Oracle:Here is a story I had on my mind for a long time I hope you will like it. Most of the technology you will see is ever an extrapolation of how FF tech would evolve and this does not take place in any of the series' episode, it is its own universe with the basis of the Final Fantasy main series. Which mean summons,Crystals and magic and a bunch of references to the main reason it is in the FFXIII section is that the basis of this crossover is the Fabula Nova Crystallis continuity
So before we begin there is one last thing, whoever find the FF XIII reference in this chapter gets a cookie ;-)
Prologue:
Guided by the crystals' light
Space, the endless expanse of darkness dimly lit by the stars' light, reaching them has always been mankind's dream. A dream that is now a reality. Among the stars there are now ship with crews made of man, yes no longer just machines made to measure and analyze, but being of flesh and blood staring at the dark vastness that seem to be without end. A sight that feel their mind with both fear of the unknown but also excitation at the idea of new discoveries, this had always been mankind's paradox, without new experiences to be made our existences would be meaning less, and yet we fear the unknown, we fear what we don't understand and yet it attract us. Our curiosity is what always pressure to go ahead and go beyond what we already know and boldly explore the infinite expanse of unknown territory that make up our universe.
Among the ship that explore the space there is one ship that was going to be launched toward a new horizon. The ship's name was the Intrepid, a new Ragnarok Destroyer class spaceship. the graceful design of the ship made it look like some sort of intimidating red dragon soaring through the vacuum of space. The ship was flying toward the Arcturus station it's last stop before going toward the System Gloria, a system in which a mysterious machine was found.
In the docking area of the Arcturus station stood a woman with long red hair and bright green eyes, she had a flawless fair skin and wore a dark blue uniform that contrasted a lot with her skin woman could not take her eyes off the Intrepid, her own spaceship. She had been waiting for a very long time, and finally she had been promoted to Commander which mean she finally could be the commanding officer of her own ship.
She was taken out of her daydream when she heard someone's step next to her. She turned around and her eyes met that of an officer who wore the same uniform as her. The only difference between their uniforms were the ranks that they displayed. The other officer was an admiral, he wore a cap that matched his uniform in color, his skin was fair, his hair were mainly black but showed a few grayish strands.
"So happy of your new charge?" the admiral asked with a smile.
The woman returned the smile "Yes she is beautiful, thank you for giving me this chance...Admira Stevenl Hackett. This really suits you, you really deserved this promotion" the redhead said with a chuckle.
Hackett laughed "Thank you Hannah but really you are the lucky one. You get to escort the deep space exploration ship...I really miss the thrill of the adventure when I was a newly promoted captain on mission to escort an expedition" he said with nostalgia showing through his eyes. he had been through so much with his crew and now he was stuck as an admiral, no way to move as he would, hundreds of regulations and protocols stopped him from taking just any mission he wanted.
Hannah chuckled knowing all too well what the newly promoted Admiral talked about "Yes though I don't know why they chose me since I am nothing special" she said with a chuckle.
The admiral shook his head "You are special, you are the very first L'Cie we had in what? five centuries?" he said "So don't tell me it's nothing. the Fal'Cie resurfaced only a hundred years ago and helped us a lot...we owe them our entire lifestyle all of our technology so far is made of what we achieved with the knowledge imparted on us by the Fal'Cies. It is a rare event for them to take an L'Cie. And they took one the very moment we discovered the relay, you even had a vision and it is this vision that imparted on you the knowledge of this machine being stuck in the ice in what we believed to be a moon of the farthest planet"he added to prove his point "L'Cies are chosen because they have a great destiny ahead of them...I understand if you feel some stress since there is great expectations lying on your shoulders but don't worry you will succeed"
Hannah nodded, she had not slept the entire night after being branded as an L'Cie, she thought about her responsibilities and all that it could meant. She had been just a normal officer until Ifrit the guardian Fal'Cie of Arcturus called for her and finally gave her her brand and powers, she now had magic beyond what any other human could achieve and it did not stop there, no, she also healed faster and was more stronger, faster, and agile than your average way people looked at her also changed, she commanded a lot of respect and it made her sick. It felt almost hypocritical since most of those peoples ever hated her or always spoke behind her back before. At least there was a positive side after this she will be able to spend time with her daughter as she wanted too. And beside she now got a beautiful ship to command.
Hackett was about to say something but Hannah's magi-tool's blue display appeared around the newly promoted captain's arm displaying a message "Well looks like this discussion will be cut short" she said with a chuckle.
Hackett laughed "No problem, run, duty calls" he said with a smile as Hannah walked to her ship. Once on board she began to head for the bridge. on the way she was stopped by a man with short blond hairs and green eyes "Hello madam. I am the staff lieutenant Peter Jenkins your executive officer for this mission, it is an honor madam" he said saluting.
Hannah had to resist the urge of making a face seeing the admiration in her XO's eyes. Everybody saw her as one the heroes of the old legends, she could not even start to understand what this fascination was all about, she was a simple person and was not really interested in celebrity. As they walked toward the bridge Hannah could hear the peoples whispering behind her back.
"Did you see her, it's the captain! The L'cie, I heard that after the death of her husband she raised her daughter all alone and that she survived the Freedom Leaders attack on Arcturus and defended the Fal'Cie" one of the gossiping soldier whispered.
"Wow she must be one really strong woman, guess that the Fal'Cie choose to protect itself at the moment but I'm pretty sure he could not have made a better pick" the other whispered back.
Hannah shifted in discomfort, she did not like any of this one bit, she was a soldier like any of them not some sort of messiah.
when they arrived at the bridge she gave the order to depart. As the Intrepid left the dock it gracefully began to fly toward the edge of the Arcturus system "So ready for warp space, captain?" the pilot asked
Hannah nodded "Yes do, the sooner we get to the Gloria System the sooner we can begin the mission" she said.
The pilot nodded and started to type something on his console and intermediately the entire ship lit up with an energy that shot forward and created a massive portal in front of it. The warp engine was wonder created by the magitechnology derived from the Fal'Cies' knowledge. It allowed to create portal big enough to fit an entire ship and made most travel near instantaneous. tough it was limited in term of reach indeed the engine could not reach something farther than fifty light years and needed at least ten minutes before creating another portal.
The Ship approached the mysterious machine, it was a rather strange construction unlike anything the Mankind had seen so far. The gigantic machine was made of two parts: one that made up most of the device which was two long curved metal arms surrounding the second part which was a set of revolving, gyroscopic rings. Those rings surrounded a core made of element zero. a mysterious material able to produce dark energy when exposed to electrical tensions. The origin of the massive fifteen kilometer long device was unknown. in comparison their seven hundred and fifty five meter starship seemed really small.
"So it is supposed to be the same kind of technology as what was found in Mars' ruins?" mused Hannah
Someone stepped in the bridge "No it is not, our data says that while it use eezo the level of engineering and design does not correspond" Hannah turned around to be faced with a tall man with blue eyes and grayish hairs. The man had a designer stubble, the skin of his face was a bit wrinkled and he had large dark circles under his eyes. he wore a very formal attire made of a navy blue suit and pants, with a white shirt crimson tie.
Hannah recognized the man from the debriefing before she left the Arcturus "Oh you are the professor O'Donnell, right?" she asked.
The man nodded "Yes I am. And this" he said pointing at the machine on the screen "Was known ,by the ones who left the ruins on mars, as a mass relay. It is obviously not active, for now, but this thing is supposed to be able to send ships across the galaxy" O'Donnell explained.
The entire crew contemplated the words of the professor. A machine able to send ships across the galaxy was something to behold, but who built it if it was there before the ones who made the martian ruins. Suddenly the crew was pulled out of it's day dreaming by an alarm.
"What's happening?!" Hannah shouted as the alarm kept roaring over her voice.
"The relay activated all of a sudden!" The pilot shouted pointing at the screen where everyone could see that the ring had started spinning and the core of the mass relay now shined brightly.
Hannah clearly remembered her vision and thought about it. She remembered the relay activating and the Intrepid coming through, and also fight "Pilot, get us as close as possible to the relay, and be ready to fight" she ordered.
The pilot stared at her as if she had lost her mind and she only said "Trust me, the Fal'Cie's vision was vague but I know what to do..." she also mentally added "at least I think so"
The Fal'Cies had never betrayed them so the pilot no longer had any doubt and brought the ship as close as possible. Suddenly the core of the mas relay sparked connecting with the ship and suddenly flung the ship through the emptiness of space. When the ship stopped moving the pilot looked at the radar.
"Captain we are in a different system, three planets...the second planet show signs of being inhabited! there are four ships in orbits...they are in a battle!" the pilot said now really shocked.
Hannah nodded "Get us as close to the ships as possible, but stay out of their range of detection" she replied.
The pilot did as he was ordered bringing the ship as close as possible while keeping enough distance for the ship to not be detectable, by their standard at least.
Meanwhile the four ships were shooting at each other, sending disruptor torpedoes and mass accelerator shots at each other. but the if the first two of the starships were fairing rather well the other was not so lucky. The kinetic barriers of one would soon fall and the damages were getting worse and worse under the fire of the two opponents it was facing, the other had already lost its mass accelerator and would soon run out of torpedoes. These ships were turian cruisers that had been part of the small group supposed to protect the new colony of the Hierarchy in the Attican Traverse till the true patrol arrived. But alas the pirates took the small group ,made of two cruiser and a frigate, by surprise destroying the frigate and causing heavy damages to the cruisers. The situation was really bad and did not seem to be getting better.
The captain Velius Rekan in charge of the small patrol had never expected to be faced with this kind of situation. The ship around him rocked as it got shot, spark flew in every direction and a console blew up near him. They kept receiving message from the colony that was under attack by the ground troops deployed by the pirates. It was definitely the worst day of his life.
"If this keeps up we're going to get killed...we truly need a miracle" Velius thought grimly.
Then the pilot spoke up as if to grant him his wish "Captain! I got a third ship on the LADAR! It seem to be quiet away...the signature is of unknown origin. It is bigger than a cruiser but it's not a dreadnought" he said.
Velius was despaired so he decided to try something "Contact them! send a message! We need help!" he shouted, praying to the spirits that it was not another pirate ship.
The pilot of the Intrepid's console let out an audible beep sound "Captain I got a message coming from one of the damaged starships...but I can't make sense of it" he said.
"They are most likely asking for help, this seem to be the most logic conclusion..." The professor O'Donnell said uneasily.
The executive officer Jenkins seemed to be confused and looked at the battle displayed on the holographic screen with anxiety "What should we do captain?" he asked.
Hannah seemed to be pondering her options, her visions showed the Intrepid defending the losing ships and fights on the planet, but it did not go farther. For once in her life she doubted the Fal'Cie, there was too many unknowns in the equation for her tastes, but she did not had much choice right now "We will fight, prepare to attack the aggressors, charge the energy beam and fire as soon as we are close enough" she said pointing to the pirate ships on the screen.
The pilot nodded and the ship moved toward the pirates' position. As soon as the pirates saw that the Intrepid was quickly advancing toward them one of the ship reoriented itself so it could aim his weapons at the Intrepid.
"Captain, it seems that not only they saw us but they are about to shoot again at the most damaged ship!" one of the operators informed Hannah as pilot began to furiously type something on his console "Not if I have a say in it!" he said
The crew of the Turian ship had seen its morale raise when the Intrepid moved forward, but it was cut short when they noticed the pirates were about to shoot one last mass accelerated slug that would destroy them.
"Quick! move out of the way!" Velius barked at the pilot.
"Impossible! we sustained too much damages! we won't be able to get out of the way in time" the turian pilot shouted back as the pirate ship fired its mass accelerator.
Velius closed his eyes,his mandibles clamped tightly against his face, his head lowered in defeat when he saw the deadly accelerated slug blazing across the a vacuum of space toward its target that no way to escape it. Velius waited for the burning agonizing pain of the explosion and the scream of mixed agony and fear, but it did not come. He opened his eyes to see what looked like a massive blue shimmering and swirling vortex of blue energy in front of the ship "By the spirits! what is this?!" he thought as his mouth was there open.
He looked at the other crew members and their were as flabbergasted as he was, the silence stayed for a few seconds only to be broken by the pilot "The enemy ship was hit...by it's own shot" she said in disbelief, her mouth stayed open not knowing what to say.
"What happened? how could they hit themselves?" Velius questioned as he stared at the swirling vortex of energy that disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.
The pilot shook her head "I have no idea, but I think it is that strange ship's doing" she said pointing at the intrepid that had just dodged a shot from the second pirate ship and retaliated with a blue beam of energy that burned through the pirate ship' hull destroying it in a single go as it had already been weakened by its fight. The other ship fled into using FTL as it was obviously not able to fight the ship that had somehow opened vortexes that sent its projectile right back at him.
Hannah smiled at their victory "Well that was a rather unconventional use of a portal generator, but still quite effective. So what's your name soldier?" she said with a chuckle.
The pilot laughed "Samuel, Samuel Moreau! Always ready to save an alien's ass even if it's green and slimy, and risk my skin for the Fal'Cie's chosen one's quest of course" he joked making the entire deck laugh. he said turning his chair around to face the captain. he was an average heighted man with blue gray eyes and short brown hairs.
Hannah shook her head with a smile across her feature "Well guess we should talk with our new friends...but how?" she said.
The professor made a coughing sound to attract the attention "I may have an idea" he said.
Hannah looked at him with curiosity "What is your idea?" she asked.
The professor took a deep breath "Their technology seem to be similar to that of the Protheans, those who have built the ruins. maybe they can understand their written language, so if you allow me I could send a message in prothean" he said.
Hannah nodded seeing no other options and the professor O'Donnell began to type the message on his magi-tool
The pilot looked at the message the professor had sent in confusion "We received a written message...the translator identified the language, it's prothean" she said with a lot of confusion.
Captain Velius was even more confused "What does it says?" he asked, If this ship was prothean it could explain a lot of thing since the prothean technology was the most advanced in the entire galaxy. If they survived, it would only make sens that their technology had evolved.
"Send them a message in the same language. Describe the entire situation" he ordered, the pilot nodded and furiously tipped on her keyboard.
She received a response not long after "I received a message it seems they will send troops planet side to take down the remnants of the pirates...and they asked for the translation software we use...they use another language, they are not protheans they another race altogether!" she said now really confused.
Velius was really shocked by the news and took a moment to think about it "Send them the software and send a message to our troops on the planet, they need to know they will receive reinforcements" he ordered her.
Meanwhile Hannah was already putting on her armor and getting ready to go to the planet with a group of twenty alliance marines "You are really sure you want to come? After you are getting in danger and you got a daughter waiting for you back home" her executive officer asked. Hannah nodded "Yes, beside it is the occasion to test the power given by the Fal'Cie and see if the legends are true...beside even if they aren't...moms are tough" she said with a confident smirk.
The man chuckled "If you say so" he replied with an amused chuckle, as his magi-tool beeped "Oh a message from the professor, he said the translation software should be ready soon" he added.
"Good hope it will be ready by the time we meet our new friends" Hannah said with a chuckle "Do you imagine the what it would be like if we shoot each other because we can't understand what we say to one another!" she said with an audible laugh.
The other seemed nervous and only chuckled slightly in a forced way making Hannah stop and blush in embarrassment "Sorry it wasn't funny" she said making everybody laugh this time.
The shuttle flew toward the planet in complete silence. It landed not too far from the that was still under attack from the pirates who were totally unaware that their ship had left without them.
The shuttle landed not far from the colony just behind the pirates' positions but far enough to not be colony was in a terrible state, the small city had already sustained heavy damage, buildings were falling apart there were corpses in the
"So what's the plan Captain?"Jenkins asked.
Hannah chuckled "The plan? we burn them to ashes! don't let any of them escape!" she shout as her right hand lit up with fire "FIRAGA!" a basketball sized fire ball flew from her hand, like a burning meteor sailing across the sky.
It landed right into a large group of pirates that was trying to break through the turian colonists' lines of defense. This resulted into a massive burning explosion, the resulting column of flame left both the turians and batarians speechless they had never seen anything like that, no grenade or bomb the size of the fireball they had seen had such a spectacular impact. when the dust and smoke settled they saw the ground that had been burned by the explosion and the charred remains of the pirates who were carbonized in their armors.
The marines nodded charging up their own spell, less powerful but not less deadly for the unfortunate target that would get hit. thunder,fire,ice,wind, even pure purple energy it was a show of light and explosion that left the turians confused and the batarians terrified. the pirates scattered in the colony running for their life as the marines were already after the scattered pirates to finish the work.
Hannah on other hand felt a sudden headache as her brand glowed brightly through her armor. a red flame like mark on her hand, and suddenly she could hear something, a voice it sounded juvenile "Help me!" she ran into a nearby building no longer controlling her body
the smell burnt flesh that rose in the air was sickening for Hannah. But she swallowed her bile when she looked around to find what she was looking for, inside the building was a batarian dragging what a appeared to be a child from another species. she suddenly felt another headache as vision flashed through her mind, a female of the same species as the child getting shot to death by the being that drag the child "his mother?" she another vision the child that come out of the cupboard he was hiding upon seeing the female getting shot, the dying female holding her child one last time. her breath get slower and more difficult as she whisper some last words to the crying infant. her eyes began to close, the last thing she saw was her child getting ripped out of her embrace by the slaver.
The vision was made of short moments, each moment was like a violent flash, tidal waves of raw emotions: sadness,pain,despair. Why was the Fal'Cie sending those visions to her. She did not know, but she felt anger burning inside of her and she felt it turning into burning hatred.
"He has to pay..." she said in a low menacing hiss. Her hand clenched hard, and fire coated it "Haste" she said in a low angry whisper, a magenta aura enveloped her and flashed brightly as she disappeared in a burst of speed. Her punch collided with the slaver's jaw with a sickening cracking noise, making the batarian release the child's hand and let go of his weapon.
The slaver was scared out of his mind holding his broken jaw and singed face. he looked at the soldier, she looked like an asari, but her eyes looked like two blazing flame, he tried crawl away from the demon in front of him. but he suddenly felt something on his leg.
Hannah had stepped on the leg of the downed pirate, she looked at the child, he had been shot in the leg, her hatred rose again as she took her gun and pointed it at the slaver's head.
the terrorized slaver rose his hand trying to ask for mercy if Hannah's guess was right "Mercy...you dare to ask for mercy!" she shouted angrily as she crushed the batarian's ankle with her foot "Did you had any mercy for this kid and his mother? no you had none, so don't expect any from me" she said darkly in a voice that was as cold as ice. she shot the batarian.
Hannah sighed in relief as she felt her rush of hatred going away. the kid on other hand was terrified, asking himself who was this creature...was she there to save him...or was she just another slaver like the one who killed his mother. the strange creature took of her helmet.
the being walked to him, she looked like a really pale asari but has some strange red fur on top of her head instead of tentacle like the blue asexual seemingly all female species. he brought her hand to his wounded leg and said something that sounded like "Cura" a blueish white glow extended from her hand and coated his wound that sealed, the flesh mended itself incredibly fast and the feeling of warmth produced by the strange aura was almost smiled at him,she took in the child's features. rust colored plates forest green marking etched on his face and two beautiful amber colored eyes.
what looked like a blue omnitool suddenly appeared around Hannah's hand and an audible beep sound was heard Hannah checked her magi-tool and noticed that her translation software had been upgraded with the Turians' language.
She smiled again at the turian boy "Don't worry, I am not here to hurt you" she told him "It is not safe for you around here. You should follow me" she extended her hand to him and he took her hand.
"My name is Hannah, what's yours?" the captain she asked.
The turian boy splayed his mandibles, seemingly smiling back at least that's what she understood from the boy's facial expression "my name is Latis...Latis Falmius" he said as they went out of the building
End of the Prologue
-Codex-
-magic: a special power that sentient beings may develop while exposed to the radiations of the crystals that power most of the humans technology. it can alter matter, space and time.
-Fal'Cie:the name given to the strange sentient crystals that seem to guide and protect humanity. They have been created by a being called Mwynn and it is pretty much the only thing humans know about them.
-L'Cie:name given to a human chosen by a Fal'Cie for a specific purpose they can use very advanced magic to fulfill their purpose called focus which is alway described by obscure visions upon the branding by the Fal'Cie that place its mark on his chosen one.
-Freedom Figthers: terrorist organization created by paranoid humans who thought that Fal'Cies tried to manipulate Humanity and make humans their slaves. They tried to destroy Ifrit the Fal'Cie of station Arcturus.
OracleSight: hoped you liked it ;)don't forget to post a review so I know what you think of this fic and what you would liked in this chapter.
