Part II
The Power of the Grail
Chapter 2: The Portal
Chief stood straight.
The two girls wanted training?
His gaze behind his visor narrowed at them. They weren't soldiers. They didn't know war, or death, or the pain of watching a hundred worlds burn under a genocidal enemy's campaign. If they wanted to train they could learn the proper way. Through years of learning and being taught. Through facing monsters in a firefight and doing whatever it took to survive.
Not through fake sparring matches and pretending to be soldiers.
They were children. Why Shepard wanted them on this mission he didn't know. He knew it was a terrible idea. Having these children around would get them all killed.
"Chief?" Shepard asked from next to him as his stance relaxed.
He didn't reply. He just walked right past Elsa and towards the elevator. He wasn't going to be a part of this. He had more important things to do.
"Hey, where are you going?"
The Spartan glanced at her from behind his visor and only tilted his helmet to look at the Commander. Again he didn't reply and the elevator doors closed in front of him, and the Chief was gone from sight as metal doors slid between him and the others in the Loading Bay.
"What the heck's his problem?" Korra asked as she relaxed from her fighting stance.
Shepard stayed silent and only looked at the elevator in silence. She had a feeling she knew why the Spartan had acted like that.
"Well that was new." Hope stated, walking up to the group with crossed arms and a confused expression.
"What a buzz kill." Wrex grumbled from his spot against the wall.
"At least Shepard didn't leave." Hope announced with a forced smile.
Katherine shook her head. "Let me get some sleep and some food, then I'll come spar with you two."
Korra sighed while Elsa looked more relieved than anything.
"Its fine, maybe another time." The darker skinned girl headed to the far side of the Loading Bay and started discussing something with one of her friends, who had been hiding behind some crates to watch the fight but was now sitting on them since the 'show' never started.
Shepard watched her for a brief second, then headed off towards the elevator with Hope following her. She was quiet, her thoughts going back and forth between Chief and his attitude.
It made sense why he refused. Or at least she thought it made sense. He was different from the rest of them. He was cold, focused, and always set on completing the mission.
Sure, she would do what it took to get a mission done, but she wasn't like him. What had the man seen to make him so cold? So… inhuman?
"Hey Shepard?"
She looked up to see the elevator doors close. Then they started to rise through the ship.
She didn't even notice when it had arrived or when she walked in.
"Shepard?"
She shook her head and looked over at Hope. "Sorry, just thinking. What's up?"
The mutant girl looked down and huffed out a deep breath, blowing her bangs out of her face. "What do you think of Chief?"
Katherine looked at her inquisitively. "What do you mean?
"Well," Hope started, "He's so… I don't know, cold? He's just. Do you think he's right?"
Whatever on earth Hope was talking about she had no idea. She wondered if the younger girl was thinking the same thing she was, and in a sense knew why Chief wasn't willing to spar them.
"What exactly do you mean Hope? You're not being very clear." Her voice changed and she put on her Commander persona.
The girl rolled her head as the elevator came to a stop, revealed the Crew Quarters and followed out after Shepard. As the Spectre walked over to the small kitchen to cook herself some grub the mutant sat on the large dining table.
"Ok," Hope started, "well I think he thinks that it's a waste of time. Teaching them to fight you know? I mean, sure they held their own against a few super powered beings but that doesn't really make them soldiers does it? Not like us."
"Like us?" Shepard raised en eyebrow with a smirk as she opened a counter and pulled out a container.
Hope laughed, "I don't mean I'm anything like you two, like all badass and stuff. But," She stopped talking for a moment staring at Shepard but not looking at her. "I've seen and been through more than enough firefights. I've seen, so many things those two couldn't dream of, and I've seen death more times than I can count. I was trained, I've fought, I've killed."
She stopped talking and look Katherine in the eye. "I know what it is to be a soldier, but," she licked her lips, "I want to know what you think. Is it a mistake having them here? Cause I don't know! They're useful and awesome but…" She couldn't finish.
The Spectre held her gaze briefly then looked back to the extravagant meal she was making, a bowl of cereal. Shepard closed the lip of the cereal container and slipped it back from where she got it. Before she responded to Hope she grabbed her bowl, palaced the carton of milk underneath her arm, then made her way to the table. She sat down across from Hope while the mutant just stared and waited for a response.
Katherine sighed. The girl had training. She had helped Chief fight off Flood in hand to hand combat. The two of them survived in Ba Sing Se against thousands of Flood troops without help or weapons. She had even saved Chief once if she believed their story. Maybe Hope had a point.
She looked down at her cereal and sat back in her chair. What a beautiful sight, the simple way the cereal floated in the cool white milk. It was all so…
Simple.
"Hope," She started, "If I'm right, and don't quote me on this, I think Chief at least has a point. Or at least, you have a point."
She glanced behind her, then in front of her to make sure their conversation was private. Then she continued, "Elsa and Korra, their friends, their families. They aren't are kids. But they want to fight."
She thought of Earth during the Reaper War. She remembered the little kid trying to climb aboard a shuttle. She remembered the Reaper's beam.
"They want to avenge their homes. They want to stop the Flood and Reapers so what happened to their homes won't happen to anyone else. I know the feeling, and I support their decisions. They want to train and we'll help them. They need to know how to fight."
"Shepard," Hope started, still confused on her on indecisiveness when the Commander silenced her with a look that said 'let me finish'.
Katherine then continued, "I'm not going to send them anywhere, or put them in charge of protecting our backs in the middle of a firefight just yet. I want them to learn first, then once their ready, we can put them in the field and see how they do."
Hope opened her mouth to protest but no words came out. She thought it over and nodded her head in agreement. It made sense, and hell, having a fully trained sorcerer of ice on their side would be a great freaking help.
"Well then we should whoop them into shape." Hope smiled.
Shepard returned the gesture and was about to speak when a deep voice spoke up from the side of them, from the entrance of the Med Bay. "We shouldn't."
They both turned and saw no other than the Chief standing there, his visor fixed on them and his tone hollow as it usually was.
"Why not?" Hope asked, confused now that her mind had been changed.
The Spartan stalked towards them, arms hanging at his side and his voice even as he spoke. "They're children."
"We know that." Shepard responded glaring softly at the super soldier.
"And they'll get everyone on this ship killed."
Hope stared at the Chief with a dumbstruck look. She got off from the table, landing gently on her feet, and raised her hands. "Hold on. You're saying those two are going to get all of us killed just because they're not super soldiers?"
"No. Because they're not soldiers. They don't know what it takes."
"Yeah," Hope said taking a step towards Chief, "But like Shepard said we'll teach them! Whose better to teach them than us! We three have seen war and death over and over and over again, so who the heck is better to teach them what it takes then us!"
"Because its not techniques and discipline that he's talking about." Shepard interrupted causing the two others to look at her, Hope with confusion and Chief with understanding.
She took a deep breath, "He's talking about the feeling. The feeling when you have to make a choice that breaks most. He's talking about killing. About death, and all the shit a person has to see in war."
She looked down.
"But we made it didn't we?" Hope whispered looking back and forth between them. "They can too?"
Chiefs visor moved to look at Hope and she looked away from his gaze. "They're not soldiers. They shouldn't be here."
"We should give them a chance." Katherine said looking up with a hard look on her face. "If we did it they can."
Chief stayed quiet.
"She's right you know." Hope said with look of agreement and a nod. "They can do it. If they couldn't then they wouldn't have fought with us back there against Vatuu."
Chief looked down at her and responded, "They can't. Do you think they can make the hard choice? Between life and death? It took them days to decide whether they would get aboard a ship."
Hope held her tongue. He had a point. Elsa had been indecisive in battle and in mostly everything else. She took forever to decide, and she saw how scared the blonde had been when fighting. Could they expect her to make a hard decision like taking the life of someone? Did Korra have it in her to kill someone?
"So what should we do if we can't use them like you say?" Hope said with grit teeth and a glare at Chief.
"We take them to the refugee planet."
"And just abandon them after we said we would help them? Or they would help us! Or whatever!" Hope exclaimed her voice rising to a yell.
Shepard, having gotten out of her seat, placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. She gave Hope a soft smile then looked up at Chief. "We're not taking them anywhere. I told them they could help, and we'll teach them how to fight. The rest we'll have to see."
Her eyes were firm and her gaze was hard. She wasn't going to argue this anymore. She had asked them, convinced them to come. She wasn't going to go back on the things she said, the promises she made so they could avenge their homes.
The two soldiers stared at each other in silence while Hope awkwardly shuffled a few feet away from them. The tension was too much for her.
Chief nodded.
Shepard relaxed and nodded back. The Spartan turned and headed for the elevator. Where he went Shepard didn't care. She just needed to finish her cereal.
She looked over to the bowl and frowned. Her cereal was all soggy.
Chief on the other hand, didn't care for such things at the moment. What he cared about was the message had been delivered. He would never have confronted Shepard if it hadn't been for the fact that the third red head on their crew had been eavesdropping on them.
The elevator opened and he went in, ignoring the shuffling of the third redhead on the ship as she tried to escape into a hallway without him noticing.
He hoped that Elsa's sister would have sense and realize their folly.
"Arbiter."
The Elite in question tilted his head to glance behind him and saw Admiral Thran Fredum kneeling down with his fist against his chest and his head bowed down in a sign of respect for the once great general.
"Stand Admiral. There is no need for one of your rank to honor an old warrior like me." The Arbiter replied, staring out the viewport on his ship as another report sifted by on screen. His crew worked silently and effortlessly as they floated outside of the planet Sur Kesh monitoring battle reports.
"Nonsense Arbiter," Thran stated with a wave of his hand, "but I have news." His voice was low and dangerous, which caused the Arbiter to divert his full attention to the young Admiral.
"What is it?"
The Admiral got closer to the Arbiter so that they were standing side by side, "We've located a portal. This one is different."
"How so?" The Arbiter inquired.
Thran cleared his throat, "This one has not closed within seventy two hours."
This caused the Arbiter to clench his hands together. They had seen plenty of portals already, occasionally popping up in enemy controlled space whenever the Flood brought in reinforcements to a battle, but none had stayed open for long.
"The strange thing is our probes have recorded no Flood or Reapers utilizing the portal."
"They could be amassing forces on the other side. Send probes through and find out what we're missing."
"We did," Thran replied narrowing his gaze at the viewport. "Obviously the portal leads into another realm, but there were no Flood or Reaper ships present within two thousand light years of the portal."
The Arbiter stayed quiet. Why on earth would there be a random portal that just stays open and the Flood not be using it? A trap perhaps?
"Have you informed any one else?"
"No Arbiter."
The Arbiter nodded. "Send two ships through. Scout the surrounding star systems for any sign of life, look for traces of Flood or Reaper lifeforms. If you encounter any other sentient lifeforms avoid contact as best you can. Make sure to keep a low profile. On our side form a barricade of ten ships including two Assault Carriers. Nothing gets through without my say so."
"By your word Arbiter." Thran again saluted the ancient Elite then walked away.
His eyes narrowed at the battle reports. A portal.
Why now?
The Elite clasped his hands together. Something was going on. Something, that wasn't their doing, or the Gravemind's it seemed.
There was a third party in play, and he needed to find out who.
Hope whistled a light tune as she walked into the community bathroom, a towel hanging over her shoulder and a set of clothes under her arm. A smile was plastered on her face as she put the clothes on the long vanity and hung the towel on the rack hanging inside the large shower. She checked to make sure she had all her clothes then twisted the knob.
The shower started up with a hiss and steam started to rise as it heated up to her preferred temperature. It reminded her of how Stark had his own personalized shower with a set temperature and everything. He would always rub it in their faces at any Avengers meetings.
"Hey."
She spun around, hands ready for a fight and just saw Anna standing at the entrance with her own clothes and towel. She relaxed and smiled, "Hey Anna didn't see you there."
"Yup." The younger girl replied walking into the bathroom and slipping past Hope to the next shower.
Briefly Hope looked after Anna. She looked different in a modern skirt and silk shirt. It was different from the dress she had first met her in. Apparently it had been her normal attire, until it got trashed on Korra's planet and they had to toss it.
"So how things going? Adjusting to big old scary space well?" Hope smiled playfully as she reached behind her green and gold jumpsuit and pulled the zipper down. It came down easily and she slipped her upper torso out of the snug outfit ,revealing her bra and almost flawless skin to the warm steam floating from her shower.
She saw Anna shrug out her peripherals. "It's ok."
"It's ok?" She looked over at the princess, or at the girl who at one time had been royalty, and raised an eyebrow. Anna was never this short when she talked to people. Hell, she had known the girl for around six weeks and she already knew the girl rarely liked to shut up.
She shrugged and returned back to unchanging. She slipped one leg after the other out of her jumpsuit then folded it up and placed it next to her clothes on the vanity.
It was quiet when she slipped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed before getting out of her undergarments and relishing the hot water on her skin.
"Well at least we're not fighting some psychotic power drunk spirit." Hope chuckled lightly hoping to start some sort of conversation and break the quiet atmosphere.
"Yeah at least." Anna replied.
The mutant heard the second shower turn on and decided that Anna obviously didn't want to talk so she decided to just relax. She let her muscles loosen up under the warm water and let it roll down her face and hair with a smile on her face.
"Hey Hope?"
So now the girl of royalty was talking? She wondered what was bugging her. She waited a few more blissful seconds then said, "What's up?"
"We should fight."
That caught the mutant off guard and she opened her eyes with a series of confused blinks before wiping the water from her face and walking to shower curtain. She pulled it back and looked over to the other shower.
"Why would we fight?" She asked with a dumbfounded smile. For a second she thought maybe the other girl had lost her mind. She knew space could do that, at least to someone who had no idea space travel was even possible only two months ago.
Anna poked her head out her shower, her own hair matted down with water and said, "To show you I can fight thank you very much."
Hope then felt her stomach sink. Damn. The girl had heard her conversation with Chief and Shepard.
"Anna," She started, "look ok it's nothing personal but if you want to fight, train with Shepard. She'll get you to fight and I'm sure she'll put you up to par with everyone else."
It was a half truth. Anna was a long ways from being anywhere on the same level as her and Shepard, let alone Chief. Hell Wrex and the others on ship would tear her apart even if she got a half a years worth of training. She just didn't have the heart to tell her that.
"On par? You guys don't think we even have a chance!"
The mutant rolled her eyes, "Chief said that. Shepard thinks you do, and frankly so do I. Its not over night Chief and Shepard became the soldiers they are today. It takes time you know."
Anna narrowed her eyes at Hope for a few seconds before slipping back into her shower. "Fine. But I still want to fight."
Hope shook her head and slipped back into her shower. "You mean spar. An actual fight you don't want. Not unless you have to fight."
"Ok spar. Can we spar later today?"
Her eyes went wide and she opened her mouth to respond only for water from the shower to fly into her throat and cause her to cough. She coughed for a few seconds before clearing her throat and saying, "Girl you don't even have any training. No offense but you won't last ten seconds."
"Hey! I'd last at least twenty!"
There was silence before Hope replied, "Uh huh."
"Well then maybe after I show you what I'm made of you can show me some pointers." Anna said from her shower.
"Sure why not." Hope shrugged as she grabbed the shampoo and poured some on her hands, the shower water tapping against her skin.
Anna smiled in her shower and said with a prideful smirk, "I warn you, I took out a wolf one time."
"I fought a cosmic being that destroys entire worlds for fun." Hope responded without a smile on her face. "And won." She thought of when she fought Cyclops. When he had the Phoenix force in him.
There was another moment of award silence before Anna said, "I was just making a joke…"
Hope laughed, "If your making jokes make a joke about your boyfriend's haircut. That guy needs one."
"Hey I happen to like his hair thank you very much!"
Shepard laid back on her bed with a content sigh, her wet hair wrapped up in a towel. Damn how she missed this bed. It was soft, comfortable, and best of all isolated.
She loved people, but dang it sometimes she needed some 'her' time to relax. She listened to the soft humming of the air conditioner as it poured in cool air and closed her eyes as the lights turned dim.
Her mind wandered to different places. To memories of laughing with her friends, to memories of fighting against the Reapers. All of her memories swirled in a beautiful, blissful peace as the ever-loving temptation of sleep pulled her consciousness into dreams.
It was the Citadel. She was dancing and- "Shepard."
Couldn't they let her sleep for just one minute?
Slowly, she sat up in her bed, letting her eyes fall open with an annoyed growl. "What?" She hissed.
"Shepard."
The voice was soft. Like a whisper.
Katherine rubbed her eyes and slapped herself a couple times to shake off the feeling of sleep. She looked around, her military trained eyes scanning every crevice, every nook and cranny of her room. Nothing was wrong, but no one was in her room.
"Shepard."
She looked around again, wondering if maybe Chief or Korra were playing a prank on her. Then again, Chief wouldn't. He as too serious. And Korra, well she couldn't see anyone in her room and unless Korra was in her shower then there was no way she was in the room.
With an exaggerated sigh she got off the bed and headed over to the shower. "Ok look I swear if-" She opened the door and found nothing.
"Weird." Shepard closed the door and shook her head. She had to be imagining things. Then again she remembered the dream she had a few months ago. The one with the voices. And the five figures surrounded in light.
She rubbed her forehead, "No more whiskey before going to bed." An with that she walked back towards her bed, glaring at the whiskey bottle on her night stand.
"Commander Shepard," The familar voice of EDI filled her room and she smiled.
"EDI was that you whispering right now?"
There was a silence. "Commander I have no recollection of such an event."
Shepard's face went white. "Is there anyone else in my room besides me?" She looked around. What the hell had been whispering?
"There are no other life signs in the cabin other than your own, Commander."
Katherine rubbed her temples and bit her lip. God was she losing it.
"Commander, Admiral Hackett is on the Vidcom for you. He says its urgent."
The red head sighed, pushing away her thoughts, then threw her head back.
"It's always urgent. I'll be right there."
The Arbiter leaned back on his seat, his head resting in his hand as he looked at the report in front of him. His mandibles flexed back and forth as he contemplated the situation in front of him.
Thran had informed him several hours ago that nothing had come through the portal. Now the Admiral was on his way with ten ships to form a barricade around the portal.
"Arbiter, probe 63.A1 has picked up something."
The Arbiter looked down at one of his officers working at one of the stations on his bridge and said, "What did it find?"
"It has detected a life-pod coming through the portal."
"Intercept it."
"At onc- Arbiter it just slipspaced out of the system!"
"Trace it and send a ship after it."
"At once!" The Officer replied before he turned away and began giving commands to the lower ranked Elites as he carried out the Arbiters orders.
With keen eyes, the Arbiter opened up the video surveillance of the probe 63.A1 on the viewport and watched the scene unfold. The life pod, small and bulky, floated out of the portal. It didn't change direction or anything, it simply went forward. Then a hole in space ripped opened before it and went in.
"Kelda', get me the Keeper."
The Elite, his communications officer, responded, "At once, Arbiter."
He narrowed his gaze the further he studied the report. The escape pod had come through hours ago. And just now the probe sent him the information.
His gut twisted.
Why did it delay?
"Spock you seeing this?" Kirk asked, squinting at the readings his long range sensors were getting. He stood up straight to let the Vulcan see
"Captain as I have been present in the room for two minutes and forty five-"
"I mean," Kirk said with an exaggerated wave, "What do you think of it? I mean another worm hole? This is what? The third one in the past two months?"
"Correct. However the past two were opened only for an hour at most, hence why we failed to ever reach one in time to study it, but this one has been open for several hours and shows no signs of closing." Spock handed Kirk the holographic data pad he had been holding.
Kirk took it and nodded, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"No, but I assume we will follow your course of action either way."
"Ah come on, Spock! It'll be fun!"
A/N Here we go. Things are rolling again. Is She[ard crazy? Is Chief right?
And whats messing with the Arbiters probes? We've seen how some creatures, like Vatuu and Hope, have the power to defy reality, so maybe its something related to them?
Well find out next chapter what urgent news Hackett has for Shepard.
Oh and for any Smash Bros Fans you should check out the story "It Came From Lucina's Head" Its one of the best fic's I've read and I highly recommend it!
Anyway thanks for reading! Please Review! God bless you all!
-Metal4k
