we all know that element zero is the most important and highly sought after element in the entire universe. being able to manipulate gravity fields and induce biotic ability, eezo has proven its usefulness and importance many times over. but what if eezo wasn't the only wonderful and incredibly powerful element in the universe.
on the planet shanxi a young but brilliant scientist was running from machine to machine extracting and refining the most curious of elements he had ever seen. unlike element zero which allows the manipulation of mass effect fields, this element seemed to behave completely differently. this element which he had labeled as element eternum, has a unique ability to manipulate light and solor energy.
by the time of the attack on shanxi our brilliant young scientist was only able to refine 3 grams worth of this wonderful element, but he believed that was enough. as he took off running out of his underground lab and through the fields surrounding his compound, the only thought on his mind was how to convince general williams to fill a missile with his element. the brilliant young scientist had a feeling that if they used the element in a weapon it would cause massive damage to the enemy fleet that was currently overhead.
the siege was wreaking havoc to the people and needed to be ended, the only thing our young scientist could do was make a weapon with the most wondrous element he had ever seen. an act he was sure should condemn him to hell. on he ran hoping to reach the humans main operating base, until a turian bullet ripped his thigh apart and forced him to the ground.
fighting through the pain our brilliant young scientist looked all around for his assaulters and gasped when he saw them. he knew if he let them get ahold of element eternum all hope was lost, so he did the only thing he could, he swallowed it all. it wasn't hard in the form he had refined it into, being a small granulated powder much like course flour or fine sugar. the pain was immense, it was many times worse than the pain in his leg.
when he opened his eyes which had been shut tight from the pain he noticed that his stomach had started glowing and that the glow was traveling around his body. the aliens had gotten close enough to notice as well and were threatening him with their weapons, but he just smiled thinking that he would atleast take a couple aliens with him when he blew, which he had no doubt he would. imagine his surprise when the glow started to intensify yet the pain began to fade, and a euphoric sensation began.
slowly our brilliant young scientist lifted off the ground his leg wound healing rapidly, the glow continuing to intensify with each passing second until it was like looking at the heart of a new born sun. the turians couldn't see but that didn't stop them from pulling the triggers of their rifles, as the mass accelerated rounds sped towards him our brs (" brilliant young scientist") raised a hand in their direction and a barrier formed of shining material.
when the assault ended our brs raised his hand further and fired a single beam of energy through both aliens heads. raising his head our brs saw in the sky 3 alien ships flying in formation straight for him, from his eyes shot forth twin beams of energy that melted and ripped through 2 of the, what he could assume were some kind of fighter or shuttle. both ships were struck with light and suddenly engulfed in flame, becoming burning piles of matter that fell from the sky. the third ship peeled off and began flying away from the strange creature that seemed to be made of the sun itself.
with a raise of his finger our brs shot a final beam through the third and final ship, the pilot lost control of the damaged craft and plummeted to his death. feeling the most overwhelming sense of strength and power coursing through him the brs began lifting higher and higher off the ground. rising through the atmosphere of shanxi and into the same altitude as the alien warships that had besiege his home our brs knew what he would have to do to protect humanity from its enemies.
blasting through the atmosphere of shanxi and directly at a battle group of 5 alien ships in blockade around his home, our brs gathered all the energy he could into a blast of powerful light and energy that lanced through the distance of several thousand kilometers between him and his target. the light and energy of the beam tore through the alien vessel as if a hot knife through soft butter, gouging out core systems and internal components causing a rupture in the eezo core. in a brilliant flash of light the enemy dreadnought was destroyed by a single man.
alien vessels were moving and attempting to orient themselves to fire their weapons at the tiny man that destroyed their most powerful ship, but several more beams tore their way into the ships and they too erupted in a flash of light. turning to the ships still in orbit around shanxi our brs began his assault. flying through their formations, destroying fighters, cruisers, frigates and shuttles, he wept silent tears the whole loss of such life tore at his heart, his hand had been forced into this however and he was a scientist and would bear the burden and accept the consequences.
all general williams knew was that something had destroyed the enemy dreadnought and cut off communications between him and the enemy general. when he received the first report that a small object flying at incredible speeds and firing beams of highly compressed energy was destroying all of the turian ships he couldn't believe it. just as he was about to surrender this miracle would happen, he silently sent a thanks to god for his help.
as the last of the turian ships were destroyed a massive cheer went up in the command center, which was put down quickly by the officers who had kept their heads and only celebrated in their own minds. on the horizon a scout had reported a glowing object becoming bigger and moving closer and closer to the command center. general williams and all of his commanders had moved out of the building to see it for themselves.
when the glow became too intense for them to see anything it suddenly faded leaving a young man standing in front of them wearing a bloodied lab coat and pants. the figures eyes still shone with a light that seemed to be as bright as the sun itself. before general williams could say a word of thanks the young man beat him to it.
" general i am surrendering myself to your authority for the crimes i have committed this day." spoke our brs.
general williams and his men were confused with this young mans behavior. he looked as though he was no older than 20 and none of them could understand just what crimes the man thought he committed. so general williams decided to ask.
" of what crimes do you speak young man?" asked williams.
the young mans reply would break williams heart. " i just killed all those aliens in orbit sir, i destroyed several ships and no doubt murdered thousands of men and women. all life is precious sir and what i've done even though i did it to protect the people of shanxi is still murder. please sir place me in custody." begged the brs.
williams ordered his men to take the young man to a room for him to rest, while he internally wept at the anguish that young man was going through. as a soldier williams was used to the idea of killing his enemies, he would offer mercy when he could but death of his enemies usually meant that his men would live. yet that young man had just been forced to take thousands of lives, and unlike williams this young man wasn't a soldier but a scientist. he had probably never gotten into a fight before in his life, and now he had killed thousands.
general williams entered the room with our brs and sat down in a chair across from him with his hands held in front of him. as he sat he thought of the questions he needed answers to and which was the most important. in his mind the most important was also the easiest to ask.
" what is your name young man?" general williams asked gently.
the young mans bright eyes rose to take in the form of general williams as he opened his mouth to answer.
" my name is Callen sir." he answered.