Intro
Year: 1050(Earth standard)
Location: Unknown
Vessel: ASEV Jina Mas
The commander strode about the deck of the ship, eagerly awaiting the report of the ships inertia dampeners as they came out the other side of relay transit.
"Ten seconds!"
The pilot called out, the golden green streaks of light differing from the normal blue hue of eezo travel. True enough, only a couple of moments later (though it felt like an eternity), they were back in real-time, staring inexorably at the void in which they had arrived.
The captain of the vessel was one of the greatest explorers that the Asari could provide and the council had seen fit to send her with some of the best that the galaxy has to offer - Salarian scientists mostly, but there were a good few of her Asari compatriots there as well, but her best friends on board the ship were the security detail. They reminded her too much of herself back when she'd been doing the fighting as a commando - though she'd given that up after a couple of centuries and followed her passion.
"Vera, give me a status update would you?" She said as she looked to the navigations officer, seated next to the pilot.
"Aye commander, one moment." A few seconds passed as the data from the system finished collecting. "Looks like this system is uninhabitable - three gas giants, pretty rare I guess…" Her voice trailed off as she skim-read the rest of the report, mumbling it out before coming to some interesting info. "It seems like there's some kind of signal bouncing around the asteroid belt - I can't get a good read on it, there's too much interference, but I think we should check it out.
"Possible evidence of sentient life" A Salarian 'doctor' said, making the three in the cockpit jump as though he'd appeared out of nowhere. "Would be good idea to send probes in first, no risk to life, need to be sure."
The commander nodded in agreement and her voice rang out over the PA. "Engineering, get to the probe bay, we need you to fire up the systems down there." Moments later a bored sounding 'Right on it' huffed back into the commander's ears.
She didn't normally take that kind of thing, but when you've spent a month on board a spaceship, zipping about from system to system without actually doing anything… it can get pretty taxing.
Behind her, a small crowd gathers at the excitement the signal's discovery had stirred up. All the Salarian's were discussing at length what the signal could mean, although what they were specifically saying, the commander couldn't discern, seeming as they were using Salarian speak - in other words, talking at a hundred miles an hour. Eventually, a call came up from the probe bay that they were good to go.
"Ok, fire a line of five, try to get at different depths in the field, that should let us get a more accurate reading of the signal."
Minutes passed, and the tension in the air only seemed to increase as each probe was launched like a curveball into the depths of the asteroid belt central to the system. Time seemed to stretch out painfully as the final probe was fired and the signal cleared enough that they could get a more accurate reading.
"Uhh…" Vera the navigator said in a confused and slightly anxious tone.
"What? What is it?"
"This isn't a natural asteroid belt." That got the scientist's talking even more furiously than before.
"What do you mean, not natural?" The commander asked, placing a hand on the top of the navigators chair, and the other on the holopanel as she leaned in for a better view.
"From what I can tell at least… Look - the material readings are all wrong for an asteroid belt, and they are one of the most standard things in the galaxy. Then there's the signal which seems like it's originating from one of the larger ones - and a signal like that usually indicates some form of life - even if it's just plant life… And what the hell kind of plant grows with no atmosphere?"
"Could be localised, possible use of mass effect field technology, able to create stable environment in otherwise inhospitable living conditions." One of the scientists butted in to the conversation. "Do it all the time with terraforming low level planets. Need to house stable environment for species."
"So this could be-"
"Possible first contact, yes. Though not sure what kind of life we would find. Hard to say without knowledge of atmospheric conditions. Would like to get readings if possible, could help to know what's out there."
The commander quietly agreed - despite her instincts saying otherwise. "Ok, take us in over the asteroid belt, we can get more readings from there."
The ship slowly glided through the empty space between the relay and the massive circle of rocks in the center of the system, and after what seemed like forever, they neared the edge of the asteroid belt.
That was when they noticed the markings.
"What are those?"..."What do they mean?"..."Who do they belong to?"..."Are they still alive?"
The Main deck was abuzz with talk as people nervously and tentatively asked questions about who or what made the markings on the rocks. Clear as day they shone out of the rock against the dark hues of space, a dull glint coming off of the surface clearly defining the runic language, although it looked more like a drawing of curved and straight lines, not quite touching, some more spaced apart than others, reinforcing that it wasn't simply a scribble on the rock by some cosmic being, but rather a message, written by someone - or something far older than any of them that were alive.
They sailed over the top of the asteroid field, careful to stay out of the way of any rocks that might wander their way.
"Can we get a couple more probes in there and find out the signal's origin?" The commander asked and the navigator sent the commands to fire the probes where the signal was strongest.
Moments later and there was a loud pinging noise as the galaxy map zoomed in to their location, and finally zoomed into where the signal was coming from.
It didn't look very special, just an abnormally large asteroid, pock-marked with craters that had been formed by the smaller chunks around it, though as it slowly spun on an invisible axis, an opening could be seen, and there were lights coming out of the inside.
That was it.
"Ok, I want everyone geared up, we're going to go investigate."
Immediately the entire ship was wild with frenzied movements, everyone (the scientists, explorers and security) getting their gear ready, most with light armour and rebreathers to survive the harsh environment they were heading into. Almost half an hour passed before everyone had everything they needed, and they were all squeezed into the airlock.
"Depressurising airlock." The pilot's voice came over the radio net that linked them with the ship. "Opening doors."
It was slow, but at least they weren't getting spaced while they left the ship. One by one, they pushed off from the edge of the ship, steering themselves towards the opening in the asteroid with small jets of pressurised air. The commander was the last to push off, wanting to make sure that everybody was safe as they left. When her feet touched the asteroid though, something felt off about it. It was as though they were being watched.
"I don't like this." An Asari said, her name was Aela - or something of the like - and she was one of the best linguists that the galaxy had.
"Yes, feeling of being watched, disconcerting. Shouldn't be this bad from thin nature of atmosphere. Very exposed here… maybe answers inside." This time it was a Salarian who'd spoken, and had led the small group straight into the asteroid.
They walked in slowly, analysing everything, but after ten minutes they felt the asteroid stirring, as though it was alive.
"Wanda zai shiga ta mulkin?"
A single voice echoed through the small darkness that surrounded them. It was stretched thin and wispy, the slight rasp to the voice giving it the air of someone who was on the precipice of death speaking.
"Sauti! gabãnin nakwance ta firgita kan zukatanku."
At this the crew huddled together in silence, terrified by the disembodied voice, the security team roving their weapons about, looking for where the voice had come from, but it echoed ominously around, not betraying the speaker's location. The commander decided it was best to check on the ship, see if it was still there so they could make a quick getaway if need be.
"Jina Mas, you there?" The radio crackled without response. "Jina Mas, come in Jina Mas, do you read me?" A moment of silence passed before the radio crackled to life.
"We read you commander, what's going on down there?"
"We don't know, be ready to receive us in a hurry if things go badly."
"Aye aye, we haven't moved since you left." Good.
"Me ya sa kake ki amsawa? Dole ne na bayyana ni gare ku?" The voice questioned them, but they had not the faintest idea of what it was saying.
"Sosai, jãhilai dabba. Zan haske hanya." It spoke finally and then the words ceased to come, though there was an eerie sense of foreboding that fell upon the group. Moments later huge insects appeared from nowhere and began to surround them. The commandos got ready to shoot when the insects started to sing.
It was in a similar sort of language to that of the voice, but this seemed to be less… regal somehow, as though these were all the underlings of the voice. What's more strange is that the song began to compel them to move down into the depths of the asteroid. Resist as they may, they couldn't stop themselves from moving further and further into the darkness, where there lay a single light, shining up at them. As they looked back they could just about see the body of the Jina Mas, and that gave them some solace.
They entered into a huge cavern,holding hundreds upon hundreds of these insects, some small and scuttering about, some like the ones herding them, others larger and more vicious -looking, finally still others who were huge and had the appearance of tanks, though what looked like the barrel of a gun was, in fact, the tip of their tails that curved up over their bodies and rested, looking like death incarnate.
The group was terrified into silence, but finally the singing stopped and they stood before the light, the insects returning to whatever duties they were performing.
"Saboda haka, wannan shi ne abin da kuka yi kama. Ba za ka leviathan."
There was no way to tell what the voice was saying, and despite it coming from right in front of them, it still seemed to echo around the room in a way that defied the brain.
Suddenly, the light moved onto a what looked like a male Asari, the arms crossed over his chest, long dark crests covered his head, on each crest was a small disk of metal, giving him the appearance of a god-king.
He did not move, neither did his eyes open, but the voice sounded again. "Ku zo kusa. Zan son su koyi daga gare ku."
When they did not respond some sort of silent command emitted from him and the song that had made them all march here started again, although the words seemed slightly different. As it was, only two of the group had been selected by the song. Aela and Dr Solus, who was a renowned astrobiologist, among other things.
As they neared the man lying still as stone in the pod their looks became more and more of terror and fear, but they knew there was nothing that could be done if they wanted to stay alive.
The song changed yet again and now, though they struggled, they couldn't move their feet to move away and their arms were nearing to the man's temples. Almost as soon as contact was made, his eyes opened, and the room fell silent. Not the kind of silent that means that everyone is quiet, I mean silent. It was as though someone had literally sucked the noise out of the world for a few moments.
From what the commander could see, his eyes were different colours, blue on the side that Aela was touching and a golden yellow on the side that Dr Solus held his temple.
After a moment everything stopped and sound rushed back into existence, the two that had been forced to touch the man's head now rushed back to the group, cowering slightly.
The man stood slowly, and his form was truly revealed to them. God-King was an apt description. "Now I know who you are, Asari. And you, Salarian." His words were actually coming out of his mouth now, and the echoing quality that they'd had before had vanished. "What do you want from the people of the witch-king?"