So, remember how way back in Book 5, we had Ruin debut out of nowhere, a mysterious new foe with no connection to the current enemy but a 'harbinger' of a previously-unknown coming threat?
SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES
-CHAPTER START-
Starshot
In orbit near the Citadel
Aboard the 1600-meter Forerunner-built destroyer, a Cerberus deep-cover operative was being held in the brig. He'd been discovered skulking around on the Citadel just yesterday, and the ship's ONI operatives had quickly and quietly found, disabled, and brought him in. So far, he had resisted any & all attempts at verbal interrogation, and the recent initiation of more 'physical' methods was proving fruitless as well. Cerberus was very good at brain-washing their people, through means psychological as well as technological.
At a loss, the ONI group in charge of the guy requested the assistance of one of the DDF's mages currently on site; word had it that she had recently been taught something by her master that could help.
And so, the captured Cerberus agent looked up from the metal table he was forcibly seated at, as into the interrogation room walked two ONI agents led by a young woman with long pale-purple hair and two white-furred rabbit ears sprouting from the top of her head. He tilted his head in confusion as the girl stood still, forming a hand-seal as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, Reisen's eyes snapped open, glowing a faint red, as she used the technique that her Master Itachi had finally managed to teach her:
"Tsukuyomi"
The Cerberus agent's eyes glazed over and he went still, with Reisen continuously gazing into his eyes. After a handful of seconds, life returned to him as he broke out in a cold sweat, going white as a ghost, his eyes wide with terror.
"Okay!" he said frantically. "I-I'll tell you whatever you want! J-Just get her away from me!"
"Thank you, Ms. Inaba" one of the ONI agents said to Reisen. "You were a big help. We'll take things from here, and if we need you again we won't hesitate to call" he said this last bit while looking toward the Cerberus agent, making the message clear.
"No problem" Reisen replied. "I'll take my leave now…"
-X-
"So…" Asa said to her in the lounge. "You've got Tsukuyomi, Akemi-chan has Kamui… You think there are Sharingan-less people out there in the Multiverse who can use Amaterasu or Susanō?"
"Possibly" Reisen replied. "Probably, actually. And who knows – maybe one or both of them are already part of the DDF and just haven't 'unlocked' the abilities yet."
"We'll find out eventually, probably" Marie said from behind the thick book she was reading – 'Hero of the Imperium' something, from what Reisen could see.
Teana, half-listening in from her seat on another couch a short ways away, opened a display screen showing the status report on a certain docked ship at the Citadel. The Normandy II had finally finished undergoing its scheduled maintenance, along with the repairs after Shepard's evil clone & his minions trashed the place. The stealth-attack frigate was getting ready to depart, the whole crew aboard and rested.
"Gamma-1?" Colonel Holland's face suddenly appeared on a holo-screen beside her.
"Yes, Colonel?" Teana replied.
"Something interesting might've come up. A Salarian FTL recon drone just found something… odd in the Styx Theta cluster, in a 'dead space' region between star systems. They didn't have time to investigate thoroughly, but it looks like a derelict ship, and one that doesn't match any known profile. …Looking at the readings they took, we think it might be a 'slip-through' from an uncharted Realm outside DDF jurisdiction. We don't know how long it's been there; days, weeks, years, centuries… The Normandy II is heading out to investigate, and Commander Shepard wanted to know if you or any of your team wanted to join him."
Teana looked over at Marie, who nodded. "I have other things planned," she replied, "but Gamma-4 is willing to go."
"Alright, then. I'll inform the Commander."
-SCENE BREAK-
Styx Theta Cluster, Interstellar Void
The Normandy II came out of FTL into the empty black void between star systems, following the coordinates provided by the Salarian probe drone. Soon, the mysterious 'ghost ship' was in sight straight ahead. It was very odd-looking: a vaguely box-shaped 'main' segment, with a crescent-shaped portion sticking out from the bottom front like the pincer jaws of an ant, three large 'fins' sticking out to either side and straight up, and a long thin 'tail' section that ended in a cross-shape 'fin' arrangement. It was composed of dull-white and dark-grey metal, with a few brownish-orange parts along the large 'fins'.
"There she is…" Joker said as Shepard stood behind him in the cockpit. "Weird-looking… and, judging by these readings, totally dead; she's as quiet as a tomb, boss. Some artificial gravity's still online by the looks of it, but the atmosphere aboard's too thin for us humans to stand. No biosigns, the power core's barely giving off anything, no shields or weapons functioning… She's a ghost ship, Commander."
"There might be survivors in need of help" Shepard replied. "Or it might be hostile. Either way, we need to check it out. I'll take Legion and Gamma-4 over to investigate. Stay in range, but don't get too close to it just in case."
"Just be careful, Shepard. I've seen horror movies that start just like this…"
-Break-
Legion flew the shuttle into what apparently passed for a hangar of the strange vessel, setting down on the gleaming black metal floor. The side hatch opened to allow Shepard, Marie, and Legion to step out, the former two in their vacuum-sealed armor. It looked rather odd in here – everything looked to be made of gleaming black metal of unknown composition, with a few slightly-lighter lines & patches scattered about. The geometry looked a bit… 'wrong', angles and curves that looked almost but not quite comfortable to look at. And it was just as quiet and still inside the ship as it was outside.
"Alright," Shepard said, "let's try to find anything that can tell us more – the bridge or crew quarters or engineering… Keep your weapons handy, and look & listen for any activity."
Legion and Marie nodded, the former readying the Sangheili T-51 Storm Rifle he'd brought along while the latter had Charon in Plasma-Bolt mode. The trio cautiously advanced down a nearby 'hallway' connecting to the 'hangar', Shepard and Marie relying on the VISR systems of their helmets to see in the near-total darkness. The geometry was confusing and imposing, at times seeming both claustrophobic and much too 'open' & 'big' at the same time. Their footsteps echoed softly through the atmosphere too thin to support human consciousness, the only visible light coming from Legion's blue photoreceptor, the purple 'core' of Charon, and the faintly glowing energy-shield emitters on the trio's armors.
"Normandy to boarding party: anything yet?"
"Nothing other than some creepy-as-hell architecture, Joker" Shepard replied. "No signs of life, no active machinery… You and EDI continue watching from outside; update me if either of you detect anything."
"Aye-Aye."
After several more minutes of slowly and cautiously progressing through eerie dark silence, they reached a point with two circular doorways, both shut. At the base of the 'fork' in the closed path was an odd podium-like structure against the wall, about waist-height. Legion moved forward and laid a hand on it.
"Shepard-Commander," he said, "this is a terminal. It still has power. I may be able to access it."
"Do it," Shepard replied, "but be careful."
The Geth nodded, and then tapped into the terminal. Most of the ship's network was offline and thus inaccessible, and most of what was still online was nigh-indecipherable even for Legion. Nevertheless, after several seconds of work (a very long time for an AI), both circular doors 'slid' open.
"Commander," Legion said, "I managed to partially translate date logs in the ship's network. Most is indecipherable, but I was able to determine that this vessel is nearly 60 million years old."
"Has it been floating here derelict all this time?" Marie asked.
"Unknown. …These two passageways lead to the same location – possibly a control room."
"It might not be a good idea to split the party in a situation like this…" Shepard said.
"While we go down one path, I will send a drone down the other; it will feed me images and data as we progress."
"Very well."
Legion formed and sent a silver-hued Combat Drone down the left-hand path, while he, Marie, & Shepard took the right. They advanced slowly and cautiously for a few more minutes, passing by and through more of the same odd, sleek black metal with worrisome angles & curves. They briefly came to a halt, looking around a bit. Suddenly, they felt a very faint thud through the floor.
"Joker?" Shepard contacted the ship. "Did a stray space-rock or something just bump against the ship?"
"…Nnnno, doesn't look like it, Commander" the pilot replied.
"However," EDI chimed in, "there was a faint energy signature detected a moment ago. It looked almost like something has activated…"
The trio grouped closer together, weapons ready as they looked in all directions. They were deathly quiet for a few seconds… and then they felt another very faint thud, and then another.
"Almost like… footsteps?" Marie murmured.
"Shepard-Commander," Legion suddenly spoke up, "my drone has found something… curious."
"Curious how?" Shepard asked.
"There appear to be dozens of them…"
"Of what, Legion?"
"Black and gray metal statues of skeletons, in alcoves lining both walls of the other chamber."
"Energy signatures beginning to show up on sensors" EDI reported.
"Hey guys?" Joker said. "I think something's happening. A couple portions of that ship are starting to light up faintly. The glow looks… is that green?"
*THUD*… *THUD*…
"What is most curious," Legion continued, "is that the skeleton-statues look… oddly humanoid…"
And then, Marie's eyes widened as her brain finally put all the various pieces together – derelict ship, gleaming black metal, odd angles & geometry, 60 million years, green glow, humanoid metal skeleton-figures – and came up with a positively terrifying picture. Her face paled.
"Oh… ffffuck…" she breathed out.
"Marie?" Shepard turned to her, seeing the fear in her green eyes through her visor. "What is it?"
"Commander," she said quietly but urgently, "if what I think is correct… we need to get the hell of this ship, like now, and then blow it to atoms."
"What do you mean?"
"I really, really hope I'm wrong, but-"
"Alert!" Legion interrupted. "My drone has just been destroyed. The shot came from behind; it was unable to identify the attacker. The last instant of transmitted video showed a flash of green."
Suddenly, up ahead, there was a loud thud as something dropped down through a hatch in the ceiling. Even in the darkness, with the figure still crouched down from landing, Marie could recognize it.
"Oh God…" she let out a whimpering whisper of terror. "Oh God, oh God…"
"What… the hell… is that?" Shepard said, pointing his N7 Hurricane as Legion readied his plasma weapon.
"T-This vessel…" Marie murmured.
"What is it, Swanson?"
The unknown figure slowly straightened up, revealed to be a tall, humanoid skeletal figure made of gleaming black metal. Its optics had a sickly green glow to it, as did the sizable weapon it slowly pulled from the magnetic attachment point on its back.
"It's… It's a NECRON SHIP!-!-!"
Hefting its large 'Gauss weapon', the awakened Necron Warrior pointed at the team and fired a beam/blast of greenish energy.
"Get down!" Shepard shouted.
The three dove to the sides to dodge the blast. Marie immediately came out of her roll with Charon up & ready, and she fired a charged plasma-bolt burst at the skeletal synthetic warrior. The blast of superheated energy melted a sizable portion of the Necron's chest on impact, glowing molten metal dripping to the floor below, as the creature briefly seemed to stagger. Marie fired another charged shot, and this one blew the thing's head apart. It collapsed backward, and soon its body seemed to dissolve.
"Commander," Joker radioed, "I think the ship's starting to wake up! We're getting more and more readings by the second!"
"We just had a run-in with one of the inhabitants, Joker; they aren't friendly. We're on our way back to the shuttle now. Marie seems to know what these things are, and she's terrified."
"Not much scares someone of her level. What are these things? Did she say?"
"Some kind of hostile synthetic race she called 'Necrons'."
"…Oh, holy fucking shit. …Shepard, you guys need to get the hell off that ship NOW! And I'm gonna call the Starshot to come and blow that thing to atoms! Get out of there, Jason!-!"
The trio took off running back the way they came, as around them the slightly-less-dark portions of the jet-black walls began to light up green, faint but very slowly brightening. As they neared the fork in the path, two more Necron Warriors emerged to block their path. Shepard immediately hit one with an Overload, the synthetic being seizing and twitching as its ancient systems were ravaged by the specialized electrical burst. Legion proceeded to fire his Storm Rifle at the stunned Necron's head and neck, while at the same time Marie fired plasma-bolt shots at the other one as fast as her trigger finger could go. Marie hit enough vital parts that her target collapsed inert and partially melted, while Legion & Shepard's opponent actually stayed on its feet after focused plasma bolts decapitated it, but another Overload from Shepard put it down.
They continued sprinting back down the hallway, heading for the hangar. As they rounded a corner, however, a Gauss-flayer shot nearly took Shepard's head off, the barely-missed shot having come from one of the three Warriors blocking the hall. Shepard tossed out a Singularity, and the Necrons flailed helplessly as they were yanked aloft. Shepard then detonated the mass-effect sphere with a Warp, the blast tearing one Necron Warrior apart and badly damaging the other two; they tried to get back up, but finishing shots from Legion and Marie took them out as the team ran past.
At their breakneck pace, the trio soon reached the hangar, and the Kodiak was still there and intact. However, there was a very unwelcome surprise waiting for them: a very large Necron, 8-10 feet tall, with heavier armor than the others and carrying a huge triple-barreled gun. The Necron Immortal fired its heavy cannon, forcing the trio to scatter. Shepard and Legion went left and right, firing their automatic weapons to little effect, and the Immortal's cannon fire 'chased' Shepard as he ran. However, the ancient synthetic was distracted from Marie's injecting of two mana cartridges into her Device, as a sphere of purple energy built up in front of the barrel of her cannon-form Device, preparing the spell that had been passed on from Nanoha to Teana to her:
"Divine Buster!-!"
The Necron Immortal looked back just in time to see the large beam of purple destructive energy surging toward it. The blast hit home, slamming into the ancient construct's head and upper body, and after a second or so of continuous damage the synthetic's head and upper torso were obliterated, tiny bits of scrap metal being all that was left as it toppled over backward with a heavy thud. Marie, panting lightly, joined Shepard and Legion in sprinting into the Kodiak. The Geth got into the pilot's seat and immediately got the craft up and running, the blue-hued shuttle hovering a few meters off the hangar floor and then shooting out through the opening and into space.
Behind the retreating Kodiak, the Necron Scythe-class ship was coming online; it wouldn't be long before its shields and then its weapons and FTL drive activated. However, with a surge of bluish-white light, the Starshot emerged from slipspace not too far from the Normandy II's location, its spine-mounted particle-beam cannon already glowing with charged power. The beam lanced out, piercing/burning a hole clean through the unshielded Necron warship, gutting it. The Forerunner destroyer then fired a large volley of plasma torpedoes at the ship, systematically melting and vaporizing it.
"That was too damn close…" Marie breathed out, collapsing against her seat in the shuttle as it rejoined the N2. "I think I almost wet myself. …Nope, I didn't. Almost, though."
"If these things are as dangerous as you and Joker seem to think they are," Shepard said, "we need to spread a warning. Even if this was the only ship that ever made it to this realm, we need to be sure just in case it wasn't."
"As if this war wasn't complicated enough…"
-SCENE BREAK-
"You okay?" Teana asked as Marie walked over and flopped down on the couch beside her.
"If anything from the W40K 'verse gets involved with us," Marie replied, "we're all in deep shit, I think."
"Well, from what our people can tell, that 'Necron' ship was the only one. And you guys got out and blew it to bits before it could finish, er, 'waking up'."
"I did hear something worrisome, actually" Shion said as she came in. "Our specialists took a look at everything, all the variables and stuff, and they sad that… that the Necron ship could only have gotten from its home Realm to this one if, at some point in the past, something else from that Realm has made the same trip. Now, that 'something' could be as innocuous as a Tau probe that got lost in that 'Warp' thing-place you mentioned, but… They said that the 'first crosser' could've crossed over as little as weeks ago… or as many as over a billion years…"
"Let's hope we never, ever find out" Marie replied.
-Break-
Commander Jason Shepard sat in his quarters, having finished reading an abridged report on these 'Necron' things taken from their fictional counterparts in this Realm and others. He looked up as his door opened.
"Commander," Liara said, "we just received a message from the Citadel. Councilor Tevos wishes to discuss something with you. She wants to meet in Udina's old office…"
-CHAPTER END-
Next Time: Thessia