Godzilla © Toho and Mass Effect © Bioware
Chapter 2: Or a New Friend?
...
The station that the Normandy SR-2 was escorted to was alien compared to the ships the crew just encountered. While the ships from before were sleek, black ships with a bow-mounted drill, this station was, for a lack of more fitting words, a crystal fortress. It was literally covered in white crystal; so much that Jessica knew that Joker was going to make a joke about it.
"Don't make any comments Joker; just take us in so we can get this over with."
"You sure? Cause I can make at least several jewelry jokes. Yeah you're right, bad time for this."
As the Normandy stops alongside the massive metal and crystal station, a set of docking clamps extends out and attaches itself to the Normandy. As Jessica heads into the airlock, Garrus and Kasumi step into the room to join her; the commander wants people that she can trust by her side to fight through them in case the shit hits the fan with this first contact as well as people that she trusts to not start a fight.
After briefly checking his weapon, Garrus glances up at Jessica. "So you're saying that this new race is speaking- what was the name of this language again?"
"Yeah, they were speaking Japanese. Of course that means they probably met us humans before. We'll have to find out how. Kasumi, you should probably cloak now, if they prove themselves hostile, we may need you to go find out what they're up to."
The Japanese woman gives a quick nod, "Got it Shep."
The master thief activates her cloak just seconds before the door to the outside of the ship opens up. Unsurprisingly, Jessica found a rifle pointed at her face; the rifle, which was dark gray with a set of white ridges along the back, was being held by a being in a steel gray armor that covers the entire body with an exception to the jagged white spines that runs down its back all the way down to its tail. The other two soldiers were wearing the same, but one of them had jagged red spines while the other had rather round white spines.
The soldier aiming its rifle at Jessica's face then spoke to them in a deep, almost threatening voice, "I'm going to have to ask for the three of you are going to have to come with us."
Jessica silently cursed herself for such terrible luck, 'They know that Kasumi is there? Shit, so much for the element of surprise.' "Might as well decloak Kasumi, they're not falling for it."
There was a groan of disappointment as the Japanese woman decloaks, "Well so much for that idea."
The three armored beings were of course not surprised by this attempt of trickery as who the commander assumes to be the leader of the three motions for the three to follow him. As he walks off, the other two nudge their rifles into their captives' backs to motivate them to move on.
…
The three are currently stuck inside a small room waiting for their leader to enter, Jessica takes a glance outside the observation window at the planet and several other ships.
"So you're saying you know what these things are but at the same time you don't?"
The SPECTRE turns to look at Garrus and Kasumi who are currently discussing their "hosts". The thief nods at the turian's question, "Exactly. I know I've seen these guys before but I just can't remember where."
Before Jessica could add an idea to the conversation, the door opens and immediately the one soldier who's inside guarding them stiffens his pose and makes what the commander could only guess as being their own salute. Their leader was wearing the same armor as the soldiers were sans the helmet, allowing Jessica and her two squad mates to see that it has charcoal gray skin, Kasumi instantly recognizing the creature. "Oh my god, it's Godzilla."
Garrus, who's unfamiliar with human culture, is rather confused, "I'm sorry, I don't think that translated correctly. What did you say?"
"Godzilla, a giant monster who's the star of over 50 years of movies; who would've thought that we'd run into an actual race full of them?"
Jessica, immediately seeing that it's too much of a coincidence to have an entire race look just like a movie monster from over two hundred years ago, turns towards the mini-legend, "So tell us Godzilla, how is it that you know Japanese and have a movie monster resemble you perfectly."
Although the blonde got an annoyed scowl upon hearing his new nickname, he simply nods as he turns to look out of the window onto the planet below. "It was over two hundred and thirty years ago, the people of Ogasawara were trying an experimental FTL device, a modified Dimension Tide."
The turian expressed interest in this, "Dimension Tide?"
"That's classified; as I was saying, we were experimenting with a method for FTL. The ship that volunteered to be fitted with the device, an Atragon-class called the Purifier, opened a wormhole. Everything was going as it should've been, but when the Purifier entered the portal, we never heard from them until several decades later when a second portal opened up and the Purifier emerged. The captain of the ship, a brave Gojiran named Gyo, told us of this one planet named Earth; he told us of how the Purifier crashed into this one nation crashed on this small island chain called Japan. Shortly after crashing, Gyo and the rest of the crew were discovered by a man named Ishirō Honda working for some movie company called Toho; probably figuring that they were going to be stuck for a while, he agreed to come with them until the Purifier was fixed. Upon their return, they taught the rest of us the Japanese language and were hailed as heroes for their actions."
The Gojiran, having finished his tale, turns towards Jessica and leans down until he's just inches from her face. Looking into his fiery orange eyes, the commander could just tell that he was daring her to give him a reason to convince him that they were a threat. "Now tell me, human; what was your business that you show up in our system just days after we were attacked by those unknown ships?"
Jessica closes her eyes and sighs, somehow she knew it was going to come to this; opening her eyes she looks straight into the dinosaur's eyes. "Those ships that you destroyed belong to the Collectors, they're a mysterious race that has recently started to abduct human colonies. I'm on a mission to recruit the best this galaxy has to offer to stop whatever they're planning; what it is, I don't know, but I do know that it has something to do with the Reapers, sentient ships that come every fifty thousand years to wipe the galaxy clean of organic life. I know how crazy that sounds, but it's the truth."
It was over ten seconds of tense silence, when the Gojiran king just smirks and chuckles. "The best the galaxy has to offer, huh? Count me in."
This shocked everyone in the room, including the one Gojiran soldier in the room. "But my lord, this does not involve us."
The king growls angrily as he glares at the soldier, "This has everything to do with us! Do you want to know the reason that one ship survived? Because it's carrying the princes and princesses of the other races, my son included. If this human says that she's going after them, our best hope to get them back is for me to go with her. Do you understand, soldier?"
The soldier, who now seems to be more like a rookie more than everything else, hastily nods as the king turns towards Jessica, who just managed to get out of her shock.
"So you wish to come with us, Godzilla?" The king nods in confirmation. "Alright, I'm sure we can use you aboard the Normandy. But first, we should get you to the Citadel. Since you're a new race-"
"Forty-one races, actually."
"Forty-one new races, you should be introduced to the rest of galactic society."
The king growls in annoyance, "Fine, take me to this Citadel of yours, but do not waste my time at that place."
Jessica Shepard nods, "Hopefully it won't be, since you're a new race, they might be sympathetic to your problem and actually help."
The commander just hopes that she didn't just jinx herself with what she just said. When "Godzilla" exits the room after telling her that he'll meet them at the Normandy's entrance, Jessica couldn't help but feel that this trip just got a whole lot more complicated than it already was; she also added that she wants to add the hope that this king can actually live up to the image those movies left.
Hope that answers any questions that any of you had about how aliens knew Japanese; it may seem confusing I know, but it's the best I can come up with. Same with why he joins Shepard in the first place.
It may seem like a rather short, somewhat confusing, and possibly boring chapter, but just wait as the next chapter details Godzilla (still thinking of a name, so you'll have to deal with the crew calling him by that nickname) dealing with the Council "heads up their asses" behavior and Jack's recruitment mission. Read and review.