Chapter two
Hey guys thanks for reading! Just to clear something's up that I missed before. The mass effect universe is as if the mass relays haven't been discovered yet. Think of it as if the council, the council races and citadel do not exist. In fact while the Alliance have found alien ruins and the odd crashed ship they have yet to find any actual aliens dead or alive. Any alien characters from mass effect that I may include in the future have not yet been met by the Normandy's crew. Shepard and the rest of the Normandy are very much loyal to the Alliance and while Cerberus dose exist they are still only small time terrorists. The storyline for this story will be more focused around the republic and Jedi. Of course with some new characters and stories included. (Also anyone worrying about missing out on lovable mass effect characters like Tali and Garrus don't worry so much. Let me know who you want included because I have an idea how they will be introduced into the story) Again thanks for reading and please enjoy and let me know what you think.
0-0-0-0
Masters Windu, Mundi and Yoda entered the chancellor's office. "Ah masters its good you could join us" the chancellor said with a smile as he gestured towards some chairs. The three took seats in front of the chancellor's desk next to Admiral Tarkin and Director of the Senate Bureau of Intelligence Armand Isard. "What seems to be the issue Chancellor?" Windu asked as they took their seats. "It seems that a previously deactivated mass relay in uncharted space has just come back online. However there's something else." Director Isard stood up and activated the holomessager. The room darkened and a holorecording of an old woman in Jedi robes appeared before them. "This is Master Nomi Sunrider of the Jedi order, anyone who receives this message I implore that you pass it on to the Jedi high council. If this has reached the high council then I carry a grave warning. After retiring from the council I have searched the galaxy for any sith stragglers. What I have found eclipses our worst nightmares The Sith are far stronger than we could have imagined. They have built an empire powerful enough to challenge the republic and the Jedi and plot and scheme against us. If we are to stand any chance against them then we must build our defense and prepare otherwise I fear they will sweep across the Republic unchallenged. In an attempt to slow them down me a my allies have shut down several mass relays in order to cut them off however I fear this will not hold them forever. I hope this message reaches you in time to make a difference good luck and may the force be with you.
The three masters looked at each other. "What Sith do you think she is discussing?" Admiral Tarkin asked. "It's hard to say" mundi replied "grandmaster Sunrider fought in the great sith wars nearly 4,000 years ago. She could be referring to The Sith empire that started the Great galactic war 400 years later." "Is it possible that there is another sith empire out there?" Isard asked "mmm never clear are the sith clouded in shadow they are however sense great disturbance around this relay I do" Yoda replied "send a scout team we will discover the meaning for this relays reactivation we must."
0-0-0-0
Ryan awoke and tried to open his eyes but the lights around him blinded him forcing him to shut them again starting a pounding in his head. Wincing in pain he slowly opened his eyes again seeing two dark brown eyes staring back into his. "Ryan thank god you're ok" Kaidan beamed "you had us so worried!" "Kaidan what happened?" Ryan asked holding his head. "What's the last thing you remember?" Dr Chukwas asked as she checked and double checked Ryan's vitals. Ryan stopped to think "we had found an alien space station of some kind." Ryan paused clearly racking his brain "when…. When Shepard. Shepard!" he gasped turning to look at Kaidan. That was when he noticed the grief in his eyes and Kaidan slowly shock his head. "No! he can't be" Ryan whispered "I'm sorry Ryan you done all you could there was no way he could have made it to the safe room in time. If you hadn't sealed the doors and got the shield up when you did you would all be dead as well." Kaidan tried to reassure Ryan. "who just sat in silence looking at his feet while the doctor fussed around him. That's when it started the throbbing in his head got more and more server until he started seeing white spots. He could hear the doctor shouting orders but it sounded far away and distant. After a while he closed his eyes and succumbed to the pain.
0-0-0-0
Ryan tossed and turned as he watched the man before him fall to the ground dead with a small reptile attached to his neck. Ryan heard a woman screaming and realized the sound was coming from his mouth. He looked round at a world he didn't know, and suddenly he saw the man who had fallen stand before him. Telling him to take his weapon and use it to defend himself and their child and to be strong, knowing that the dead man will always be love him. He reached for the defeated man's weapon a glowing sword snatching it up he then ran at his alien attackers cutting one down and then another. The others around him began to flee tripping over themselves as they ran. Ryan didn't give chase instead he sat next to the dead man holding him in his arms as he sobbed.
0-0-0-0
Again Ryan slowly opened his eyes and looked around he noticed Dr Chukwas and Dr David standing by the door deep in convocation. He coughed a little and they both looked up and came over to him. "Welcome back buddy" David smiled. "how long have I been out?" Ryan asked laying back as Dr Chukwas checked him over. "only a few hours from the last time you were awake" David replied "and altogether just over a day. Long enough I had to kick Kaidan out before he collapsed from lack of sleep" Ryan managed a weak smile and he and Dave exchanged a knowing look. "well Doc how long till I'm back on my feet?" "That depends you fell quite badly, not to mention your brain activity. It's quite strange the migraine you experienced earlier is quite unusual. For example even when you were unconscious your brain activity was threw the rough." "So what are you saying?" Ryan asked "I'll need to run some tests before I can say anything for sure"
After what had felt like endless torture Ryan was hobbling out of the med bay on crutches he already hated them they made him feel like he was dependent. Members of the crew stopped to wish him well and tell him how glad they were that he had made it. He forced a smile and thanked them but wanted nothing more than to run to his room and lock the door. After getting to the command center he struggled into the scanner room where the two marines were about to wave him through when he gave them a grilling about it being their job to trust no one. They quickly apologized and scanned him letting him through after some extra checks. David chuckled as they moved into the next room "you really hate being like this don't you" he smiled "you have no idea" Ryan Growled back. The entire command team for the Normandy along with Admiral Anderson and some high ranking members of the Alien investigatory taskforce sat in the conference room discussing the situation. Ryan had been grilled for the last half an hour it was starting to feel more like an interrogation than an investigation meeting. However he leaned that the station referred to itself as a 'mass relay' and seemed to be just one in a great network. It seemed to have malfunctioned in some way causing it to shut down which is why when Dr Noah restarted the station it gave off the power surge. He also found out that Shepard and his team had been found still in the control room huddled together Ryan had to fight hard to keep back a tear at this news.
However there were more concerns as it seemed that when the station returned to working order that it had sent out a message of some kind to the other relays. Strangely they had also found a human corpse estimated at 4,000 years old. "I don't understand" James said "how can it be human if it's so old?" "It's not well known but human corpses were found at the mars alien site and a few of the others." Dave replied "it's quite possible that a few humans were taken by whoever these aliens are or were." "have they been checked against human samples on earth of around the same time?" Kaidan asked. "It's Just you yourself David said that the genetic makeup of this human is quite different to our own." "I see what you're saying" David said "im not sure if the makeup is different because we have developed over time or because it's not from the same planet as us" The scientists from the A.I.T murmured some disagreement then professor Martins the head of this discovery spoke up. "With all respect Dr Hill there has never been any evidence to suggest that the creatures found at other sites were truly human." "I know professor I wrote my P.H.D on the remains found at the mars site, and they are indeed not 100% human they are closet related to Homo erectus. However the remains in question are 100% human with small differences in DNA to current human life." The whole room fell silent and stared at David. "What are you saying doctor?" Anderson asked "if I was a betting man I would say that somewhere out there is a alien life force one that built the ruins that we found on mars and whatever that station is. I also believe that these aliens either took homo erectus from earth or delivered them hear from somewhere else after experimenting on them. Which would mean there're other humans out there somewhere in the galaxy and the human we found on the mass relay is one of these humans. Either brought back by the aliens or returned their own professor stood up "where is your proof!" he demanded "its long been known to experts on the mars site that they were carrying out experiments on the remains we found there. But I will admit there rest is educated guess work but isn't most of science until we find the evidence that makes us famous. Also there is no avoiding that there is a massive gap not only in time scale but also on an evolutionary level between the two. Not to mention this human has without a doubt been dead for around 3,900 years and humans have only had spaceflight for around the last 130 years. Meaning there is no way that she got hear from earth."
The arguments raged on for hours until it was finally agreed that the third fleet under Admiral Anderson would come to the mass relay to protect and study it in an attempt to understand and learn all they could. It was agreed that the Normandy for now at least would stay on at the relay until a decision was made about its feature. Dr David was given the honour of leading a team's study into the human found and its relevance to the station and the humans of earth. It was also decided that the relay would be turned into the Alliance headquarters for the expedition fleet and given all the upgrades and changes needed.
0-0-0-0
Meanwhile Ryan's recovery had been slow, his mind had become jumbled and confused as if he had too much information to store and not enough room. His migraines continued and were slowly getting worse so much so he had been unable to attend Shepard and the rest of the team's memorial service before they were sent back to earth. This along with the lack of recovery progress he was making had taken its toll on Ryan who over the next few days spent more and more time alone in his room or in the med bay working with physio. So much so that when Sargent James invited to a game of poker with the other officers something that he normally would have jumped at, he declined. In fact if Kaidan hadn't insisted he take part for his own sanity he would have never been persuaded.
As he entered the lounge on his crutches at the agreed time the whole room jumped up to help him. However James trying to help him into his chair was a step too far. "James will you please get the hell out of my way! I am more than capable of taking on an entire ship of pirates with nothing more than a pistol and some grenades I think I can take a seat by myself!" he had growled in a threatening tone. So James moved back but stood behind him ready to catch him should he fall. Although the death glare he gave the veteran soldier was enough to make him retreat to his own chair. With a chuckle from a few of the other officers the game began. Ryan quickly started to relax joining in on jokes normally at James's expense and even winning a few hands. Ryan was on maybe his third or fourth drink when his head began to throb. James stopped and looked at him "you ok guerrero?" he asked looking a little worried. "Fine" Ryan lied faking a simile, this was the most fun he had had in ages he wasn't going to let a headache ruin it.
By now they were well into their game and most of the officers were quite drunk and the game had progressed to strip poker. "That's it Vega get it off!" Ryan laughed. James started to protest but the others all started chanting "off! Off! Off!" till James pulled off his trousers in a striptease fashion leaving him only in his boxers, socks and dog tags. The room filled with roars of laughter and cheering. However as James looked round beaming looking to spot Ryan's reaction his smile melted as he saw how pale Ryan had become. As he began to stand up Ryan fell forward hitting his head on the poker table. Ryan could hear people calling his name but they seemed far away or like they didn't really exist, he could then make out faces before him James and Lucy looking scared. He knew James had picked him up but he didn't feel anything just his head ripping itself in two. That's when he noticed he was yelling in pain without even meaning or wanting too. As James reached the med bay with him in his arms he gave into the darkness that was clouding his vision. Closing his eyes and letting go he began to dream of a life that wasn't his own.