Chapter 9
Shepard felt his mind blank. A Prothean? Here? Alive? After fifty millennia? How could this be possible?
"You mean a Collector," James asked, missing the point entirely. Turning to Shepard, he continued, "I thought you and your crew wiped them out?"
"No," Liara corrected the marine. "This isn't a Collector; it is a Prothean. A real, unaltered Prothean! Who's still alive!"
"You're right," John whispered. "It doesn't seem possible."
"How can this be," Tali spoke up. "How could a Prothean have survived this long, even in stasis?"
"We've seen Prothean stasis pods before," Liara explained bringing up her omni-tool, and bending over to examine the cylinder. "The only reason those failed was due to a lack of power." After scanning the pod briefly, she stood back up, saying, "This one still has power, and its occupant's life signs are still good. All we have to do deactivate the stasis mode, and open the pod."
Realizing that the group was about to enter a First Contact scenario, Shepard decided to get as much information on the species he could. "Tell me what you know about the Protheans, Liara; we need this to go as smoothly as possible."
"I'm afraid that I don't know much," Liara admitted. "And given your experience with the Prothean Cipher, you probably know as much about them as I do." Taking another look at the pod, she continued, "The Prothean Empire spanned the known galaxy. They uplifted countless species to join them in their galactic community; it is obvious that they wanted other species to learn and grow, and that they supported knowledge, growth, and cooperation with the rest of the galaxy."
The way that Liara described the Protheans, like they were benevolent, god-like beings, caused Shepard no small amount of suspicion; he highly doubted the Protheans were as wonderful as she was making them out to be. No species was, not even his own. Especially not his own, come to think of it.
"Liara," John said tentatively. "This may be the ex-gang member speaking, but I highly doubt that the Prothean people became the dominate species of the Milky Way by playing nice ALL the time."
"Of course not," Liara replied. "It is logical to assume they possessed a formidable military as well. But regardless of what the Protheans were or were not, finding one alive now is an incredible opportunity."
Smiling, John said, "Well, it's a good thing that we brought our Prothean expert, then."
Liara blushed, and then knelt down at the end of the stasis pod. Pressing a small button on the cylinder, a section lifted up, then slid into the main body, revealing a holographic control panel. She attempted to deactivate the pod, and bring its occupant back to the world, but as the minutes passed, it became clear that she was not succeeding. Finally giving up, she stood, and explained, "I can't make any headway with this. I can't even hack through it; it seems that these pods were designed only to respond to other Protheans."
"Well, like you said, Shepard still has the Cipher," Tali cut in. "Let's have him take a crack at it."
With all eyes on him, John looked around, shrugged, and motioned for the squad to cover him. Collapsing his submachine gun and placing it on a clamp opposite his pistol, he began examining the consul. At first glance, he was baffled as to how to end the program, but the more he looked at it, he began to "sense" how the pod worked, and how to safely end the stasis field. Using his omni-tool, he sent the signal powering down the stasis, and then tentatively pressed a sequence of buttons. With a hiss, the door of the cylinder lifted up slightly, releasing a cloud of condensation as it did so, and then slid apart. Rising up, Shepard got his first look at the species once credited with building the Citadel and the Mass Relays.
The first thing that caught his attention was the Prothean's eyes; like the Batarians, they had four, except they were side-by-side, instead of having one pair above the other. It had no nose as humans knew them, but there were two nostrils were they would be on a human. The top of its head was covered with segmented natural armor that reminded him of insect plating. On the sides and back of its neck, there were thick tendrils of what seemed to be muscle, as though someone had cleanly cut a large chunk of the blue-green skin away. It was clothed in red armor, which reminded Shepard of the ancient samurai warriors. It also had two toes on each foot, and two fingers and an opposable thumb on each hand. Its entire body was still covered in the frost of the cryogenic stasis.
"It may take some time before he fully awakens," Liara explained when everyone looked at her for an answer when the Prothean failed to move.
Looking back at the figure in the stasis pod, John continued to note the lack of movement the Prothean exhibited. Then, it began to stir; the fingers began to twitch, the head moved to the side slightly, and the eyes opened slightly, the being's long sleep still clinging to it. Finally, the Prothean's four eyes fully opened, and it raised its head up slightly, freezing when he spotted the four unfamiliar beings. Trying to be diplomatic, Shepard extended his hand, an offer to help the alien to its feet.
The response he got caught all four of them off guard.
The Prothean shoved its hand forward, now covered in a blue-green glow that John immediately recognized as biotics, and struck them all with a push of dark energy that sent the group sprawling. Intially dazed by the attack, John quickly regained his feet, and spotted the Prothean struggling out of the stasis pod; its extended time in the device had clearly left it disoriented and weak. Seeing that Shepard was again on his feet, the alien immediately turned to flee, stumbling as he did so. Shepard, though slightly tired by the earlier fighting, would easily overtake the rusted ancient alien. Glancing behind, and realizing John was gaining on him, the Prothean redoubled its efforts to escape. However, it suddenly came to a stop upon seeing the mountain range before them, and the flames and smoke that crowned the far away ridge. Slowing his pace, Shepard approached the Prothean cautiously, hand outstretched, prepared for any further hostile movements.
"Be careful, Shepard," Liara warned. "Remember, it's been 50,000 years for us, but for him it's only been-"
John's hand conneted with the bare skin of the Prothean's lower arm.
oo-00-oo
"-a few minutes. Repeat, all soldiers and civilians are to report to their stasis pods within the next few minutes."
The message was broadcast throughout the station. Shepard found himself walking down a hallway, holding some strange rifle, and with no control over his actions. At first he panicked, but when he saw numerous protheans surrounding him, he realized that he was somehow bearing witness to the alien's past life.
"I never believed that our empire would fall," he heard from a prothean that was walking beside him.
Immediately coming to a halt, the alien whose life Shepard was reliving raised its arm to stop his comrade, and answered, "It will not. We will sleep until the Reapers return to Dark Space. Then, we shall rise again, a million strong, and reclaim what has been taken from us."
The second alien stood up straighter, clearly inspired by the small speech, and replied, "For the Empire!"
"For the Empire," Shepard's Prothean repeated. "Get to you stasis pod." The subordinate hurried to obey, laying down in a nearby cylinder. As it did this, the alien Shepard was seeing through turned and began speaking orders to apparently no one. "Victory, seal the complex and broadcast the activation signal to all stasis pods."
The instant that his orders were finished, a green hologram of a Prothean appeared before it, which Shepard immediately recognized as a Virtual Intelligence. "And the refugees who have yet to reach the bunker," the advanced computer program asked.
The Prothean was silent for a moment, and then answered, "Their sacrifice will be honored in the coming empire." The image of the VI nodded, and disappeared. The alien whose life John was reliving turned, and began heading toward its own pod.
Suddenly, an explosion ripped through the air, behind him and down the hallway. Immediately brining up its weapon, the Prothean turned and saw numerous insect-like aliens swarm through the fresh breach, aliens that John immediately identified as Collectors. Some were armed with their standard weapons, while others simply ran or flew at the Protheans, intending on rending them to pieces with their claws.
'NO!' the Prothean thought. 'Not here! Not now!' Immediately, it brought its rifle to bear on the oncoming horde, and pulled the trigger. A continuous green beam shot from the barrel and struck a weapon toting Collector in the chest, shattering and melting its natural armor plating. The Reaper slave fell to the ground, its torso turned to blue-green sludge. Those of the Prothean's kin had yet to enter their pods grabbed their weapons and joined it in fending off the Reaper slaves. Dozens of the Collectors fell, but more and more of the things poured through, and eventually the Protheans came under more fire than they could respond with. Three of the defending alien soldiers were cut down, one directly in front of Shepard's Prothean.
In response, the alien leader stretched out its arm, which was now wrapped in a bluish-green glow that John recognized as biotics despite the unfamiliar color, lifted up five Collectors into the air, and, swinging its arm to the side, sent the aliens flying into the solid metal wall, their bones shattering. Soon, the rest of the Protheans too began unleashing their biotics on the oncoming horde, but even with this added power, it soon became clear that the Protheans would not be able to hold back the Reaper assault; so many Collectors were pouring into the chamber so quickly they couldn't kill them fast enough. Even worse, they were beginning to destroy the stasis pods in the breached chamber. Realizing the situation was hopeless, Shepard's Prothean reached down, and, dragging a wounded comrade with him, began moving back.
"Victory," it shouted, "Seal the bulkhead!" Immediately, thick doors began to close in between the Prothean and Reaper forces. The unarmed Collectors, seeing that their prey was escaping, rushed forward to try to reach the aliens before the barrier closed, but the soldiers on the flanks of the Prothean commander lay down a murderous crossfire that cut down any drone that came anywhere near them. Finally safe on the other side of the bulk head, the doors slammed shut, ensuring the Collectors could not reach them, though the sounds of explosions as the Reaper slaves destroyed the stasis pods and their precious occupants could still be heard faintly…
oo-00-oo
The Prothean fell forward, down on its hands and knees. Shepard flinched, shocked by the sudden ending of the vision and being plunged back into reality. Looking around, he saw that Tali, Liara, and Vega were just getting to their feet. John realized that his experience had occurred near instantaneously.
"How many others?"
Caught off guard by the question, John quickly realized that it had come from the Prothean.
"Just you," he replied.
A grunt of pain was his answer.
Before John could offer a word of condolence, he realized something; the alien's words weren't synthesized by his translator implant, the Prothean was speaking English.
"You can understand me?"
"Yes," it replied. "Now that I have read your physiology, you nervous system. Enough to understand your language."
"Then, you were reading me, while I was seeing…"
"Our last moments. Our failure."
Frowning at the Prothean's defeatism, Shepard stepped forward and, kneeling down, said. "You didn't fail. Your people never gave up, and thanks to you the galaxy has a fighting chance. And I could certainly use that kind of determination now."
Before the Prothean could respond, an alarmed Cortez began shouting in his ear. "Commander, you've been found out! Every Cerberus soldier and Reaper husk on the planet is inbound on your position!"
"Copy that, Cortez," John responded, immediately snapping back into battle mode. Turning to his comrades, who were only just recovering from the Prothean's biotic push, he ordered, "Everyone, we've got incoming; get yourselves in order, and prepare to hold out until extraction gets here."
Hearing footsteps behind him, Shepard turned to see that the Prothean had stood and walked back to his pod. "Asari… Human… Quarian…" it muttered, shaking its head. "I am surrounded by primitives!"
John took great offensive at the Prothean's insult, and was about to object, but then remembered that the alien had been in stasis for 50,000 years; the last time it had seen a member of any of their species' was when they had been living in caves and using animal pelts as clothing. So, instead of berating the potential ally for its reaction, he simply said, "It isn't safe here; will you join us?"
"You fight the Reapers?" the alien asked, giving the Commander a sideways glance.
"Yes."
"Then we will see," was the aliens ambiguous reply, as it reached into its pod and retrieved its rifle, checking it over for any damage and, satisfied that it was in working order, placed the weapon on a magnetic clamp over its right shoulder.
Again activating his communication device, John contacted the Normandy, saying, "Joker, start heading in to pick our shuttle up; we're going to need to make a quick exit here."
"Yeah, you aren't kidding," the sarcastic helmsmen responded. "Every Cerberus and Reaper ship in the system is making a bee-line for the planet; their battle formations have fallen apart, ships are firing in random directions, it's chaos!"
"Good, that will make sneaking past them with the shuttle and ship stealth systems all the easier. Be in contact soon. Shepard out." Turning back to his squad, he began issuing orders to his fire team, sending each member into cover in a nearby prefab building that would have to serve as their temporary fortress against the coming onslaught. He knew that their only hope was the fact that Ceberus and the Reapers were just as likely to kill each other as them. To his surprise, their new Prothean companion took up position in the prefab as well, in a manner that would best suit their defense. Clearly, the alien had advanced tactical knowledge.
Walking up to their newfound ally, Shepard caught its attention, and asked, "What do I call you?"
His reply was a long, hard stare. Just as John was beginning to think the Prothean wouldn't answer, he got his response.
"You may refer to me as Javik, Commander. Also, I would greatly appreciate it if you would cease referring to me as 'it'; I am not a mindless animal."
Taken aback, Shepard remembered that the Prothean, Javik, had been able to read his thoughts while he had seen the vision of his last battle, and began stumbling for a response. "I… I'm sorry, I just don't know your gender, or are your people mono-gendered, like the asari?"
Javik appeared disgusted at being compared to Liara's race, but answered, "I am male, Commander."
Shepard nodded, and was about to question Javik further, specifically as to what level of combat experience he possessed, but was immediately interrupted by James Vega.
"LOCO! We've got incoming!" Immediately, Shepard spun around, and spotted three small dots in the sky, approaching their position. Pulling his sniper rifle from his left shoulder, John gazed through the scope, and spotted three massive flying creatures that bore the unmistakable signs of Reaper augmentation; skin and muscle replaced with metallic coils and wires, and their heads were covered in small searchlights, sensors, and heavy cannons. Shepard quickly recognized them as Harvesters, large, dragon-like animals he had encountered in his quest to stop the Collectors, infamous for their propensity to deposit human-sized, fire-breathing klixen. That the Reapers found room in their arsenal for them did not surprise the Spectre.
Kneeling down, John rested the rifle against the windowsill, took very careful aim at the center harvester, and pressed a button on his wrist plate to activate his armor's built in stimulant injector. Immediately, his vision sharpened, his senses heightened, and time seemed to slow as synthetic adrenaline was pumped into his system. Exhaling, he made a few minor adjustments, and pulled the trigger.
With an earsplitting crack, the round exited the barrel, and half a second later, impacted on the joint where Harvester's right wing attached to the torso, shredding the synthetic muscle and heavily augmented skeletal structure. The few shreds that survived the bullet could not take the strain that the action of flying was placing on them, and the wing snapped off entirely. The Harvestor plummeted to the ground, a dozen husks spewing out of its underbelly; apparently the Reapers had designed the flying creatures to be troop transports as well.
Pulling back the bolt of the rifle, he ejected the spent thermal clip, slid a fresh one into place, took aim a second time, and fired again. This time, the round struck the rightmost Harvester in the head, damaging its sensors, and causing it swerve and crash into the final Harvester. As the two flailed to slow their fall, their wings tangled together, and the duo plummeted to the ground along with the ground forces trapped within.
The short silence immediately after was broken a shrill whistle. "Geez, Loco," Vega whispered, apparently in slight awe. "I've never seen anyone pull off a shot like that."
"Indeed, that was quite impressive" Javik commented, though clearly not as greatly affected by his marksmanship.
"Don't celebrate just yet," Shepard cautioned, again looking down his scope. "There are about four dozen more where that came from. And we still haven't even encountered any Cerberus forces yet."
"We have now," Liara interjected. "We've got ten Kodiak shuttles coming in from the opposite direction, with two Mantis gunships in support."
"Bring it on," James muttered, slamming a fresh clip into his assault rifle.
Every member of the group took up positions at the windows of the prefab building, weapons ready as Reaper husks and Cerberus soldiers closed in on either side.
A.N.
Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I got a new computer game, Hearts of Iron 2, and it has pretty much sucked up all of my free time.
Also, I think I have all the changes to my first chapters made, so take a look. If you spot any inconsistencies, please let me know.