Chapter 10 Secret's of Kobol
The moment Sheppard stepped foot onto the floor of the darkened lab the floor itself light up glowing a bright white which bounced off the metal walls and ceilings. The entire room was empty apart from a large metallic pillar in the center of the room.
"Is it just me or does this remain of the Illusive Man headquarters?" asked Ash as they spread out around the room their weapons at the ready however the room seemed to have no real exits apart from the one they had just came in from.
"State your Identity." stated a strange voice as a glowing green holographic Prothean appeared out of the center pillar.
"Commander Javik." stated Javik "Personal Command Code JV8176D62."
"Your voice print and personal code matches those on records however you enter this lab with lower level races and almost fifty thousand years past your estimated return date." stated the Prothean VI "Given the evidence you are a likely a fake here to steal the data collect though the research."
"The life pods automated revile mode failed." explained Javik as the VI simply looked at him. "I wasn't awaken till just over five years ago."
"So the Empire was never rebuilt and the races of this cycle are facing the reapers alone." stated the VI "If that is the case we must either rebuild or hid and wait for the next cycle."
"No we have dealt with the Reapers." stated Sheppard as the VI turned its attention to Sheppard.
"Human…male you are a lower servant race, there is no logical answer how you or any of the likely races that would rise in this cycle would be able to defeat the reapers without the Prothean empire uniting you." stated the VI in a condescending voice which shouldn't have belonged to a VI.
"This is Commander Sheppard and he was the one who ended the Reaper threat to this galaxy." stated Javik "You will show him respect."
"How did a human defeat the Reapers?" asked the VI "They wouldn't have the Empire to prepare them for the assault and their technology would be were the Reapers want it before they attacked. There is no outcome that would explain humanities or any of the other races in this cycle to win a war against the Reapers."
"I made peace with them." explained Sheppard as the VI's head snapped toward him.
"Peace with them?" asked the VI
"Yes, we made Peace." stated Sheppard
"You cannot make Peace with a machine." stated the VI
"But you're a machine." stated Ash "And we are trusting you right now."
"No…it isn't, this isn't a VI." stated Javik as he looked into the holographic eyes of the VI "You have too wide of a personality and react too much like a living being. You're an AI a true AI not a VI."
"Like EDI?" asked Garrus
"I do not know this EDI but I am not a true AI as Commander Javik believes." stated the VI "My name was Zeyis lead scientist and researcher on all of the projects that was under development here. When the Reapers came and all hope for this world and cycle was lost I used a devises that we had taken from the Zha'til. Using that devise I transferred all the electrical patterns in my brain into the computer core. I replaced the VI program which used to run this lab."
"You transferred your entire mind into the computer system?" asked Sheppard
"Yes, all the mind is a series of electrical impulses." stated Zeyis as he put his hands behind his back.
"So you're another Prothean?" asked Liara
"No…he is a computer memory, a shard he has lost everything that makes him a true Prothean." stated Javik "He has lost all that made him a true Prothean."
"While I may have lost my body I have never stopped working for the good of the empire and the downfall of the Reapers." stated Zeyis "To that fact project Teva was finished and proved to be a working weapon."
"What is project Teva?" asked Sheppard
"I do not have to answer Questions from you." stated Zeyis
"But you do have to answer to me." stated Javik "Since I was the leader who was going to rebuild the empire that makes me head of the Imperial court."
"You are correct." stated Zeyis
"Then you will answer any of his questions." Ordered Javik
"Project Teva is the ultimate form of travel." stated Zeyis as a holographic screen appeared in front of them. "We created the most advanced Mass Effect field generator and manipulator located outside of the Mass Effect Relays themselves. With those that generator we are able to make a bubble of mass effect energy. Then we stretch that bubble out until it engulf the target, once the target is surrounded by the Mass effect field the bubble is snapped together at a high rate of speed bringing the target with it."
Everyone simply looked at Zeyis more confused than anything else.
"Ok what does that mean?" asked Ash
"If I understand him and I am not sure I did, I think he is talking about teleportation." Stated Sheppard as his team looked at him. "Think of the Mass Effect field as a rubber band with glue on it, it stretches out to a certain distance and then it snaps back to its original spot bring anything it has on the glue with it."
"Your example while crude is accrete." stated Zeyis "It is the seven times faster than the Relays themselves and that was only in the prototype form."
"How could that work there is no way to stretch a field across the galaxy." stated Liara "Energy like that would be off the scale and the field would be next to impossible to remain stable without support."
"We use the Relays themselves to send a field out and to support the beams." stated Zeysi "The theory is that is as long as the target is within 25 light years of a Mass Effect Relay I can teleport it."
"Theory?" asked Ash
"The Proetype had a limited range however even then it had a range of just over 1/10th of the galaxy." stated Zeysi "Larger versions I have planned could cover the whole galaxy and beyond."
"That would provide a great edge in any war, teleport your ships across the galaxy without having to use the Mass effect relays." stated Garrus
"You could also grab Reaper ships and send them into a star or send reinforcements anywhere at once." stated Javik "A machine like that would have turn the war around in a matter of days if not hours."
"Teleportation but that is impossible." stated Ash "You can't be two places at once."
"Instant teleportation is impossible but as long as the delay is long enough it is possible." stated Zeyis "I have already tested the machine. It has reached the minimal safety range for use in combat of only losing fifty percent of those taken in an average teleport."
"So half the ships your would send in the teleport would be destroyed right out?" asked Liara as Zeyis nodded "Why would you use it then."
"Near the end of the war a fifty percent causality rate was in the high end of mission survivability rates." stated Javik
"The human population I test on made it though with only fifty percent casualties and another quarter suffering from grows in their bodies which claimed their lives with a few years." stated Zeyis as everyone's eyes widened a bit.
"What human population?" asked Ash
"The human populations I selected for my tests." stated Zeyis
"Wait your saying you teleported humans?" asked Ash
"The last transport was 3234 years ago but yes." stated Zeyis
"How did you transport them without them being on a ship?" asked Ash
"You assumed that the transport could only work on ships in space, I take no reasonability for your silly assumptions." stated Zeyis "The transporter was designed not only to grab ships in space but to transport troops from one planet to another."
"So you grabbed humans and transported them here?" asked Sheppard
"Yes." answered Zeyis as a holographic Earth appeared in front of them; twelve bright green dots appeared around the world mostly located in the area around Greece and turkey. "At first the rate of death was 82% however when I transported a whole village from this area near the sea I discovered that the rate of death fell to only 46%. I believe that it the mixture of minerals in the surface rock here provided extra stability and raised the survivability rate. In the end I transported one hundred and fifty thousand living humans to this planet."
"The 12 tribe of Kobol." stated Liara "They came from here, transported across the Galaxy by Zeyis."
"The transport sights are located around Greece." Added Sheppard
"And that means they would have shared a common language and religion." stated Liara "And those who didn't come from that faith might as been covered."
"Why humans?" asked Sheppard
"They were the only race that we monitored that was within range of the prototype. It was also the only one was the monitoring station was still working." stated Zeyis "Also they worked well for the conversion process."
"Conversion?" asked Garrus "That doesn't sound good."
"You turned them into Cylons, you had to be study Zha'til technology here or else how could you have transferred your mind into the computer core." stated Sheppard
"We had a dozen of the Zha'til Cylons that we had placed in cold storage when the research on them was delayed because of the Reaper invasion." stated Zeyis "I reactivated them and took over their bodies, just like the Reapers did to them when the invasion happened."
"So that was why their eyes glowed a different color different AI controlling them." stated Javik
"In time the dozen Zha'til proved to not enough to carry out the need tasks, they became damaged and had no more use." stated Zeyis "Luckily the human body was easily converted."
"So you made a whole race of human Cylons to replace the ones which were breaking down?" asked Sheppard
"You killed them?" asked Ash
"No…thanks to the link that the Zha'til created all their memories can be downloaded into a new clone body." stated Zeyis
"If you clone them why did you need humans?" asked Garrus
"Each copy would a little bit degraded." stated Javik "In time the mold DNA pattern would be so degraded it would be useless."
"Like making too many copies of the same photograph." added Sheppard "That still doesn't make what you did right."
"The human population was more than willing to volunteer some of their members to become Cylons." stated Zeyis "They called it a honor to be a worker for me."
"Because they probably believed you to be a God." said Liara as Zeyis nodded his head.
"More than a few called me Zeus. Because they confused the bright light of the transport with lightening." stated Zeyis "So many that I stopped correcting them and instead just answered to that name."
"I would say I am surprised but you did the same thing on Thessia." stated Ash
"Was there any stories of Asari sacrificing themselves to the goddess?" asked Sheppard
"No…they promoted the value of life." stated Liara
"I did help the humans advance, I taught them how to better grow food and the human Cylons kept the peace." stated Zeyis
"I did everything for the good of the empire." stated Zeyis
"Your empire is gone and as long as we live in peace the Reapers will never return to this galaxy." stated Sheppard
"If you believe that then you are fool. The Reapers must be made to pay for their actions." stated Zeyis "Once the final version is built we can strike at the Reapers."
"You didn't see what I saw the Reapers forces stretch across hundreds of Galaxies." stated Sheppard "If you attack them they will just come and destroy us."
"They will harvest will begin again sooner or later." stated Zeyis "I am just making sure we strike first."
"The Reapers want to harvest because they believe it is the only way to stop war between organics and synthetic." explained Sheppard "We brought synthetic and organics together as equal to fight them. They felt that was worth study and as long as we live in peace they will never return."
"War and struggle is the natural order, it is how Cosmic Imperative is ordered." stated Zeyis "The strong live on while the weak die off. That is the ultimate force in the galaxy."
"If you really believed that then why as a race did you protect the Asari from that meteor strike or them from that invading race." stated Sheppard as he named how the Prothean Empire defended the ancient Asari. "If you believed that then you wouldn't had protected them."
"The Asari was believed to be a more advanced race then anything the humans could have been." stated Zeyis "They needed to be protected. Your species wasn't as valuable."
"Well looks like we won in the end and your race died out." Stated Ash
"We only failed to rebuild because failure the of Commander Javik and the failure of the project Leve." stated Zeyis
"Wait what is project?" asked Ash
"No my operation was called project Teve." stated Javik
"Then what is project Leve?" asked Garrus
"Leve means life in Prothean and Teve means revenge." stated Liara "So Javik's mission was code named revenge."
"I would think it would me named Leve for life since you brought a million Prothean into cryosleep to save your empire?" asked Sheppard
"My mission was to rebuild the empire and I had over a million of the best warriors left in the empire." Stated Javik
"You are correct command your had the main part of the operation to rebuild the empire but the High command had two other projects to save the race, all based out of this lab." stated Zeyis "The second operation led by Lt. Commander Vegter lead a group of fifteen thousand civilians to a life pod station located on the nearby planet called Polttava."
"Isn't that the world we are going to were you killed your Indoctrinated shipmates?" asked Sheppard
"Yes." stated Javik
"So there may be more Protheans left alive?" asked Ash as Sheppard watched Javik's reaction. To his credit his eyes widened just enough to show some almost no surprise but there was enough there for he to see.
"You said three operation was the last two all under the same code named?" asked Liara
"No the third operation was destroyed before it could be carried out." stated Zeyis
"What were the plans?" asked Sheppard
"The main group under commander Javik was sent to one of the few planets outside of our command area that was still free of the Reapers." stated Zeyis "With the Reaper's main force focused on the last Prothean battle Fleet it was hoped that they wouldn't notice Javik's group."
"We were lucky our ships did make it the planet you call Eden Prime without drawing Reaper attention." stated Javik "However within a week a minor Reaper Fleet had arrived in orbit to harvest the planet."
"First project was meant to save the military. The second part of the attempt to save our race project Leve was some of the civilians by moving them to another world. The third part was to save the some of the scientists by placing them on a ship which would travel in between the stars staying away from the Reapers." stated Zeyis
"What happened?" asked Ash
"The Reapers came sooner then we believed." stated Zeyis "The ship to carry the scientists wasn't ready yet, half the planetary defense force was sacrificed to allow the two of the five ships to escape the Reaper attack fleet. The other three ships were destroyed by the Reaper forces."
"Didn't the Reaper's chase the ships?" asked Garrus
"There was no need." stated Zeyis "The Reapers had almost every world under their control or their watch. They would either find the ships later or the people would starve to death. They could destroy them later; they had a world of millions to harvest."
"How was the prototype destroyed?" asked Javik
"I created too many human Cylons." stated Zeyis "They became too much for me to control, they regained their free thoughts and they raided the lab taking everything they wanted and destroying the prototype. I activated the defense systems to try to regain the lab, however when they reached this floor I sealed the doors and activated the standard Reaper defense system on all floors were Cylons were."
"What is that?" asked Sheppard
"The standard protocol is to pump a thick paste like liquid though the fire systems. The paste like liquid almost instantly agent turning the air into a firestorm which burns at almost a half of the temperature of an average star." stated Javik "No living thing not even a Reaper can last more than a few in that high of heat."
"Sounds almost like a more advanced form of Napalm." stated Sheppard as Ash nodded her head.
"I lost almost all research samples and equipment either to the Cylons taking it or in the fire" stated Zeyis "Only a handful of Cylons remained under my control and only the data itself. It also damaged my the power converter and other key systems, they are failing."
"So your time is almost up?" asked Sheppard
"You could say that." stated Zeyis "At the current rate I have only a week's worth of power left."
"Is there anything we can do?" asked Liara
"No…it is likely beyond your ability." stated Zeyis as suddenly a three large columns shot out of the floor.
"I have transferred all the data on all the research and the few remaining samples of data into these module computer pods." stated Zeyis "Take them if the empire is really gone forever then this research will be its revenge. The data here will be used to destroy the Reapers."
"I told you we are at peace with the Reapers." stated Sheppard
"You may have peace now but in time the war against the Reapers will begin again and when it does the research done here will end the war." stated Zeyis
"You still have time before your power goes out." Stated Liara
"And it will not matter, all the Data is on those computer files. I have no propose." stated Zeyis as suddenly another door opened on the far wall "This elevator will take you and the surface…once you are there I will active the final defense protocol, self destruction."
"You don't have to do that." stated Sheppard
"Yes, I do." stated Zeyis "There is no reason for me to remain around, the data has been passed on and in time it will be used against the Reapers."
"There is no use talking to it." stated Javik as he touched the computer pods, almost instantly it started to hover in mid air allowing for easy transport. "We would be better off heading out, the sooner we do the sooner we find out if more of my people somehow made it into this cycle."
"So you have forgotten about killing yourself?" asked Liara as she grabbed one of the computer cores and headed toward the lift.
"At the moment there is more important things to worry about." stated Javik as everyone along with the three computer cores got onto the lift. It only took a minute or so for them to reach the same room where they had come in from.
"Joker do you read me." stated Sheppard into his communication link.
"Go ahead Sheppard." stated Joker
"Has Edi and Tali made it back?" asked Sheppard
"Yes, we are just waiting on you all." stated Joker as they walked out of the temple and outside, the sun was already going down as "What happened down there?"
"I'll example once we are back onboard." stated Sheppard "We need a pickup we have three Prothean data cores so bring extra shuttles."
"Understood." stated Joker as suddenly the ground shock under their feet, birds took to the sky as they could actually feel the ground drop a bit under their feet.
"I thought there would be more to it than that." Stated Garrus as the valley in front of them dropped uprooting trees and sending them crashes to the ground as the ground filled in the hole that was caused from the base destruction. As they looked out over the destroyed wilderness two shuttles from the Normandy descended on them.
Well I hope you liked this chapter and what they found in the lab. I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I ask that you keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75