Captain Cedric Ferguson of Fifth Special Forces Group, First Battalion, Delta Company waded through the muck that made up the Cambodian swamps. He'd been tracking an unknown group for weeks, using captured documents and spotty satellite images to follow the people who kidnapped several physicists. Intelligence, as usual, was unable to correctly find the hideout where the scientists were kept. When they raided the half-flooded cave, the hostages were gone and he was forced to interrogate some of the guards for information and search the area for any sign of where they went. He was lead to his current location, an old and forgotten Cold War era bunker recently refurbished to support a group of several dozen.
He motioned for the squad's marksman, Pepper, to fall in with the other three Ghosts. He and his three squadmates snuck up under one of the large window-slits, active camouflage reducing their visage to a smear on the landscape. He saw one guard in the window. He switched his goggles to another setting, blue permeating his vision. Although it was called magnetic vision, that wasn't perfectly accurate. The goggles detected not only electromagnetic waves of magnetic materials, but also organic and non-ferrous metals. By combining different waveforms, the goggles let the wearer see through solid objects up to around one hundred meters. He saw several figures past the walls of the bunker, but not in the windowed room itself.
He grabbed a sturdy outcropping of overgrown tree root and pulled himself up onto the window ledge. Silent as a cat, he stepped behind the lone guard and wrapped his arms around the neck and twisted, a muffled snap reaching Thompson's ears. He gently laid the body down and unholstered his weapon, a suppressed KRISS Vector. The rest of his team followed him through the window slit and readied their weapons. With a motion of his hand, they headed towards the lower levels.
The four-man team rappelled down the elevator shaft one at a time until all four were on top of the car. The rebels would send a technician once someone found out the elevator was broken. Luckily, it was night time and almost everybody would be in their bunks, sleeping. They would have to be quiet for this operation. He whispered to the technical expert of the group, John Kozak.
"Kozak, hostile comm status."
"Clear," came the reply after a short pause.
Cedric motioned to the next soldier, call sign 30k, to lead out the door and into the underground complex. He took down an unaware guard with his knife, then lead the squad to the lab where the scientists might be. If not, they would be in their bunks, under heavy guard. 30k heard talking from the direction of the center room, presumably the lab. He held up his fist in the 'hold' position.
"I'm telling you! This is too big not to give to the UN!" came a booming voice, French-accented from down the hall.
A second, Khmer-accented voice came in, "With this technology we could liberate all of southeast Asia in weeks!"
"With this technology, you wouldn't need to liberate Mexico. You could get your own planet and everybody who wants to join you can, but only the UN has the resources for space ships!"
"Sorry, Professor," Cedric heard a weapon being pulled out of a holster. "You're too much of a security risk."
Before the weapon could fire, he turned the corner and shot the armed man in the head with his submachine gun. He turned to shoot another guard in the back of the room while Kozak and 30k neutralized the other two. Cedric walked up to the scientist to talk with him.
"What exactly is this?" he asked, motioning towards a large glowing device occupying a quarter of the room.
"This," the scientist answered, "is a teleporter built on alien technology,"
30k chuckled. "W-what? Sir, we haven't tracked you down for weeks just to hear a joke."
"I'm serious. Dead serious."
"Yeah. Sorry if I find this a little hard to believe," 30k quipped.
"There is nothing on this planet in any way, shape, or form resembling this device," the scientist informed, motioning a large glowing tuning fork-shaped device with several computer monitors hooked up. "Its metals are impervious to anything we have, the circuitry and design is utterly unfamiliar, and I very much doubt we have solid holographic interfaces in development labs, let alone backwater jungles in southeast Asia."
"Solid holographic interfaces?" Kozak questioned.
The scientist walked to the device and placed his hands in front of it. After a few seconds, a blue surface appeared out of thin air. "Go on. Feel it."
Kozak obliged, reaching his hand out towards it. Where his hand should have hit thin air he met firm resistance. He tapped it but no sound came. "I would say magic, but..."
"Gravity manipulation. As you can see here," he said, pointing at one of the many screens, "there is a plateau of energy identical to that associated with the Higgs-Boson Particle. Whoever built this was capable of manipulating one of the driving forces behind the universe itself."
"Forgive me if this is a little hard to believe," cut in 30k.
Pepper agreed. "Yeah. Sounds like something from some sci-fi movie or book or something."
Cedric ignored them. "That doesn't quite explain how you got here."
"The man you just killed found this. He knew it was something big and kidnapped me and several others like me to learn from it. When I tried to interface with it, a hologram popped out with relatively basic and easily understandable images. We were able to decipher what they were after a few days. It was as if it was meant to be found."
"Probably was," Kozak noted.
"Right. Well, my team and I looked through several images stored in the device when I noticed they were maps. Not just of Earth, but Mars. We were able to discern the location of what it wanted me to, and-"
"Where's the rest of your team?" Pepper cut in, garnering a cautionary glare from the squad leader.
The scientist hung his head in sorrow. "Most of them were killed as their skills became less and less useful to the militants. I'm one of the last of three, originally eight."
"We need to find the other two," Cedric told him.
"Captain," whispered 30k, "we got contacts moving in. Must've gotten suspicious with their boss not coming back. Can't see 'em with magnetics, though. Walls are too thick."
"Can we evade?" Cedric questioned.
"Bit of a dead end, sir."
"Damn it," he cursed. "Squa-"
A bright flash and deafening noise rocked the captain's vision. Luckily his helmet and goggles helped protect himself from the flashbang, but it still affected him. He blindly jumped towards what he remembered was cover and ducked down, avoiding the projectiles pinging all around him. The flashbang's effects had mostly worn off, but there was still a huge blue-purple blob clouding the center of his vision. After a few blinks it mostly went away.
"Kozak!" he yelled out, changing into a better fighting stance. "You have a smoke?"
The engineer complied, tossing Cedric a small gray cylinder. He nodded his thanks and pulled the pin. He tossed it down the long hallway towards the enemy. He wouldn't be able to fight back against them with the smoke screen, but it did give his squad time to get their bearings.
"Pepper, activate the thermal setting on your scope and see what you can do," he commanded. The marksman immediately complied.
Kozak grabbed a nearby desk and dragged it over for makeshift cover. "Hey, where's the scientist?" he wondered aloud.
"Uh, don't think you guys'll like the answer," came 30k's voice. The scientist was propped up against the control board of the artifact, a pool of his blood spreading across the room. His chest was red mush and jagged bone and the surrounding furniture had numerous holes in it the size of a 7.62 millimeter bullet. "Hey, is the alien thing supposed to be glowing like that?"
Another flash consumed Cedric's world as the artifact activated.
Cedric woke up with a headache. He rubbed his head, willing the soreness to go away. He recognized the pain of oxygen deprivation. He loosened the bandana he always wore around his neck, taking deep breaths to soothe himself. He was glad for the pain. It meant he was awake, and thus alive. He took another deep breath and stood up to examine his surroundings.
It was a wide but shallow room, the walls and floor—he couldn't see the ceiling for the darkness—a deep gray. The only light source was the flashlight on his helmet, only enabling him a few degrees of vision and a very short range. The bodies of two of his teammates were lying unconscious next to him, while Kozak was shakily getting up only to bend over and vomit onto the ground. The status indicator of his HUD told him the other two were still alive, thankfully.
A light from what must be a hologram projector lit up, but it was broken. Only a dull green glow sprung up, illuminating the wall to which its source was attached. A staticy voice came it, echoing throughout the room. "Greetings, human."
The language surprised him. "How can you speak English?"
"I've been watching your planet, learning your language from broadcasts," the broken hologram explained. "I am merely an observation outpost for my creators. My mission was to alert them of any intelligent life by looking for radio waves."
"So," Cedric began "Where are they now?"
The tone of the voice changed to one of sorrow, even regret. "I could not ascertain. I lost contact with them around 50,000 of your years ago."
"AH HOLY WHAT THE HELL" 30k screamed behind him. Cedric turned to his squadmate, who was getting to his feet alongside Pepper. He pointed at the hologram. "What the hell is that?"
"I am the virtual intelligence in charge of overseeing this facility."
"What?"
"I am the-"
"I heard what you said!" 30k yelled back.
Kozak grabbed his rifle from the floor and secured it to his back. "You know, I'm inclined to have a similar reaction."
"I think we all are. But we have 30 for that," Pepper joked.
"You know, I don't think now is the time to screw around," 30k retorted.
Cedric held up his hand to silence them and turned back to the hologram. "Can you tell us what this is?"
"Yes, a mass accelerator transit device. It uses element zero to lower the mass of objects to near zero and use gravity manipulation to move them across vast distances very quickly. Or as it simply, although inaccurately, could be called, a teleporter. It was used by my creators for quickly moving materials and personnel from this structure to a ship."
Cedric rubbed his chin in thought. Element zero? Creators? Those were questions for later, however. Trivial information that was not as important as other things in the immediate situation. "Is it possible to use it to get back to Earth? For that matter, where are we?"
"The fourth planet of this solar system. I believe it is called Ares, named after a mythological being of war."
"You mean Mars," he corrected.
"Of course; categorizing for future reference. Back on topic: No. It is impossible to safely send you back to Dirt-"
"Earth."
"Earth. Protocols forbid me from performing transits between unanchored points. Even if I were given the freedom, I would not. Momentum is relative. If I were to teleport you to your home planet, I would need to manually need to speed your mass to the speed of the planet from an extreme distance away, something this facility is unable to accomplish without a receiver conduit at the target location."
Cedric took a deep breath, sadly shaking his head. He looked back at his squadmates, his second family. They had similar expressions. They had families. They had friends. It was his anniversary in a few months, and he wouldn't be home to bring his son to the baseball game he promised. He didn't like breaking promises.
"So what can you do?"
"I am able to transfer you to an anchored station out of this solar system. However, due to the distance, it will take some time."
"How long?"
"At least 160 human years, no more than 200," The four humans seemed confused and in disbelief. "Don't be upset, considering this is made for only several human kilometers, 170 to 200 years is quite exemplary for the amount of light years to be traveled, and it will feel instantaneous to you."
30k held up his hand. "Hold on a minute. Now, I would imagine sending us God knows how far would be a little tougher than dropping us off to a planet in the same solar system."
"Need I remind you that this is not actual teleportation as portrayed in human entertainment media? That this structure can only propel objects in a straight line? It is physically impossible to accomplish the necessary tasks to ensure your survival."
"Dammit," he cursed. "Fine, whatever! Let's just get it over with."
"Thank you for your cooperation," the light responded. "Just please step onto this platform."
As a third and hopefully final flash enveloped the Ghost captain's vision, one thought went through his mind over and over again. I'm sorry. Goodbye.
Cedric fell to the ground. He had another headache, but this time it was substantially less painful. It quickly went away. He shakily rose to his feet and blinked the blurriness out of his eyes. The first thing he noticed was a prevalent light silver over everything: the floor, the walls, some extraneous structures he assumed were furniture. What he noticed second was a huge crowd of civilians—some type of alien he assumed, but humans made up a very noticeable fraction—that seemed too shocked to move.
The third and final thing he noticed was a large gun barrel pointing at his forehead, and behind it the blue and black-armored figure. Then he saw its face. It looked like the skin itself was armor plating. It had two mandibles on each side, which contained numerous razor-sharp teeth, bird-like eyes, and face paint over the nose and cheek areas.
It tried to speak to him, but it sounded to him as a series of growls and barks with the occasional hiss. Although he couldn't understand it, he knew what it probably meant. The sight of a half-dozen more of the aliens, some of a species that looked like blue human women with tentacles for hair, told him that it would be in his and his squad's best interest to follow the perceived orders.
"Squad," he ordered, "weapons down."
"Sorry, what did you say, boss?" Pepper replied.
"I said weapons down. If they wanted us dead, we'd be dead," he explained grimly. "We don't have much of a choice."
Pepper and Kozak complied immediately, gently laying their weapons at their feet and again with their secondary weapons. 30k hesitated, but complied after several of the aliens shifted their focus to him. "Fine, but don't blame me when your asses hurt in the morning from the probe," he muttered.
Councilor Anderson rubbed his temples. Sometimes his job overwhelmed him. He wasn't Udina. He couldn't handle all of the bullshit that came with being a Councilor. He was held responsible for nearly everything that happened not only by the Council, but by the Alliance as well. Recently was the series of abductions that he was unable to stop, earning criticism from all across human space. What else was not only Shepard's resurrection, but his alliance with Cerberus. The Council knew he personally had nothing to do with it, but they seemed to like rubbing the association in his face, especially Sparatus. At least Tevos tried to be rational about everything.
And now he had to deal with a group of four humans who had popped into the middle of the Presidium, quite literally out of thin air. He was currently in the waiting area outside of the Presidium's C-Sec cell block. A turian in a C-Sec uniform came up to him and handed him a datapad with what they could get off of him. Just the names, rank, and serial number of the four men and what gear they had were written on it.
The C-Sec interrogators were able to get some information from them. Supposedly they were a squad of long lost special forces operatives that went missing in 2024. It checks out as far as their information was concerned, but Anderson severely doubted that they were really from 162 years ago. The other possibility was that they were Cerberus spies, but what would they gain from that? There were already dozens of moles throughout Alliance command. This was too obvious for them to do. To be recruited by Shepard? Shepard was already working for Cerberus. The Illusive Man would have simply sent them to the Normandy.
The only other explanation was a group of imposters, but how would they get the necessary classified information? That left the truth as the only option. However unlikely it was, it was at least internally consistent. Maybe he would just have to trust them. Of course he wasn't going reinstate them and have them the personal guard of the Alliance Parliament, but he did want to give them a chance. After all, if they were as good as their supposed reputation, then should the help be turned down?
He entered the interrogation room. The leader of the four, a 'Captain' Cedric Ferguson, was sitting at a table in the center of the room. His hands were not bound but there were two guards with shotguns by the door. "Interesting predicament you've landed yourself into, Mr. Ferguson."
"That's one way to put it."
Anderson nodded. "Unfortunately, what you and I consider interesting is commonplace here nowadays. If I haven't seen someone come back from the dead with my own two eyes I would have immediately thrown you four into prison."
"Understood, sir."
"However, given the circumstances of the situation, I'm willing to extend an offer of trust."
"And that is?"
"You will be working with an old friend of mine. Lieutenant Commander John Shepard."