Aethus: Year One
Prologue: It Always Goes Wrong
Sometimes, when he stared into the emptiness of space, he felt as though it would swallow him whole.
Of course, the void of space was a cold and harsh place; Captain Vennil was plenty familiar with this. He was reminded constantly as he stared through the thinnest line of defense he had against the vacuum. It was a clean window, one covered by a several layers of clear and hard material and shields, but a window nonetheless. He would have been shrewd with this design choice on most occasions, but he wasn't a ship designer.
Patrol was a boredom driven task to say the least and the only difficult part of it would have been to keep vigilant through the monotony. That meant keeping watch and paying attention, something that Vennil had trouble doing when every other grunt position was filled up. Luckily, as most tasks could be wrapped up by any half-brained officer, the turian had excused himself to his chambers to rest.
Sleep did not come, for the captain was no sleeper. His Turian diligence had kept him from falling into such a state, for it had drained him of any comfort in the silence of it all. In his younger days, sleep and rest was for those that could afford their own deaths. Any lack of vigilance meant that he would be snuffed out in an instant by forces more prepared than he was.
Still, even if he was neither Asari nor Krogan, Captain Vennil was still something of a nostalgic warrior for the past. He remembered his glory days as a lower ranked ensign, battling it out in the Attican Traverse against pirates and mercs. Funny how several promotions and an eventual injury could get him stuck here on patrol. Some would have considered his position lucky and fitting for someone like him. He already knew a few that would enjoy leaving the dangers of the Attican Traverse and the Terminus systems behind.
Vennil thought otherwise to this.
He wanted the fierce fighting, the action, and most of all, the glory at the end of a long, long road. As bored as he got, he knew that if anything needed to go, they still needed to win. The Turians were, after all, the Council's right hand and to lose meant to show that they were unfit to be in such a position. Still, even a little bit of chaos would have been nice; better chaotic and hopeful than peaceful and boring.
Almost as if to shake him out of his stupor, the shape of a cruiser came into view. The TSC Blessem was followed by several smaller frigates judging by the lights they gave him, it told him something was amiss or off. Vennil gave a wave to signal back and he turned to walk out on deck. Hopefully, there was going to be something to make change up this trip.
As soon as he stepped, several ensigns and lower officers gave a salute. Vennil didn't even bother to tell them to ease up, both because he was too preoccupied and because it kept his men on their toes.
"Well?" Vennil growled through his faceplates, "What's wrong then?"
His voice came out a bit more hostile than he intended as evidenced by the silence. This had been the worst part of the reassignment. He could have dealt with all the little things if he could at least be a bit immature. But nope, he couldn't do that now. A captain had to maintain an image of respect or face the opposite. While he could cut back once in a while when it was deemed appropriate, he certainly couldn't be so casual with anyone.
The walk to his helm kept with the silence. No one tried looking at the Captain directly as a sign of respect, but to him it looked more like he was being sent to death row. Not letting it bother him, he kept with his image and stopped right when he could. There were four main ensigns that oversaw everything. He had always called them his four eyes, much like a Batarian's own gaze. Each "eye" did several jobs that oversaw everything the lower ensigns did that operated certain parts of the ship. Vennil was hard pressed to admit that he had gotten to know and appreciate each and every one of his eyes.
"Captain," they all said in unison. Vennil sometimes thought they rehearsed their unity, but given how long they served under him, he figured they'd find a rhythm to each other.
"You called for me," Vennil was more comfortable with statements than questions.
An ensign closest to his right was quick to answer, slightly fazed by his gruffness, "Sir, we are getting readings from Relay 314. They're . . . unusual."
The mere mention of the unusual pricked at the captain's interest. Usually they had called him for something regarding procedure, never anything out of the ordinary. A Turian equivalent of a smile came as he looked at the ensign's screen.
"Well what is unusual then?"
"I . . . I don't know."
Ah yes, Vennil was aware of ensign Mavil. The young Turian was quite the prodigy in his field, being able to notice the slightest of anomilies and work around them with swift talons like nobody's business. The only problem, being a genius navigational operator did not translate to clear communication. Vennil's face formed a mischievous sneer, trying to think of something to do to throw off the ensign further.
Luckily for Mavil, Vennil's sensibility won out.
"That's not an answer, ensign."
Mavil froze, blinking once before turning to the captain.
"S-sorry sir . . ."
Vennil nodded calmly as he looked over the Turian's shoulders. The captain wasn't allowed to have favorites, but if he had a choice, Mavil was easily one of his top picks. He was smart and skilled, but humble enough to bow his head to an officer. Mavil was quick to point out his own mistakes and correct them, something most other Turians seemed to have trouble with. It also helped that Vennil saw himself in the ensign.
"You got the data ensign. Condense it and tell me what's important"
There was an introspective pause before the ensign continued, "Well, um . . . we're seeing unusual energy signatures coming from the relay. It's pulsing, like it usually does when ships use the relay."
"That hardly seems like something I would be alarmed about-"
Another pause, "But . . . nothing's coming out . . ."
One of the other ensigns, Deeiv coughed at this. He was an older ensign; more experienced than Mavil, but got his head into too many things. Deeiv was sort of the surrogate elder brother to Mavil as he had transferred with the young prodigy. The only difference came when Deeiv tended to operate on less intelligent ways than Mavil.
"Ensign Deeiv," Vennil said with a smirk, "What's so funny?"
That shut him up faster than a Salarian stuck with a starving Krogan. The captain almost swore the ensign shit himself before responding.
"N-nothing, sir! I was just . . . curious with Mavil's description of the Relay, that's all!"
Luckily for Deeiv, Vennil was not willing to press the matter. Any bit of humor was nice to have in the face of dysfunctional relays. The mention of such things was enough to send any Turian on edge. Those Prothean monoliths were way out of a simple patrol fleet's jurisdiction, both in its decommissioning and its destruction. Had it not been his need to sate his boredom, Vennil would have easily left for the council straight away or even sent word to both the Hierarchy and the Salarians.
But wait, no, wait.
"Ensign," Vennil suddenly said, "Check the records for Relay 314."
For a moment, the younger Turian faltered, but he quickly moved his fingers to tap on the appropriate buttons and panels to reveal data. He grew a puzzled look after a somewhat first, second, and even third failed attempt.
"There are no records, sir."
Vennil nodded, "Because that Relay is supposed to be closed."
Suddenly there was a chill in the air as the rest of the crew looked towards Vennil. There was no doubt what the Captain was suggesting and the data was there in plain view. To think that someone would have been foolish enough to reactivate old relays after the Rachni.
Either these idiots were brigands and pirates trying to find worlds to keep their stash safe, or some scientists trying to break citadel laws. The first option was sounding a lot saner than the last one, but it was nice to bring up the unlikely.
Still, pirates were also an unlikely option as they were far keener on being active in the Attican traverse. Even in his year or two of service as Captain, Vennil had only seen these lawless scums near the edge of his patrol route. Not only that, but even he knew that they weren't stupid enough to do something as dangerous as activating relays.
Nevertheless, that was no reason to not check things out. If anything, because there was less activity here, the lightened security would give some roaming mercs groups or pirates a reason to situate here.
Or at least, that was what he said to himself.
"Men," he finally spoke with confidence, "it seems like someone's activated a Relay. Let's educate these low lives shall we?"
Immediately the crew buzzed with activity, readying weapons and prepping the other ships for a chance in course. Vennil smiled as it all went down; he even moved towards the back to watch his crew in action.
In less than a minute, all ships had set a course towards the relay. The patrol fleet wasn't much, but a dreadnought along with twenty frigates and a dozen cruisers were more than enough for any little pirate. His ship, the TSD Abolis, was a beauty of a dreadnought, but one that had served as his prison during his time as Captain.
The dreadnought had never seen any action as nearly all engagements had involved the summary destruction through the light firing from frigates and cruisers alone. There were no light arms on his ship, only several high intensity mass accelerator cannons designed to destroy large opponents or swaths of enemies clumped up in a group. He wouldn't have admitted it, but the Captain had always been eager to try out his "toy" in a battle and perhaps he would get that chance today.
It took a good portion of an hour to get to the relay and by then, Vennil had calmed down. The relay was not in view but every pulse that emanated from the Relay kept everyone aware. Unsurprisingly, the pulses were getting stronger as they moved closer; Vennil's ensign was starting to shiver.
"Ensign Mavil, keep calm."
Mavil gave a nod at this, but kept looking at his screen, "W-well, sir, the pulses seem to be slowing."
"What?" the Captain coughed out in a panic.
"Yes, the change is small, but it is getting slower. We'll be getting visuals on the relay soon enough."
Vennil was quick to nod and moved back to his normal position on the deck. The idiots that activated the relay were probably running away now that a full-fledged Turian patrol fleet was converging on the relay. It was looking to be yet another annoyance in his patrol more than anything else.
Just when he was about to go back, an equally gravelly voice to his own resonated behind him, "Captain"
"Dalic."
"Please, I'd appreciate some formality between us, sir."
Vennil gave his fellow Turian a smirk; he had expected the navigator to get annoyed. Even to Turian standards, Dalic was known to be straight-laced even in the hardest of circumstances.
"I'm not going to call you by your last name. I already have seventy others that barely breathe in my direction let alone speak to me casually."
"That does not equate a need for a lack of respect." Vennil snickered at this.
"I know, I know."
The navigator nodded, his dark tattoos and red markings clashing with the light of the ship. Indeed, though Dalic was older than Vennil, his honor dictated that he stand down in the presence of a superior officer. Many years previously, the navigator, then weapon's specialist, was keen to teach Vennil of such things. Vennil was quick to learn, though he learned even quicker when he could drop the act.
Perhaps that was why he was a captain and Dalic a navigator.
"So then, Captain, what do you think?"
"Hmm," Vennil was just grazing through his thoughts when Dalic continued.
"The relay, sir."
"Ah," Vennil shook his head as he waved his hand around, "I doubt it's anything important -"
"That doesn't sound like you at all," Dalic narrowed his eyes as he looked at the data. Vennil simply scoffed.
"And why would that be?"
". . . forgive me, I've made a mistake," Dalic said as casually as he could, "I've mistaken your disappointment for civility."
Such a playful jab could only come from another equal, but Vennil wished it came at a different time, "If you haven't noticed, I'm still disappointed."
"Still lusting for battle?"
Vennil turned for a second and looked forward again, "No, just something interesting that's all."
"You need to calm down. Think of your family or the man that vouched for your promotion right next to you."
"It's your own fault that she's so smitten with me."
Dalic paused as his eyes narrowed, but the air remained friendly, "And she has every right to be. However, you still should keep vigilant of your desires."
"I'm plenty vigilant"
"When you're faced with a wall and a bomb maybe, but last I checked that was almost seven years ago."
"Your point, Dalic?"
"Nothing, just nothing, old friend. I just want to see how much I could annoy you before you asked."
Sometimes Vennil wished the man wasn't so quick and witty. He hadn't always been like this, in fact, most of their conversation used to end with begrudging stares towards the other. Luckily, Dalic softened his hard ass demeanor and Vennil opened himself up. About five years after their ship was decommissioned, Dalic introduced him to Sava and the rest was history. Funny how the two most opposite people could have been gone from spiteful enemies to literal brothers in law in five years, Vennil couldn't believe it.
"She's doing well, by the way." Vennil saying as though to ease Dalic's attacks.
"Of course," Dalic nodded, "I would have expected such. I wouldn't introduce my sister to someone I didn't trust."
Vennil smiled to himself, "How about your own love life, Dalic. You're not going to leave me in the dark after all those questions, are you?"
"Well-"
"Sir, we've finally got a visual on the relay."
Vennil almost received whiplash when he snapped his neck to ensign Deeiv. Not wanting to mess about, the captain walked to his command post without pause and cleared his throat.
"Well let's have a look then."
When the image popped up on his screen, Vennil had expected . . . well, nothing. He expected the relay intact and unaffected with the idiots messing with the Prothean device to be long gone. It should have been that way; it just had to be. A patrol mission like his was meant to be devoid of anything spectacular or grand. He should have been done in two weeks with nothing to fawn over but his lover for another galactic month.
Unfortunately, as fate would have it, life was not in his favor and something had appeared into view along with the tuning fork shaped object. Almost every Turian had missed the speck, given the ship hadn't detected real ship signatures. The single chance they had to turn back would pass, however, when Vennil stayed true to his vigilance. He alone was the only one to see a shape within the darkness of space and it too would look back.
"Ensign Kirril!" he said shouting and pointing at the speck he had seen, "Zoom in on that . . ."
The ensign nodded without question, though some of the other crewmen on deck were starting to look at Vennil. Even Dalic rose his brow just slightly as he hadn't seen such an emotion from the captain. The look on his face stayed for a moment, but when the screen came up, almost every member began gawking at the sight along with him.
A bug
A giant bug
A giant metal bug
A giant metal red and black bug
But that thing was no bug
It was a ship; a disgusting looking one to be fair, but the qualities of one was right there. Through the odd protrusions of black and red were shapes that seemed to resemble thrusters and wings of unrefined metal. The two arches traveled down the side, leading downwards as though forming the legs of an insect. Near the front were two mandibles that jutted outwards towards them and kept the overall bug themed look. If these details were strange, what was even stranger was the lack of familiarity in the core of the ship's design.
Indeed, none that had served on the bridge could even tell where this design could have originated. Where Turians and Salarians had ergonomically designed vessels that fit specific niches and the Asari had more ascetics in mind, this ship was outright clumped together like some unwieldy metal bat. In fact, it would have been better if the ship was an amalgamation of junk, because at least it would have looked passable, like ones used by Krogans and brigands from the Terminus systems. Holes, breaks, even hull breaches could be seen all over the ship. At first, Vennil thought it to be some dead Quarian ship, but even he remembered the beautiful ingenuity that he had grown to associate with the quarians.
This had nothing that could attach it to any other race, so a question began to stir within the crew. Was this truly a new ship?
"Ship designs, identification tags – now!" Dalic said breaking the silence.
Not realizing what needed to be done at first, Mavil kept to his frozen state. It didn't take long, however, for him to realize what he had to do and a few taps were followed by bated breathes and for good reason.
"Nothing sir," Mavil started, "Nothing to ID this thing."
Dalic nodded, tensions rising like heat would in a desert, "It looks . . . alien."
Everyone, even Vennil was looking at Dalic, some with more panic than any good Turian would allow. Pressure hit him in droves as he watched every officer, ensign and Turian on deck switched their gazes between the stunned captain and the equally unnerved navigator.
"Captain," Dalic began "Perhaps . . . you should speak?"
Vennil blinked, but quickly recovered, "Yes, that . . . Navigator Dalic establish contact to the best of your ability while I inform the hierarchy and the council."
With that, the entirety of the crew buzzed with activity springing into action. Dalic strode past this captain with a purpose as he gathered all four ensigns to get started. Vennil on the other hand, moved off to the side turned into a hallway. At the end of it was a door that looked as untouched as a Quarian's bosom, sanitized and way too hygienic for Vennil's taste.
The room was just as clean but communication console kept the Turian from jumbling his thoughts around. After a short pause, Vennil pinged the console awake as he waited for his receiver to take the call.
"Hello?" said a voice as an image flickered, "Who is this?"
"Primarch, this is Captain Vennil of the TSD Abolis. I have an urgent message for you. I believe we have come across a new space faring species."
There was stillness, both in the primarch's small form and in the silence.
"That's . . ."
"That's impossible!" Dalic scoffed, "What do you mean you can't get in contact."
Ensign Deeiv was shaking his head, "We've tried every frequency, communication method, and signaling we could come up with, but nothing's working. That ship is radio silent, sir, and I think it wants to keep it that way"
"And another thing," Mavil barged in abruptly, which had been unlike him but given the circumstances, everything had gone out the window, "I've been trying to get a read on their eezo levels, but the ship isn't giving off any sort of element zero signatures."
Dalic was nervous to say the least. He had expected something to come from the strange vessel that indicated life or willingness to communicate. It should have been the case as any sane race with the want and will to travel into the stars should have prepared something for extraterrestrial life. But no, all it did was stay still, something that indicated that its operative status as an inactive spaceship would have been drawn closer and closer towards the relay before getting flung off.
Being as he was, Dalic already formulated new theories and hypothesizes to question himself with, one of which really did question these new aliens and their motives. Perhaps this ship was not filled with civilized creatures but rather war-mongering ones? If that was the case, were they buying time for reinforcements? But then they would have picked up on some sort of signal, this ship was most nearly dead, but for what he couldn't say.
"Spirits, what have I gotten myself into?"
"Sir, should we do something?"
Getting somewhat desperate, Dalic shrugged and then got on his omni-tool, "All ships, move closer towards the bug. Power down all but the smallest cannons, no need to evoke a threatening stance."
With that, all ships began drifting towards the strange ship. No doubt tensions rose on high, made worse by the fact that the men were somewhat unfamiliar with something as sensitive as this. Luckily, things seemed to go smoothly as the four eyes were trying their best to get some form of contact.
Still nothing and now Dalic was starting to get that familiar itch near the back of his head he had whenever something terrible would happen.
"Uh, S-sir?" Mavil's stutter dragged the navigator out of his mind, "Are relays usually dotted like that?"
"What? What are you talking-"
But then it happened, the itch had gone away. The only times they really did go away was either when the event had passed or something else replaced it. That something else, in this case, was utter fear, spine tingling fear that paralyzed his vocals and locked his joints in place. His eyes were stuck on the relay when he noticed what Mavil was talking about.
The description of an insect was perfect for this sort of ship as soon as he saw the near hundreds of blinking objects littered all on the relay. What was worse was that these objects were moving, skittering more precisely. The relay had been activated as indicated by the light within the two circular parts that were normally moving . . . only they weren't moving now. They were stuck in place as though held by an invisible force. What was worse was that he could tell that it wanted to move when it occasionally twitched for a second only to come back into its held position.
Before he could question what in the hell they were doing, the ship they had finally lost focus on reacted to their presence. It turned towards them while the Turians were still mesmerized from the sight of the relay. That too was cut short when Dalic noticed the ship start to shake itself. He had little time to react when a part of the ship literally detached itself and flung itself towards them.
Dalic almost jumped at the sight, "Deploy countermeasures! Stop that projectile."
Luckily, the other ships had gotten prepped right before his mark and began moving forward to shield the main dreadnought. Blue shots ripped from their mass accelerator cannons, aiming to shred the cylindrical missile from existence. Dalic clenched his hand as they hit their mark . . . but the thing remained unaffected. Indeed, the damage the projectile had accrued was akin to that of a paint job rather than utter destruction.
What was the damned thing made of? He couldn't even see any sort of shielding repelling the shots off. He also knew that they were making their mark when the screen showed the hull of the missile getting blackened. By the halfway mark, Dalic was about to order for evasive maneuvers when he was stopped.
"Main cannons ready, sir!" said one of the four ensigns. Dalic blinked and breathed a sigh of relief. Though the ship would be forced to stay still to aim, nothing save for another dreadnought's shields would have stopped the Abolis' cannons.
A shame that Vennil wouldn't get to see it fire.
"Fire," Dalic commanded and fire they did. The small charge up was annoying, but when it fired, he knew that they would hit their mark. The smaller ships began moving out of the way when it finally released, the shot being slower than the smaller arms fired. That should have been the end of it all and they should have been finished with this crazy little experience. They should have been going home after that, explaining what they had seen to prepare for some unknown alien force that created the crudest of contraptions. Maybe in that scenario, they would have not faced the tragedy that the galaxy would feel in this one.
Unfortunately, they were not given reprieve as the projectile did something unlike anything Dalic had ever scene. It had actually begun before they had fired and during their charge up time, but as the Abolis' mass accelerator shot moved towards the projectile . . . the projectile extended to reveal three separate parts.
And then the projectile dodged the shot. Dalic froze for the single moment he saw the thing extend and move out of the shot. The sight had been so unique with each segment rotating to provide locomotion for its movement. What was even creepier was seeing the projectile expand more and more, longer and longer until he recognized the movements to be like that of a worm. This was no mere projectile, this thing was moving more like a creature than a weapon.
Dalic could no longer hear anything else as the chaos came before him. The ship tried to fire more shots, but the few times they did so was merely outmaneuvered by the worm. Frigates and cruisers did all they could to try and stop the creature, even flying directly right into the damn thing. Just like the small arms, all they did was merely darken the creature's skin. As it came closer, Dalic had the idea of calling evasive maneuvers, but then its front opened up like a flower made of metal teeth. It gained speed in last seconds running its mouth straight at the hull of the ship to knock the navigator off his feet.
When Vennil felt the collision, he too was thrown onto the ground. Seconds earlier, the small holograms of the three council members had been telling him to make sure things would go smoothly.
Yes, he assured them.
Absolutely, he said.
Oh, of course he'd be calm and collected.
All those promises just seemed to make the situation more bitter than normal. Fortunately, the call had ended, most likely due to whatever had hit them. At least he got the action he wanted.
Running back to the deck granted him a very strange sight of his fellow crew members either face planted on the ground or knocked out of their seats in silly and twisted ways. Dalic was on the ground when he came over to his position. Vennil had far too much energy to stay grim when he helped Dalic up.
"That is a rare sight to see," Vennil was dragging Dalic up who had still been in a daze, "Spirits what did you do to get them angry?"
Dalic was growling, "They didn't give me anything. They didn't even try to communicate. All they did . . . Spirits, GIVE ME A VISUAL ON THE HULL!"
None of the operatives were quite ready to do work, so Vennil scrambled to one of their terminals to contact one of the ships. Almost immediately, a screen popped up to show the TSD Abolis . . . with a particularly large parasite wrapped around the hull. The creature had now become so large that its mouth had covered a good portion of the ship while the body wrapped around the entire ship once. Vennil's eyes grew wide as he lost his breath.
"That . . . where-"
Dalic cut him off, "Long story, check for the damages."
Still in the groove of working the terminals, Vennil nodded as he pulled up diagnostics on the ship. This would have taken him back to his earlier years had this situation not been so overblown and when he was finished, he was far more puzzled than anything else.
"I see a destroyed communication relay . . . and several damaged engines," he said solemnly, "If this thing was supposed to outright destroy our ship, it's done a terrible job at it."
Dalic came over to check over Vennil's shoulders, "A malfunctioning communication relay isn't something to shrug off Captain."
Vennil narrowed his eyes, but held his tongue. After much thought, he rose from the seat and went to each and every Turian to help them up. Dalic followed the captain's steps, seeing no immediate danger. By the time they got everyone up and awake, they only found two crewmembers on the deck that was suffering from a form of concussion. Everyone else was either bruised or bleeding, but still able to work.
The four ensigns were first to go back to work as their job was to keep everyone else coordinated. Inner ship communications came up smoothly as they finally got to fixing it getting word from every part of the ship. As things started to calm down, the captain was still puzzled by their attackers.
"Do you think it's a parasite?" Vennil said as Dalic wiped the blood of another Turian, "Maybe it's some undiscovered species that came through the Relay."
Dalic shook his head, "No, this thing isn't eating the ship or draining energy. It also wasn't a worm when it came to us. Something fired the accursed thing at us."
"Can we fire it off?"
"The only weapon that seemed to even scare it was our main guns, but I doubt we could find a way to aim it at ourselves without destroying us as well."
For a moment, Vennil quieted as he carefully listened to Dalic. Looking at his navigator, he said, "You fired . . . the cannon?"
Dalic sighed, "Yes-"
"How was it?"
"Very blue, though we never got to hit it."
Vennil nodded his head, "Shame, but at least we know that this thing isn't invincible."
"And has a survival instinct," Dalic added as he got closer to the captain, "Vennil, one of the Ensigns told me that we don't have a visual on the ship."
"It's gone?"
Dalic shook his head, "Well I don't think that. I'm sure we just can't see it . . . but that's not the point. Before it fired on us-"
"S-sir," said the ever present Ensign Mavil, "There's something I've just found."
With that, Vennil got into high alert as he shouted again, "Everyone, back to your posts! Mavil, what's happening?"
Mavil shook but kept his voice as level as he could, "I . . . I didn't catch it until now, but right when operations went down, I think the worm hooked itself into the hull with its mouth. We weren't getting much looking at the worm, but then we noticed something trying to dig into the hull."
Dalic gave him a confused look, "What? What is it-"
Suddenly, the older ensign, Deeiv, turned and tried to keep his voice down, "Sir, permission to speak?"
"Granted," Vennil said. Deeiv nodded as he pulled his console. It was a panel full of numbers and letters most personnel didn't quite understand, Vennil being one of them.
"Our readings are grabbing no movements from the worm itself, but we're getting noises and readings from inside."
Mavil gulped, "We think it might the creature might be . . . a boarding vessel."
He narrowed his eyes as he looked around Dalic was starting to understand what was happening as well when the captain pulled up his omnitool and spoke to the whole ship, "I want two squads to head down to the supply bay. ."
Dalic watched as everyone began to rush to either their stations or down below. He ran up to Vennil and looked at the captain with doubt in his eyes, "A boarding? What insanity-"
"That thing . . . how big was it before it grew."
Dalic looked away for a second as he tried recalling the size, ". . . It was large . . . but even if the creature is as big as it was now, it still would need organs to function. It doesn't have the space to fit soldiers or a boarding party inside it."
A slow breath came from Vennil as he looked at the screen with the creature on it, "Then why isn't it doing anything . . . if it's shown to have a survival instinct."
He wanted to answer that question, he really did. However, for whatever reason, there was no answer that could come to Dalic's mind. In fact, he started to think a lot more about the creature's habits. If the creature was that shape normally, then why did it maintain a smaller size before shooting towards them. He even began to wonder how something could even evolve to latch on to ships or even recognize threats from advanced weaponry. Everything soon began to add up as Vennil gave a grim look at the creature.
"I think we're dealing with a species that's has weaponized animals."
Dalic shuddered in agreement, but things were only starting from there.
The hustle and bustle soon filled every corner of the ship the news of two squads had scattered around every corner. Even with their discipline and conduct, rumors and talk was still starting to spread around. Though there was chaos, order had been kept due to their Turian training. Of course, how long their training would keep them prepared was already being tested. After all, how were they even trained to deal with giant space worms that tried to breach their hull? Vennil was certainly barely able to deal with it himself.
A small screen came up as Vennil tried to watch what was happening. All the other personnel remained blind as they tried to get things fix with their damaged comms and engines. Thus, only Vennil and Dalic could see that the cameras down in the bay had been downed with only sounds coming through, with the four ensigns barely able to hear their muttered curses.
"We're right here, sir," said the Turian officer that was leading their forces, "How's it looking on the inside."
"Visuals are down Sergeant and I'm hearing nothing inside either. You're going to have to go in blind."
"Roger that, Captain."
Suddenly, Dalic pulled in to add his two thoughts, "The breach we detected was miniscule; The hull itself will hold if you use heavier weaponry."
"With all due respect, they won't be getting to the heavy weapons, sir. We'll get these bastards and send em' crawling back to those bugs before you know it."
Vennil nodded as he looked at Dalic with a puzzled eye, "Vennil out."
There was a pause as he looked at Dalic, after all, Dalic wasn't looking too good and when Vennil tried to get his attention, Dalic almost jumped. Now it was clear to the captain that something was off.
"What's wrong," Vennil asked cautiously, "I don't like that look on your face."
It was then that Dalic looked at the crew, noticing their glances. They ultimately turned away, not knowing what was causing Dalic to go wide eyed and such. In that moment, he came close to Vennil and whispers, "I have another itch . . ."
Vennil froze far longer than he needed to when he heard Dalic's voice, "How long?"
"Ever since we looked at the screen. . ."
Before he could say something else, the Major whispered into the omnitool alerting both Vennil and Dalic, "We're going in. Wish us luck"
It was a mere second before both the omnitool and the sound capture from inside the supply bay caught their loud shouts and explosive entrance. He heard their footsteps make contact with the metal floor.
"Entering supply bay now, got visual on the breach, almost like something ripped through it . . ."
Vennil gulped, the tension rising as the soldiers could only provide descriptions of visuals. He may as well have been going in blind as he waited for more info. The steps were continuing as the Turians continued their search. The supply bay was quite sizable considering how big dreadnoughts were. In addition, because they had such a large crew, the amount of metal crates was astounding, but it also gave him the chills.
In his earlier days as an ensign, a story circulated regarding a random ensign that got himself trapped in the supply bay of their dreadnought. It shouldn't have been too bad and the longest time he would have been trapped would have been 24 hours. However, the story went that something had been hiding with him as well and by the time they had found him, the missing ensign . . . had been mincemeat.
Just imagining the men down there looking around every crate, nook and cranny in a dark metal maze began to shake him to the core as the steps hit. Their steps were like a heavy thud, a drum or a heartbeat that echoed inside his heads. Every waking second came the horrible sound, one after the other, that screamed how close they were getting to their doom. Vennil nearly thought that he was sending them through the gates of the dead when they finally stopped
Their steps, in fact, had stopped right as it got the loudest. Vennil figured they were right next to the camera and when the major spoke, all six Turians listening in on the omnitool and the camera feed were hearing both of them as clear as spring day. Vennil wished he hadn't.
"Visual . . . on our boarding party."
Vennil closed his eyes for a moment and spoke, "How many?"
An eerily long pause followed by a shaking voice, ". . . I see one target . . . it's just standing there."
"What?" Dalic said trying to keep quiet, "You must be joking."
The silence almost annunciated a head shake moving left to right, even when the two couldn't see the major. "We're seeing some sort of red liquid coming from the things . . . hands . . . It looks like an Asari's."
"Has it noticed you?"
"Yes."
Vennil and Dalic froze, "How long has it noticed you?"
"It's been watching us before we even saw it."
Vennil felt impatience get to him as he growled, "What the hell does it look like!?"
"It's wearing some sort of mesh. It's got the same body structure as an Asari . . . if Asari were ten feet tall and lacked mammaries-"
"Spirits, ten feet tall?" Vennil was practically pacing just trying to get the nerves out. It wasn't working, "Weapons? Tools? How did it get it?"
That was the real kicker, when there was more shuffling. Clearly the soldiers were looking around all the while their target was watching them. A few more seconds, the Major was answering back and in the worst way possible.
"I . . . I think it used its hands."
Up until that point, there had been nothing coming from the boarder. There had been no noise, no movement, not even a breath that indicated that it was alive. Then, in that moment in time, just when Vennil was about to freeze up completely, it broke him out of his stupor.
"Youh Dah'al Mod'ahl mohul Ulh Loham," the thing growled in a guttural snarl.
Arms tensed at the creature's mutterings; the ensigns even turning towards the floating screen that was in front of Vennil and Dalic. If they didn't know what it was feeling, they certainly knew now that it wasn't intimidated in the slightest. Did it not know what a gun was? Did I know what was even happening? Nothing began to make sense until it started to do something that everyone understood. Both Vennim and Dalic gulped as they heard the creature start to force breath out its lungs and laughed.
And then there was chaos.
The first noise that came was the sudden slamming of metal and a hoarse screech coming afterwards. In that instance, Vennil found his connection to the camera and the Major completely cut off. Without missing a beat, Dalic turned to one of the ensigns, "Get me the visuals and sounds on camera 329, NOW!"
Deeiv was the first to pull it up, quickly turning back to the screen with the others. The camera had been situated right outside the supply bay entrance. The doors were closed, but then, the sounds of gunfire and horrified shouts were echoing through. Vennil barely caught several words that leaked through, but by the end it could hear the worst of it.
"Spirits, I'm bleeding!"
"He's fucking smashed his skull in!"
"Shoot this bastard!"
"Retre- AGHhhh!"
The last bit had been ended with a very loud screech of the metal door. There was only a tiny opening and deep inside the belly of the beast the darkness answered. Granted, it might have been larger, only looking small since the camera had been far enough away from the wall. Despite this, the uncertainty still remained as silence crept in. Nothing but an empty silence was greeting all six members.
Suddenly, a noise tore through the infinite silence, indistinguishable at first but quite dreadful once it had been recognized. The ripping of flesh and the crushing of bone was a unique sound that had come to Vennil previously in his life. He had thought he would never listen to those noises again, but it seemed as though fate had been cruel. The others began to almost look as though they would wretch up and hurl, Mavil almost doing so but stopped when Deeiv helped the younger ensign.
Then, something popped from the darkness and gripped the edges of the opening. Soon after can a terrible ripping sound of metal. No one was spared the sight of something tearing through the door with its bare hands and even when it ended, they were again shocked with what they were given.
"They were . . . right," Vennil shuddered as he saw the screen, "One . . . one of . . . that . . . It really did tear through the hull."
Of course, if he had been one of the soldiers inside the supply bay, he would have also cursing to hell and back about how big said soldier was. The descriptions were spot on with the shape of the creature was similar to an Asari. Everyone would have screamed more about how similar the freak of nature standing before them was more like a Krogan than anything else. Hell, it was taller too, but not by much. The proportions, however, was more like the previously said Asari, save for the usual bosom marking their chest.
Blood was leaking through a single wound, the only wound that seemed to be there really. Indeed, despite the mask and mesh that hid the creature's real body, the one place that seemed to be uncovered was the mouth. The jaw looked strong and as they figured, blood was crawling all over the uncovered part of the skin. Disturbingly enough, Vennil caught a glimpse of the creature's clothing start to regenerate as it tried to cover the blood stained maw.
"Close off that section of the ship," he said as he pushed away the screen, "We're evacuating, immediately."
As soon as the ensign heard this, they nodded and committed to the protocols. Alarms soon began to blare as they started to wall up the creature's path. Vennil quick pulled his omnitool to his face as he spoke.
"Attention all crew members, we have just been boarded. Proceed to the escape pods and leave immediately. Keep away from Supply Bay A and leave immediately. I repeat, leave immediately."
And almost immediately, the bridge crew members around all six higher ups began to hurriedly shuffle out and on towards the pods. Of the four ensign, only Deeiv and Mavil stayed behind to help with data purging. Of all the things a Dreadnought had, there were about, give or take, several hundred tidbits they had to get rid of before calling things safe. The time they needed should have been a lot less, but, of course, everything had to be behind some form of security that both Vennil and Dalic helped bypass. Vennil was starting to shake as he helped moved Mavil traverse the data landscape.
He would have preferred to completely send the bridge in flames than take time to do this. The only problem was that destroying the consoles didn't empty out what they had in the ship's mainframe. That was far too close to the supply bay for comfort. Deeiv, while getting help from Dalic, almost seemed to multitask as he looked at two screens at once.
"He's destroyed nearly 12 doors," Deeiv said taking a glance, "How many minutes-"
"T-twenty," Mavil muttered as he shook uncontrollably. Taking a note of this, Vennil grabbed put his arm around the ensign's shoulders.
"I don't think I would have any other ensign with me to face something as crazy as this son of a bitch."
Deeiv gave a second to smirk before being as serious as he tried to be, "I think Mavil's just stuck in his seat sir."
It was a first in a long time to hear Mavil chuckle. Granted, it sounded like a whimper mixed with a chuckle, but Vennil was taking things as he could. As time progressed, however, things had turned for the worse.
"We're not going to make it," Dalic said quietly, "It's breeching the last door."
Mavil and Deeiv shook in their seats as they heard thunderous footsteps and the endless screeching of a waning wall. Indeed, their time had indeed been spent, but only so much of the data had been purged. Vennil gave it a peek as he watched it bend more and more in, the door taking longer to give as it was given extra reinforcement.
"It's not over yet," Vennil said still focused on the purge.
"Indeed," Dalic muttered as he tapped the two ensign on their shoulders. They looked up at the navigator, unsure of what to do, but, when they saw what the navigator had in his sight, they nodded to Dalic and abruptly stood. Vennil had been so enraptured that he couldn't see the two ensigns come to his side and lock his arms.
"W-what?!" the captain was flailing as he tried to get himself out of their grasps, "Let go you idiots! We still have time!"
"Since you asked, Captain," Dalic said with a cold humor to his voice, "I'm too old to have a love life."
Horrified, Vennil watched as the two ensigns dragged him towards the outer door. No matter how much he tried to release himself, both Deeiv and Mavil held strong. In all his struggles, the only thing he could manage to do was kick a chair onto the floor before the door closed in on them. Dalic whispered softly as he continued the purge.
"Goodbye, Vennil. Keep my sister safe."
"Bastard"
Unbeknownst to Dalic, the Captain heard him speak his first name. Conflicting pains welled up in his stomach, one that wanted to break down the door and the other wanting to use that strength to give Dalic a solid punch to the face. Unfortunately for him, neither option seemed to be possible as the navigator had already locked him out of the bridge with the same reinforced doors as the creature had.
Mavil and Deeiv stayed by Vennil, but the ever groaning walls had them with one foot ready to leave and the other just waiting to help the Captain up. Had they known this would occur? Did Dalic tell them ahead of time? He almost wanted to shout them down and use every bit of frustration he had against his subordinates.
But that wouldn't have solved anything . . . and it still wouldn't stop what was going to happen to them if they didn't get to moving. When the banging stopped, the ensigns looked between themselves, silently asking the other to help Vennil up. The final thud had been the nail on the coffin. Dalic had already signed himself to his fate and it would have been foolish to let his sacrifice go to waste.
"And goodbye to you, old friend."
Despite hearing what the others thought to be the final thud, Dalic kept to the work set out to do. There was still just a couple more seconds before his work was completed and just as much time for the creature to walk over to him. He could have sworn that the floor was whining just from the weight of the intruder as it walked slowly towards him. By the time it stopped, so many of his senses felt overwhelmed as it comprehended the creature's presence.
He was no old Turian, nor had he been some war hero who retired after his prime. Even so, Dalic was far to certain that everything that emanated from the monster standing behind him was swallowed by the presence of death itself.
By the time he had finished, the navigator's hands were still lying on the keyboard. Nothing near him could give off a reflection and he was working blind. His instincts were telling him that it was close, simply a couple steps away from him.
He had his gun to his side, but that would have taken too long. In addition, he recalled that the creature had managed to overpower an entire team carrying higher caliber guns and he doubted his pistol would do what those guns couldn't. Instead, he had his left hand slip down as it reached for something near his leg.
Without giving a second to react, Dalic turned and threw a knife right at the creature and pulled his gun out with the other hand. With the combined action of a knife throw along with gunfire, Dalic smirked as the knife hit its mark against the creature's face. The bullets also hit, but he didn't have much time to get into cover while it reached for its face.
The adrenaline nearly made him ignore how big the thing was, but after his initial bout, he got jittery just thinking about it. Its hand looked big enough to engulf his face and he wondered how many soldiers found themselves in those powerful fists. Taking a peek, out from his cover allowed him to take another gander as he watched the creature try and take the knife out. The sight was rather gruesome, but some part of him felt satisfied that he was at least slowing the thing down.
The bullets, on the other hand, had been ignored and he even noticed the creature's mesh outer wear reform from the tears. He gulped as he tried to think of a solution. His weapons were limited here, downright pitiful compared to what they had down at the supply bay. Perhaps if he wandered there, he could lead the creature on a wild goose chase?
It sounded solid, or at least it did on paper. Since he didn't have anything else to work with, it seemed as though that was his only option. It only took a second for him to think up of a route to sneak around the pained creature and with a nod to himself, he looked back up to try and get a visual on the monster.
Only to see a large metal frame fly right at his position.
Still feeling his adrenaline pump through his veins, Dalic used everything to roll off to the side. He barely managed to get away by the skin of his talons before the area where he had been was smashed by another equally destroyed console. The thing had pulled it out along with a piece of the wall and looked to be reaching for more.
Not wanting to disappoint, the navigator continued to dip, dive, duck, and dodge against the coming onslaught. The attacks were as telegraphed as could be and he almost wondered how things were getting to be so easy. Even Krogan weren't so easy to manipulate, though that was mostly because Krogans used guns rather than throwing things with their bare hands. Movement after movement, he found himself out of harm's way, but that didn't make things seem any less tense. Not once did he feel truly threatened and the creature's actions almost felt predictable. How this was when so much had been utterly baffling, he could not say.
It was just around the eighth time he had rolled out of his cover that he began having trouble finding somewhere else to take shelter from. No direction seemed to be clear as he realized how little room he had. Indeed, it almost seemed as though the piles and piles of destroyed metal were boxing him in . . . but surely that couldn't have been the case, right?
When he looked up, the creature had stopped moving. All the creature had to do was technically throw another part of the wall and it would have forced Dalic out, but it seemed to want to watch him instead. Seconds passed into minutes which stretched on in an endless torment of waiting. This thing knew what it was doing and Dalic knew what it was doing as well.
Stepping out from the cover, Dalic kept his hands up with his pistol poised and ready. The humanoid's head tilted from side to side as it walked around like a predator watching its prey. The creature shouldn't have been so cautious or was Dalic mistaking its caution for some vague semblance of honor? He was answered when it threw down his bloody knife right at his feet.
And before he could respond, it removed the mesh skin and mask that covered its face . . . to reveal . . .
Spirits, it really did look like an Asari . . . asides from the fur that rested on top of the creature's head. Its crimson eyes had bled through the mask, instead of the mask having red eye pieces, and that made more sense to Dalic. Still, the most striking part that he only just saw was the crease down the middle of the intruder's jawline.
Dalic noticed the snarl on its face. The expression obviously showed anger, but at the same time, there was some part of him that said it wanted to toy with him. This angry face may have been its neutral face and depending on which one it was, he was either being fucked with or given a chance to fight back.
Kneeling down, the navigator was slow in taking the knife back. His opponent made no moves to stop him, only puffing its chest while air pumped in and out through, what Dalic presumed to be, its lungs. Dalic had no reason to try anything stupid, but options were running low given his flight response seemed to produce nothing but a corpse.
But just as he was starting to weigh things out, a sudden rumbling came to rock the ship. From his past experience, Dalic was quick to determine what said shaking had come from. And when he took a gander at one of the working consoles with a live feed still fixated on the outside of the ship, he saw the tiny smidgens of escape pods appearing into view.
Again, the monster looked to be confused and the Turian took no time to take advantage. Instead of firing at him, he took a couple shots at several light fixtures above, causing them to short out and rain down glass. More confusion, and with that Dalic sprinted as fast as he could towards the door. Unfortunately, he forgot to get a glimpse of what the creature had done.
A large slab of metal and wiring slammed into him, propelling him down the hall. The view next to him showed the darkness of space and within that darkness came the sights of his fellow crew men leaving. He would have laughed or jeered for his victory, but a broken rib or two was enough to keep him from doing that. The monster stepped through the even wider doorway as his toss had inadvertently broken more of the door off. Glass pierced the creature's skin while sparks began to signal his entrance. The lights flickered on and off as his steps came louder and louder.
Dalic frowned as he tried to pull out his gun, but he found both to be pinned. He had no tricks left, so he used the last asset he had in an effort to feed his fight response.
"You're . . . dead," he said, no, muttered. A cough rang through the halls as the alarms had long quieted down. This place would be where he would rest now, "Your actions . . . you have no idea what you're dealing with. Whatever you are, whatever you came from, people will know and they will hunt you. I can't wait to see you suffer for what you've done."
It was futile, but that didn't mean he couldn't get it out. After all, just because an enemy couldn't understand his words, it didn't mean that every other part of him was completely incomprehensible. That being said, Dalic froze when he felt something crawl up the side of his head. At first he thought it to be some sort of bug or insect that came along with the creature. That theory threw itself out the window when he recognized it rather than questioned it. It grew more and more as the alien casually sauntered up to Dalic, now shaking as he realized what he was feeling.
Spirits, it was that itch again.
When things couldn't have gotten possibly worse, the ten foot tall monstrosity knelt down, Dalic's head leveled at its stomach as it leaned into him. Blood began to roll down from the creature's lips as he looked at the crease on its jaw start to unravel. But that was not what would shake him to the core . . .
"Do not worry," the words shocked Dalic as he tried to comprehend what he said. For a moment, he thought he was dreaming, but as it continued to speak, it had been clear that this alien was speaking perfect Turian, "You will not see your kind fail . . . miserably."
Suddenly, the creature grabbed Dalic by the back of his head and pulled up from the rubble. The navigator, by instinct attempted to claw at the monster's arm, but with a quick flick of its wrist, the alien forced Dalic to wail in pain. A bone jutted out from his arm while it bent at a gruesome angle. There shouldn't have been anything worse than this moment, but when the creature began to howl at his face, the navigator of the TSD Abolis saw the darkness of the abyss.
There it was, yet again staring into him as the creature's bottom jaw ripped itself in half and segmented once more. The face looked like some perverse twisted form of the Asari-like face he had seen earlier. This . . . what was this thing? This wasn't an alien; this was a demon. Dalic vocal cords were far from going out and just as the monster went for the kill, a white flash consumed everything.
All three Turians were well on their way out. Cruisers and frigates had picked up numerous pods trying to stem the chaos. Their pod was away from the group, drifting towards the other side of the ship that the other pods were. Ensign Mavil expressed his discomfort with being away from the group, especially given that a giant worm was still wrapped around the ship, but Deeiv calmed him down. Operations were going smoothly and their direct line assured them that they would be ok. Vennil, on the other hand, was not doing well, still staring out towards the ship he left his friend on. Coward, he told himself. Weakling, he muttered in his mind. Worthless, he bitterly spat at the window. Both Deeiv and Mavil were breathing in survivor's guilt as well, but even they knew their struggle was nothing compared to the Captain's thoughts.
Trying to keep calm, Deeiv did what he usually did and stared out into space. It took a second, but when he recognized the shape of the Mass Relay, he had immediately turned his attention back onto it. Observations aside, he had always been tasked with watching their surroundings in an attempt to understand their setting and course. While he certainly forgot to do it that instance, when he looked back at the relay, he began to shake when he remembered what had happened.
He gave Mavil a subtle nudge and the younger ensign looked to where he was pointing at. He too froze, fear stricken and ever cursed to remember the sight as Deeiv would.
"Captain, look!"
Vennil turned quickly, a desperate want to see one last escape pod coming from the Abolis. Only problem was that his two subordinates were not pointing at the ship. His eyes drifted slowly towards where they pointed and, at first, he didn't quite understand what was going on.
His mood changed when he started to see a bend in the light around the relay. This was, ultimately, his first time he had seen the skittering dots all over the surface. But they weren't skittering anymore; instead they had all kept still, evenly spaced out to surround the entirety of the relay. The worst was actually the hardest to see. After all, who could have seen the Relay begin to disintegrate?
"Spirits help us."
Time had finally run out as some force distorted the light to contract into one spot. Like a tsunami, it could only hold so much before it burst forth to blind everyone there.
Relay 314 was no more
AN: Shoutout to szierera for beta-ing this story :3
Feel free to read and review
Hope this story got a people's attention.