First off, i want to give thanks to PathKeeper, who inspired me to write my own Gundam Seed/Mass Effect crossover, and who gave me the idea to have the first contact war as a backdrop to start off with before going into the games. So credit goes to PathKeeper as well. THANK YOU!
Disclaimer: i do not own mass effect or gundam seed, their respective characters, or anything else besides OC's, OT(original technology) and OMS' (original mobile suits) Mass Effect and their respective characters, locations and universe belong to BioWare and is licensed by EA Games. Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny and their respective characters, locations and universe belong to sunrise, Inc. and is licensed by Namco/Bandai entertainment, and Madman entertainment.
If i missed anyone, please let me know!
NOTE: when a page break has (0), it means a time lapse. When it has (v), it means instantaneous switch-over from point-to-point.(Something else from PathKeeper- REALLY hope you don't mind. send me the message, i'll change it immediately.)
PHASE 0: Prologue/ Dawn of tomorrow
Codex entry: the Aegohr expedition fleet.
In 2146 CE (citadel council galactic standard time), as citadel space grew, it's subsequent infrastructure expanded, citing the need to began charting new systems within the still-virgin attican traverse and skyllian verge. However, fearing the discovery of a new hostile race, as was with the insectoid rachni, or the overly vicious yhag, such endeavors are usually wishful thinking, or never get off the planing stage.
However, after the batarian government contracted the salarian union to aid in legally expanding their territory in the verge , the scout probes dispatched through a as of yet unexplored mass relay within the Kite's nest, home system of the batarians, discovered a new cluster with several very promising worlds for colonization, and the batarians immediately began building up the capitol to fund a colonization effort.
However, not willing to risk encountering another hostile species like the rachni, the citadel council voted to have their own exploration team sent out to chart the new cluster first, much to the chagrin of the batarians, who feared that the council would use the opportunity to steal the new cluster and it's seemingly idyllic virgin colony worlds, right out from under them.
In a compromise, several batarian researchers would accompany the salarian scientists and asari scholars on the expedition, along with a turian escort fleet, in case of the possibility of hostile contact. The fleet departed from the salarian home system, the Annos basin, and entered the relay mid-2148 on it's six-month journey to explore the new cluster.
PROLOGUE – 1
Aerlan was bored.
Nothing else could better describe the gnawing, burning desire he felt to do nothing else other then bang his head against the wall until his flange split and his skull collapsed. It certainly would be more interesting then his current assignment.
'What was that again?' he thought to himself sarcastically. 'oh! That's right. LOOKING AT SPACE DUST TILL I LOSE MY MIND!'
He looked at the reflection of himself – a typical turian, long, three fingered arms. two- toed, double- jointed avian legs. metallic carapace. head crests stretching out from under the brow plate of his leathery, distinctly avian face, painted in orange markings that arced across his flanged crests and down the mandibles on either side of his fanged jaw – in the transparent window that looked out on the star that had recently been charted out by the turian patrols, helping a "next-gen" salarian exploration vessel chart out new territory outside their space as a "favor" for the batarians.
After YEARS of negotiations, politics, salarian swindling and back-room deals, they usually had ended in failure. This should have been the same, but certain...circumstances had changed that this time around.
After all, the council never did ANYTHING without an ulterior motive.
This time, the cluster they had found sat on an inactive primary relay that according to their calculations, would, when active, connect to the Annos basin, home-system of the salarians, and provide a direct link between it and the batarian home-system, the Kite's nest.
Which would allow the batarians free access to the salarian homeworld for a surprise attack, and vice-versa for the batarians.
And both species were naturally suspicious.
And both thought waiting for someone to cast the first stone was a foolish mistake.
And both preferred to be the ones to strike first.
A political nightmare of a time-bomb waiting to happen.
They could not afford to risk waiting until "rouge elements" of either government powered it up and started another galaxy-wide war.
Which was why they had finally gotten the permission to launch a new exploratory ship to chart the realy, provided that it be under constant watch. They did NOT want ANOTHER rachni wars.
Also as part of the agreement, the turians, as members of the citadel council and close allies of the salarians, were to have no less then four cruisers escort the team should any species they encounter be hostile – a precaution that been in effect ever since that disaster with the yhag just over twenty-three years ago – not to mention watch if the batarians tried anything.
And he had been ever so lucky, that he had been conscripted to be part of it.
'Yeah, lucky me', he thought.' sitting on a hand grenade just waiting to go off, and nothing to do except eat, sleep, get ordered around by some batarians who think there in charge, and watch a bunch of salarians, and some asari piss themselves every time they find a space-dust cloud, He paused. 'Oh, my mistake, Positively charged ion storm- class nebula', he thought irritably, remembering what that stuck-up salarian Calos had said when he'd commented on one.
There was a chime on the comm.
"Staff sergeant Aerlan Tavis, Report to the CIC immediately."
He tapped the comm pad on his terminal and replied "Right away Lieutenant Abrudas," he said, turning and heading through the door and toward the lift.
He got on, along with another turian, Jennis.
She was cute. A real looker – by turian standards.
But he'd never have a chance. He was in navigation, she was in engineering, several decks apart, and she loved missions like this, while he preferred active missions on the border territory, near the terminus.
Not to mention that her aunt was Lieutenant Abrudas, and her, he did NOT like.
The lift stopped at the CIC with a 'ping', the doors opening, as Aerlan stepped onto the Combat Information Center.
The commander, Augustus Victus – an up and coming star in the hierarchy, true to his family name -, stood on the rail overlooking the galaxy map. To his relative left, Abrudas stood at her station as second-in-command, though she turned around to address the two.
Jennis was first to speak, talking to her aunt in customary military fashion. "You wanted to see me, Lieutenant?"
"Yes," she said "there is a gunnery coordination & control station that was shorted out in the ion storm, when we discharged back at Halegeuse, before we left the salarian home-system. It's been out of sync ever since, and the fried conductors are causing feedback in nearby systems." she pointed further down the room, towards the cockpit/flight control. "I'd like it looked at before we cross into the relay. Spirits knows what we'll find on the other side and I don't want to take chances."
"Yes, ma'am," Jennis said, giving her aunt a salute and smile, before heading off toward the terminal in question.
Abrudas then turned to face Aerlan. "And you," she said curtly,"get on your station. We'll be heading through the relay in one standard hour, and I need everyone at their post."
Aerlan gave a weary salute, and headed off to his station. Abrudas had never liked him much. Even more so, when she thought he was giving wandering glances at her niece – witch he was, but that was just art appreciation, witch of course, she did not take kindly to.
Him telling her that it was no different then how most races think of asari – nice to look at, but not interested in anything permanent – witch had led to another argument about why he thought her niece "Wasn't good enough for him". He'd had to explain THAT, and everything just spiraled downhill from there.
Since then, Abrudas did not have any liking for Aerlan.
And he felt the same.
He drearily plopped into his seat, and started prep for the jump.
'Another dull day staring at blank readouts, barren, uncharted worlds and empty space', he thought.
'Still, who knows? Maybe we'll find something, at least SOMEWHAT, exciting out here'
PAGE BREAK(o)
"Attention all hands," Commander Victus' voice announced over the intercom. "We will be entering the relay in five standard minutes. All hands, prepare for full alert. Repeat, all hands, prepare for full alert."
The four cruisers formed up around the salarian expedition ship, centering around it in a four-point diamond formation, prepping for possible enemy contact, as the small flotilla began it's final approach towards the now activated mass relay. The giant, ancient tuning fork-like structure, soon to be looming over them, twin mass 'wheels' spinning in the frame gyroscopically, as they generated the mass effect field, that would soon propel them to the ,as of yet, unexplored regions of the galaxy. Augustus Victus looked at the display.
Contact in 00:04:00 Standard minutes
He turned to the left."Abrudas! Status report."
"All hands at ready positions for full alert. All systems are go, sir."
He nodded. "And the other ships?" he asked.
"Ready and able, sir," she replied crisply."We're just waiting on the signal from the Aegohr."
'All right,' he thought."Excellent." He looked across the CIC, seeing the elation in some in being part of history in the making, others quaking in fear at what they might find- another horror like the rachni, or some monster race straight out of nightmare legend, like the fabled "collectors".
And others just sat in their chairs in blissful ignorance, completely unaware that these might be their last moments alive.
He took another look at the display.
Contact in 00:03:00 Standard minutes
The console beeped an acknowledgment as, after several tense minutes, the anticipated – and dreaded - signal, finally reached the ship computer.
"Sir, we have the confirmation signal from the Aegohr," Abrudas announced."They are ready and waiting to proceed."
Victus took a deep breath and exhaled quietly, as he took one last look at the CIC, and at the faces of those whose lives they placed willingly in his hands. Those who trusted him with unwavering loyalty.
He would make sure it was not misplaced.
He glanced at the display reading.
Contact in 00:02:00 standard minutes
He gave the order."Take us in lieutenant."
She saluted him briefly "Yes, sir," she said, turning around toward the rest of the CIC.
"All hands, ahead!" she called out. "Prepare for jump!"
"YES MA'AM!" came the response from all stations on the CIC, as they sprang to life. Everyone now bustled about their stations, calling out readouts, coordinating communications, optimizing weapons systems, computing trajectories and synchronizing kinetic barriers, preparing for any eventuality.
"Staff sergeant Tavis! Are we prepped?." Abrudas called out.
Aerlan Tavis called back, "Approach vector is set. All systems are go, repeat, all systems are go."
Victus tapped on the galaxy map interface, zooming the map in on the system they were in now, then calling up the target system – estimated via scout probes to be a vibrant yellow star, somewhere in a small cluster close to the edge of batarian space.
Victus looked at the display, now located in the upper- right corner of the map screen.
Contact in 00:01:00 standard minutes
From then on, the timer counted down in seconds.
The ships, now displayed on the map grid, as four triangle-icons centered around a rectangular- icon, now nearing the "jump-zone" of the still-unexplored mass relay. The comm crackled to life, as one by one, the other ships gave confirmation of status.
After several seconds, as Victis tensely watched the clock, Abrudas finished checking on confirmation."All ships are holding steady, sir." she reported, as the last ship called in.
Contact in 00:00:30 standard seconds
"Proceed forward," he said. "Take us through."
Abrudas continued to call out orders, to the rest of the CIC, as Victus counted the seconds.
"Now beginning final approach," Aerlan called from navigation. "Affirmative," called out Orinos, the ship's pilot. "Taking us in."
Contact in 00:00:10 standard seconds
9...8...
"Confirmed, we are in the mass relays envelope."
7...6...
"Hitting the relay in 5...4..."
Victus could feel the motion dampers kick in, as the ship began to accelerate.
"3...2...1!"
The ship jolted, as it was suddenly propelled at faster–then–light speeds, across several dozen stars, and several light-years in seconds.
The entire crew (Except the blissfully stupid) waited on baited breath, on what could or could not be their death, as the ship neared the target system.
Orinos called out over the comm, as the seconds ticked down."We are entering the system in 3...2...1!"
Once again the ship jolted, as the motion dampers struggled to compensate for the sudden decrease in speed, as the ship arrived in system.
For several seconds the CIC was quiet, the only sounds being the beeping from the assorted consoles and terminals.
Finally Victus broke the silence."Status report." he called out.
Orinos called out first. "Thrusters, check. Navigation?" he called out to Aerlan.
"Check," he said "we're right on target, sir, drift is..." He checked his screen."... Just above 1,800 k." he said approvingly.
'1,800?' Victus thought to himself, re. "Excellent job, Flight lieutenant."
"Thank you, sir!" Orinos said, a hint of pride in his voice. It was hard to get below 2'200 k on mapped relays. To do so on an uncharted relay was an amazing achievement.
"Anything on scans?" Victis asked.
"Five planets," Aerlan said, "No hostiles. Checking the sensors," he said. "Hummn... looks like we we have an agrarian world, second planet out." He sent the data from his console to the galaxy map.
"Any life signs?"Abrudas asked, slight worry in her voice.
"The Aegohr's checking now" he said. After several seconds the salarian ship sent word back.
"According to the scientists, there's a fully-developed ecosystem, but no intelligent native life. Just flora and fauna" he reported.
Victus sighed in relief. "All right, good job everyone. Get some rest, let the next shift get some time in."he said to the CIC crew. "Our job now is to protect the scientists and the Aegohr, as they scan the system. They'll probably start with the agrarian world. They'll do all the research.- our job is guard duty." He gave one last look around. "Dismissed."
"Yes, sir!" came the collective response from the crew, as they one-by-one, left their stations for the next shift to take over.
He then issued orders to have six soldiers head down to the agrarian world, to keep them safe. The science team on the Aegohr had said their scans had found nothing more dangerous then an average ecosystem, but he figured it better to be safe then sorry.
If all went well, the worst of it would be when the batarians started moaning about the scientists "disrupting a possible colony site with constant tests", or that some salarian experiment had " possibly ruined the new eco-system"
'Well,' he thought, 'nothing left to do except wait for the salarians to take their samples and call it quits.'
He then left to head to his quarters to freshen up, thankful that they had successfully entered a new system, without having to get into a slugging match with some hostile race.
They would have enough of a fight keeping the batarians under control.
PAGE BREAK(0)
It had been eight hours since zero hour of their arrival in the new system. Thus far, the most that could be said was that the salarians and the asari scholars were having a field day on the study of the local flora and fauna.
And the batarians were busy taking holos of the landscape to plan colony development.
Taro, one of the turian soldiers on the planet, running guard duty over the teams as they cataloged everything and anything of interest. Taro himself was watching as several of the salarains were busy loading one of the native creatures – a strange, tentacled creature that actually was floating off the ground, thanks to a strange, fleshy, bubble-like sack/bag of... some sort of carbon/methane mix. He wasn't sure.
Probably better if he didn't know.
It sure was ugly as hell, though.
One of the salarians started droning on about "fascinating eco-system, unique life forms, and extremelymalleable bio-diversity".
He wasn't really that interested, but the frog didn't take the hint and proceeded to keep talking at a light-year a minute.
Eventuality he got called back to his station by a very angry sounding batarian – though they always sounded like that – griping at him to analyze one of the new rock samples taken from one of the southern sites.
Something about "similar geometric patterns form other sites" he'd seen before.
But right now, all Taro really cared about was the beautiful (to him) asari standing about ten feet away at the research console.
His girlfriend.
Everyone always told him not to go for asari because of the whole life-span thing. A single asari could live for a thousand years. Nearly as long as a krogan.
But Taro suspected it was simply because she was an asari.
Asari were known for being attractive to just about anyone, no matter what species you were. Even salarians! And they didn't even think about stuff like that normally, raising all kinds of rumors about asari being promiscuous, though he doubted that was the case. No one really knew why so many races found them attractive, since they did not even look the same compared to most other races. Most scientists thought their cross-species attractiveness might be neurochemical-based, secreted and transmitted by the asari in the same way and manner as a typical being would pheromones – through airborne and skin contact.
They shared the same body type as batarians – except the asari were all female, though technically mono-gendered- two arms, each hand having four fingers and a thumb, and two legs, each with five toes. Both sets of limbs were single jointed. They had well rounded hips and chests, typically. smooth skinned, coloured in shades of blue or purple. Two eyes, a nose with two nostrils, a mouth with two rows of straight teeth, one on top, one on the bottom. They did have head crests like turians, however theirs swept up slightly at the ends. And some also wore facial markings like the turians, although usually done in a splatter style.
But it was the thought that counted.
The asari, Corina, was currently cross-referencing the local fauna, with that of batarian standards, to ensure that if the council granted them permission to colonize the planet, they could do so easily.
If the readings were any indication, it would be smooth sailing, should they receive the rights.
She went to one of the small tanks to examine one of the local fish they had caught, and started to lift it, but nearly dropped over, thanks to the slick surface coated in water.
"Taro, could you help me with these?" she asked. He nodded and came over, helping her lift the remaining three tanks onto the makeshift table, and connect the scanning equipment.
Corina straightened up, then started the bio-analysis program.
About ten seconds later, she realized Taro was still there, and staring at her.
She smiled, knowing full well why he was still there. She turned and gave him a soft kiss, witch he returned.
"Guess you know me better then I thought," he said. She shook her head and sighed.
"You know we could get in trouble for this,"she said, glancing around nervously, "the science teams- especially the batarians - might not like it if they knew my boyfriend was one of the guards."
"What, worried?" he asked. "I can protect you," he soothed.
"And what about you?" she asked, half-joking, half-concerned. "Won't some of your shipmates not like it, knowing you were dating an asari?"
"Who cares what they think about it. The only opinions that matter are mine and yours." he said defiantly.
"I know that, I just-" she brought a hand against his right mandible. "I just don't want you to get in trouble because of me, of us."
"Oh, so it IS "us"?" he said happily.
She smiled, rolling her eyes at his 'one track mind', as her hand went to the console and set the analysis program to 'auto'.
"Lets go somewhere and I'll show you proof," she said softly," this is a new world. A beautiful one at that too. Might not get a chance to see it like this again. And no one around to disturb us."
She turned and walked through the nearby foliage, moving suggestively, and beckoning him to follow.
Taro did so, all the while thinking to himself how he must be the luckiest turian alive.
PAGE BREAK(0)
Aerlan continued to monitor the local activity in the system, scanning at regular intervals, just in case of the event in which an unknown enemy suddenly entered the system.
So far, nothing more interesting then a random comet coming across the scans from a thousand light-years away.
In-depth scans from the probes, dispatched throughout the system, had revealed three more mass relays. One of which, based on the orientation recorded by the probe, would connect with the Annos basin, home-system of the salarians. Initially, it was assumed that the Annos basin could be connected by secondary relay jumps. But according to the data and telemetry from the probe, the relay was a dormant primary.
Meaning the scientists were right. The relays in the cluster would connect the salarian and batarian home-systems to each other.
That meant the council would have to maintain a constant vigil over the cluster, in order to guard the relays that would most likely be part of a new trade route. As well as stop any conflicts between the batarian hegemony and salarian union, before it turned into open war.
All in all, it looked like things would go just fine.
If the salarians and batarians didn't kill each other first.
Aerlan finished the scan of the systems' only gas giant. Despite the valuable helium-3 that would be mined, if colonization was approved, the planets deep gravity well, and high levels of lethal radiation made it unpromising.
However, knowing the batarians, they would probably build stations anyway. They didn't care about cost, only results.
Even more so, since the majority of the construction would most likely be done by slaves.
His next job was, now that all other planets in the system were scanned, to help coordinate the mapping of the agrarian world the teams were on.
He could hear the chatter form the nearby stations. Their new shift now manning the systems. Technically, his own shift was over, but he'd volunteered to take a double shift.
After all, he wasn't doing anything else, and it beat watching nothing but the infinite void of space from his window till he went insane.
From his station, he could hear talons tapping along the metal floor, no doubt Abrudas, coming down to check on the crew pits, that lined the path to the flight control.
And, of course, he heard her stop behind him.
"Anything to report, Staff sergeant?" she asked, in the usual curt manner she had when talking to him.
"Not yet, lieutenant,"Aerlan said, turning from his station to face her."And there probably never will be," a hint of annoyance creeping into his flanged voice.
"One thing I've learned, is to never say never, staff sergeant," she replied.
"What is it everyone thinks we're going to find out here?" he asked irritably, "do they think collectors are going to jump us all of a sudden?"
One of the others in a nearby station gave him a half-amused look. "Don't tell me you actually believe in collectors?"
"Why?, Do you?"Aerlan asked angrily.
"Of course not!" he said, half-laughing, "their just a myth!"
At this, Abrudas took another step forward and knelt down to the crew stations.
"I've seen too many things in my lifetime, to discount anything that could be a threat, real on not," Abrudas said. "That being said, only just over 1% of our galaxy has been actually charted, even less explored. It's anyone's guess what's out there," she turned back to Aerlan, "which is why we should be keeping a constant alert. Just in case we do run into a myth proven true."
He fought the urge to complain, and failed.
"Do you really believe that there's anything like that out here?" he asked exasperatedly.
"Maybe, maybe not," she said, in her usual curt manner, though now a tone more dangerous, "but I'd rather not wait till their drilling holes in our hull to find out" She leaned in slightly towards him.
"You would let them get close enough to attack us?" he said, tired of being talked down to.
"You think you'd do better against an unknown? To stop an unidentified enemy, with no tactical knowledge of their defensive, or offensive capabilities, without taking any enemy fire?" she said, anger starting to seep into her voice, "it can't be done!"
"Well maybe if you paid attention, you could pick up their tactics before they got up close, like a good commander - if you were a commander!"
The entire CIC went as quiet as death. Several others turning their heads at the site of the conflict, mandibles flailing open in fear, shock and horror.
Even to a passing bystander, you could tell she looked ready to explode. She was about to respond, when she saw something on Aerlan's console.
Something that made her whole body tense up and her eyes widen in horror.
"And if you actually paid attention," she said, finally turning her gaze back at Aerlan, eyes shining with concern, "you would notice the anomaly right on your screen!" she hissed through clenched mandibles and thinly veiled anger, mixed with worry.
The tension in the CIC suddenly tripled at the statement. Everyone's faces were suddenly plastered with looks of pure horror.
Aerlan stopped dead at that, any rebuke dying in his throat at the blatant announcement. He quickly spinned around to check the console, hoping that for the first time ever, Abrudas was joking.
She wasn't.
Right there, on the southeast quadrant, grid 6, was an anomaly, an unidentified signal transmitting on a frequency not used by any known race.
Less then a mile west of the science teams camp.
And he'd never even seen it.
He could not believe it. He'd double-checked everything-EVERYTHING- that signal had not been there before. He was SURE of it.
'Unless...' he realized, horror dawning on him 'it was on a proximity detector, set to go off when something or someone got too close'.
Then everything went to hell.
He was so buried in his thoughts, he didn't even notice that the CIC had erupted into total chaos.
"RED ALERT!" Abrudas started shouting towards the CIC control center "All hands to battle stations! Get weapons primed in case someone answers that signal! Get teams on shuttles send them ground side to defend the teams, in case there are hostiles planet-side!" she turned and marched back to central "And SOMEBODY alert commander Victus, NOW!"
Aerlan was still slumped at his console, disbelieving of how he's screwed up. You were always supposed to perform low-grade soft scan one grid at a time, tedious as it was, but he'd skipped it, thinking that since the wide-scan didn't catch anything, it meant nobody was here, seeing as he figured nobody would just leave a perfectly suited colony world vacant.
'Unless they were planning a trap' he thought bitterly to himself, as the CIC continued to fall into utter disarray.
'Okay, just calm yourself.' he thought.'You won't help anybody if you panic' He tasked the console to run a continuous auto-scan for any unknowns trying to enter the system, then began a cross-referencing on the signal to try to determine the nature of the signal and its transmission destination.
And prayed that his mistake wouldn't be the death of them.
PAGE BREAK(v)
Augustus Victus had been out of the shower for less then fifteen minutes, when then red alert, every commanders worst nightmare when on a mission of exploration, suddenly blared throughout the X.O's quarters, stunning Victus half out his wits.
'I knew it was too good to be true'
Quickly getting over the shock of the sudden alert, thanks to a lifetime of military training and experience, he quickly changed into his uniform, just finishing fastening the clasps on his uniform when his comm went off.
"Commander Victus, we are-"
"I'm well aware, crewman, I'm not deaf!" he said, anger leaking into his voice, despite his best efforts to contain it."I can hear the alert! I just want a status report. What the hell happened?"
"Unknown signal detected from the second planet, southeast quadrant, right on top of the science teams, sir," the crewman reported nervously.
"Damn it!" He cursed "how the hell did no one find it?"
"Uhh...you'll have to ask staff sergeant Tavis about that, I don't really know details, sir" The crewman said, tone anxious. 'In other words, he screwed up, and the crewman's trying to cover him' Victus thought angrily.
"All I know," the crewman continued "is that we have an unknown signal, less then a mile from where the scientists made camp".
Victus cursed violently, enough to make the crewman on the other side of the comm jerk, even though he could not see it.
"Any contact with them?"
"none yet. They didn't get their comm equipment up yet, but we've got a team loaded onto a shuttle to secure the area, and e vac them in case of hostiles, sir. They should there in a few-"
"Get them get down there now. I'll be on the CIC shortly." he said, turning off the comm even as he left his quarters and fast walked to the elevator, and pressed the button as far down as it could go.
PAGE BREAK(v)
Victus walked onto the CIC, immediately heading down past the galaxy map to the site of the perceived lapse in judgment and protocol, that may or may not have just killed them all. Staff sergeant Tavis' station on navigation. As he did so, lieutenant Abrudas left the galaxy map and joined him in his march.
"Report?" he said, working to keep tension out of his voice.
"Like crewman Gavor said, an unidentified signal, still no information other then that, sir."
"Yes, the crewman also said to talk with Tavis about why whatever's transmitting wasn't detected until after it went active."
Abrudas growled at the question "The staff sergeant didn't follow procedure. He thought that since this was a habitable planet, no one would leave it un-colonized, so if a wide-scan didn't find anything, we were in the clear. Idiot!"
The person in question was currently analyzing the signal frequency, determining it's purpose, when Victus and Abrudas finished making their way to his station.
"Staff sergeant." Aerlan heard behind him, knowing full well who was behind him.
And full well what would happen to him, based on how merciful said person was.
"Crewman Gavor told me to ask you about how the source of our red alert, the unknown signal and it's transceiver, bypassed our initial scans" he said, his voice cold, impossible to read.
Though Aerlan didn't really need to read his voice to know, did he?
"So then. If you would please tell me" He went on "just how DID we not find it until after it started transmitting?"
For several seconds, Aerlan said nothing. He just looked at the console, eyes downcast.
Finally, right as Victus was about to ask again, Aerlan responded.
"it was my fault, sir" he said, almost to soft to hear.
He turned to face his superiors. "i made the decision to forgo the soft scan of the individual grids myself. I thought nobody would just leave a perfect colony world if they had access to it, or that they would sacrifice it just for a trap, sir" he explained solemnly. "forgive me, sir"
Victus just stood there for several seconds, just silently staring down at Aerlan, no emotion crossing his face as he silently contemplated what he'd heard.
"If it makes a difference, I've finished an analysis of the signal and'-
"Staff sergeant" Victus cut him off, causing Aerlan's heart to sink.
"You've ignored procedure, blatantly putting every life in this expedition at risk," he said coldly "just because you were cocky and arrogant. Anyone else would have you put in the brig, to be court-martialed."
Aerlan bowed his head down, eyes never leaving the floor."yes, sir" he muttered half-heartedly.
Vitcus took a deep breath. "but right now, I can't afford to lose any able bodied men, so for now," he said, a slight strain in his voice, "just give me your report on the signal."
Aerlan jolted his head up, looking up at Victus, his expression just as shocked as that of Abrudas.
"Y-yes, sir, thank you, sir!" he said, " I promise-"
"Save it until after we're sure we aren't about to be attacked" he said, voice still strained "now, your report?"
As Aerlan spun back around to pull up the results, Abrudas pulled on Victus' shoulder.
"Are you sure about this?" she asked, worried, "after what's happened-"
"We can't afford to be down even one person if we do end up encountering a hostile race," he said. "So for now, until we get back to council space, he stays on navigation". He turned to look at her. "you don't have to like it, but the fact is we have no choice" he stated simply.
"Sir, I have the report here" Aerlan said, gesturing them over. Victus and Abrudas came over to the console.
"According to the decrypting system, the signal doesn't match any known council race, but the patterns are quite familiar, sir" he explained "to be exact, they are quite similar to the distress beacons on our fighters".
Victus and Abrudas both looked at each other, then back to Aerlan. "So your saying," Abrudas started, "that the signal is a... distress beacon?"
"I believe so, ma'am," Aerlan said.
"So then is it automatic?"Victus asked. "Or did someone trigger it manually?"
"It must have been manual," Abrudas said. "How else would it not have gone off, until after we had landed?"
"It does sound a bit convenient." Victus admitted.
"Not quite." Aerlan said. "It could actually have been just as much dumb luck. I think it must not have had enough energy to run the beacon continuously, so it entered power-down mode, until a ship – not an animal, or else the beacon would have already been on - set off the proximity alert." he explained lengthily, sounding reminiscent of a quarian, or salarian. "witch only adds credence to the possibility that this a derelict fighter of some sort"
Victus looked at Abrudas, then back. "Interesting," Abrudas said "but that still doesn't tell us weather or not someone is, or isn't coming to answer it."
"I don't think so, ma'am. For the beacon to have switched to proximity detection would implicate it had been there a long time already." he said, a bit of confidence coming back into his voice. "i don't think anyone's coming."
"Better safe then sorry" Victus said. "We'll wait until we here from the teams from the planet, before we commit to a course of action."
"Yes, sir" Aerlan said, looking nervously at him. "Commander... do you want me to confine myself to quarters?"
Victus raised a brow-plate, before simply saying "As you were, Staff sergeant", turning and walking back to the CIC galaxy map.
Aerlan stood there in surprise, before nodding and returning to his station.
Abrudas walked alongside Victus toward the galaxy map. "what now?" she asked, the tension still in her voice.
He sighed, turning to her.
"Now we wait"
PAGE BREAK(0)
It was ten minutes before the shuttle team reported back.
Victus listened as the comm ringed, the comm crackling to life.
"sir?" the comm, voice only, asked out. "sir, do you read?"
"This is commander Victus," he replied "We read. Is the situation under control?"
"yes, and no, sir." the soldier said uneasily.
"What do you mean?" Victus asked, his voice a mixture of worry and concern. "did you run into hostile contact?"
"no, sir. We did find the source of the beacon. A derelict, just like the staff sergeant thought."
Victus felt some much needed relief wash over him, but was still worried.
"How about you, sir? Any sign of anyone coming to investigate?"
"No, soldier, nothing so far." He paused, a thought occurring to him "Soldier, any clue as to how long the ship was on planet? And precisely what kind of ship was it anyway? Was it a fighter, or part of a larger ship?"
There was a noticeable pause in how long it took for the solider to respond.
"As far as I can tell, it's been here for a bit, though not too long, as theirs little corrosion" he said.
"As for the second question..." he paused.
Now Victus was a little concerned. "Soldier?"
"As for your second question, it isn't a ship." he said. "not really."
Victus raised his brow-plates in confusion. "What?" he asked. "if it isn't a ship then what is it?"
There was another pause.
"Sir," the solider said, "I think your going to want to see this for yourself."
The console chirped, acknowledging a signal from the ground team, containing a visual file.
Victus accepted the signal, accessing the file, projecting the image on the galaxy map.
What Victus saw caused him to be stricken dumb.
For several seconds, he just stared at the image, mandibles slack, eyes wide, unbelieving of what he saw.
Abrudas came over to see what was the matter, before she fell into the same dumbfoundment as Victus at the sight of the image.
After a full minute, Victus finally moved, turning to leave the CIC.
"Abrudas." he said. She turned to look after him. "Have the senior staff meet me in the briefing room in five minutes, then send out a temporary comm bouy and get a secure line to the hierarchy. Mark it as top priority, along with a copy of the image."
She nodded, responding with the customary "yes, sir", before heading straight to work.
Victus headed to the briefing room, to figure out what exactly he wag going to say to the primarch, since that was most likely what was going to happen once the hierarchy got the message, and the image.
How were you supposed to explain, without sounding like a madman, that you had found something that could change the face of the entire galaxy?
He paused for a moment, thinking.
'very, very slowly and carefully' he figured.
He hoped and prayed that would be enough.
PAGE BREAK(0)
The sound of one of the local birds woke Corina up long before she would have on her own.
She wasted no time in casting a glance of annoyance at the after-mentioned avian, as it heedlessly flew off past the top of the rock face they'd camped under.
Still, she could not help but smile as she admired the coloring of it's feathers against the sun.
'speaking of avians' she thought.
She turned back over to where another avian - though much better looking, in her opinion - was currently laying, staring up at the clouds.
It took a few seconds for Taro to realize she was awake, noticing her looking at him as he stole a glance to where he figured she was still sleeping.
When he saw she was up, his mandibles parted slightly – the turian equivalent of a smile.
"It's a nice view."
She looked at the reflection of the planets sun against the clouds, backdropped by a pink-orange sky against the distant sun.
"Yeah" she said, smiling"it is."
Taro looked at her for a moment, before following her gaze toward the sky. "Oh, that." he said.
"Yeah, it is beautiful, but not what I was talking about."he said coyly.
She gave a confused look. "Well, what were you talk-" before it dawned on her just where-and who- he was looking at.
'Oh, goddess..." she thought, unable to keep a small giggle from escaping.
'Well, that was a wonderful excuse to explore' she thought jokingly.'i wonder how the others are doing?.' she knew that the other teams had probably noticed they were gone by now. It had been about...
'...Oh, goddess - how long has it been?' she realized.
She sat up and reached over to where her gloves, and attached omni-tool lay atop a small stone. She pulled it on and powered up the interface, blinking at the clock display.
'We were out here for almost two hours?' she gazed back at the sun, now moving to the opposite side of the sky, sighing.
'The batarians "running" the show back at camp will most likely have my head, and I doubt Amara can cover for us that long'. And no doubt she would.
She was her best friend, and one of the only people she and Taro trusted with the knowledge of their relationship. She would probably take overtime to cover their disappearance as well.
They'd have to get back to camp soon.
Overhead, she could hear another bird calling out as it flew overhead. After a few seconds, she could see it over the nearby hills.
Looking closely, Corina realized she could see a small stream flowing over the side of the hill, forming a small waterfall that the bird swooped through, emerging out the other side, a fish clamped firmly in its beak.
"Taro," she said, whom was just now starting to put his uniform back on."Look over there," she pointed off in the distance. "There's a waterfall near hear, and I think there's probably a pond too."
Taro looked up at her curiously "A waterfall? What, did the spirits make this world perfect?"
"Maybe" she said jokingly. "Too bad the batarians are the ones who are getting the market rights"
"Oh, who says anyone else can't have a home here?" he asked. "We'll be near salarian space too, and they're on good terms with the turians." he moved over to a small rock pile and started moving them into a little circle near the center of the small, grassy field they were in.
"There!" he said proudly. "Now the claims been staked!"
Corina couldn't help but laugh at her boyfriends optimism. He was always so care-free, but fought like a rabid varren for the things he did care about.
Like her.
"Well, I'll be sure to log it in to the maps. Wouldn't want to build the spaceport too close, would we?" she said playfully, causing him to start laughing too.
"Well, we better get to it then." he said moving to pull his boots back on. "we don't want them to map it out before we can put our claim up" he said.
"Could you wait a bit?" she asked politely "I'd like a chance to clean up a bit at that pond."
"Sure"he said,"by all means. I'd even join you,-"
"Yeah, I bet" she said playfully.
"But, this world is levo-acid based, and I can't be sure about how I'd take the water."
"Yeah, wouldn't want you to get sick before you could start laying the foundation out" she said coyly.
Taro just smiled at her. "Now your doing it on purpose" he said, a small chuckle in his flanged voice.
She smiled back and, giving one last look, set of towards the waterfall.
PAGE BREAK (v)
Taro couldn't help but smile as he watched her walk off, before setting back to getting back to re-clasping his uniform.
'Luckiest. Turian. Alive.'
He really didn't know how he'd ended up with someone like Corina, but he had been thanking the spirits every day ever since.
He turned to pick up his gloves, when his omni-tool started beeping an alert. Quizzically raising a brow-plate, he pulled his gloves on, and tapped the interface.
The message a priority alert, the contents of witch caused Taro's heart to frezze.
'Alert. Anomalous signal detected at southeast quadrant, grid 6. all personnel return to camp and prepare for possible evacuation while awaiting for reinforcement. Repeat, anomalous sign-
Taro shut the message off, trying to fight the growing sense of panic.
A priority alert like this could only mean a possible attack, and since they were in uncharted space – meaning no pirates – it could only mean an unidentified species.
He tried to contact base camp. The comm buzzed for several seconds, before the voice of a batarian answered.
"Who the hell is it?" he asked irritability. "moreover, why the hell are you calling? Don't you know we have an alert? They could trace the signal!.
"Security officer Taro Haron," he responded quickly, "What's happened?" Taro asked.
"You- you don't know? what have you been doing, laying under a rock?" the irate batarian all but yelled.
"No- no, I know about the signal, I got the alert – I mean I just got the alert, but -"
"you just got the alert? Where the hell are you, anyway?
Taro checked the auto-mapping on his omni-tool. "about a mile west of you. Let me get back to-"
"Wait." the batarian said, a hint of what sounded like fear now in his voice. "about a mile west. Are you sure?"
Taro blinked in confusion. "pretty sure" he said. "here, let me sync my omni-tool to your terminal, or whatever your using". He sent a transmission to the batarian.
However, there was no immediate response, witch made Taro nervous.
"Are you still-"
"Listen to me!" the batarian's voice suddenly erupted from the comm, nearly scaring Taro out of his skin. "Listen to me right now! Get out of there!" he screamed.
"Wa-what?" Taro sputtered. "What are-"
"Listen, idiot! if you value your life, get out of there now! Your right next to that signal! Do you hear me? you're right on top of it!"
Taro felt his heart leap into his throat. He tried to speak, but was unable to form anything intelligible. Immediately, he had his omni-tool scan for nearby signal sources.
His heart now felt as though it was going to jump out his mouth
Less then seventy yards away, the map showed a blip, representing the signal. Right on top of his location, just like the batarian said.
Right near the waterfall.
'Corina...'
He felt his heart stop and a lead weight drop in his gut.
Without even thinking about it,he had his omni-tool lock on to hers. The blip showing her location-barely ten feet from the signal.
His mind went to auto-pilot, and he ran straight for the waterfall, and the signal. He just ran through the foliage, never giving a second thought to the branches whipping into his face, or the roots he ran into. He never even bothered to turn off his comm, or the protests of the batarian, who was still tracking him.
"What are you doing? You're going the wrong goddamned way!"
Taro ignored the batarian, running as fast as he could, the only thing on his mind being Corina. He didn't care what was waiting for him at the signal source. He only knew that if it hurt her, he would single-handedly tear it's limbs of and force-feed them to it, before he tore off it's head and rammed it down the bloody stump where it had been.
'fifty meters'
He jumped over a small tangle of roots, never breaking stride. He could hear his heart thumping in his chest.
'forty. Thirty-five.'
He charged straight through a small thicket, heedless to the thorns that snagged on his uniform. If he was cut, he didn't notice.
'Thirty, twenty-five'
Even if he was, he didn't care. All he cared about was getting to that damn waterfall.
'Twenty, fifteen'
He could see the edge of the rim of trees that circled the pond the waterfall emptied into.
'Ten, five'
He bowed his head and charged through the treeline into the clearing around the pond.
He looked at the omni-tool. The map was showing her not far from him. He looked around...
There she was!
She was standing on a small hill at the base of the waterfall, facing away from him.
'oh, thank spirits' he thought. He felt pure relief wash over him, dropping to one knee to try to steady his fluctuating breath.
It took several seconds for him to steady his breathing, before he could bring himself to stand back up.
His first thought was to get her out of the area, so he ran towards her, deciding to risk calling out her name.
"Corina!" he yelled out. She turned toward him, a hint of surprise in her expression, but a happy one.
"Corina!" he called again. "We have to get out of here! There was an alert issued-"
"I know" she interrupted. "I got the message too."
"Y-you did?" he asked, surprised. "But-"
"Taro, listen, I think I've found the signal. The one that triggered the alert." she explained. "it's some sort of old... well, fighter doesn't describe it."
Taro struggled to catch up with what he'd been told. "Y-you found the-"
"Just come and see" she said, grabbing his arm. She then started pulling him toward the hill she'd been standing on.
"W-wait! How do you know it's safe? It could blow up!"
"It's been here a while, and it's unmanned, so I think we're safe" she said. "besides, you have to see it to believe it."
" What is 'it'?"
She brought him to the top of the hill, and pointed to a spot against the rock-face.
And Taro could only stare in shock.
"What is it ?"
She could not give an answer. She herself had not seen anything like it in her two-hundred-seventy years of life.
Crashed against the side of the rock-face was a large, biped-based machine form. A mobile combat frame that did not resemble any other known race, not even the protheans.
It was mostly composed of thick armor-plates, and had a Grey-blue coloration, bore two arms and two legs, although the left was missing from the knee down, and the left hand was crushed under the rest of the bulky torso. the remaining foot was bulky and rectangular, no doubt in order to balance out the weight of the machine. A squarish head sat atop the torso, featureless except for the single eye sensor, mounted on a grove on the upper half of the head, offering a 180-degree line of sight.
An open alcove was visible in the lower torso, most likely the cockpit for the craft. Multiple scorch marks lined the lower-left side, where the leg had been lost. Laying aside the machine, parallel to the right arm, was a large rifle, big enough for the machine to clasp, and most likely as powerful as the heavy cannon on a cruiser.
As Taro stared at the alien battleframe, he felt Corina loop her arm around his, nudging up to him.
Against the descending sun, the two looked on at the site of the moment that would change galactic history, and alter the future forevermore.
well, here it is. my first fic!
I know it's probably rushed, but i had to start somehow. reviews, good, bad, but most of all, honest, are very much appreciated, and i thank those who give the time to do so. will try to be bi-weekly, but updates could be sporadic. just a fair warning.
Thank you.