Disclaimer: I own nothing! Other than my own characters, that is.

A/N: I finally got things started! I made sure to explain some stuff, but as we all know, it's boring to get all the answers at once!

A Ship?

Where am I? I wondered, walking in what looked to be…nothing. It wasn't really white, but it was blank. Limbo, maybe. I had been walking for what seemed like forever, however impossible it was.

"Crusnik…" a voice emanated all around me, through me. It almost sounded familiar, like I should know it. I wasn't able to place gender or age to it. I stopped walking and looked around, even knowing nothing would be there. "You have been chosen."

"For what?" I asked, confused at the declaration. It may have made some sense for the blast from P_66 to create a type of inter- dimensional hole, but if it was made by an unknown third party, that would be almost inconceivable.

"For everything…" it answered. I never was a big fan of cryptic answers, especially if I couldn't see who I was speaking to.

"I'd appreciate a little more detail." I said, more to myself than anything. Disembodied voices never seemed to give much help no matter the situation, huh?

"You were chosen because of the past…for the future. Yours and the universe's." I hadn't expected a reply, but it was enough for me to listen.

"The past? I don't have one. As for the future, I don't see how the universe would need me…" as I finished, I heard what could only be described as a chuckle. It was an echo in my mind ,slowly fading away. The way this…being seemed so omniscient, how it sounded as if I knew it… I had an idea.

"You have a past, though you may not remember it. It applies to your brother as well. You were chosen for this." it repeated the 'chosen' comment again as if it knew exactly what it meant and I had no clue. Well, it was right about that, any way…

"Wait a minute… you're-" the echo-chuckle came again and I felt myself slipping away from this existence. Slowly, I could feel a pull from reality, bringing me back. But the voice just had to get the last word in.

"I give you knowledge of now, of everything…but know this:" it paused for a second as I sank further "You will only find little of it, and only when it is needed." at that, I disappeared from Limbo.

…

"-nik!…Crusnik, wake up already!" I woke with a start as Morena shook me around. She looked to be rushed from what I could tell. It'd been about two months since our arrival here, but we only just hung around for the most part. There weren't any interesting jobs or places to check out, but the citadel wasn't ever really boring.

Vira had made sure to check up on us all the time and she'd obviously come back for a day or two until she'd have to take on another mission. Liara was always researching or whatever she did, but I often pried her away from that to take her out with everyone and have 'fun'.

I, for one, didn't understand the concept, but the first time Vira came back, she almost beat me up with her biotics for not making sure Liara had fun. So, that was my job: keeping everyone in order and keeping Liara from 'stagnating in front of the damn screen'. That was only one lecture Vira gave me anyway. She was certainly the motherly type.

A few weeks ago, I'd learned she was 'only' 217. She had lots of maiden time left, that was for damn sure. At the moment, she was on another mission. Something about a drug lord, I never caught it.

"Mmmm?" I mumbled rubbing my eyes. She stopped jostling me and I looked up at her.

"Ankou's waiting for you! He called a 'family meeting' a couple minutes ago, and when you didn't join, I came to get you." she explained patiently, pulling me up from the ground. Ankou wasn't the type for meetings, let alone 'family' ones, so it was bound to be interesting. I followed Morena to the living room where my brother already was, sitting on parallel couches. I sat down while Morena took up my side.

"Took you long enough." he commented, crossed arms and all. I shrugged innocently and leaned back comfortably. I gestured to the room with my hand, indicating the general situation.

"What is this 'family' meeting about, Ankou?" I asked, frowning slightly.

"Well, while you were sleeping, I got to looking for info on stuff. Guess what I found out?" he smiled slyly, leaning forward on his elbows. I sighed at his relative excitement and shook my head.

"Stuff, meaning information on Shepard and such?" he frowned and scrunched his nose in annoyance.

"Yeah… She's a girl in this reality, by the way. Funny thing, this being the year and all, we're older than her. I already feel like a grandpa." he was joking, I could tell, but having the so-called savior of the galaxy being younger than me, I couldn't help but snicker in response. Morena just smiled like a fool, holding a datapad.

"What's her history?" I asked, eying him. This was essential to planning out everything, but it could wait to later. That being the case, I wondered what other reasons he could have for the gathering. At my question, he furrowed his brows and kept up the frown.

"She was raised on Mindoir. As for the other thing, it's…" he trailed off, indicating bad news. How bad could it be though?

"What?" I urged, seeing him take a small breath. His eyes locked on to mine as he answered…

"She's been sent to Akuze." his response made me curse on the inside.

Let's hope nothings happened yet…

"So for now, she's okay?" it was an indirect query, searching for a simple answer. It made me wonder how she survived or even how she escaped the planet. It was never speculated in detail in the game, so it looked like I'd have to do it the hard way. Maybe, if we could get to her, we'd be able to stop the entire incident from happening.

"Yeah. In other news," he started, getting off of the topic. There wasn't any sense in continuing the conversation anyway. "I've managed to hack into the citadel's systems to check ourselves out!" he stated excitedly, grinning. I actually face palmed. Ankou always was able to get through practically any system out there back home, but I'd hoped he'd hold off on it for at least a little while.

"How did you manage that?" Morena was shocked pretty well at the declaration, but my brother only shrugged at the question.

"It was easier than getting in to Cru's com- Omni-tool." I hated it when he messed with my files back at the facility, so I always made sure to use the highest tech encryption to make it at least hard for him. But luckily, he caught himself from saying computer. It would've been hard to explain to Liara and in the long run, it was just better left alone. "So, back to my awesome skills: I was able to see whatever files they had on us and it turns out…" he paused for dramatic effect here, only irritating me further. "That we're Spectres. All three of us. Actually, we have some really cool files, lots of rewards and medals and stuff…" he stopped as he noticed my absolutely flabbergasted expression. How in HELL did we become Spectres before Shepard?

"What?" Morena yelled, just as caught off guard as I was. This had to be impossible, right? There was no way it was happening.

"I know, it was weird, but hey- let's not look a council horse in the mouth." I took a deep breath and stood up. If that was the case, I had the perfect idea to go with it: we needed a-

Ship- Acquired.

Immediately, I got a blasting headache. It felt as if my skull was getting a beating from the local sledgehammer. I doubled over and landed on the floor, trying to breath. I could barely make out Ankou and Morena grabbing me and rushing to put me on the couch as I gritted my teeth. Almost instantly, I felt it vanish as soon as it'd come.

"You okay?" Morena said, holding me upright. I stood slowly and blinked a few times to clear my head. It was like my mind was suddenly attacked by an onslaught of information. The picture of a very sleek looking ship crossed my mind, along with pretty much every detail about it and it's workings. I 'remembered' having the ship built...Why would... shaking my head, I finally gathered myself enough to stand on my own. Looking at my companions, I smiled.

"Yeah, back to my skills…" I watched both of them closely, keeping up some suspense. "I got us a ship of our very own." Ankou quickly huffed in frustration at the revelation and Morena gaped at me.

"Do you always have to one-up me?" Ankou demanded, desperately gripping my shoulder.

"Yeah, sorry about that, but let's check it out, shall we?"

…

After getting through security and such, it became an obvious fact that airport security had nothing on these guys. They checked everything with some super high tech scanner that could see even our bones and organs. Nothing would get past them unless it was certified or something. Honestly, it was entertaining seeing them 'pat' Ankou down when he complained about the scanner. 'suspicious activity' they called it. The looked on his face was priceless.

"Anyway, how long are we going to be in this thing?" Ankou asked, referencing the elevator itself as all of us piled in. I brought Liara along too, seeing it would be a little stupid to leave her alone in the apartment. It wasn't like I was worried she'd do something, just worried she'd freak if we left.

I shrugged and pressed the button to go down to dock 15. Apparently, the extra clearance and scanner was to make sure we had access to my ship. The security chief had explained it was 'an unknown, highly dangerous vehicle'. I know, I got a kick out of hearing him call a spaceship a vehicle. It was ridiculous in a way.

After standing in the elevator for a good minute and a half, we reached the dock. As the doors opened to reveal the ship- my ship, I couldn't resist the tightening in my gut and the smile that tugged at my lips. It was, in the least, beautiful. Sleek, stoic, yet almost intimidating. It looked like the Normandy SR-1 and 2 put together and almost doubled in size. Morena quickly ran forward as we all exited the elevator and kept going until she met the tail of the ship. Definitely longer too. It was painted black with a red streak stretching across the side.

Liara stepped forward, staring at it in disbelief and Ankou, dear Ankou, did a fist pump and yelled, "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" and I just couldn't agree more. This was perfect for what we needed, I knew. With the information in my head, I knew just how powerful it was, how fast it was and how high tech it was. If it wasn't more advanced than the Normandy, than it certainly was a close match.

I walked by the side of it and stopped as I got to the name. it read, "Oblivion" in what seemed like cryptic scrawl font. Damn name fit it well too.

"Jesus, where did you find this god of a ship?" Ankou mock worshiped me, grinning from ear to ear. I smiled in return and clapped his shoulder.

"I built it. Right behind all your noses!" I stated, immediately getting attacked with a noogie from Ankou. He laughed while I struggled free and our other two members joined us.

"Let's take a look inside!" Morena excitedly grabbed my wrist and pulled me along until we got to the airlock. I proceeded to open the doors and we all stepped inside.

As I entered, I noted the cockpit to the left and the walkway leading to the CIC. The build on the inside was mostly similar to the Normandy's, excluding the larger size. There were six decks in the Oblivion versus the four of the second Normandy and the three of the first.

This being deck two, it had the cockpit, CIC, comm room and research station. It was pretty much what Mordin's lab was. Deck one, the Captain's quarters, CO's quarters, security office, comm. room and 360 degree observation platform. Deck three had the mess hall, clinic, battery and crew quarters (one with bunks like the first, but several others for singles.). Deck four featured a work-out room, simulations room (you'll see), an armory and a conjoined room being the range/customization station (Yeah, almost overkill, right? Nah.). Deck five had the core and engineering with the generator. Deck six…

Wait a minute… I searched through the information in my head, but it yielded no answer. I knew deck six existed, but didn't know what was down there. Odd. That voice had probably been the one responsible for this ship, but it seemed I'd have to figure it out on my own.

I walked down to the CIC, realizing how frigging large it was, probably twice the size of the Normandy's. I didn't know why the size mattered, but felt it would be helpful in some way. Once I reached the elevator, I noticed Ankou standing at the platform above it, already looking through the galaxy map (Star wars!). I entered the elevator and pressed for…

You've got to be kidding me… Deck six wasn't displayed in the interface control. It was starting to get odd as I searched the panel, making sure I didn't overlook it. I sighed and pressed the Deck five option. A minute later, I found myself on Deck five, still looking for a way to get to deck six. There weren't any stairs or even any more elevators. Hell, there wasn't any way to get to it. I was starting to think I'd just gone mad. Finally, I gave up and headed back to the elevator, pressing for deck one.

Once I was there, I walked in to the observation platform, only to find it really was 360 degrees. The ceiling, walls, even the door (once it closed) faded to show a full view of space (or, in this case, the dock). I noticed it was interactive too! As I walked, I saw the Oblivion suspended right beside me. I looked around and saw the dock, the outside walkway and I turned, seeing the exit for the ship. It was amazing.

Once I pried myself away from the platform, I found the Captain's quarters down the hall and entered. It was a lot like Shepard's quarters in the second Normandy, only a little bigger with a second room attached for an independent work station with a mini armory (already stocked with weapons and armor mods). I returned to the main quarters and, upon seeing a small interface mounted on the wall by the bed in a relative corner, I went up to it. As I neared, it blinked on, sensing my presence, and showed a simple screen. It consisted of an outlined hand (human) with text saying; Authorization Required.

So, being ultimately curious, I placed my hand on the scanner. It instantly released a beam along the console, scanning my hand. After about three seconds, it let out a small beep, evidently finished. Before I could even move though, I felt the ground from under me just vanish. I fell through the small, three by three square, sliding along a sort of pipe like the ones for scroll messages, but for actual beings.

It took me to what I could only guess was the bottom, seeing a how I fell down, down, then, at the bottom, it curled slightly upward as it ejected me out of the wall into a spacious hall. I neatly landed on my feet and looked around. It wasn't any of the decks I'd been in so far, and judging by how far I'd fallen, this must've been deck six. It was a sort of large hallway, being about five and half feet wide. At the end, there was only one door. I felt almost a sense of foreboding, yet…in a good way? I didn't feel threatened, only… unprepared. Whatever was behind that door was something I knew I would need. But also something I knew I was the only one aware of even just this deck's existence.

I slowly approached it, deliberately taking my time. As I reached it, I noticed there was no panel on the door to open it. Instead, there was another scanner. I touched it with my hand and after the process, it opened the door. As it split open and snapped to the sides, I was greeted by a sight I'd never anticipated. There was a large, purplish core like EDI's blue one in the second Normandy, only a bit more compact. It's energy was softer than the other core's too, as it swirled about, almost gracefully.

I stepped forward and the door shut behind me as I got closer to the sphere. There was a walkway leading up to it and it stretched all the way around, circling the core. A railing was attached to the walkway too and an interface mounted on it. I reached the display and it turned on at my proximity, displaying another simple message; Activate Cortana.

I had to laugh at that. If my assumption was correct, then this was an AI core. It wasn't exactly something I welcomed, but it was what I needed. I didn't have a crew yet, so this was probably the only thing that could fly the ship. Besides, whatever it stood for, I appreciated it's familiar name. Putting my hand on the interface, activating the core and entering the pass code (which I somehow already knew), I couldn't help but feel excited. I wanted to know what personality it had and such, but there was a sort of nagging feeling in the back of my mind. What if it was an evil AI?

As it ran the activation, I watched the core pulsate, almost like a heart beat. The energy swirled quickly, yet still gracefully and the ground hummed under my feet. I could almost feel the AI coming to life as I saw light glow throughout the room and the core growing brighter until I had to close my eyes. Seconds later, it stopped and the ground returned to it's solid state. I looked up at the core, then down at the interface to see an options screen. There were choices for pretty much everything having to do with the Oblivion and it's systems as I looked through them.

Once I got a feel for the menu screen, you could say, I enabled some of them; Vocal processors, Free movement avatar (I didn't know what it was, but it didn't seem bad), Course steering, Video/Audio recorder (This was something of a double-edged sword, but I thought it would be a good 'just in case') along with medical operation (until we get a doctor) and Weapon systems. As I input the commands, the core hummed and then, after a few seconds it finished. Suddenly, a purple orb, about the size of EDI popped up beside of me, doing a little flip as if in excitement.

"Cortana online. How can I help you today, Captain?" well, she didn't sound all that bad. In fact, her voice was almost identical to the other one in Halo. Of course, she also had that slightly sarcastic voice of the Halo Cortana's so I felt plenty more at ease than I had earlier. Then again, the Captain thing was a small surprise.

"Tell me about yourself." I said, turning to the floating sphere. It paused, as if thinking, then seemed to blink.

"I need something more specific than that, Captain." she sounded a lot more 'human' than EDI did. I also noticed she spoke like the Halo Cortana.

"Your personality. You know, you." I poked the sphere, a little surprised at meeting resistance. Cortana laughed when I did that and flitted about in the room, circling around me. That must've been what the free movement option was.

"I felt that!" she exclaimed, sounding happy. It was adorable watching the way she excitedly moved about. I hadn't known AIs could be ticklish though. I smiled at her and watched until she calmed down.

"So, how are you today?" I asked, no longer needing an answer to my former question. I'd rather have figured it out any way. She came to a rest in front of me and thought on it.

"I'm feeling great, actually. My systems are working at peak efficiency and ship status is green." she reported, speaking proudly. I nodded and started for the door.

"Come on, let's find the others." I said. She followed me, staying at my side. Once I got to the end of the hallway, I touched another scanner and it outlined a platform under my feet. It quickly shot to the top and let me off, the floor once again closing back up as I stepped away. Cortana met me at the top.

"Beat you." she said, already getting a kick out of being 'alive'. I poked her again playfully in response, getting her to giggle quite a bit. I walked down to the OP (Observation Platform) where Cortana said Liara was and entered. She looked at me as I approached and smiled.

"This is an amazing ship, Ms. Crusnik." she never really got the whole friends thing did she? I thought friends were informal with each other all the time. It would be odd to call Morena Ms. Morena, right?

"Please, I like you enough to prefer you call me Cru. Anything else is too formal…" I didn't really get why she blushed when I said that, but I brushed the thought away as she noticed Cortana was behind me, as if hiding. So, the AI is shy, huh? "Liara, this is Cortana. Cortana, this is Liara." they seemed to stare at each other as I spoke, unsure of what to say. Slowly, Cortana glided up to Liara.

"Nice to meet you, Liara." she said, sounding more relaxed. Liara just smiled and said the same to Cortana.

"Now, where are Morena and Ankou?" I asked my new AI, to which she replied; "Ankou is in the armory and Morena is attending the CIC." so the three of us headed down to deck four to get Ankou.

"Ankou, Cortana, Cortana, Ankou." I introduced them, already seeing the excitement in my brother's eyes.

"Yes! We get our own AI!" he said, surprising the AI in question. After they met, we went up to deck two for Morena.

After they met with the same reactions as earlier, with Ankou, we all ended up in a meeting deciding what to do. Seeing as how I was already the unofficial leader, Cortana officially made it official. I appointed her the official adviser and my personal favorite AI, to which she happily agreed. Morena said she wanted to man the research station, while Ankou said he'd take care of the armory and Battery calibrations.

"Okay, so we can pretty much do what we want now…" Ankou said, looking lost as to what exactly to do. Morena frowned and crossed her arms.

"What should we do?" she asked, looking at the ground in thought. Liara then stepped forward.

"Well, if it would not be too much trouble, I would appreciate a ride to the next dig I'm attending." she said, looking a little shy. I nodded and thought through the choices. It would be good to see what the Oblivion could do.

"We'll get to it. I want to get you there safely, so it would be best if we took you. Where is it?" I was starting to think Liara was just shy when it came to personal stuff, because whenever I talked about something casually, she blushed. It was perplexing.

"Thank you, -…" she caught herself as I eyed her and raised an eyebrow. "Thank you…Cru." she finished, earning a smile from all of us. At that, we all started to get ourselves ready for the journey.

…

"Cortana, what's the ETA?" I asked, sitting in the pilot's seat. We'd just plotted the course to the planet with Prothean ruins Liara mentioned. I had sent Vira a message explaining everything (about taking Liara on our new ship, nothing detailed) about a half an hour ago too, so she wouldn't turn the citadel upside down, looking for us. Somehow, I didn't doubt she could do it if she had to.

"Four days, Captain." I sighed a little and looked at my spherical friend.

"Tana, you can just call me by my name, you know." I said. She didn't say anything for a minute, as if processing the information and adjusting to my spontaneous nickname for her.

"Four days, Crusnik." she said it like she was tasting a new food. I smirked and shook my head.

"That's close enough…" I muttered, yawning. It had been quite a day. Getting a vision, a new ship, reviving an AI and coasting through space. Quite a day, indeed.

"It's getting late, Crusnik, why don't you get some rest?" Tana suggested, sounding decently curious. I shrugged.

"Wouldn't you get lonely or something?" I asked, looking at her. She paused again.

"I won't get lonely as long as I'm not alone…" she didn't seem to understand the concept so I let it go. After standing from the comfortable chair, I went to the Captain's quarters. Once there, I bid Tana goodnight since she escorted me to my room. It was nice really. Having my own ship, a nice AI and a relative purpose.

I got into bed with those thoughts in mind and did my best to drift off to sleep.

…

Those four days went by quickly, what with getting everything squared away. All of us, with the help of Tana, became familiar with the ship for the most part and started to learn what we would need from her. Luckily, we all (Excluding Liara) knew several martial arts and were highly adaptable at whatever task appointed to us. Ankou was best with tech and such, being a fan of the shotgun and sniper rifle, while Morena was quite the hacking expert along with being a powerful biotic. I know, it was a surprise to all of us, but luckily, Tana was able to give her a prototype L4x implant, it being the latest and strongest. If that wasn't enough, the implant came with no side effects.

I on the other hand, loved all of the weapons, but the AR was my favorite. I had 'mad' skills, as Morena put it. Mostly, I was a decent hacker and able to take care of any wound I needed to on the field long enough to survive. Another skill I had was adrenaline rush and regeneration. They were obviously traits of a shock trooper, but Tana said all of our potentials were pretty much boundless. It was a good thing, considering we'd have to take on the Reapers.

"We have arrived, Crusnik." Tana said, referring to the planet Liara was going to. I nodded and called everyone down to the cargo hold.

Once we were all gathered and said our goodbyes, Ankou and Morena went back to their respective stations. Liara and I had previously agreed that I'd accompany her down to the planet. It was my idea really. I wanted to make sure she'd not get attacked as soon as we left or something.

As we entered the shuttle, it exited the cargo hold and started for the planet below. After a few minutes, we set down to the surface. Liara looked pensive for a second before she stood and exited the craft, me following behind. As I stepped out onto the ground, I realized how deserted these ruins looked. It was almost sad, looking at them…

"Thank you for everything, Cru." she said, still hesitant. I didn't really get it, but I didn't want to let her leave. Well, we were good friends.

"Not a problem. It was my pleasure." I said, forcing a smile. I wasn't quite sure, but…I thought I felt sad, somehow. Why was that, I wondered.

"Really, you didn't need to be so gracious to me- none of you did. But you went out of your way to make me feel welcomed. I really appreciate it." she finished, blushing again. I nodded. She was making me feel a little guilty at the praise. It wasn't really a choice for me, since Vira made sure to keep it clear.

"I'll see you again, Liara." I said, giving her a hug. It may have been a while, but I thought she looked like she needed one, given we were parting ways. She returned the embrace furtively, until it was time to go. I stepped back in to the shuttle and said a final goodbye, before taking off and disappearing in to the clouds.

After five minutes or so, we set a course back towards the citadel and I was in the pilot's seat. It would be some time before Liara and I saw each other again, but it was nice to know we were friends even before the storyline of the game. Maybe I could deal with the Shadow Broker before she got hardened because of all the dirty dealings. It was hard to see her like that in the games, so I didn't even want to experience it in reality.

"Crusnik, are you feeling ill?" Tana asked, sounding worried. He, a worried AI. Hilarious.

"No, why?" I asked in return, looking at her avatar. She paused for a moment before answering.

"Because I sensed a 'skip' in your heart's beating pattern." I was a little confused at it, but just shrugged it off.

"I'm fine, Tana, but thank you for asking." I said, smiling slightly. I just wasn't in the mood for talking. It was odd, but perhaps this was what missing someone felt like. I didn't like the feeling, and I knew we'd see each other again, but I still felt it.

Two hours later, I was fiddling around on my Omni-tool, looking for music to listen to from my original time. Back when I still lived at the facility. A beep from the console distracted me from my thoughts and I shut down the tool to take a look. At this, Tana pops up.

"We are receiving a distress call, Crusnik." she said, sounding a little worried. I looked at the message origin and just about fainted. It was Akuze! Already, it was happening! I searched for any local ships, but found none. And we were the only ones around to save the day. Fuck my life.

"Set a course, max FTL speed! We have to get there now!" I commanded, already running to alert Ankou and Morena. We're going in.

A/N: Cliffhanger! I've been wanting to write one of those! So, how's that for a twist? You'll just have to see what's going to happen to Shepard, huh? Well, that's if our awesome hero(s) can get there in time...

P.S- Review please! I could use some advice or whatever you want to say, you know.