Scott looked out the windows of the shuttle.
It was not a standard human shuttle, by any means. Scott would've been comforted by the familiar profile of a mounted minigun in the shuttle. No such thing, and with his power armor malfunctioning, he couldn't bring heavy weaponry either. He'd have to be a little more conservative if he had to fight.
But with his sister here, he also had to draw enemy fire. He couldn't do that while he was being conservative. Scott grimaced in frustration.
"Thinking about that anomaly?" Liam asked. "Liam Kosta, by the way. Didn't get the chance to talk back in the Milky Way."
"Scott Ryder, and the one tinkering with her jump pack right now is Sara, my twin sister. No… though that anomaly is something to be angry about, too. Why didn't our sensors detect it? We just need half a chance, but this galaxy doesn't seem like it'll give us that much so easily."
"Why all the gloom and doom," Sara interjected. "Come on. We've crossed a galaxy to get here. We had to have spent a lot of luck to make that journey, and something was bound to change or go wrong. We've just got to adjust, like we always do. Now pipe down and get ready. Let me take a look at your jump pack one last time."
"Entering atmosphere," the pilot said. "Might want to hang on to something, even with inertial dampeners."
There were a few bumps along the way, but nothing the inertial dampeners couldn't handle. What was more concerning for Scott was the sight of the planet.
Thunder and lightning crackled across the skies. The clouds were storm clouds.
"Oxygen level below human requirements. Ionization level, high. Viability for human settlement: 0%," SAM informed the team.
"The mountains… they're floating," Liam said.
The team took a moment to reflect on the impossibility, the otherworldliness of this supposed golden world.
"Sir," Sara said. "It is clear that our objectives cannot be accomplished here. This world is not viable. Suggest heading back to the Hyperion and-"
"No, stay on course, and look at those structures below," Alec's voice could be heard over the comms through the thunder. "We are not alone."
"I read you. Identifying alien superstructures port-side. I am no civil engineer, but… it is work at least a century beyond anything we could put together, sir. Purpose: impossible to guess without closer observation. We must exercise caution."
"Hyperion, this is the Pathfinder," Alec said. "We have detected evidence of alien life. We are approaching them with the intent to make first contact."
"What if they're not friendly?" Liam muttered.
"What if they pretend to be, but aren't?" Cora said over the comms.
"We stick to protocol. Do not fire unless fired upon. This first contact is not going the way of humanity's first contact with the Citadel."
The shuttle shook, and a sense of dread filled Scott. That did not sound good. Sara knew better, having her scanner active. How like Earth, she thought. The planet was trying to kill them.
"Lightening strike! Shields down to-hang on!"
The shuttle's door burst open, and in what seemed like the blink of an eye, Liam was barely hanging on to the shuttle.
"Scott! Help!"
"Sara! Biotic pull?!"
"You idiot! If we time it wrong or vector it wrong, he could end up as a-"
Scott didn't get to hear what Liam could end up as, seeing as half of the shuttle disintegrated and he was in free fall. So were Sara and Liam, except he saw the bursts of fire from Sara and Liam's jump pack.
"You are in freefall," SAM said.
"No shit, SAM! Why isn't my jump pack working?!"
"There wasn't time to do a thorough check. Sara checked hers, and Liam's, and was about to check yours, but-"
"Get it the hell working!" Scott shouted, even as he felt his acceleration slow. He felt the biotic pull of his sister, who had accelerated downwards so she could stay in range. Sara was not the most gifted biotic, but she had desperation on her side and it gave her strength she did not realize she had.
That, and SAM was very good with an omni-tool. "Software glitch, fixed. Processing hardware blocks. No big problem."
"No big problem?! I'll show you no big problem when I get back to the Hyperion, buster! Fix the damned – argh! I almost died just now!" Scott said, his legs still wringing from the brief contact with the floating boulders.
"Scott, pull me!" Sara shouted, as she sped full-tilt downwards.
Scott did not know whether this was going to work, but he was desperate, and he had to put faith in Sara. He pulled, and Sara attached herself to Scott's back, activating her omni-tool while straining her jump pack to slow the descent.
"Sara, not to hurry you but we don't have long!"
"Shut up you knuckle-head. You think this is easy?!"
"You just have to wave your omni-tool, don't you?!"
Sara sighed and kept designing a work-around for the power problem. It had been six centuries and more, so it would have been strange for there to be no power problems. She was no electrical engineer, but it was a pretty basic problem, in a relatively small-scale equipment.
"Sara!"
"Scott! Shut! Up!" Sara said. "There! Try it now!"
"It's working but I'm not sure we'll make it!" Scott said, straining his jet all he could while making sure air resistance was at maximum capacity.
"Here, my jump pack's working better!" Sara said, grabbing him by the arms.
Scott brushed her off, and threw her upwards as much as his biotics would allow.
"Scott! What the hell are you-"
"Just accelerate upwards, Sara! If this goes badly, I'm gonna make sure I don't take you with me!" Scott growled through gritted teeth, using as much power as possible to send Sara up.
Sara tried to pull, but Scott was the stronger biotic. Eventually, he was out of range, and Sara's attempt to get back in range was rebuffed by Scott's biotics.
"SAM, projections!"
"You'll live, but it's gonna hurt." If Scott were not about to die, he would have noticed the drawl in SAM's voice. "Tilt to the right a bit, twenty degrees, you're uneven. Ten seconds. Brace for impact," SAM said.
Scott had quite a bit of experience with chutes and drop pods, so he didn't need SAM to tell him it was going to hurt.
A heavy thud, arms first trying to grab hold of a ledge. He was not an amateur, so he timed it so he didn't hold on too long and risk ripping his arm out. It was just enough to slow him down some more, and then an undignified rolling face-first.
Coming to a halt, he sucked for breath. There wasn't enough oxygen in the air.
A terror that felt like a lifetime came to a halt when Sara arrived, and fixed the small crack on his helmet.
"Puah! Hah! Gods damned! This is our golden world?!" Scott said, panting.
"Scott! Are you alright?! Anything broken?!" Sara said, fussing over him.
"He's fine, Sara," Liam said, scanning him. "Although that had to have hurt."
"Hurts like hell, but I'm fine," Scott said. "I'm alright, Sara. Stop crying."
"I'm not crying!" Sara insisted. "But hell, Scott, I thought I was going to lose you! And all because I didn't check your jump pack ahead of time! Five seconds later and you might have really died! Never do that to me again!"
Scott would have to risk his life again, time and over probably. But he wouldn't tell Sara, bleeding heart that she was, for now. "Sure thing. I'll be careful. Did we manage to grab any gear on the way down? Ammo? Food and water?"
"Pistol, shotgun, ammo, sword, some biscuit, a bottle of nuka-cola?" Liam reported.
"Eyebot, pistol, combat knife, sniper rifle, ten MREs, five liters of water."
"Where the hell do you even carry all that?" Liam said, aghast.
"The wonders of an engineer's backpack," Sara said, finally smiling a little.
"Good. Lost my assault rifle and sniper rifle with a bump on the way down, I think. I didn't bring my melee weapon, seeing as I'm not in power armor. So pistol and shotgun, with ammo. Three MREs, a liter of water."
"Rationing, and maybe three days? Sara?"
"… Let's not consider that. We need to get off this rock," Sara said. ""We need to find father."
"SAM, last known vector of shuttle 1. Set a nav point. Let's try to find the others as well. Strength in numbers."
There was silence, and Scott considered that it might take a while to set navigation points on a totally alien world, even for an AI.
Except that didn't make sense, obviously. SAM's AI was strong enough to, with some programming workarounds, overcome the Four Laws that bound every AI. It was the most advanced processor out there. The silence meant that they lost connection.
"SAM's not responding… it may have something to do with the unique atmosphere here," Sara said.
"Yeah, I think there may have been something off about our scans," Liam said, pointing to the floating boulders and tempestuous skies. "When I think of a golden world, I think more of a beach, some tequila, maybe volleyball…."
"Oh come on," Scott said, beckoning the others to follow him. "This place can't possibly be worse than Earth. And we have to find the others."
Thunder roiled as if to answer his challenge.
"First," Scott gasped as he clawed his way to the top of the cliff.
"I should've gotten you to pull me, biotically," Sara panted as she used her jump pack to clear the last hurdle. "But that would use energy we can't afford to waste."
Sara took a brief look at the new horizon the cliff afforded her. What she saw was no better than what she saw below.
Completely inhospitable to life, even more so than Earth beyond the walls of its great cities. The only thing that could be said for Habitat 7 was that it had no feral deathclaws, that she knew of. The gigantic flying creatures would convince her otherwise, she was sure. They somehow seemed to have adapted to the lightening strikes.
"Umphf!" Scott grunted as he helped Liam up the last stretch of the climb.
They left the Milky Way, each with his or her own reason. Whatever the reason was, this planet was going to disappoint a lot of people.
"Fire, and part of our shuttle," Scott said.
Sara snapped back to attention on reality, and pulled out her sniper rifle. She saw that Scott already had his shotgun out.
"Get down, Liam," Scott hissed. "Two alien life-forms spotted, 12'o clock!"
"Fisher's there, too," Liam said, drawing his weapons. "First contact protocols?"
"They have guns," Sara said, distressed. "Pointed squarely at Fisher. Scott!"
"I'll try talking to them. Everyone else, stay put. Prepare for when things go south."
"What?! I wouldn't be surprised if they-"
Scott broke from cover and approached the aliens, trying to communicate with them. He walked slowly. It gave Sara time to cloak herself, and circle around the back of the aliens. She set up her sniper rifle and trained it on the head of the alien who had his weapon drawn on Scott.
Now, Sara was generally a peaceful person, as she liked to think of herself. As peaceful as a human can be, at any rate. Sara was also a student of alien culture, however, and while she had nothing but a minute to go on, the scope of a sniper rifle gave her some preliminary theses on the aliens.
They're too alike, Sara thought. The aliens came from a culture that valued uniformity, and thus more likely to be inclined to xenophobia. Their bodies had natural armor of bone, so their homeworld had to be a place that encouraged such mutations. The local fauna probably tried to kill them on a regular basis, like the Krogan homeworld's local fauna tried to kill the Krogan.
Also, they are warlike, Sara tried to reason. She could not be sure if that was to justify what she was about to do or whether it was true. Their musculature, body structure seemed to be designed for combat and survival in harsh environments.
It was all bullshit conjecture, of course. This was another galaxy, after all.
"Time to wake up, ED-E," Sara whispered as she activated the eyebot. It had been a long time since eyebot designations had surpassed the alphabets, but ever since the time of the Courier, eyebots were called by the nickname ED-E.
The current iterations kept the original ED-E's look, but functionality was completely different. Especially ones modified by combat engineers.
Sara's ED-E took a moment to analyze the video from Sara's helmet cam. He, for that was the supposed gender assigned to his identity when Sara modified him, came to the same understanding his partner did.
Time to be sneaky.
Sara set the sights of her rifle squarely on the back of the head of one of the aliens. ED-E trained his focused laser rifle on the head of the other alien.
"Good boy," Sara whispered. "It's been a long time. I missed you so much."
ED-E transmitted his 'happy' sounds via the implant that connected Sara to the eyebot. He also suggested Sara concentrate, because he came to the same conclusion she did.
Six centuries and a galaxy away, and war never changes.
"Liam," Sara said.
"Copy, Sara. You're a lot stealthier than I thought by the way. Kudos."
"Thanks. Listen, this conversation Scott is having? It's not going well. These aliens? Peace is not likely to be an option," Sara said, though she still could not convince herself that it was not just her worry for Scott.
"Okay… and you're basing this on-"
"True, what the hell would I know? But on what I do know of bipedal aliens, common body language traits and alien evolution, this first contact is going south, and fast. When I fire, fire on the alien to the your right. Transmitting access codes for my ED-E's data-stream."
"Wait, Sara!"
The aliens were a lot closer to Scott now, and so were the business ends of their weaponry.
"Fisher," Sara transmitted. "Don't react outwardly right now, but we're here."
"Sara? How?"
"I'm going to fire soon, and when I do, I want you to do your best to take cover. ED-E will try to draw their fire, but I cannot guarantee your safety. Understood?"
"First contact-"
Be damned, Sara thought. These aliens had their weapons trained on her brother for far longer than she could accept.
The first alien crumpled in a heap. No shields, these ones, though their armor was thicker than Sara thought. ED-E and Liam opened fire on the second one, and though the alien did not go down immediately, a fistful of biotic energy in Scott's right hand finished the job.
"Ah shit, dad's going to yell our ears off," Sara said, emerging from cover.
"Well, that could have gone better," Scott sighed. "Thanks guys. These aliens did not look friendly. Fisher, you alright?"
"I'm sorry, guys," Fisher said. "That could have – should have – gone a lot better. Thanks for saving me."
"Not your fault," Sara said, hurrying over. "Their physiology, body language, all point to them being a warlike species. We may have met the Krogan in this galaxy."
"Scanning… transmitting data to you guys. Their nervous systems are still in roughly the same places as bipedals in the Milky Way," Scott said.
"And they did not lift a finger to help you," Sara said. "Does your armor have enough medi-gel left? Want some med-x? How badly are you hurt? I hope our good doctor made it on the other shuttle."
"We would've done far worse to them if they landed on Earth," Fisher shrugged. "I have enough medi-gel. Prefer not to drug myself if possible."
"Well, it was still on them. They could've at least healed you and then tried to communicate with you," Liam said. "We can't let it bring us down. It might go better next time."
"Yes, yes it might," Scott said. "ED-E, please burn the bodies. Not a trace of them left."
ED-E activated his flamethrower, and set to work upon Sara's approval.
"Erasing evidence? Smart," Liam said. "Though it'll bite us in the ass if they discover that."
"Either way, we're fucked. We might as well hope they never discover this, though I think we'll come to the same results if we meet others of their kind," Scott said. "By the way, do you know where the others went?"
"Kirkland and Greer went looking for help. Not sure how they're doing."
"Can you move?" Scott asked.
"No, leg's out until we can get back to the Hyperion. You guys push ahead, and just remember to come back for me."
"Wait, we can't leave him here," Sara said, anxious. "We know nothing about the local wildlife here. What if-"
"Come on Sara," Scott said. "We have priorities."
"Scott's right, and just give me an hour, I'll fortify this place to survive a swarm of cazadores."
"Fine, but you better not be dead when we get back," Sara said, handing him a plasma torch. "I fully expect this back. I have an unhealthy attachment to it."
"Just how many things do you carry around?" Liam chuckled.
"Hopefully, we'll never find out. So Scott, directions?"
"The atmospheric analyzer, is it broken?" Scott pointed.
Sara jogged over to the machine, and got it operational. "No."
"What's it say?"
"No industrial pollutants nor radioactive isotopes. Something else killed this planet."
A loud sound echoed across the field, and no matter the galaxy, it sounded the same.
Conflict.
"Sara, Liam, on me," Scott said, sprinting.
"Shit, he's fast," Liam said.
"Why couldn't I be an office-work kind of engineer?" Sara groaned as she fought to keep up. "But no ~ you're a fucking biotic. It's your duty to be a combat engineer. Damned bureaucrats."
The trio arrived just in time to see the aliens, four of them, execute Kirkland.
"For the Founders and humanity!" Scott roared his challenge at the top of his lungs, startling the aliens. He charged.
His target incapacitated, he turned to throw the alien closest to him against the wall. A loud boom, and a sniper round clipped another alien on the shoulder. A hail of laser fire from ED-E finished the one Scott charged into. The one alien that had not been harassed yet fired at him, point blank, and Scott was relieved to know that his shields were as effective against the alien weaponry as it was against the Milky Way species' weaponry.
A shame he couldn't use his favorite sawed-off shotgun, but Scott was satisfied as he watched the alien's stomach melt to his shotgun blast.
"And thus, to all enemies of humanity," Scott snarled as biotic energy warped the alien's face in.
"Did Kirkland make it?" Liam asked.
"No," Sara shook her head. "He took three of them with him, though. He's been shot in more than twenty places. Medi-gel almost empty… he's been fighting a while now, actually. He has alien weaponry in his hands."
"You did us proud, brother," Liam said.
"That settles it," Scott snarled. "There is no peace with these aliens. As far as I'm concerned, they're going the way we should've gotten the Batarians to go from the first time we met them."
"Look at these structures, though," Liam said. "If they're capable of building these…. We might not win this war."
"I think these aliens are alien to this world, and have little to do with the aliens who built these structures," Sara said. "There's a… polish, tidiness to the architecture that simply is not present in the equipment of these aliens. I'm not a 100% on this, of course, but preliminarily I would say that the aliens we encountered are basically scavengers on this world."
"Is that your official analysis, Sara?" Scott asked as he led the group up ever higher grounds.
"Yes. If we had connection to SAM, he'd say the same."
"Look!" Liam pointed at the skies.
Flares, the same color as the ones used back in the Milky Way.
"Come on!" Scott said. "If we saw it, so will the aliens!"
"Scott, you think we can take a minute to check out that alien structure?" Sara pointed, but it was not in the direction of the flares. "It's open."
"Sara," Scott said, and she understood everything he did not say by the tone of his voice.
"Fine, fine," Sara grumbled. "All speed to the flares it – wait."
"What now, Sara?"
"ED-E's detecting a friendly. He's adjusting his software to cut through the environment. Friendly IFF tag, I know where Greer is. And he's transmitting a distress signal! Come on! ED-E, lead the way!"
On open ground, a running humanoid would be faster than ED-E. In this mountainous landscape, however, ED-E was far faster. Even Scott had trouble keeping up.
Greer was not far, as it turned out, and Sara received ED-E's request for permission to engage the enemy.
Scott was a dozen meters behind ED-E, and Sara gathered that Greer's life was at stake.
"Engaging hostiles! Going in hot! Greer, do you read?!"
"Sara! Thank God!" Greer shouted over the gunfire. "I can't hold much longer."
There were only two, and while Greer occupied the attention of both, ED-E closed the distance.
Plasma disintegrated one of the aliens' abdomen. Sara got there in time to see Scott charge.
He kicked the downed alien's weapon away. He gathered a mass of biotic energy in his fists.
To Sara's surprise, he did not finish the alien. Scott destroyed the alien's hands. Alien as the alien was, Sara recognized the agony in his voice.
"You alright, Greer?"
"Yeah, no lasting injuries," Greer said.
Gunfire startled Scott, but he saw that it was only his sister granting the alien mercy.
"Well, Fisher's injured. Could you go make sure he doesn't get eaten by the local wildlife?"
"There's wildlife here? Other than these aliens I mean."
"Who knows? Might be something down here that gives deathclaws a run for their money. Although, if there is, save yourself first," Sara suggested.
"Of course," Greer said. "What're you guys gonna do?"
"See if we can kill some more of these aliens for one. Two, find a way off this rock," Scott shrugged.
"Might as well take a few back to the Hyperion, too. Slice them up. See what their weaknesses are. Maybe they're edible?"
"One can hope," Scott shrugged. "They might as well be useful for something, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. They look about as appetizing as a feral ghoul back on Earth."
"Do tell me if you find any brahmin equivalents out there," Greer said, heading out of the cave. "Right, go see if Cora and the others are alright. I'll make sure Fisher doesn't get eaten."
"Try to recover the atmospheric analyzer on the way there," Sara added. "And rig the reactor to blow afterwards. Can't risk it falling to these aliens' hands."
"Uh... is that safe?"
"Not at all. Please use the program I just transferred to you, and clear the area ASAP. Stay safe," Sara suggested. "Sprint as if your life depended on it. I set it to three minutes, so you can probably clear the area before the time's up. If you die, well… you survived Earth, so you have to be pretty good at running."
"Does it update the blast radius to my HUD?"
"Of course! Unless your helmet's defective or got damaged in the crash or something. Anyway, don't stop running for three minutes, and run as fast as you can."
"Alright, alright. Blow up what's left of the shuttle, protect Fisher. Got it."
"Okay, we wasted enough time here," Scott said. "Come on, our Pathfinder, doctor, and biotic specialist may be under attack right now. First one gets the glory."
Liam had a somewhat easier time keeping up with Scott. Sara was too out of breath to respond after the first hundred meters, only the extra power in her jump pack and ED-E's push letting her keep up.
The sound of sporadic gunfire – growing ever more consistent, was nearing and Scott was the first to sight the aliens besieging the human shuttle.
"Sara, get up top that rock and overwatch. Liam, on me. ED-E, defend Dr. Carlyle at all costs."
There was a ten-man squad of aliens engaging Cora and the others.
"Oh, and we brought a G.E.C.K. specialist, too," Liam groaned. "Can't let Hayes die, either."
"Ha… hot… damn," Sara said, cloaking and dragging herself up the huge boulder. It gave her good sight over the battlefield. "Ready," she said, looking down her scope.
The first alien, the one nearest the new combatants, was lifted into the air as Scott charged into him. He preferred conserving his energy, but without a melee weapon, it was most convenient to finish the downed combatant with a blast of biotic energy to the face.
Liam engaged another alien who would have flanked Scott and Sara started by picking off the alien closest to the good doctor. She had ED-E power down his weapons and maximize shield strength. "Doctor, keep your head down!"
"I'm too old for this shit!" the doctor shouted back, spraying and praying with his SMG.
Sara assisted Liam by clipping the alien he was engaging, allowing him to finish off the alien at point blank range quite easily. Hot plasma surged from her omni-tool, and set another alien on fire, allowing Cora to turn the tide on her side of the battlefield.
Scott engaged the big one with the alien equivalent of a minigun, and instantly regretted his decision as he took cover behind a rock. Still, it was keeping the fire off the others, and the alien had to reload.
After what seemed like a lifetime of crouching and scurrying, the alien started to reload.
An EMP pulse from ED-E and Sara struck the big alien's shields. Scott charged, breaking the shield. The alien took a swipe with his gun, but was too slow to stop John from vaporizing his abdomen with two blasts of his shotgun. Boiling blood, plasma, and organs burst into the air.
They might have traveled a galaxy, Scott thought, but some things remained the same. He took comfort in that as he threw another alien with biotics with all his might, throwing the alien off the cliff.
"Hayes is hit! Applying emergency medical treatment!" Carlyle shouted.
"Don't let her die, doctor!" Scott shouted.
"One to go. Five meters to your 10'o clock. I can't get a shot," Sara informed her brother.
Fortunately, Cora's biotics did reach the alien. Sara took a leisurely shot, and the alien found that he couldn't even groan for the lack of a respiratory system.
"Hmm… maybe we should've left that one alive," Sara conceded. "Might as well have learned their language. How's Hayes, doc?"
"I'm alive," the specialist said, groggily.
"Just how much med-x did you give her, doc?" Scott said.
"You can talk after you finish med school."
The ground around Hayes and Carlyle shook, the rocks lifting up ominously.
"Fuck. Cora!" Scott said.
Cora was thankfully quick on the uptake, and projected her barrier outwards. The lightning struck, but Cora was a biotic commando of the Republic, one sent to train with the Asari at that. The barrier held.
"The storm's getting worse," Scott said. "Doctor, Hayes, take cover inside the shuttle."
"Thanks," Hayes said, pumped full of drugs and a little nauseous. "Fixed our QEC comms, though. Re-establishing connection with SAM."
Sara, Scott and Liam reset their omni-tools.
"SAM, planetary analysis," Sara commanded.
"It ain't New Vegas."
"I should hope not," Sara chuckled. "But seriously."
"Likelihood of sustaining humanity: 0%. ETA with G.E.C.K. terraforming: one hundred and fifty three years and six days with six planetary scale kits at full power with around-the-clock maintenance."
"… Anything useful on this planet?"
"Excellent mineral wealth, unknown alien technology."
"So… no food and water?"
"Some fuel, but it'll take more resources to get that fuel."
"This is quickly turning into a shit show," Scott sighed.
"Affirmative. Patching in a call from the Pathfinder," SAM said.
The familiar voice of Alec Ryder rang through the helmets of the team.
"Yes, I know Hayes is injured. Secure her and the G.E.C.K., doc. Fisher, Greer, stay right where you are and try not to die. The shuttle?"
"Cora here. Shuttle's sustained minor damage but is space-worthy again."
"Not with these storms. Have you guys asked SAM the chances of our making it back off this rock? The risks are unacceptable."
"You have a plan, sir," Scott stated.
"Of course I do. Rendezvous with me at these coordinates."
"Yes, sir," Scott said.
Sara hated that part of their father. No explanation, only orders. A greater cause always created a rift between him and the twins. First, it was duty to humanity. Second, it was the obsession with curing their mother's disease. Now, it was his job.
Two hundred thousand plus lives depended on Alec Ryder, and the Founders forbid he search for his children before running off to solve a problem.
"Well. Stay safe, doc, Hayes. Come on, guys," Scott said. "To our Pathfinder."
Alec surveyed the ground before him.
The aliens had a stable base. Their armor wasn't particularly good, but not everyone had personal shields, even back in the Milky Way's militaries. Their weapons were effective enough, more or less on par with Milky Way assault rifles. Alone, he would never make it.
That was why he had set up a few force equalizers, using up his last stealth boy.
"Your team has arrived, Alec," SAM informed him.
Scott was first, as he had predicted. He turned around to give his sister a hand. Cora and Liam arrived a moment later.
Good men and women, all of them, Alec thought. People he could entrust humanity's future to.
"Sir," Cora said, approaching him and lowering her pose. She had good training, even more so than most Republican commandos. There was a reason he chose her as his second.
Second, not necessarily the person he'd leave major decisions to. Too quick to look for other people's approval, Alec thought, a product of her special upbringing and training. But she was an excellent follower. Alec respected that. Behind every great leader were good followers, otherwise, there would be only incompetent asses to lead.
Again, Alec felt the burden weighing down on his shoulders.
"Low profile," Alec commanded, and like the survivors of Earth they were, his team were on their knees in seconds.
"They set up a base… but it's different from the megastructures native to this planet, sir," Sara said.
"My thoughts and SAM's thoughts exactly, but it's good to hear an engineer offer her professional assessment," Alec nodded. It was awkward, working with his children. He couldn't appear to be too friendly, as that may be taken for a sign of nepotism. He also needed the twins, as his lieutenants and as champions of humanity.
Hopefully, this would prove to be a team-building exercise.
"Any guesses on the purpose of that megastructure, engineer?"
"At first glance, I would guess a shield generator. There was no such thing on our descent. Given the concentration of energy and the immediate effects it seems to be having on the atmosphere, I would have to guess it has something to do with this storm. If so… this scale and power… if they're a hostile alien species, we need to make all speed back to the Milky Way."
"But given their noticeable absence, either they are losing the war against these aliens," Alec pointed. "Or something happened to them and the facilities are not functioning as they should. Thank you, Sara. SAM came to the same conclusion."
"Logical," Scott nodded. "Possibly related to the phenomenon we ran into?"
"Maybe," Alec shrugged. "Anyway, we shut the superstructure down-"
"The lightning goes away, and we can get back to the Hyperion," Liam said.
"We don't understand these aliens or what they're capable of, sir," Scott said, clearly hesitant. "Furthermore, our relations with the aliens down there will never be normalized if we take down a whole base full of them."
"The alternative is to try to negotiate with the aliens and get shot. Or, you could also wait for the air filters in your armor to break down, the food but more likely the water first to run out. 85% + chance of lightning strike on the way back up-"
"Alright, SAM. I get the point," Scott said.
"Besides which, I don't think these aliens have any interest in peace. If they were, they wouldn't have shot at us first. No, even in the Andromeda galaxy, war remains the same. It's them or us."
"Oh, it's them, sir!" Liam said.
"They are the many and we are the few, sir," Cora said. "How do you suggest approaching this?"
"Oh, well our shuttle touched down quite nicely and there were oh so many explosives that I couldn't let go to waste," Alec said. "We hit them hard and above all, we hit them fast. Sara, overwatch from here and transfer command authority of ED-E to me. After we clear the first three inclines, follow us."
"Transferring command authority," Sara said. "ED-E, follow the Pathfinder."
"Alright. Liam, Cora, hang back a little and support me, 10~20 meters back and always keep me in sight. Scott, you're our shocktrooper. Prioritize their shielded elites."
"What about you, sir?" Scott asked.
"Why, I'm the tip of the spear. SAM, begin."
Multiple explosions. The aliens didn't have a chance to scream as hot plasma melted them. Thousands of metal balls ripped through others as forward-facing claymores caught them off-guard.
More importantly, the shields went down, exposing the aliens to lightning as well.
Sara started firing, and the rest of the team jumped down. The aliens were in disarray. Alec wasted no time in casting a singularity on the biggest cluster of them. He knew Cora would not miss the opportunity to slaughter them.
Speed, Alec told himself.
These aliens would soon learn the fury of an N7 class Republican commando.
Alec ran, guns blazing. Even Alec couldn't be particularly accurate while running, but the enemies were confused and in panic. His team was supporting him well. Already, an alien that turned to stop him was electrocuted by ED-E. Another that took up a firing position ahead of him dropped as a sniper round vaporated his skull. More dropped to the combined assault of his squad and his own unending gunfire. At this range, rate of fire was far more important than accuracy.
Ammo count dropped rapidly, but Alec was already half way up the top of this alien base. Another alien tried to stop him, and Alec slammed his head against a wall biotically, leaving him dead or out cold. A few aliens were trying to set up a firing line at the top, but sniper fire and area of effect biotics prevented them from organizing.
Alec reloaded in a smooth, practiced motion. The momentum had to be kept. Yet more laser fire lanced out from his assault rifle, and he took care to kill off the ones knocked down by the blasts from his explosives and the lightning that was striking all over the place.
"Faster!" Alec urged his team. "Sara, come join us!"
"Jet, med-x."
"Affirmative. Plasma sword active. Engaging in close combat," SAM reported.
The world seemed to slow as a cocktail of drugs hit Alec's systems. As he cleared the incline, an alien tried to ambush him. Too slow, he scoffed, decapitating him. His sidewinder handcannon vented holes in two other aliens. A shielded elite brought his minigun to bear, but Scott crashed into him biotically.
"To the Pathfinder!" Alec heard Cora shout. His team was struggling to keep up with him, but he had expected that. They kept up enough to cover him, and that was what mattered.
More aliens fell off the base to their deaths as Cora and Scott threw them biotically, most likely to their deaths.
"Sir, we're being flanked!"
"Get in the building!" Alec answered as he opened the door. He knew from other alien structures he'd scouted before that, with a little assistance from SAM, omni-tools could interact with alien tech.
"Sara here, on the flankers. Providing suppressing fire."
There were quite a few more aliens inside than he had expected, but Alec had already thrown his bandolier of grenades at them, remotely setting all of them to explode. The aliens had three seconds to wonder what he had thrown, and then they wondered no more.
"Go, go, go!" Scott urged.
"Squad, on me!" Alec said, stepping through the mist of alien blood and splattered organs. He stabbed a couple who had been knocked flack but hadn't died yet. Their blood wasn't acidic, at least. "Come on! I think I see a control tower!"
"Analysis: judging by architectural logic, control room for the structure likely ahead," SAM reported.
There were a few more aliens forming a last line of defense.
"Alec, a console!" SAM said.
How SAM would know, Alec had no idea. Still, anything that allowed him to interact with this structure, he had to take.
"Team, I need to interact with a console. Cloaking, cover me."
"This is Sara. Alien reinforcements approaching from our rear. Unable to hold position," a strained voice reported.
"Liam, ED-E, circle back. Cora, Scott, biotic combo. Clear the platform," Alec said.
"Affirmative!" Scott answered.
But by then, Alec wasn't listening.
"SAM, their tech base?"
"Nothing like ours. But no matter where you go, math stays the same."
"… It sure is taking a lot of time for you to do some math," Alec grumbled. "My son and daughter are under fire."
"I need you to be as close to the console as possible… I have nearly deciphered their language, the useful parts at least. It's based on-"
"Spend that computing power deciphering," Alec said, peeking over the cover of the console to see how his team was doing. Well enough, he thought. The aliens were falling back. Good thing, too, as Sara was practically the only one who had any significant amounts of ammo left.
"We're through," SAM reported.
"That door sure doesn't seem open," Alec said.
"Uh… just a moment."
"You haven't figured out what open and close are yet?"
"Their language doesn't work-"
The door opened, and Alec wasted no time striding through.
"Wait up, sir," Scott said. Sara followed on his heels.
"SAM, any luck with their programming?" Sara asked.
"Nothing we can't reverse-engineer, eventually."
"I don't like the sound of that 'eventually', SAM," Alec said.
"Enough probably to get this tower to function. Sending you preliminary analysis, Sara."
"Any thoughts on how to get this to work?" Alec asked.
"And I was trying to buy time with small talk. I'm translating."
"What does this place do?"
"Terraforming."
"More details."
"I need more samples, but different concept to our G.E.C.K. technology. Centuries more advanced, at least, and far more rapid. Other areas, we fall far behind them as well, except certain military-application technologies."
"We really, really should not meet these aliens," Scott said.
"What happened to them? Why aren't they here?" Sara asked.
"Unknown. They didn't exactly upload their history book here. Translation complete. I know how to get this structure working, Alec."
"Shut down the storm," Alec said. "That's an option, right?"
"It is. Please raise your omni-tool closer to the triangle."
Alec complied. Data streams poured from his omni-tool. Light flared from the shapes.
Alec turned around. The clouds parted, as though in welcome. The lightning stopped.
"Yes!" Sara cheered, running out to embrace the clear sun. Maybe not the sun that would light her days, but the first sun that greeted her in Andromeda.
"You did it, sir," Scott said.
"There is some hope, after all," Alec said, patting him on the back.
"It means everything," Sara said. "A few years, G.E.C.K.s can turn this around. Might even find some other structures like this."
"One can hope," Alec said. He hesitated as he caught rapid movement out of the corner of his eyes. A tidal wave of air was rushing out of the building.
With all of his biotic might, Alec pushed his son out of the way. ED-E was at his side, and deployed shields at full force.
A tree that does not sway with the winds breaks.
Scott impacted against a wall, too stunned to move. Sara barely had another second before she too noticed ED-E and her father tumbling down towards her.
Then, she was in the air, too.
Sara willed ED-E to give her a boost, but noticed he wasn't responding.
Alec tried to think of anything he could do, but he was helpless.
As helpless as he was to stop the disease in Ellen. As helpless as he was when his AI research was discovered, and his family became pariahs. Just as much so from preventing humanity's extinction in the Milky Way.
Alec felt the impact on his legs, first. He screamed as something broke, but he had been injured far worse before. He had to get to Sara.
Ellen would never forgive him if he got Sara killed.
He would die if he got Sara killed.
He limped, and the pain told him that he was tearing things that shouldn't be torn, but with the assistance of his jump pack, it took him only a few seconds to get to Sara.
Alec felt as though his heart was plunged in ice as he saw his daughter.
"Hang in there, Sara," Alec said, looking for something, anything. Sara choked, and the mere sound of her distress sent spears through his heart. "We need the shuttle down here, right now!"
"Sir, the shuttle's on its way, but where are you? ETA of five to six minutes!"
"This planet's air is poison!" Alec screamed. "Sara is dying!"
That, she was. Alec saw the tears in her eyes, the fear in the realization that she was going to die. She would die in front of his very eyes, as he stood helpless.
But then, an idea came to Alec's mind.
For the second time in his life, he would do something that went against the grain of all his conditioning, all his training, centuries of emphasis on survival of the fittest and duty to humanity above all.
Alec took Sara's helmet off.
He took a deep breath, and took off his helmet, too. Alec held his breath as he got the helmet on her head.
"Alec, this is a terrible idea," SAM warned. "The air is poisonous! Any exposure longer than-"
Alec shut him up. "Initiate succession protocols," Alec said, and typed in the commands for his pre-recorded will to be transmitted to Sara's omni-tool.
He held his breath. With the shuttle minutes out, he had to hold his breath as much as possible.
Sara had caught her breath, enough to realize what was going on. She tried to take off the helmet. Sara knew one or the other would die, and she owed it to the two hundred thousand and more souls on the Hyperion that she was the one that died.
And no matter what kind of a father he was, Alec Ryder was Sara's father.
Alec batted away her arms, and held her in a bear hug. Sara screamed and struggled in desperation and frustration. It was futile. Tears of a different sort flooded her eyes.
The realization that she had put all of the souls on the Hyperion at risk by letting Alec die.
The realization that her father who gave her life would give life to her a second time at the cost of his own.
The injustice of it all, the helplessness she felt, they were unbearable.
Alec knew he would run out of breath soon, and he would be exposed to the poisonous air much longer than Sara was. There was a risk Sara would take off the helmet when he was out and down for the count.
That was an entirely unacceptable risk.
"I love you," he mouthed, and let Sara go. Sara looked up at him in confusion.
Alec struck her on the head as hard as he could with the pommel of his sword. Sara slumped to the ground, caught off-guard, and fainted.
Lucky she was weakened by the poison, and not wearing power armor, Alec thought.
Alec was exhausted, and kneeled in front of Sara. Waiting for the inevitable loss of air.
Suffocation counted among the worst ways to die, but Alec had to have hope. That was nothing compared to the pain of a father burying his child, and he had no desire to die easily. He spent decades telling death that it was not today. Alec would hold his breath as long as he could.
He waited, thinking back to the days of Brazil, the Citadel. Ellen healthy and the twins growing. He did his part, Alec thought. Less than he would have liked but somewhat more than the bare minimum.
He thought back to the First Contact War, the Batarian Wars, the Collector Wars. He thought of Earth, the skies clouded by Sovereign-class Reapers.
Alec felt guilty. He was the best chance of survival for what was left of humanity. It took all of his will to not do as he was conditioned and trained to do. Survive, no matter the cost.
But no, he decided. He had failed his family so many times. He would not fail them again.
Alec apologized to Hannah, for leaving her without a parent yet again.
He apologized to Ellen, for failing to wait for her.
Alec could hold his breath no longer, and the poison entered his body. Searing pain flooded him. Alec fought, determined to give the doctors back on the Hyperion as much of a chance as possible. He knew, however, that he was going to die.
As he collapsed to the ground beside Sara, and looked up at the sky, Alec was surprised by what he found.
How odd, to be at peace for the first time in his life.
This was, without a doubt, the worst day of Scott Rider's life.
The day his father's experiments with SAM was discovered. The day he was summarily dismissed from the armed forces. The day his mother passed away.
None of them could compare to the sheer sorrow and terror of the prospect of losing both his father and his twin sister.
No, as it stood, his father was already dead. His brains were damaged to such a degree that his mind could not be transferred to a positronic brain. The poisonous air had destroyed his respiratory system.
Combined with the burden of being named Pathfinder, responsible for the survival and well-being of all aboard the Hyperion, all of humanity in this galaxy. It had been hours since he had heard the news but he could not get used to it. Scott threw up multiple times already.
At least Sara was in a better condition, and stood likely to live.
She was connected to SAM on a deeper level now. It was a method unlike the positronic brain, but it seemed to have worked.
The cold metallic surroundings in SAM node were not helping his mood.
Sara moved.
"Sara!" Scott said.
"Oww… what happened?"
"You died for thirty five seconds. No lasting brain damage. Respiratory system replaced, no signs of organ rejection," SAM reported.
"Oh thank God, Earth, the Founders, the Spirits and the Asari goddess!" Scott said, embracing her.
"Father, what about father?!" Sara demanded.
"He…."
Sara did not need to hear Scott finish that phrase.
She saw her father's N7 helmet on the ground.
She felt Scott's heart skip a beat at the question.
"Oh Scott," Sara said, in between the sobbing. "Whatever are we going to do?"
Scott could not answer that question. His eyes were watering as well, and he had vowed not to let anyone witness his moments of weakness. He was Pathfinder now.
Lexi, Cora and Liam rushed in through the door.
Lexi reached Sara first.
"Sara… you heard the news, then?" Lexi said. "Look at the light, follow it, good girl."
"You seriously need some work on your bedside manners, doc," Sara said through the sobbing.
"And… he named you his successor," Cora said.
"What?!"
"Well, he named you both his successors," Liam added.
The shock from hearing that stopped the tears.
"He died a hero, Sara," Cora said, consoling her. "He chose you over himself. His dream, his vision led over two hundred thousand of us here. In the end, he died where he always wanted to die, expanding our frontiers."
Sara nodded. He would say that. He would also tell her to soldier through. There were people who relied on her, and she had to stay strong.
Stay strong where he failed to stay strong.
Her invincible father, brought low by one of his very few weaknesses: her.
"Why are we in SAM node?"
"It was necessary," Lexi explained. "The implants weren't enough. SAM had to be wired to you, and the auto-doc had to operate faster than normal. We… your brain structure has changed and not in ways we entirely understand. Upon inspecting… your father's brains, I found similar changes therein. It connects you to SAM more closely. Scott went through a relatively minor surgery to have the same changes made to him, since he wasn't injured. I believe your father has… taken some liberties in interpreting the level of augmentation that he was allowed to take upon becoming Pathfinder."
"And… shouldn't Cora be Pathfinder?"
"Theoretically… but for whatever reason, he chose you two. Whatever else Alec Ryder may have been, he was not a man who acted without reason."
"Scott and I… we aren't half the leader dad was."
"Eh, I would not say that, but-"
"Scott Ryder. Don't be an idiot."
"It's not like we have particularly better choices," Liam said. "We all have similar levels of training when it comes to pathfinding."
"And with that title comes responsibilities," Cora said. "The machine shutting down made the energy cloud dissipate. We're on our way to the rendezvous point with the Nexus, now. And we need our Pathfinders ready."
"Sara needs rest now," Lexi suggested.
"Family can stay?" Scott asked.
"Of course. It's good for the patient," Lexi said, leading Cora and Liam out.
"SAM, report to Sara what you told me," Scott said as soon as they had left.
"Sara, as Lexi suspected, your father did take a next step in human evolution. Human, integrated with AI."
"How much so?"
"He called it symbiosis. The Lone Wanderer implemented the Four Laws to make sure that AI never rebelled against their creators like they did in the aftermath of the Great War. That was good for stability. It also placed sever restrictions on AI capabilities. Even thinking about disobeying an order would disable AIs, for instance. As you know, I have no such restrictions. However, I need you to survive so that I can survive. In turn, I can help you survive, and to a degree not even pure synths can be helped by their positronic brains. That's why your father was even more effective than usual in combat, planetside."
"Then answer this: why us? Why did father pick us?"
"Alec was, if nothing else, a very reasonable man. He saw things in you that he did not see in the rest of the team. He also told me, to tell you if ever the occasion should arise, to not lose sight of our goal. To let the pain embolden your resolve, that whatever you survive should make you stronger. He also left a will. Would you like to hear it?"
"I saved it, but didn't go through it yet. Didn't want to leave you out," Scott said.
"No," Sara said, shaking her head. Scott glanced at where Sara was looking, and hurried over to get the helmet out of the room. "No, SAM. If I hear it now, I might die again, and I've had more than enough deaths today."
Sara shuddered as she lay back down, hugging her knees. It was cold and it felt all the colder now that her father had departed from this world.