herself rocking on her heels in a moment of childishly gleeful anticipation, craning her neck for one last proper look at the mass relay from the mess hall windows before it all dissolved into a blur of refracted lights. She'd spent over half her life on stations and ships of all sizes, yet she doubted the sense of overwhelming awe that traveling the stars inspired in her would ever fully fade. She was not alone in this attitude, however, if the group of excited soldiers huddled around the windows with her served as any indication; most of those gathered had been pulled at the last moment from various posts elsewhere and had not been given any true duties aboard the frigate during the hurried first part of the trip. Elissa assumed some of them had been stationed planet-side for quite some time, given the way several of the group stumbled as the ship jumped to faster-than-light speeds for the final leg of their journey. One was knocked so off balance that he tumbled to the floor, much to the amusement of the others. As he was pulling himself upright with the assistance of another, an awkward smile and some self-depreciating comment on his lips, the sound of the intercom coming to life cut off any further conversation.
"We have successfully jumped to FTL; we are on course and on schedule to reach Ferelden within our original timetable," the pilot informed them stoically. "We should be in range of their comm buoy shortly. The captain has requested that all N7 report to the briefing room for their assignment. Local crew, prep your gear for arrival."
Elissa pushed away from the window with a soft hum of curiosity. Their little impromptu gathering was quickly dispersing, many wandering off to tend to their gear as instructed and a few individuals, such as herself, making their way to the briefing room on the main level above. They were the guests here, and while the SSV River Dane was no longer state-of-the-art, it was a proud vessel with a distinguished history. Its service record dated as far back as the First Contact War, where, under the command of now-legendary Alliance officer Maric Theirin, it was famed for its risky grab-and-run evacuations of besieged colonists on Shanxi. It had hunted down slavers and pirates as they fled deep into the Terminus Systems after the Skyllian Blitz. And, most recently, its crew had been praised for heroic actions during the Battle of the Citadel.
What, precisely, was meant by 'heroic actions' Elissa didn't quite know. At the time of the battle she had barely completed her N6-level field courses with the Interplanetary Combatives Training instructors in the Asgard system, far away from the Citadel and the horrific destruction unleashed upon it by the synthetic geth, but she was under the impression that the River Dane had been one of the ships to assist the Council escape on their flagship, the Destiny Ascension.
That had been nearly two months ago, now. The entire galaxy was still on high alert as people everywhere scrambled to rebuild and find answers. Personally, Elissa suspected the odds of finding any truth in the matter dwindled with each passing day, particularly since the so-called 'savior' of the Citadel, Commander Shepard, had been mysteriously killed-in-action a month ago when her ship was destroyed by an unknown attacker. But whether the mastermind behind the attacks were the almighty killer starships from dark space that Shepard claimed or the rogue Council agent with a brainwashed army of vengeful robots, authorities everywhere were eager to reassure citizens that their governments could still protect them.
Perhaps that was the driving motivation behind the Alliance's decision to mount such an immediate response to a fringe colony that may have simply been experiencing mechanical failure of some sort. Perhaps the Alliance brass knew something more about the situation that lead them to believe otherwise. Perhaps they would even deign her worthy of being briefed on the matter now that she had finally earned her prestigious N7 rank.
She would find out soon enough either way, she thought as she took her spot in the River Dane's conference room while the finale few of the expected group filed in. The final number tallied at fewer than a dozen men and women gathered, including the captain of the River Dane and the visiting officer from the ICT who had personally selected each individual present in the room. Elissa could not say she knew any of them by name, but she was impressed with the caliber of talent present: their squad ranged from veteran N7 operatives who had held their rank for years to a couple such as herself who had only earned the title recently and even two who were still on their N6 courses.
The captain cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention to the front of the room.
"This room holds an unparalleled amount of potential and I know we're all eager to get to business, so I won't waste any more time," Captain Cailan Theirin grinned with an almost boyish enthusiasm. He was young for a Captain, only a handful of years older than Elissa herself; there were whispers among certain people that he had been promoted as a token gesture after his father, the celebrated Admiral Theirin, disappeared in deep space nearly a decade ago. It did nothing for this reputation that they had appointed him captain of his father's first ship. He pressed a few buttons on a console and a virtual map of their destined star system. "We are here because approximately ninety hours ago, Sixth Fleet Command picked up an automated distress signal from our colony on Ferelden. Every attempt to raise communications with them have been unsuccessful and completely nonresponsive. Given the recent geth attacks on Eden Prime and the batarian terrorist attempt at Terra Nova, it is our duty to assume the situation is quite hostile until our investigation tells us otherwise."
He paused, seemingly for dramatic effect.
"As for the reason why all of you are joining us for what would otherwise be handled as a routine reconnaissance mission can be attributed to the last burst of data the environmental sensors recorded before unanimously going offline." He pressed another button on the console and the digital map of the system zoomed in to focus on the planet of Ferelden exclusively. "In accordance with Council regulations regarding colonization of garden worlds, a system of various sensors has been placed across the planet different aspects of the natural ecosystem. This area here is one of the less densely populated areas of the colony, near the southern edge of the surveyed area. I understand the locals have taken to calling this lovely little hamlet 'Lothering'," Captain Theirin grinned wryly as he pulled up a tactical overhead map covering what appeared to be several acres. He tapped another command into the console and the overhead map shifted to a thermal view. "You can see the colonists' houses and equipment quite clearly at the top of the map from their heat-output, see? Everything else on the map is open plains and a bit of swamp. Now here's a brief time-lapse to show how little these readings change: time of day, weather, and even seasons have a minimal impact on the overall stability of the area. Then, finally, here's the last five minutes of transmissions in real-time."
Elissa studied the screen intently. At first, nothing seemed particularly out of order: the colonists' generators provided the brightest spots on the map and the rest of the area was the proper spectrum of warms and cools that a natural landscape should be, with only the occasional tiny speck of heat that represented a living body wandering about.
Suddenly a spot of bright warmth appeared in the lower half of the map. It didn't move into the frame from outside their range of view, it simply appeared in the middle of what she assumed was an open plain; one moment there had been nothing, the next it was pulsing into view as if it had always been there, growing warmer and more visible with each passing moment. An uncomfortable moment of silence passed as each person in the room went through a mental list of possible explanations, explanations they were immediately forced to dismiss as the heat signature began to rapidly increase in size. What had started as a small spot of heat seemed to bubble and writhe until it quite easily covered a large portion of the map before it wheeled upwards to cover Lothering in an unnervingly fluid motion. It couldn't have taken more than a minute for whatever had caused the heat to swarm over everything in sight and continue moving north; it was difficult to distinguish any actual motion in the large blob of red and orange, but Elissa couldn't shake the impression that it was moving and not simply growing, that whatever was responsible for the original source of heat was still making more in the center of the empty field. Then, abruptly, the whole patch filed up north, leaving the entire map empty of any heat signatures and uniformly colder than it had been before.
Moments later, the feed went dead.
"What was that?" one of the men gasped, clearly horrified. Elissa recognized him as the one who had tripped over himself when they'd jumped to FTL but couldn't seem to recall his name. It had been something archaic sounding, she thought.
At least the Captain didn't seem to mind his outburst. "Exactly," Cailan said. "Immediately after this recording, the entire system of sensors simultaneously cut out which means there was no way of tracking this phenomenon to see if it was an isolated incident or what its relation to the mechanical failure is. Several hours later, the VI in the colony's command center issued the general distress call, leaving us no choice but to assume the two events are somehow connected. We've been tasked with investigating these occurrences, providing any aid the colonists may require, and overall reestablishing Ferelden's status as a secure and stable Alliance colony. Are there any questions?"
"Sir," one of the veteran N7 operatives named Gregor requested permission to speak. The Captain nodded his approval to continue, and Elissa wondered if he'd even realized the man had been addressing the ICT representative instead. "I understand the necessity of this investigation quite clearly, and, given the unusual nature of the matter, the decision to include special forces in the matter is quite sensible. What I wonder, sir, is about our numbers; outside of vital wartime missions, I've never heard of so many N7 ranked soldiers being assigned to a single mission in Alliance history. Would it not be more efficient to issue one N7 command over a skilled squad of marines, as is standard procedure?"
The Captain smiled widely at him as if he had been expecting this question. "I believe Rear Admiral Rivain can do this particular explanation greater justice than I. Duncan, if you please."
The previously silent ICT officer stepped forward. He had sponsored the applications of most of those present to undertake special forces training and was widely respected. He also noticeably lacked the bright excitement Captain Theirin could barely contain over the potential disaster. "While the possibility remains that some form of mechanical failure could explain this – be it the communications VI or the sensors themselves – it is our primary duty to ensure those we have sworn to protect are safe," Duncan said evenly. "Having said that, it is no coincidence that you were chosen for this mission. The balance of power in the galaxy is shifting rapidly and such little warning that the Alliance feels it is necessary to explore other avenues of response and defense. Each of you has been selected not only as some of the best the Alliance Navy has to offer, but also as the most promising candidates to prototype a new branch of special forces tactics focusing on squad-based techniques capable of managing extraordinary circumstances which would normally warrant the dedication of significantly more personnel. Moreover, you will be expected to handle these circumstances quietly, efficiently, and in a manner which appropriately reflects everything the Alliance stands for. Whatever the issue on Ferelden turns out to be, you are being evaluated based on your own conduct. The brass have a highly specific set of qualities they're looking for in this program; I believe each of you best represent these qualities and the potential of this proposal so for now its future is in your hands."
"This sounds an awful lot like the Council's Spectres," piped one of the younger men cheerily.
"This hasn't got anything to do with Shepard's unstoppable sentient death ships, has it?" someone else scoffed.
"Haven't you heard? The unstoppable sentient death ship has been positively identified as your sister. The Alliance already has a defense net composed entirely of salad prepped in case she strikes again; the tomato rifles had to be pushed back due to funding issues, sadly," said Lieutenant Falls-Over-Self, as Elissa was forced to call him until further notice. "Those things Shepard talked about, on the other hand? What she claimed attacked the Citadel? I heard those were called Reapers."
"Alistair," Duncan frowned disapprovingly.
Alistair fell back into line with a somewhat embarrassed sounding "Sorry."
"Whether or not this endeavor succeeds in the long run, for the time being you have been placed under my command until further notice," continued Duncan calmly. "Our division has been assigned the code name Grey Wardens to represent the thin line between morality and duty we are expected to uphold, defending the wellbeing of all of the galaxy's citizens before our own individual needs. While I have no doubt that this dedication to our vigilance will come with hardship and sacrifice, I have the utmost faith that you will be the ones to do our ideals proud. If you feel this is not your calling, know that there is no shame in that; you were recruited blindly for what could be a long term assignment. If you so choose, you may turn back now and will be returned to your previous duties with no ill-effects."
He paused to see if anyone would leave the room. No one did.
"Excellent," Captain Cailan beamed at them. "The River Dane is honored to serve in tandem with the Grey Wardens. I've no doubt this will be but the first of many historic missions together."
Elissa raised an eyebrow at his choice of words but wasn't given much time to dwell on the matter.
"Our orders, sir?" someone requested.
A flicker of pride passed across Duncan's features as he tapped a quick command into his Omni-Tool. "I've sent each of you your squad assignments. Get your gear together and report to the docking bay before we enter Ferelden's orbit. Echo Squad, speak with me before gearing up. The rest of you are dismissed."
The other squads saluted and left. Elissa, being one of the four names assigned to Echo Squad, obediently held her stance of relaxed attention. The other three names, she was beginning to realize, included the very same Alistair who didn't seem terribly experienced with space travel and couldn't resist a joke as well as the two men who had yet to fully graduate from the N6 program. The four of them were the most inexperienced of the group and they had been assigned to the same squad. No wonder Duncan wanted to speak with them; perhaps there'd been a clerical error and they needed to be reassigned.
"Thank you for your patience," Duncan said softly as he approached them, evidently quite aware that Captain Theirin was listening in yet not concerned enough to show any discomfort over it. "I'll be brief. It was no mistake that I put you four on the same squad. You each possess something I believe will be integral to the Grey Warden's success: adaptability. If we are to tackle abnormal problems, we must be prepared to employ abnormal tactics. You two in particular," he nodded towards Alistair and Elissa, "I believe will make excellent instructors in time."
"Sir, I'm afraid I don't understand the benefit of assigning less-experienced instructors in favor of the more traditional approach," Elissa said cautiously.
"You've proven yourselves competent, otherwise you wouldn't be here, yet you're not yet so world-weary that you lack the capacity for independent thought on moral judgments," replied Duncan. "Perhaps I was wrong to assume as much, but I see great potential before me. Both Daveth and Jory have shown quite promising abilities during the course of their training." He nodded to the skinny Engineer and the round-faced Soldier respectively. "As their instructors, over the course of the next few missions I expect you to guide and evaluate them fairly. You know what was expected of you during your own training."
"Yes, but I don't know anything about teaching anyone else!" Alistair protested desperately. "Sir," he added lamely, almost as an afterthought.
"Work together as a team and make detailed reports," Duncan told him flatly. "I'm quite certain you're capable of that, Alistair. The exact dynamics of your group can be whatever you feel is the most conducive, but each of you will respect the others and your responsibilities as Grey Wardens. Are we clear?"
"Yes, sir!" they chorused in unison.
"Good. Get your gear together and be ready for when –"
"Captain, we've a message coming through the comm buoy from the SSV Gwaren," came an announcement over the intercom.
"Oh, that'll be Loghain," Cailan sighed, turning back to the console at the front of the room and pretending he'd been studying it the whole time. "Patch him through."
The screen flickered to life once more, but instead of a map, it now showed the stern face of Fleet Admiral Loghain Mac Tir.
"Loghain," Cailan nodded in greeting. "You'll be pleased to know everything is going according to plan thus far; we've had a smooth flight and will be arriving in the Thedas system shortly."
Loghain did not look pleased. "Cailan, I'm calling to remind you that while the Alliance brass has ordered your ship play ferry to this Grey Warden initiative, the River Dane and her crew are assets of the Sixth Fleet which I fully expect to be returned in one piece," he frowned. "Whatever the issue with this colony turns out to be, you are under no circumstances to risk the life of yourself or your crew. You will leave that job to the special forces tasked to handle it."
"All due respect, Loghain, but my orders are to assist the Grey Wardens in any way needed," Cailan shook his head. "It certainly didn't sound like 'assist the Grey Wardens until the situation becomes mildly dangerous then run away'."
"I am ordering you now, Cailan: do not go planet-side with the first wave of the investigation. I will not have you needlessly risking –"
"It wouldn't be a needless risk, it would be my duty as an officer of the Alliance Navy to do everything in my power to ensure the safety of our colony. At any rate, you haven't got any actual authority over this particular matter, have you?"
Duncan quietly gestured Elissa and her squadmates out of the briefing room. "I don't believe this conversation is any business of ours," he said.
After the door had swished shut behind them and they began their way down to the lower levels of the ship once more, Elissa frowned thoughtfully. "The Captain seemed awfully familiar with the Admiral," she commented.
"He ought to be; the Admiral is his father-in-law," Alistair supplied helpfully.
"The Alliance assigned him a ship that had once been captained by his father and placed him in the fleet commanded by his father-in-law?" Elissa said incredulously.
"Let no one say nepotism isn't still alive and well," said Daveth with a cheeky wink.
"Surely you four have more pressing subjects to consider than idle gossip?" Duncan asked benignly as they came to a halt outside of the ship's armory.
"Of course; apologies, Sir," Elissa saluted.
Duncan nodded. "Gear up and join the others in the docking bay." He turned and left them to their business.
Echo Squad eyed each other uncomfortably.
"Well!" Alistair clapped his hands together suddenly. "I suppose introductions are in order, since we're going to be working together and all. I'm Staff Lieutenant Alistair Montsimmard, N7 Paladin class. But, uh, please, just call me Alistair," he chuckled awkwardly.
"Lieutenant Commander Elissa Cousland, N7 Slayer," Elissa nodded. She went over to her locker and began pulling out her weapons and armor, ignoring Alistair's impressed 'ooh' as she did.
"I am 1st Lieutenant Jory Healy," said the round-faced N6. "I have not yet received my specialization classification, but I have excelled in my Soldier training. It is an honor to have been selected for this operation, don't you think?"
"2nd Lieutenant Daveth Wilson, your friendly neighborhood Engineer at your service," bowed the second N6 dramatically. He wasted no further time opening his own locker to prepare his equipment. "So," he said conspiratorially, "have any of you got any theories on what that heat recording was all about?"
"They could have warned us they were going to replace our gear…" Elissa muttered sadly as she laid out the grey and blue N7 armor that had replaced her trusty set she'd had since training. She ran a hand lightly over the griffon emblem on the chest piece, begrudgingly impressed with the quality of it all, before shaking her head quickly in an attempt to refocus. "Is there any chance that this was an equipment malfunction with the sensors?" she asked as she started securing the hard outer layer of her armor.
Daveth shook his head. "It's unlikely. I'd like to see the recording again to be sure, but I've never heard of any glitch that can cause that kind of reaction."
"Perhaps it was some form of local interference the colonists didn't know to protect the sensors from," Jory suggested. "It's possible some unknown type of… of… bacteria or whatnot grew over the sensors and caused a faulty reading."
"Bacteria?" Alistair raised an eyebrow as he secured the last of his weapons. "I suppose this bacteria then went on to eat the rest of the colony and trigger the security alert?"
"It was only a suggestion," Jory muttered with a scowl. "I've heard stories where local bacteria or pollen ruins entire colonies before; it wouldn't be the first time."
"I suppose we'll find out soon enough," Elissa intervened as her armor's VI came to life and activated her personal kinetic barriers. "In the end, our primary interest is search and rescue, if necessary. It's no use speculating without more information anyway."
"True enough," Alistair shrugged. He tapped something into his Omni-Tool and the warm glow of his energy-power layer of Tech Armor flared to life. After a moment, the golden patterns faded, but Elissa had no doubt they were still present to boost his shields. "Shall we proceed to the docking bay as ordered?"
"Aye, aye, fearless leaders," Daveth saluted playfully. His gear secured, he turned and left the armory in the direction of the docking bay. Jory followed suit a moment later after a much less humored salute of his own.
Elissa was set to follow them but paused when she felt Alistair's eyes on her. She turned and met his thoughtful expression with a very careful look of neutrality on her own features.
She took a deep breath. "I look forward to serving together," she said, holding out her hand for a professional handshake.
He took it without hesitation though he seemed to still be trying to remember some detail or another. "Right, here's to a long and healthy career of not getting shot, hopefully. Say, Cousland… Why do I feel as if I've heard that name before?"
"It's a big galaxy; anything is possible," she replied flatly and turned on her heel to march away. He hurried after her.
"Sorry, I didn't mean anything… I mean, whatever I did, I just… Augh, look, I have a real problem when it comes to knowing when to keep my mouth shut, so I give you full permission at any time to just say 'Alistair, shut up' and I'll take the hint, no hurt feelings involved," he blurt out in what sounded like a single breath. "I mean it, any time at all, just 'Alistair, shut up' and I'll shut up. Technically speaking you do outrank me anyway so it'd be fully within your rights to – "
"Alistair," Elissa interrupted him gently. They'd come to a stop outside of the door which lead to the docking bay. "It's alright, really."
"Good. Okay." He looked around awkwardly, anywhere but her, before clearing his throat and opening the door with a grand flourish. "Well, shall we?"
Elissa smiled and stepped into the docking bay.
A/N: Apologies for the exposition explosion but at least I got it out of the way. This takes place in between Mass Effect 1 and 2 and while a bit of AU-ishness is fairly inevitable I am going to try and make things work together as politely as possible. I don't really know anything about military rankings, I just kind of followed the Mass Effect codex as closely as I could get away with, let me know if I messed up. Are you looking forward to our non-human Dragon Age companions clumsily translated into Mass Effect aliens? I'm sure not but also am! Who doesn't want krogan!Oghren? If there's anything you'd like to see happen/have the characters discuss or whatever, drop it in the handy digital suggestion box and we'll see where this goes.