Fallout: Stardust

Act 1 Issue 2

Pursuit in Deep Space

"As I was saying, the Archangel is fine. She's a sturdy ship and the explosion wasn't nearly as energetic as it could have been. Our kinetic barriers soaked up the shrapnel and the radiation shielding took care of the rest."

"I feel like there's a 'but' coming here," Garrus replied, waving away the marine combat medic buzzing about at his shoulder.

Tali's glowing eyes-lights took on a sheepish glint. "…but, all that radiation that didn't go through the hull had to go somewhere, and that means the space around us was supersaturated with random particles. We were completely blinded. The particles dispersed quickly, but it was enough time for that other ship to get away."

"I suppose I can't expect everything to go our way. At least no one's seriously hurt and the ship is still flying. Start a trace on their engine emissions as soon as possible. They've got a head start, but we won't have to bother with stealth this time around. I want to catch these guys."

"That might not be possible," Tali said awkwardly. "STARC's been sweeping since we cleared the fuzz out of our sensor array. There's no trail at all."

"How is that even possible?" Garrus asked hesitantly. He pulled the video feed from the console to his Omni-tool and headed back towards the newly refitted war room. "That ship's exhaust cone was pretty bright; shouldn't there at least be something we can follow?"

"There should be… but, there isn't. I don't know what they were using for trust, but it either diffuses fast, or it doesn't leave anything behind at all. Either way, we're out a trail. Sorry."

"Not your fault," Garrus reassured her. He stepped through the body scanner with a tic of annoyance. For all the supposed upgrades that had gone into the Archangel's rebuild after the second battle over the Citadel, they still hadn't managed to make it run any faster than a maddening crawl. The marine guard looked on without a glimmer of sympathy.

The doors ahead slid open silently, finally allowing him access to the War Room. The large, round room was quiet, quieter than even the slowest day during the War. Still, it was far busier than it had been in a long time. Garrus hadn't even realized how much he had missed the dull roar of concerted strategic action. Liara was already there, pawing through a half dozen data streams on the rebuilt holotable. The image brought back memories, though the room around them was different now. It no longer had the ad hoc, last minute feel it had worn during the fighting, where it had been pulled out of the refit yards mere minutes ahead of the Reapers. The floor was no longer covered by trailing power conduits and data lines. The rows of consoles against the walls were smartly mounted in proper workstations and towards the rear; the quantum entanglement gear was set back in its own enclosed booth. It was very neat, orderly, turian. It was the way a recently reactivated admiral might have wanted his flag vessel to look. The way his father would have… Garrus shook the thoughts from his mind.

"Liara, anything new?"

The asari looked up from her rapidly scrolling data with a wan smile. "Nothing particularly useful, I'm afraid. I am making some headway on their language with the additional fragments we salvaged from their installation. It's quite fascinating, really, the construction was incredibly durable, and the materials. I took the liberty of dating them, the alloys are many hundreds of years old, but shows signs of multiple reforgings, like they've been using the same metal over and over…"

Garrus held up a hand. "I'm sure the archaeological data makes for excellent reading. I just hope that you haven't forgotten that they were shooting at us less than an hour ago. Anything more… tactical?"

"Oh, yes," Liara blushed a deeper blue and pushed six of the seven feeds off to the side, pulling the last to the fore. "From information gathered before the blast, they used a low yield fission weapon, detonated by short range laser. Their equivalent of the GUARDIAN, I imagine. I'm still not seeing any evidence of kinetic barriers; or any mass effect technology at all. It's quite likely their systems are built on completely different principles. It would explain how they were able to detect us while stealthed."

"So, they remain as mysterious as ever, perhaps even more so. I'm beginning to like this more and more," the turian Spectre groused. "Tali says there's no trail for us to follow. We're going to have to get clever on this one."

Liara furrowed her brow. "I think we all remember the last time you 'got clever' on a mission, Garrus. Javik still won't speak to me."

"Eh, you know him, that's just how he is. Has to keep up his image as Emperor of all the Protheans." He relented as Liara shot him another look. "Hey, we got the dents out of his fancy suit eventually. Besides, I already have a plan."

The Eagle bucked and buckled under the force of the new star birthed in its wake. The hull shrieked as the blossoming firestorm slammed against it. All around the bridge, the crew's personal Geiger counters ticked away loudly. Colonel Shepard-Dare gripped the arms of her command chair with white knuckles as her ship rode out the wave of destruction she'd just unleashed behind her. The thin metal plates separating her and her crew from the vast emptiness of the Great Beyond flexed troublingly.

"Cadet Sprye! All power to the engines! Keep us ahead of that wake before it shakes us apart!" She called out. Her teeth rattled as she tried and failed to keep her voice steady.

"A-ye ay-e, ma'am!" The young cadet shoved the throttle to the deck and the Eagle leapt forwards. The rattling in the ship's structure lessened as they gained ground on the blast wave, finally coming to a stop as the warm glow of Dump Site Alpha faded into the rest of the Black. "Looks like we made it, Colonel Shepard-Dare, Ma'am. No sign of our pursuers on the scopes." Sprye called jubilantly.

"Excellent work, Cadet. Slow to cruising speed and keep us on this heading." Shepard blew out her cheeks and allowed herself to sink back into the padding of her chair. She doffed her cap and ran her hand through her thick brunette curls. She shakily pushed herself to her feet and gave the bridge a quick scan. The crew, barring the robots, looks frazzled but otherwise none the worse for wear.

Navigator Carter looked up from his precious plotter and let go of the reams of printouts he had clutched to his chest. Crewmen who had clung to their consoles and terminals let go almost hesitantly. Down below, the Eagle's Chief Engineer was once again swearing up a storm, and by the sound of it, he was getting closer. The Colonel quickly readjusted her tunic and turned to face the companionway ladder. Sure enough, the Chief's squashed, froglike face and protuberant nose rose out of the murky depths he called his realm.

"Oi, Cap'n!" He cried in his thick, oily voice. "What's the big idea, eh? Warn a man before you shake him like he was in a tumble dryer! Nearly bust a seal down here, I swear, I oughta…"

"Are you quite finished, Engineer Turque?" Shepard-Dare cut him off. "Did we, in fact, spring a leak? Did we suffer any casualties? Are we, at this very minute, about to explode?" She stared her rebellious engineer down, setting her jaw.

"Well, uh, no, not as such," he said recalcitrantly, seeming at first to relent. His eyes hardened, though, and he stuck his head back up. "But that's not the point. Thing is, Ma'am, doesn't matter if it doesn't kill us now if it kills us a day from now, or a week. The Eagle's not the young star cruiser she was when your grandfather walked the deck, Atom take him to His glow."

The Colonel's face became flinty at the mention of her forebear.

"You'll kindly take that kind of talk and stow it, Chief," she said in void-cold tones. "This ship may be old, but it is not frail. I took a risk, yes. But it was a risk that saved the ship. If your estimations of this vessel are so low…" She let her voice trail off and turned away.

"I never once had had doubts in the ship," Engineer Turque muttered at her back. The words hung heavily in the air on the silent deck. The Colonel swung back around, her mouth open in shock. The engineer gave her one last fiery stare and disappeared into the engineering spaces, slamming the hatch down behind him. Shepard-Dare stood paralyzed on the bridge, suddenly very aware of how much her crew was staring at her. Alone there in the middle of the room, dressed in oversized uniform she suddenly looked very, very young. She cast her widened eyes to either side of the bridge.

"Back to your stations!"

After a second of exchanged glances, the crew dispersed and began doing their hardest to look busy. Navigator Carter shook his head sadly before going back to his plotter. Colonel Dare stalked back to her command chair and slumped down into it without any attempts at decorum. Carefully, she dried her eye with a swipe of her shirt sleeve. Something rattled tinnily at her shoulder.

"Tea, mum?"

"Not now, Digby," she responded sharply, throwing her ghoulish lackey a disapproving but not entirely unfriendly look. He gave her a warm smile from behind degraded lips. The Colonel suppressed a girlish giggle and extended a hand. "Oh, go on then." She gladly accepted the warming cup of the acorn-hued beverage and sipped slowly. She smiled despite herself. "Thank you, Digby."

"Hmm," The portly batman nodded sagely and slipped the biscuit out of his pocket. "Isn't much that can't be fixed with a spot of good tea." There was a rustling noise and a creak as he took a seat beside the raised chair, his back to her. His next words were carefully chosen and spoken, enough so that it immediately perked the Colonel's ears. "Nasty bit of business, that. A commander shouldn't quarrel openly with the men."

The Commander struggled to come up with a defense, but could find none. "You're right, of course. But what was I to do. For him to challenge me like that. How do I get the men back, Digby?"

"I should say that Space Force men prefer an officer of action, mum. Lead from the front and all that. Show them you still have things in hand and they'll forget all about your little argument with the Chief Engineer. Or something of the sort." Digby trailed off into muttering, the next time he spoke he had returned to his usual contented self. "I suppose I should see that your quarters weren't too badly damaged in the explosion." The ghoul puttered off with his tray before she could respond. Shepard-Dare shook her head but her face cracked a smile.

"Yes, an officer of action." The gears were already turning in her head. She stood and straightened her uniform. "Navigator, set a new course. Once we hit a thirty degree offset from our original course I want a best possible speed burn towards Space Ranger Post Gamma."

"Not continuing on towards Victoria, Ma'am?" The navigator asked as he unfurled out of his chair to face her.

"We've just met a new, likely hostile civilization with advanced technology. The sooner we can get the word out, the better." She tried to inject as much confidence into her words as she could. "The New New California Republic has as much need to know as we do if they turn out to be the vanguard of an alien invasion fleet."

The navigator nodded slowly, the wheels turning in much the fashion his plotter followed when mulling over a particularly complex course. "Yes. And the increased deflection? It would be swifter to travel along our original course, bringing the warning that much faster."

"And risk our pursuers catching us again?" Shepard-Dare replied, quick to the response. "Actually, add some additional low impulse course corrections before we turn over. If they require our impulse trail signature, I want them pointed in the wrong direction."

"At once, ma'am." The Navigator saluted and went about his task with relative enthusiasm. Shepard-Dare allowed herself a little moment of victory. Her foe would have to be very clever if he wanted to catch her.

"Oh, that is clever. I take back everything I said before, Garrus. I suppose that idea you came up with on Thessia was just a fluke," Tali said playfully, ribbing her nominal captain with an elbow. Garrus for his part played along, putting on a pantomime of mock indignation.

"We agreed never to speak about that little gem of mine," he chuckled. "Besides, this one's going to work. I'm sure of it."

"It'd better," Tali said, running a diagnostic on the quickly patched comm. lines snaking across the war room on last time. "The good techs at Palavan Fleet Yards put a lot of hours into fixing the Archangel after the Citadel. I for one can't wait to watch you try to explain this monstrosity to them if it doesn't work out." She motioned towards the expanded suite of imagers and screens now hanging over the holotable.

"It's going to work," Garrus said confidently. "Is working, actually. Liara, do we have a picture of where we're going yet?"

Across the holotable, the asari information broker looked up from her Omni-tool. "Getting preliminary imagery now. I have to warn you, it's not going to look pretty. This is a lot of data to churn through, even for STARC's processing stacks. It will take up some time to build up a workable resolution." She made a two fingered pushing motion across her wrist and the holotable bloomed to life. The blank projection space filled slowly with brightly coloured dots, at first sparsely spread out, but over time slowly filling in to form an angular cloud.

"So what are we seeing here?" Victus asked from his ground operations console. "looks a little like asari spun sugar."

"What we're seeing here, Sergeant" Liara replied, "Is a visual reconstruction of what we assume is the hostile's home cluster. We're so far from Council Space that we're essentially traveling without a map; no direct imaging of this sensor of this system exists. So, we have to build our own picture; we're pulling every scrap of data we can on it from the archives. Stellar photography, laser comb wobble analysis, even a few minutes on the STG's gravitational lens facility."

Victus chuckled. "But the salarians'll get a nasty shock when their fancy spy satellite starts moving on its own. We're, uh, not going to get in trouble for that, are we?"

"You'd be surprised how many people will agree to look the other way when they see the Head Spectre's command codes on an unscheduled work order." Garrus answered. "Even the salarians. Anyway, what's important is we'll have a map. And if we have a map, we'll know where our new friend is going."

The image hovering over the holotable took a few hours to complete. Garrus watched it slowly resolve from an amorphous blob into a complex five star system, each circled by the courses of likely planets, smaller crisscrosses for the paths of moons, and the outward swirl of an extrasolar asteroid belt light hours across. Around him, officers rotated in and out of the war room. At the three hour mark, the holotable trilled and the model began to spin. Garrus stared at it intently.

"Any insights, Hero of the Galaxy?" Garrus felt the reassuring pressure of his chief engineer lean in against his side. He allowed her to slip under his arm and accepted the dextro ration pack she offered. She sipped her own through a straw. "If you're not done perching, I mean."

"I don't perch," Garrus buzzed indignantly. "But I think I can spare a few insights. One hero to another. STARC, freeze the image and paint in the ship's last known course." The computer complied, drawing a thick red line that skimmed high on the model before intersecting with a bright star that orbited the cluster's central binary pair. "I think it's pretty clear that this system is where the bad guys call home. Two terrestrial planets, a gas giant with a whole gaggle of moons."

"The computer could have told me that, Garrus," Tali teased, burying her masked head in his shoulder. "You're not exactly bringing the wow factor on these predictions. And besides, following him all the way home sounds like a great way of running right into another trap."

"Which is why we aren't following him to his home system," Garrus replied. He sent the ration aside and bent to adjust the imager. The frame shifted, focusing on the leading edge of the cluster's asteroid ring. "We put our speed to use, get ahead of them, somewhere with a nice open engagement area."

"That's an awful lot of space. If we guess wrong, they'll blow right by us and we wouldn't even know it. Wouldn't it be better to back off on this one and gather at least a few more ships? Spectre Vau and his task group are only three jumps away…"

"By the time we come back with a task force, we'll have missed any kind of intercept window. Besides, I know exactly where he's going." Garrus disentangled himself from his mate and leaned over the projection. "He'll go to ground and report in first chance he gets. Here," he swiped a talon through space right at the edge of the asteroid ring. "Large asteroid. Dwarf planet, really. Perfect staging point for a mission outside of the cluster. I'll bet they even launched from there. It'll be two days hard burn to arrive there first, but we can cut them off from whoever they're reporting to."

"And if you're theory is wrong?" Tali asked.

"And if I'm wrong, then we can go fetch Vau. You have my word."

"It'll have to do, I suppose." Tali let out a long and theatrical sigh that set Garrus' mandibles into a turian smile. The lithe mechanic ducked past him and made as if to leave the room. At the door, she turned back. "You know, two days is a long time to sit around waiting for the other shoe to drop. If you can find the time to drag yourself away from the holotable, I think my suits nerve stimulators might be in need of some... calibrations." And with that, she was gone, slinking past the marine guard. Garrus felt his face split into a wide smile as he gave the map just one more look over.

Garrus had never relished the prospect of days under heavy burn. Hours stacked up against each other, the sameness of the engine pitch. His plans were made, and there was little to do but wait out the time when they'd be put into effect. Back before the War he'd trained in the VR, sparred, and thrown himself into work aboard the ship; tuning the guns, drilling the crew. Anything to stave off the boredom and, more importantly keep himself sharp, tough. Of course, time had softened the man the same way it was softening the edges of his crest and the colouration of his plates. He now filled his time between stars with a few more pleasurable dalliances. Sometimes it was good to not have a galaxy to save. As it was, the two days between the aborted chase and his planned intercept passed almost too quickly. The Head Spectre checked the catches on his uniform as he stepped back onto the bridge.

Liara was already at the galaxy map, ever present intelligence drone at her side. She smiled warmly at his approach, the expression almost reaching her eyes this morning. "Garrus."

"Liara," Garrus stepped up beside her and motioned towards the inky black projection hanging over the command podium. "This is the feed from our optical sensors?"

The asari nodded and swiped her hand across the image, dragging across a web of orange-red lines that clung to a series of irregular shapes hanging in the space ahead. "This is the beginning of the asteroid belt. No sign of our new friends. I'll continue sweeping for their drive emission signature."

"Good," Garrus looked out over the bridge. A nervous energy buzzed throughout the mixed crew, more so than their first encounter. He supposed the first time they'd been facing a mystery. Now they were riding into battle. "Helmsman, initiate stealth operations."

"Acknowledged, Spectre. All external emissions redirected to heat sinks. Tassartras Drive engaged. We are running silent, sir."

"As silent as the first time they spotted us," Liara said in an aside manner. She turned to her captain with a more genuine smile.

"We were much closer that time," Garrus corrected, "this time…" He didn't get to finish his thought. In front of him, the galaxy map flashed a deep crimson.

"Contact!" A crewman called. "Profile matches the ship from before. Bringing it on display now." The map shimmered, a bright speck lost in the gloom leapt to the fore. Garrus recognized the bullet nosed craft immediately.

"See, right where I said it would be. Helmsman, plot an intercept course. The first sign that they've spotted us, disengage stealth and go at a full sprint. Gunnery, I want you working on a firing solution, everything short of painting their hull. I don't want to give them any warning." His orders were met with a series of affirmatives. He turned to his old companion. "Any work so far on deciphering their language?"

"Some small progress, not enough to communicate anything complex."

"We'll take what we can get. Put together a transmission, as close as you can get for a demand to cut engines and surrender." Garrus watched the distance close on the display, the seconds to intercept ticking away. There was a sudden flare in engine activity on the other ship. "Looks like we've been seen. I suppose it was too much to hope. Liara, is our message ready?"

"As ready as it'll ever be. Sending now." She cocked her head to the side. "No response."

"Well, we gave them a chance," Garrus said. "Gunnery, one shot from the secondary battery. Target their engine cone. Aim to disable." He took a second to look around the bridge. The eyes of his crew were on him. "Fire."

The ship shuddered as the wing mounted mass driver launched its tungsten cored payload at a fraction of the speed of light. The sun bright needle glowed in the dark of space as it flew away from them, its point set on the fleeing rocket. At their rapidly closing range, the projectile had only two minutes to fly, a task it did unerringly across the vastness of space until it approached mere meters of its target. It never reached the other ship. Seconds before impact bright light bloomed from the aft of the bullet-nosed rocket and a actinic flash of a powerful energy discharge leapt out towards the incoming slug. It struck just behind the nose, atomizing the needle point and sending the remains of the weapon spiraling into space. The glow of the slug petered out as radiation slowly robbed it of its volcanic heat.

The bridge crew stood silent. Garrus felt his jaw shut with a snap. "Well, that was unexpected. Power up the Thanix cannon. Whatever that was might have been able to deflect a ten centimeter slug, but I doubt they have the ability to bat aside a Reaper killer."

His listened to the gratifying hum of the twin loves of his life come online. He could almost feel the slight vibration as they deployed from their battery two decks below. Usually it was enough to put a smile on his face, whether it was a Reaper on the other side of the guns, or pirates, or mercenaries. Something felt off, this time. Very rarely did Garrus make mistakes when decided when and where to deploy his guns. Somehow, this felt like a mistake.

"Sir, more contacts! Small and fast. Moving towards us!" The sensor officer reported.

"What?" Garrus yelled. "Torpedoes? STARC?"

-Unlikely. Cross section suggests fast attack craft of some sort. They appear to be approaching under their own power and control.-

The new contacts flashed up on the galaxy map, a ragged formation of tiny dots rapidly moving in from one of the nearby asteroids. They were closing awfully fast. That sick feeling of making a mistake settled again, deep in his gut. He hid the feeling behind a mask of steel. When he spoke, it was in a carefully cultivated tone of command.

"It's a trap."

Author's Notes:

I want to thank everyone who read and followed the first chapter of this new story. This has been the most successful launch of a Fanfic I've ever had, and I want to thank everyone who made it possible. You guys are great. Next chapter should be up within two weeks, hope you stick around to enjoy it. Now, to answer a few questions submitted by readers.

Blinded in a Bolthole: Without giving too much away, the Arc is actually the end result of the Vault project rather than an extension of it. I believe the whole Vault system was supposed to be testing for a long range voyage should the Earth be unsalvagable. Well, it worked... as far as anything built by Vault-tec works as designed. As too your second question, you'll have to wait and see.

Fulcon: Fallout 4 is definitely considered canon by this work. I imagine the Institute had a hand in getting humanity off the ground, so to speak. And yes, I'll fully admit to the Britishness part. It owes a lot to this work's third, silent influence, Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future!). Not to worry, though, there'll be plenty of more traditional Fallout characters as the story progresses.

-Liddle Out