I own neither Mass Effect nor Stargate.
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For a moment, Shepard was stunned into silence. The twenty-first century?!
"The twenty-first century…are you absolutely certain?" she asked.
"I am 98.854 percent certain," EDI said. "However, I cannot pinpoint a specific date." Shepard cradled her head in her hand as she processed the mind-boggling impossibility of her current situation.
"But time travel is supposed to be impossible!" she said. "How did this even happen?" she added.
"Right before the relay jump, I detected an anomaly in the mass relay's energy signature, however I was unable to abort the jump," EDI explained. "However, due to our lack of understanding concerning the mass relays, I can only speculate as to what could cause such an anomaly."
"Guess," Shepard growled impatiently.
"Two possibilities are sabotage or weapons damage," EDI said. "However, I did not detect evidence of either event, which leaves one possibility: While mass relays are undeniably durable, they are still constructed of matter, and its components are not immune to the effects of entropy." Shepard frowned for a second as she tried to interpret EDI's last statement, before realization dawned on her.
"You're saying that we got flung almost two hundred years into the past, because the relay decided to break down?!" Shepard asked, her voice rising to a near yell. "I mean, there's got to be a better explanation than that!"
"Perhaps," EDI conceded, "but considering the lack of available data, mechanical failure is the best hypothesis I can make at this time." Shepard leaned against a nearby wall and held her head in her hands again. "And before you ask, I cannot even begin to speculate on a way to return us to our current time," the AI added.
"This is not happening, this is not happening…" Shepard muttered to herself. She could handle a mad rogue spectre. She could handle a race of genocial machines from beyond the galactic border. She could even handle being brought back from the dead, but this was too much for her. Taking a few deep, calming breaths, she regained her cool, collected composure. "We can't just sit at the edge of the solar system waiting for a miracle to bring us home, so can you fly us to Earth without Joker's help?" she asked EDI, back into full commander mode.
"I can," EDI confirmed. "While I lack Joker's…finesse during combat, I can fly us to a destination without his assistance." A slight shudder confirmed that they had entered FTL flight. "We will arrive at Earth in approximately two hours." Nothing further to say to the AI, Shepard decided to check on Joker in the medical bay, where he lay asleep, his arm and legs wrapped in casts.
"How's he doing, Doc?" Shepard asked Chakwas, the ship's senior medical officer.
"He came out lucky," the older woman said. "There were no serious breaks, so with the medi-gel treatment, he should be fully healed in a day or two. Fortunately, he was the most serious case; everybody else just suffered some minor bruising and cuts from when stuff fell onto them during the turbulence. Do you know what caused that?" the wizened British woman asked.
"No," Shepard said. "EDI thinks that it was some sort of malfunction in the mass relay, but we don't know for sure." Shepard sighed and rubbed the back of her head, not sure what else to say. "I better go check on the rest of the crew; see you later, Doc."
"Later, Shepard," Chakwas said as her commanding officer stepped out of the medical bay. With no one else to talk to, the doctor sighed and returned to her computer to complete her report.
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Millions of miles away, orbiting Earth, an entirely different ship from the SR-2 Normandy made an interesting find. Master Sergeant Walter Harriman, the main technician for the BC-303 deep space battleship Prometheus detected an unusual energy signature coming from the outer edge of the solar system.
"General Hammond, long-range scanners have picked up an unknown energy signature from the area around Pluto," Walter reported to his superior officer, Lieutenant General George Hammond.
"Is it the Goa'uld? Or SG-1?" the bald man asked, worried.
"Negative sir," Walter said. "It doesn't match any ship we've seen so far. It also seems to be heading straight for us sir, and fast. It'll be in orbit around Earth in roughly two hours," he continued. General Hammond breathed a sigh that was half weary, half relieved.
"Ready the weapons," General Hammond ordered. "We don't know what that thing is, or if it's hostile." For all he knew, it could be a new Goa'uld weapon designed to soften them up before the main fleet arrived, or an alien race that took a wrong turn and stumbled into Earth space.
Everyone on Earth that knew of the existence of the Stargate and its history was anxiously awaiting either a Goa'uld fleet here in an attempt to destroy Earth, or for the elite team known as SG-1 to return with a mysterious alien weapon to repel said fleet. The appearance of this strange new entity was not a welcome sight for General Hammond, but all he could for now was wait and pray that whatever it was, it was not hostile.
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"EDI, when you drop us out of FTL, I want you to be ready to activate the stealth system," Shepard ordered. "If I recall correctly, Earth shouldn't have the technology to detect us at this time, but no point in taking chances."
"As you command, Shepard," EDI said. "Exiting FTL in three…two…one; engaging stealth drive." The blue corona covering the windows of the Normandy faded away to reveal the brilliant blue figure of Earth, birthplace of humanity…along with a large, unfamiliar ship in orbit around it.
"EDI, what the hell is that?" Shepard demanded, gaping at the ship before her. It was hard to tell from the window, but she guessed that it had to be at least half as long as the Normandy, and at least twice as wide.
"I don't know, Shepard," EDI said. "It does not match any ship silhouette in my database. Also, it seems that its weapons are armed, but it has not locked onto us. Also, we are being hailed." Suddenly a deep, male voice with a light Texan accent came out from the comm. system.
"This is General Hammond of the USS Prometheus," the voice said. "Identify yourselves immediately." Shepard furrowed her brow at the familiarity of the ship's name.
"Prometheus?" she asked, unable to remember where she had heard it.
"A figure from Greek mythology," EDI chimed in. "Supposedly gave Man the gift of fire, and was punished by the gods to be eternally chained to a rock and have his liver torn out by an eagle every day."
"Lovely," Shepard drawled sarcastically. "How the hell did they get our comm. frequency?" she asked.
"It seems that they have broadcasted on all available frequencies in the hope that we would be on one of them," EDI said. After a moment, she continued, "This ship has unknown offensive and defensive capabilities. Until I can determine whether we would be able to win in a fight or not, I would suggest we acquiesce to their request." Shepard sighed, but nodded in agreement.
"All right, open a channel," she ordered.
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Walter had been diligently following the progress of the mysterious entity for the past two hours and change, when the signal suddenly disappeared, just as it appeared right in front of them.
"Uh sir, I lost them," the technician replied.
"What do you mean, 'lost them?'" General Hammond asked.
"I was tracking them, and they stopped near our position before the signal just…vanished," Walter explained, shrugging helplessly. General Hammond frowned and turned his attention to the large screen to the left of him.
"Bring up the visual scanner, see if we can't find them," the general ordered. An image of deep space appeared on the screen; eventually, it zoomed in on a small, sleek ship of a design that General Hammond had never seen before. It had a low, wide profile and was painted white and black. But the most interesting part of the design was the name printed on the side, in plain English: SR-2 Normandy. "Sergeant," General Hammond said, "what in the hell am I looking at here?"
"I don't know, sir," Walter said as he frantically typed away at his console. "There are no known ships being built by the name of Normandy, especially one that looks like that. I also can't lock on to them; it's like they're invisible, but…not," he added, wincing as he belatedly realized just how stupid his last comment sounded.
"Hail them on all frequencies," General Hammond said. "If we're lucky, we'll get a response."
"Aye, sir, broadcasting on all frequencies," Walter said as he carried out his order. "the comm. is yours, sir." Clearing his throat, General Hammond spoke.
"This is General Hammond of the USS Prometheus," the old man declared. "Identify yourselves immediately." A few tense minutes later, a female voice replied.
"This is Commander Jane Shepard of the SSV Normandy," she said. "What business do you have here on Earth, General?" Shepard asked.
"I could ask the same of you, Commander," General Hammond replied.
"I am on a mission of a sensitive nature," Shepard said.
"Funny, so am I," General Hammond said. Seconds passed away in silence before Shepard spoke again.
"It seems that we find ourselves at an impasse," she said. "Two parties who don't want to reveal what they're doing to the other, and has no idea what they're capable of offensively. Perhaps this would go over better if we spoke face-to-face. Your place or mine?" she asked.
"I believe my place would be better," General Hammond said, unable to keep a slight grin off his face.
"Ooh, inviting me over without even so much as a dinner first," Shepard cooed. "My, my, General, you do move fast." The Prometheus' bridge crew could not help but chuckle; this Shepard character had a sense of humor, at least. "However," she continued seriously, "I can't just hop over to your ship without some sort of insurance policy." General Hammond sighed; he should have known that there would be a catch.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I'm willing to send myself and two others over as part of my security detail," Shepard said. "In return, I want three people from your crew as guests of my ship during the duration of our talks. In particular, I want your XO, your chief engineer and your master gunner." General Hammond gave another weary sigh.
"How do I know you won't torture and kill them the moment they set foot on your ship?" he asked.
"The same way I'm trusting that you won't do the same to me," Shepard replied. "So, what's your answer?" General Hammond turned to his executive officer Colonel Kirkland, and then to Walter, who both nodded in acceptance.
"Alright, you win. How do I send them over to you?" General Hammond asked.
"My shuttle is preprogrammed to return to my ship," Shepard said. "Your men can just step on as we get off and enjoy the ride. Where shall we dock?"
"You can dock at the starboard hangar bay," General Hammond said, broadcasting the location of said hangar bay.
"Excellent," Shepard said. "I look forward to our meeting, General. Shepard out," she said before cutting off the transmission. General Hammond looked at the two men that he had just agreed to send to an unknown fate.
"I'm truly sorry about this, gentlemen," he said.
"No apology necessary, sir," Kirkland said, saluting. Walter climbed out of his chair and saluted as well before both men left for the starboard hangar bay. Rubbing his forehead with his hand, General Hammond pressed on a button on his chair.
"Sergeant McDowell, report to the starboard hangar bay immediately," he said. Now there was nothing that he could do but wait.
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With initial negotiations over with, Shepard called for Jacob and Tali to meet her in the hangar bay before she stepped into the elevator that led to her private loft to change into her combat armor. As she entered her room and stepped toward her closet, she pressed a door to open it and reveal several suits of armor. One was a silver set with a red dragon painted across the chest, sytlized after medieval knight's armor. One had a red-and-gold color scheme that reminded her of a comic book hero she saw someone reading about while she was in basic. Another was an a heavy, boxy armor courtesy of Cerberus. Another was an almost entirely jet-black armor that gave an aura of foreboding to any who witnessed it. Another one was entirely unique, as it seemed to be made out of the carapace of an insect instead of metal. And finally, there was her trusty modular N7 armor, which she decided to wear today.
After stripping down to her underwear and applying the armor piece by piece, she grabbed her helmet and rode the elevator back down to the second floor where she entered the Armory. Deciding to forego the sniper rifle, she grabbed the Carnifex hand cannon, Eviscerator shotgun and the enormous Revenant light machine gun. She hesitated at the heavy weapons table, unable to choose between the flamethrower or the arc projector. Finally grabbing the arc projector, Shepard walked back into the elevator and rode it down to the hangar bay at the very bottom of the ship. When she exited, she saw Jacob, who was wearing another copy of the Cerberus armor and Tali, as well as Miranda Lawson, who had a disapproving look on her face.
"Shepard, do you really think that it's wise to send yourself to an unknown ship?" the Australian ex-Cerberus operative asked, crossing her arms.
"No," Shepard replied bluntly, fastening her helmet, "but we have no idea what these people are capable of, so peace seems to be the best option for now." As the away team climbed into the Kodiak shuttle, Shepard turned back to Miranda. "We'll be expecting some guests soon," she warned her XO, "try not to scare them too much." Miranda scowled at her commander as she climbed in and closed the shuttle door before exiting the Normandy.
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In the starboard hangar bay of the Prometheus, the security team, as well as the three crew members chosen as "guests" were anxiously awaiting the arrival of their mysterious visitors. Soon, a white shuttle with thrusters on both ends drifted in, gracefully settling itself down on the ground. The security team readied their weapons for whatever came out of the shuttle; what did come out was three beings, their weapons also at the ready. First was a black man in boxy white armor holding what looked like a futuristic shotgun. The second person was a masked alien wearing a black, skintight suit that accentuated her feminine features, who was also wielding a shotgun. The final person to step out was a woman dressed in dull gray armor, wielding an enormous weapon that seemed more at home attached to a truck than in the hands of a soldier. There was also shapeless lumps of metal on the backs and hips of the three soldiers, presumably more weapons.
"Are you Commander Shepard?" Sergeant Caleb Burnstein, Head of Security on the Prometheus, asked.
"I am," Shepard said.
"I've been ordered to relieve you of your weapons and escort you to a secure meeting place," Burnstein said. Truthfully, after seeing the amount of firepower their guests were packing, Burnstein was less than enthusiastic about telling them that, but orders were orders. After a few tense seconds, Shepard nodded to her two companions, and they lowered their weapons. She reached down and pulled something back on her weapon, and a small object popped out. She swiftly snatched it from the air and slid it into a circular object wrapped around her right arm. Then she pushed a button on the side and, to Burnstein's surprise, collapsed into a smaller, vaguely square-shaped mass of metal.
"Be careful with that, it's heavy," Shepard warned as she held the now collapsed gun out. Burnstein took the gun from her hands and almost buckled at just how heavy it was. It felt like it weighed at least fifty pounds, and yet she held it like it hardly weighed anything at all! The three soldiers quickly disarmed themselves, save for a rather wicked-looking knife strapped to the leg of the alien.
"I'm sorry…ma'am," Burnstein said, hesitating as to what he should call the alien. "I'm going to need that knife too." That seemed to have struck a nerve with her, as her body suddenly tensed up.
"It was a gift from my father," she said sharply, crossing her arms.
"Tali, it's okay," Shepard said placatingly. The alien – Tali – looked at Shepard for a moment before sighing and bending over to remove the knife – giving the soldiers behind her a rather nice view of her rear end. Standing up, she placed the knife on top of an already heavy armful of weapons.
"I expect that back," she said to the unlucky soldier who now possessed it. Shepard turned to the small group of Kirkland, Walter and McDowell, who stood separate from the security team.
"You the away team?" Shepard asked. When they nodded, she continued, "Just step into the shuttle, and it'll take care of the rest." When the three men stepped into the Kodiak, the door closed automatically and flew off back to the Normandy. After the shuttle faded away, Shepard turned back to Burnstein. "So, can we see General Hammond now?"
"Yes, of course," Burnstein said as he passed on the Revenant to some other unlucky sap to haul away. "Follow me please." Turning around, he began to walk to the designated meeting place, the three visitors following behind him.
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And that's the end of that. Shepard and Hammond will meet next chapter. Depending on how long they talk, we might even get to see some action too!
Thanks to everyone who suggested what position Garrus is in. I really appreciate it.
Don't forget to review!