Yep, that's how long pauses may get. I haven't really had any motivation to write until recently, and I hope I don't upset people by saying that. Plus sorry, as it's not exactly very long. But I'll try to get the next out faster than this.
So, here is the timeline I promised. Please tell me, if there are any inconsistencies.
Systems Alliance Archives.
History inquiry (Rank: Admiral)
The year zero is the destruction of the Demeter Refueling Facilities. (marked a(fter).d(emeter), b(efore.)d(emeter).)
Italics contain classified data.
3 a.d. (2412 in old Earth Calendar): the SRS conducts what is meant to be a raid on an IMC facility on the planet Typhon. It goes terribly, the Militia loses the entire 4th fleet.
Jack Cooper manages to stop the experimental Fold device from activating, and potentially destroying the planet Harmony.
The fold device is rumored to be of alien origin, although it can't be confirmed, nor denied.
4 a.d.: The Expeditionary fleet encounters a confirmed alien device, similar in structure and working to the IMC fold weapon, confirming alien origins.
The Marauders broke off from the SRS.
6 a.d.: The SRS is dissolved, upon request from Sarah Briggs.
9 a.d: The Systems Alliance is officially formed, adopts the new calendar, starting from the battle of Demeter.
It only consists of 43 worlds, but many more are joining, due to protection from pirates.
10 a.d.: The Alliance restructures its military entirely. Brings more order.
It took the previous 'cadre' system, and reshaped the different popular, and renowned groups to be branches of the military.
Constant upgrades to not only the Pilot program, but their weapons as well, lead to better equipped, and better skilled Pilots.
The core war begins.
The Core War.:
Earth has been ecologically decimated, and required its inhabitants to be relocated. The IMC would be the one to be trusted with the job.
The only possible charted space to relocate is the Frontier, and a war springs from the aggressive methods of the IMC. The now united frontier has no trouble fighting back. Overall, the Alliance has major victories over the IMC forces, comprised of now older ships, and mercenaries. The fighting expands into the Core systems, meaning Sol and its neighborhood. The Alliance wins through a bloody fight, at the end of which the IMC bombard Earth, and tries to blame it on the Systems Alliance. The Core systems are annexed into the Alliance. Sol turns out to be a massive boon in terms of industry, even without Earths might
11 a.d.: The Alliance's foundries, and researchers start working on the next generation of Titans.
The results are the Vanguard 3, The Predator, The Brute, The Omnipotent, The Hunter, The Zenith, and the highly controversial Warrior chassis'.
The First exploration fleet uncovers a small amount of a material, which has the capability to manipulate mass. Turns out to be hard to integrate into existing systems. Identified, as one of the unknown elements in the Fold artifacts.
Alliance Spec Ops takes over the project.
12 a.d.: The Marauders start to get braver in their raids.
The second and third exploration fleets are launched.
22 a.d. (now): The Second expeditionary fleet makes it's first great discovery.
Sheppard stood in front of Admiral Xuen, on the Hit with Hell, one of the dedicated battleships of the 23rd fleet. It was one of the older Hope class ships, originally meant to be an artillery vessel, but the designers went crazy with armor plating and shields, so they got a battleship instead. Sheppard knew, they needed every last ship they could get, even if they were a couple years behind current technology. After all, he has seen the second Fold artifact recovered from a planet, with an unpronounceable designation. And there were other, non-technological ruins around it. He was invited to take a look at it, as he actually was on Typhon, and even got a good couple of looks at the Fold device, before Cooper destroyed it, and the planet. Whatever built it was very advanced, and it was gone. They had to be ready in case they ever came back.
John looked at his superior, who was handling a call, which came from one of the smaller cruisers. What Sheppard could make out pointed to it being a request to scrap one of the disabled frigates for parts.
"All right. You can do it." Said the admiral, after thinking about it. "Now if you excuse me, I have other matters, I need to attend to." There was a second of silence in the room, after which, he continued. "Good. Report about your repairs in six hours. Xuen out." He touched his earpiece, and turned to Sheppard, questioningly. John saw a moment to interrupt, and so he did.
"Sir, I have my report on the latest operation. It should be in your inbox." He said, as he looked around in the room. It had surprisingly small space, for an Admiral, who would have to be ready in seconds, even if sleeping, or taking a bath. And small room in such cases is very limiting.
"Yes, I saw it. Just hadn't yet gotten to reading it. Some of the carriers are still figuring out what damage they took, and until I have everything together, only a military shipyard will take us in for repairs. Also, the ships with experimental Fold tech couldn't go in a civil dock, even if I wanted them to." He looked at Sheppard, and sighed. "I'm rambling, am I not?"
"No problem Admiral. Wouldn't want to be in your position right now." Sheppard added, to lighten the mood.
"Well, better say why you're here, as the Aikastar is trying to call me again." Xuen said to John offhand, while he wrote something on his data-pad.
"First, I'd like to nominate Ingram for a promotion." The man, sitting behind the desk turned to John, lowered his pad, and smiled.
"Now? Bit too late." He saw that John wanted to interrupt, but raised a finger. "No, it's not actually a promotion, but Intelligence wants her. Nothing we can do about that."
"But... Just like that? How long did you know?" John asked, his face showing a considerable sign of disbelief.
"A week. Sorry for not telling you. I thought it may impact your performance here."
"An adequate assumption. I'm fu-rious right now." Sheppard tried to play it off cool, in an almost mocking tone, but failed.
"So, you'll be the two man team. I mean, until we find you and Williams another four guys." Xuen bent his seat back, and relaxed. "Kaiden is probably not coming out of that operating room for days. And even if he does, he'll spend a month in stasis, while I either approve getting him the cybernetics, or a simulacrum body, if it all goes bad."
"Is he that bad?" Sheppard asked.
"Worse. Last time, I asked for an update, the guy handling the machinery told me 'fuck off, I'm tired'. That's all I know." The admiral finished.
Sheppard then tried to change the topic.
"Sir, I thought about the job you were offering. If you tell me what it is, and Ash agrees, I'll accept."
"Yeah, I knew that would come up." He punched some buttons on his desk, and a projector came online, with a soft hum. John was about to ask, when the admiral simply said: "You'll want to see this."
Then, with the press of a button, a set of images were shown on the wall behind the admiral. They were clearly taken in space. In the background, there were asteroids, many of them, but the focus fell onto a large, ice-covered rock. The admiral looked at his Pilot in front of him, and started explaining. "Three days ago, the second expeditionary fleet stumbled across weird readings, the likes of which we've only seen three times before." This immediately made John snap his eyes onto the pictures, trying to find something, he saw years ago. The admiral clicked the button again, and the pictures changed.
Now, instead of the ice-covered rock, there was a large construct. It was silver-textured, and elongated. But what shocked Sheppard to the bone was the thing in its middle. A fold weapon. Or, rather what looked like one. Two thin tori, spinning on different axis, but a common center. The light, emitted by the Ark was missing, but John was still surprised
"According to their readings, that... thing has more of the fold material, than both of the dig-sites and the Typhon ruins together." He made a pause, so John can take it in, then went on. "It is obvious, what we're seeing at the center of it, but the superstructure is new. I mean, NEW. Not even in the recovered ARES logs have we seen any reference to it. There was no indication. The techs are going crazy. They are talking about mass-less corridors, and uses for it in transportation."
"And they want the people with Fold experience to be there." Sheppard guessed. The admiral just gave a nod, as if it was obvious.
"Sheppard." The admiral looked into his eyes, losing every aspect of his face that made him look cheerful. "You have to take this. If there is any truth in what the experts are saying, this is taming fire. Or inventing the wheel. Or the jump drive. If it's done improperly, humanity will have another conflict on its hands, be it a weapon, or a transportation apparatus. You have the most experience with that thing besides Cooper, and if you don't go willingly, I'll order you to go."
"I wouldn't have turned it down. I don't like taking risks, but I'm not stupid. When are we supposed to go?"
"Been keeping a transport for you. You get yourself and Williams packed, and you're leaving." He looked away, a faint grin appearing on his face "Be sure to tell me, if you mess it up. Would hate it to hear about it from command."
"Will do. Permission to leave, sir?"
"Granted. Get ready, the clock is ticking."
Sheppard was in Hangar nine aboard the Lions' Courage, one of the battle-carriers. Around him Titans were packing things into shuttles, while people on the deck were checking lists. Typical after-engagement procedures, especially if the battle was big. Like this one. Sheppard was pretty up in the chain of gossip, being a senior pilot, so he heard things. Like that one of the small cruisers was now held together with quick-sealing compounds, meant for space suits. Then there was the story about the Ornamented Vision, a battleship, resorting to loading silverware into its coilguns. Supposedly, they even got a kill with it. Now John knew a thing, or two about finding creative way to kill people (It was his job after all), but this genuinely made him go wow, the first time he heard it.
Then, something snapped him back to reality
"Sir, the ship is scheduled to leave in a minute." A woman in a bright orange flight-deck coveralls said with a tablet in her hand.
"Yes, sorry." He excused himself, then started walking up the ramp, inside the transport. He was about to seal the airlock, when a voice called his name. He looked back, and saw a womans silhouette in the standard off-combat pilot jumpsuit. Even without his enhanced eyes, he could have seen the nametag on it. Ingram H.
"John, I'd go." She started.
"It's not your choice." He saw concern on her face, so he tried to calm her down. "It's the second most prestigious job a pilot can have. I know several of the guys in the intelligence program, and they'll take good care of you. If not, just tell me." He finished with a wink.
"I know, it's just... you were the best commander I've had, and... Thank you" She gave a smile, after which she turned back and started to walk away.
"Ingram, take care of yourself." Sheppard whispered, as he pressed a button, and the airlock sealed. He went through a couple of doors, and found himself in a larger room, where people were sitting at tables, and eating from uniform trays.
Sheppard felt home. He spent his last twenty years going from battlefield to battlefield, and most of that time was spent in such transports, and has met most of the now-senior Pilots. He once even fought with MacAllan. Now, however, his 'home' felt alien. Ever since the forming of the Systems Alliance, and the regulations to the military, the mess halls started to become emptier. No longer were they filled with Pilots, sharing their stories, and the grunts listening to them. No longer was it a disorganized pub, but something, Sheppard would have expected from the IMC.
"Hey, you going to sit down?" Ashley shook him back into this world.
"Yeah, just daydreaming." He answered quickly, as he sat down.
"Not hungry?" She asked, and only received a nod from John. "Can't blame you. Wouldn't want to go near one of those, if I was on Typhon either"
"Well, yeah. So, how about you look over the possible teammate list, the Expeditionary fleets admiral sent?" He asked, hopefully.
"And leave you out of all that fun paperwork? Hell no. We have time anyway. It's gonna take like a day to get there." She said, then started eating again. Sheppard tried to answer, but no good comebacks came to his mind, so he just went for a tray, and joined Ashley in eating. It was going to be a loooong and boring ride, he knew that much.
John was asleep, in his cabin, when he was woken up by someone, by coughing. He blinked a couple times, to clear his vision, then sat up. Next to his bed, he saw the captain of their transport. John wanted to ask if he was needed anywhere, and that's why he was woken up, but he was cut off.
"Pilot, we have received news from the expeditionary fleet, and they are sending a transport of their own. And if my clock is right, they'll be here in twenty minutes."
Now Sheppard was used to being woken up, but he could count the times, he was required to change transports, on one hand.
"Alright, shouldn't be too hard. Thanks for telling me."
"There is a complication, they don't want to take your teammate." The captain said, with an expression that was shouting: Why do I have to tell him?
"No problem, if they won't I'll just tell them I'm not going either, and you can then take us back to the fleet." Sheppard conveyed the first reaction he had. It was not unheard of that an admiral wants to supply a pilot with his own men, but to make the newcomer leave his teammate behind was a first for John.
"Okay, Pilot. If you say so." The captain said unsure, then walked out of his cabin.
Sheppard sat up and looked around. The room was dimly lit, and was a bedroom and living room in one. The bed ha sat on was in a corner, next to a large shelf. In the middle of the room was a table and two chairs around it, which were looking at a screen built into the wall opposite from the bed.
Not like he cared. He opened the door, which lead into his personal bathroom. The benefits of being a Pilot with two decades' worth of experience and battles under your belt.
Ashley was on the docking port, pacing nervously back and forth. She got a call from Sheppard a couple minutes ago that there would be complications, so be at the airlock, waiting.
Well, SHE was there. Her superior wasn't. She was really nervous.
Then it got worse. The airlock hissed, and the lights around the large bulky door turned green.
"Sheppard" She whispered, kind of annoyed. The door hissed open.
Behind the door, stood two masculine figures, both wearing the same armor, with blue and gray markings, and lines on a black base. Both had a knife in a sheath on their chest, and a holster at their right side. One wore a gray helmet with an older fashion x-shaped visor, and the other had a torn scarf around his neck.
"We're here for commander Sheppard." The one without helmet said, his eyes not telling of any emotion.
"Should be here any second." Was all Ashley could say. While she said that the door behind her opened, and she heard quick steps.
"Just in time to see the welcoming committee" Ashley was about to facepalm at his commander taking the situation so lightly. Then, Sheppard looked at the helmetless man, and his grin faded. "So, Shadows." He said, with the intention of letting Ashley know who these people are. "Nice new armor, Josh."
At first Ashley was surprised by the strangers being Shadows, but then the bigger shock came when she realized Sheppard must know at least one of them. Back when there was war, the Shadow Guild was set up under Bish, to extract high value information, and personnel from heavily hostile environments. And they were legendary at what they did. Before she could think into it anything further their new 'friend' started talking.
"Actually, former Shadow, John. You know, without a war, a stealth unit runs out of things to do. And the armor is actually really cool." The man in the helmet wanted to step forward, but his partner waved him down.
"So after the Shadows you went to the expeditionary force?" Sheppard asked.
"Yeah. And we can talk about this while we are on the way. There's a great deal of chaos in our fleet at the moment, and the admiral is expecting you." Then Josh and the other Pilot began to walk back into their ship.
"I won't go." John said, making them look back.
"Because?" This was the first time the other Pilot spoke, his voice deep and soothing.
"Because she wouldn't be coming with me." John answered, looking at their, well, escorts, for lack of a better term.
"You know what?" Josh said in an annoyed tone. "Take her. The ship has space for her. You'll have to convince the admiral to let her stay, not me. But, as I said we are on a timetable and we have to leave in the next three minutes. So please come." He finished talking, and walked into the docked ship, disappearing after a turn. The other Pilot just nodded to Sheppard and followed his comrade. John turned to Ashley.
"Well, I hope that bag of yours really does have everything you need, as we won't be near civilization for quite a while, if all goes as I think."
"Pessimistic, Commander?" Ashley asked.
"No, I just have a feeling." Sheppard said, then grabbed a bag that lay behind him all this time.
He walked into the ship, while Ashley picked up her bag, and after a moment followed him. But one thing still bothered her. How did Sheppard know a Shadow? They were untraceable, and classified even now. What she heard, she heard from rumors. It was a strange thing. Not something that she expected. As she stepped into the docked ship, the airlock behind her hissed and the door closed. For some reason she wondered if she made the right decision.
John finally caught up to their hosts, who were sitting in a small room wit tables for eight people at best. So this was a smaller ship, maybe even a personal one. It was possible, as the expeditionary fleets had immense funding. To be honest, it was sort of necessary, as once again, humanity was outgrowing its colonies, and as it turns out, developing arcologies is more costly than sending the people to new colonies.
"So, will you show us our rooms?" Sheppard asked.
"There are six rooms on the ship. Ours are locked. Just claim one as yours. I mean, if you want to. We have three hours until we get to the jump point, then we'll land on the Annapolis 2." Josh answered. The other Pilot took off his helmet, revealing a dark skin with blue eyes, which had to be cybernetic, as he saw the circuits in them. Sheppard turned to him after he sat down on the other end of the table.
"Can I know your name? I mean, we'll be working together in the fleet, right?"
"Yes. I'm Jacob Taylor, Adept Pilot. Pleasure to know you, Josh talked a lot about that one mission on Mars." Jacob answered. "And sorry for pressing you to come, but there really is a lot going on in the fleet. We..." Here, he looked at Josh for confirmation, who just simply nodded. "We may have our first extra-terrestrial encounter in three days."
"What?!" Came a shocked voice from the door. John quickly tried to reassure everyone.
"Calm down Ashley." He turned to the Expeditionaries. "She'll be working with us, she can know about this. And I'd like to know more about these aliens of yours. That's not a claim you can make lightly." Sheppard finished, a look of interest on his face.
"The scientists were messing with the fold artifact, when they picked up gravitational anomalies heading our way. They say that's how trying to use gravity for travel looks, so we're all a bit on alert." Jacob answered, in a tone that suggested that he was telling of a sport game, rather than humanity's first contact with aliens.
"Oookay. And what are we supposed to do? Surely, the..." John paused to think of the right word. "Meeting. Yes, the meeting can't be the reason we are requested. Is it the artifact?"
"Sheppard, we tried to board it." Josh said, trying to lead up the topic. "We went to the superstructure, cut a hole in it, went in, through small, tight tunnels, and found nothing for hours. We were about to call off the mission, when one of the groups found what looked like a... I have no idea. A large sphere, glowing in a blue light, giving off impossible readings." He would have continued, but stopped, as he saw Johns knowing, terrified look.
"The Ark..." Came the faint whisper from Sheppard after a minute of silence. No one knew what that meant, however, as it was highly classified info. Sheppard only knew about it, because after Typhon, when he was questioned, they wanted to know, if he was in contact with it. He didn't know what it looked like, and asked for a description. And damn the seven hells, what Josh described fitted the Ark perfectly "What happened?" He asked, afraid of what he was going to hear.
"Well, they tried to take it. Emphasis on tried. When they tried to move it, it... Ruptured. When we found them, they were lying on the ground, knocked out, wounds all over them, bones broken in multiple places per person, and the walls had a hard time deciding which way was up."
"Are they alive?" Was the question. From Ashley.
"Most of them. One guy needed surgery to take a rib out of his lungs that the nanobots couldn't solve, so the doctors tried to help him." Jacob paused for a second. "The guy lay there on the table. Sedated. Opened up, his heart visible." He had to stop again, as he recalled the events.
"Give me something to scratch the new tissue off with." Said the senior doctor in a Scottish accent, as he looked at the man in front of him, whose chest was split in two. The broken and twisted rib was clear to see, even if the nanobots already tried to remake the muscles that were supposed to be there, creating a grotesque mass of flesh that didn't look right. One of the curses of treating pilots. Usually, with time such broken bones snap back into place and the wildly grown flesh is replaced, but the guy was unlucky enough to get it through his lung, and would have suffocated by the time that happens.
One of his assistants gave him a spoon-like contraption, with which he began to scoop away the unnatural growth. As he went on, the other doctors got to his side, and started applying stitches to the area, to prevent the Pilot from bleeding out.
As he was just done with the last part, he put down the spoon, asked for the last set of stitches, and was just about to apply them, when the doctor felt pressure on his abdomen, and couldn't move his hands forward, while the man was still bleeding from the new wound. He looked down, to see a blue glow. Then he turned his head back up, seemingly confused. When he did so, he saw that the Pilots eyes were open, and he looked terrified.
It was over in a second. The man flared in blue light, the intensity of which rivaled a sun, and everyone in the room was thrown into the walls, denting them, and reducing the medical staff into bloody masses of flesh, that slowly slid down the warped metal, covering the floor in a layer of all sorts of bodily fluids.
In the observation room someone vomited. Others were hitting the glass, intending to break it. After a couple swings from everyone, the cracked glass gave away, its pieces falling onto the bloody floor.
The crew just stood in shock, as the Pilots, who broke in were trying to search for survivors.
By the time we got a new set of medical personnel, the guy bled out." Finished Jacob.
"So you say that the Ark gave him some sort of super-power?" Ashley asked, frowning.
"If that's a super-power, I don't want any of it." Josh said grimly.
"Of course, we understand how disturbing it must have been for you, but that thing was the same as what powered the fold weapon on Typhon." John said. Then he realized why they were here. Everyone who was in any contact with the Fold weapon was either in a different expeditionary fleet who-knows-where, or recruited into less discrete parts of the military. "Oh. You need someone who's been briefed on Fold artifacts and isn't spec ops."
"Yes. The admiral went as far as saying we're allowed to kidnap you." Jacob answered with a smirk on his face. "Glad we didn't need to though. If you're half as decent as Josh says you are, we'd have had to scratch our limbs up from the floor by the end."
"Anyway, if you need my knowledge, and not my combat prowess, I'm going to get out of armor, and lay down for a bit." John started walking out. When he was in the door, his bag still slung over his back, he turned around, and motioned for Ashley to come.
She followed, and soon they were in the hall, walking toward the crew quarters, not saying a word. When they reached them, Sheppard pulled out a card from one of the doors, and Ashley pulled out one from another. John was about to close the now open door behind him, but saw Ashley come into his room as well.
"Is there something, Williams?" He asked, not sure what to make of the situation.
"I just wanted to ask some questions. What I just learned about you in the last half hour was more than the last two years."
"Ask away. I mean, as long, as the questions are not personal." Sheppard said back with a gentle voice.
"So, what was Typhon like?" The small grin on Sheppards face faded.
"I don't want to answer that."
"May I know why?"
"It's personal." He said with grief in his voice. So he lost someone there, Ashley deduced.
"Then pretend I didn't ask. Next, how do you know a Shadow?"
"Former Shadow." Sheppard corrected, and saw Ashley roll her blue eyes. "It's a... long story. As I told you before, I was there for the Sol campaign, aboard a smaller cruiser, and operated as part of a 'Getting friendly units out of shit' group. You could imagine my surprise, when during the briefing we were told we were going to rescue Shadows, who got locked into an EMP testing facility on Mars during one of the raids." He paused. "Actually, we have time and I'm not that tired, so might as well tell you." He paused, getting his memories in order, and started telling the tale of how a Pilot rescues a Shadow squad, and takes down an IMC battle-carrier in the same motion.
Okay, bit more info about this story.
First, I'm going to royally fuck over the Mass Effect Universe parts setting. Don't expect what you would from a normal ME crossover. (I'll keep the characters mostly, tho)
Second, my Shep will be more paragon than not. At least for now.
I'll try to do the next chapter faster than this one, but I can't promise anything.
