Not What We Hoped For
Cold, burning shock. That's the first thing I felt upon waking up from cryo for the last several hundred years. I'm Alan Ripley, I'm 24 years old and best friend to Sara and Scott Ryder. I've known them ever since I randomly met Sara when I was 7 years old. I was orphaned since I was 2 and when I met her family and explained this to them, they took me in and raised me as though I was a member of their family. It was amazing, and all the military training we got was very helpful.
Then Sara and Scott's mother passed away which was a rough time for us because she was such a lovely person. Then as time went on, Alec Ryder invited his kids to be on the Andromeda Initiative with him and they of course accepted. Then he asked me. Sara and Scott were hopeful I said yes and I knew that yes would be my answer since I wanted to still be with them and there was nothing for me in the Milky Way except for my ring that I wear as a necklace with the words 'live life' engraved on it.
So there's my backstory in a nutshell.
"Hello, Andromeda." I said to no one since I didn't see anyone. I tried to get up but my legs were like jelly, which made sense. After some more attempts, my legs were perfectly fine to use and so I made my way to the medical sector as I call it and I immediately had a woman greet me about me waking up and looked at my profile to see that I'm on the Pathfinder Team. She then gave me a cup of coffee which I desperately need to hydrate myself and I need the energy.
"Alan?" A motherly voice called out to me and I turned to see my adoptive mother: Dr. Lexi T'Perro. An Asari with a white marking that goes from her bottom lip to her chin. I smiled upon seeing her and I hugged her, and she hugged me back with a kiss to the cheek.
"Hi, mom. Nice to see your lovely blue face." I remarked as she guided me to one of the berths.
"Good to see you too. Let's get you checked out." Mom said with her trademark warmth in her voice. Shortly after I was taken in from the Ryder's, I got in an accident while the Ryder's were on a business trip and Lexi took care of me. When she learned that I was orphaned and that the Ryder's have been looking after me but not adopted by them, she was so sorry for me that she wanted to adopt me herself, wanting to be a mother, which was the greatest thing to happen in my life.
She sat me on a berth and she started to see if I was okay. She started by using her omni-tool to scan me and she smiled at the results. I took another sip of the bitter coffee and she shook her head in amusement.
"You just love your coffee don't you?" Mom mused.
"Hey, I can't help it. Plus it gives me the energy needed." I replied. She then gently held my head and examined my head and face. Of course, I found myself lost in her beautiful eyes. She noticed and chuckled.
"Still get lost in my eyes, huh?" She asked.
"It's not my fault they're beautiful." I fire at her. She smirked as she let go of my head and held up a finger for the sight test.
"Look here." She said with her finger on her left. I turned my head to it and then she moved it to her right and I followed it. She smiles and checks me off. Then I noticed the wallscreen explaining the whole gist of being here in Andromeda. Mom notices and shakes her head.
"They make it sound so easy, don't they?" She muses to start a light conversation.
"Yeah. It's like they're purposefully misleading." I joked as I stood back up.
"That reminds me. Word just came that the Pathfinder wants the team mission ready within the hour. No explanation." Mom explained.
"This soon? Something must be going on." I reasoned. Mom nodded in agreement. Then we noticed some people coming in from the cryo pods and I instantly saw a particular woman with blue hair, blue blush, blue tattoos on her neck and blue lipstick. I chuckled because it was Sara Ryder. She just loves the colour blue and would make sure her clothes are blue and purple due to her having a fascination with the Asari. She also had a prominent scar on her face right next to her lips.
"Since it might take a while for the team to be ready, do you mind if I wait for Sara and even Scott to get ready?" I asked Mom with my cup of coffee. She smiled and nodded.
"Sure. It can make it easier for her to be properly functional to see a very familiar face." She explained and I can see how that can work. We then walked over to where Sara is sitting and she looked groggy.
"Hey, Sara…. How's my favourite sister figure?" I remarked to get her attention and she turned her head to see me and Mom walking to her and she had a heartwarming smile.
"Hey, Alan. Nice to see you awake." She greeted me as I kissed her cheek and hugged her.
"Hello, Sara. Let's get you checked up." Mom said to her and she proceeded to do the check up. I stood there watching it as I took my last sip of coffee.
"Look here." Mom told her and scanned her with her Omnitool. And then she touched and examined her face to make sure it's functioning well.
Mom then looked at the results on her datapad while I sat next to Sara. Me and Mom noticed that Sara was looking at the wallscreen.
"Makes it sound so easy, doesn't it?" I asked Sara.
"I hope not. I signed up for a little adventure before we settle down." She replied. Of course…. She is such an adrenaline junkie and always looks for adventure.
"Well, buckle up. Sounds like you'll get your wish." Mom told her
"Yeah?" Sara wondered what she meant.
"Over here, now." Mom ordered Sara to look at her finger that she's holding up.
"Yeah, Alec wants us on our feet right now. Mission ready within the hour. Mom told me." I explained as she did the test.
"Any idea why?" Sara asked us. I shrugged my shoulders.
"No, but I'm guessing that's where your adventure comes in." Mom said which made Sara make a subtle grin.
"Okay, everything checks out. Just one more thing before I send you and Alan on your way. Let's test your SAM implants. SAM, are you monitoring?" Mom said, walking up to the monitor by the berth.
"SAM, are you online?" Mom asked since she didn't get an answer. Suddenly a hologram formed behind us. It looked akin to a translucent sphere that was shattered.
"Yes, Dr. T'Perro. Good morning, Sara and Alan. Are you both feeling well?" SAM asked me and Sara. SAM was an A.I. created by Alec and when he shot the idea around in the Milky Way, it was looked down upon for obvious reasons.
"I'm doing fine, SAM, thanks." I assured the A.I.
"I just need a second to get my bearings. What's this about our implants?" Sara questioned in some confusion.
"A routine check. After being in stasis, we want to make sure the connection's still live." Mom told her and she nodded, understanding what's going on.
"As the team's mission computer, your well being is my primary concern." SAM added.
"Assuming the implants work as advertised. SAM sees what you see. In theory. We won't know for sure until we get you in the field. How are you feeling otherwise, Sara?" Mom said.
"I'm ready to get to it." Sara replied with eagerness.
"Readings confirmed. I detect an increased level of adrenaline in your systems. The neural implants are functioning properly." SAM told us. Well, with that, we can get going.
"Well, we both need our coffee if we want to explore space." I quipped which made Sara giggle.
"You're all done. Let's get you on your way." Mom told us and we stood up.
"Though you both may want to hang around while we revive Scott. It always helps to see a familiar-" Mom was starting to explain until the ship started to make a sound that reverberated throughout.
"I don't like the sound of that." Sara stated with worry.
"What the hell's going on?" I asked though we didn't really know. The lights were flickering and then the ship shook, throwing us off balance and we all fell. The ship must've crashed into something.
Sparks were flying and the alarm lights were on. Then a cryo pod was sliding right at the three of us. I grabbed Mom and Sara, ready for impact but then it floated above us. Then everything and everyone of us started to float.
"What's happening?" Mom asked.
"We must've come into contact with something." I took a guess.
"Just hang on!" Sara told everyone as they were freaking out.
"Engineering report!" A woman's voice said through the loudspeaker. If I had to guess, it was Captain Dunn.
"Gravity in cryo bay is offline!" A technician replied to Dunn.
"I'm almost inside! Hold on!" Another woman's voice said. I knew who that was. It was Cora Harper. She was a Huntress and worked closely with Asari Commandos. She now is second in command of the Pathfinder team and next in line to be the Pathfinder if something happened to Alec.
The door suddenly opened and Cora floated in.
"This is Cora! I'm at the cryo bay! Brace for a reset." She said and held onto the controls. She then pressed some buttons and gravity kicked back on with all of us landing hard on the floor, and on our stomachs.
"Everyone okay?" Cora then asked.
"I think so." Mom replied.
"What the hell happened?" I asked as I helped her and Sara up on their feet.
"We're not sure. Sensors are scrambled. But it's good to see you're up. Feels like centuries since we spoke." She replied, walking up to us.
"This is the Pathfinder. Mission teams, continue preparations. Cora, Alan, Ryders, report to the bridge." Alec's voice suddenly said through the loudspeaker.
"You heard him, let's get-" Cora was saying but was interrupted by a technician.
"Uh, we have a problem over here. It's Scott Ryder." He said. We looked to see his pod emitting sparks. Oh no….
Me, Mom, Cora and Sara ran over to see what was going on.
"What's wrong?" Cora asked.
"I don't know. Have to check it out." Mom said. She then pulled out her omni-tool and started to see what the problem is.
"Sara." She said in a grave voice.
"Is my brother okay?" Sara asked in a way that just hinted at her worry. I looked over at Cora and she was barely holding in her worry since she and Scott have had a fling for a long time.
"Scott's fine. His vitals are strong, but the revival procedure was interrupted." Mom explained.
"This had better not be bad for him." I added to the conversation.
"Don't worry. It just means the process could take a bit longer than usual. SAM?" Mom said.
"My connection to Scott's implant was suspended. However, his pulse, respiration and brain activity are all normal." SAM stated the facts.
"To be on the safe side, we'll need to keep him in a low level coma for a while, then let his body regain consciousness naturally. He'll be fine." Mom assured us.
"Glad to hear it." Sara said, feeling better about this.
"Thanks, Lexi. Keep us updated." Cora said, clearly happy to hear this and then she and Sara went ahead while I kissed Mom on the cheek and hugged her.
"See you later." I told her.
"Be careful out there." She cautioned me. I patted her on the back as I parted.
"I'll be fine." I comforted her before catching up to Sara and Cora.
"Don't worry, Cora, he'll be okay." I assured Cora by wrapping an arm around her.
"I know. I just can't help but worry." She said.
"Hey, my mom's looking after him, he'll be alright." I reminded her since mom was a skilled doctor.
"You're right. Let's go." She said and I nodded.
We opened the door and we were about to walk up the stairs to reach the bridge, an explosion suddenly happened on some tech.
"Whoa!" I exclaimed, jumping back a bit to avoid some sparks.
"Hey! Up here! Whatever hit the ark fried everything! We have to balance the power load, or it could explode!" A female engineer told us from on top of the contraption that exploded.
"But we don't know where the fault is!" A male technician said as smoke started to fill the whole room up.
"I could find it, I have a scanner!" I told them.
"You do that. I'll try to get readings on the second conduit." Cora replied.
I pulled out my omni-tool and started to scan the contraption and then I found what was a relay and scanned it to see that it was damaged.
"Relay 2-C shows damage from a temperature spike." SAM said in my head.
"I found it! It's a bad relay!" I yelled out.
"I'll reset it!" Sara immediately said as she ran up the stairs to the power terminal and overridden it to reset it.
"There we go!" She said as she finished and then the smoke stopped and everything seemed perfectly fine now.
"Thank God. That could've been the end of everyone in the cryo bay." The female engineer told us. Yeah, that would've been bad.
"Good job, guys. Now we can get to the tram." Cora told us.
"Alright, then. Let's go." I said and the three of us walked up the stairs and opened the door to walk past some people who were either fixing something or were taking care of some of the injured.
"That was close. Barely in Andromeda, and we're already scrambling." Cora pointed out as we got into the tram.
"In other words, the adventure begins." I remarked.
"Not sure Alec will see it that way." Cora argued. Yeah, he's always been more professional and methodical. He wasn't really the greatest dad to Sara and Scott but he still loved them. Sara got on the Nav Directory and pressed to take us to the bridge.
"That's dad for ya. He never finds the fun in anything." Sara said as the tram started moving.
We were moving for a few minutes until we reached the bridge and when the doors swung open, the crew was hectic, mentioning how controls aren't working and other problems.
"First priority is stopping these outages!" Captain Dunn stated.
"Mainline power's been knocked out! We're on reserves, Captain! They won't last!" A Bridge crew member told her. I looked out through the glass and I was shocked to see what looked to be some kind of dark, glowing mass that looked robotic.
"What's our position?" Alec asked, standing next to Dunn.
"Unknown, we lost telemetry!" A crew member, someone named Lani told him.
"SAM, we need eyes out there." He said to the A.I.
"Attempting to adjust sensor array." SAM replied.
"Alec, please… you may be Pathfinder, but this is my ship." Dunn butted with Alec.
"Captain, the protocol's clear: in the absence of communication with the Nexus or the other arks, we proceed to our appointed golden world. Solid ground." He reminded her. And while he's right, we don't even know if it's still there or where we are, considering that we've been travelling the last 600 odd years.
"If it's even out there. Nobody said anything about running into an energy cloud, and that's just a wild guess what we hit." She argued with him. Alec then looked out at the cloud, or whatever it is, thoughtful.
"Alec, I need to assess the damage. Stop the bleeding. We've got 20,000 people asleep on this ship. Let's give them a chance to wake up." Dunn then told him.
"Can you blame her?" Cora whispered to me and Sara. Well, I'd rather fix the current problems now, rather than ignore them and find solid ground, bleeding.
"She is the captain. I'd think she gets the final word." Sara expressed her thoughts.
"And given our current situation, I agree with her." I added.
"This isn't about having the final word." Alec sternly told us.
"Yes, sir." Cora immediately replied, straightening herself. I glared slightly at him. Does he want us to get into more problems than we already have?
"We're coming through!" Lani informed as we seemed to be moving past this mass and headed towards a planet.
"My God…." Dunn said in shock. I saw why. The planet seemed to be ravaged.
"Is that our golden world?" She asked in disbelief.
"That's Habitat 7. 'New Earth' if we're lucky." Alec said as we got up to the railing, standing next to Dunn. Alec walked up to a table displaying a hologram.
"All of our long range scans told us it was in the green zone. Perfect for human settlement." He explained, making the hologram bigger.
"I guess 600 years has a way of changing things." I pointed out. Something must've happened over time considering the readings were from long ago.
"You're right. It looks pretty dicey from here. Are we sure about those scans?" Sara asked.
"It's a good question." Dunn said.
"Things can change, as Alan pointed out. SAM?" Alec said.
"The energy from the phenomenon is damping our sensors. Planetary conditions are unknown." SAM explained.
"Great." I sighed in frustration.
"We're marooned. Twenty thousand souls adrift at sea. And when the power runs out and stays out…. We need to know if that's safe harbor." Alec told us all about Habitat 7.
"And if it's not?" Dunn asked a grim question.
"As Pathfinder, it will be my job to find an alternative. It's what we trained for. But if this goes well… we're already home." He stated.
"Alright. Just make it quick." Dunn told him. Alec nodded.
"Harper, the rest of the team should be awake by now. Have them spin up two shuttles. Planetfall in thirty." He then ordered Cora as he was heading out.
"Yes, sir." She said, and followed him out.
"A stubborn one, isn't he?" Dunn asked me and Sara. That's one way of putting it.
"No one ever said dad was a diplomat. People skills were never his strong suit." Sara revealed.
"Just as long as he knows what he's doing. It's not like the cavalry's coming to save the day." Dunn replied before barking at someone.
"Come on, let's gear up." I told Sara and she nodded before we walked out, heading to the armoury.
Once we got there, we and the team, including Cora put on some Initiative armour, which was too clinical to my liking.
"My brother's going to hate that he missed this." Sara said as she fully got in her armour.
"Are all the Ryders adrenaline junkies?" Cora asked as she was in the middle of putting on her boots. I just finished putting on the gloves.
"Sara is. More than Scott at least. So much so she got into the world one minute ahead of him." I replied, jokingly, which earned me a light smack on the arm.
"I'd never let him forget it." Sara noted, looking distant, still worried about Scott.
"Don't worry. I'm sure Scott will pull through." Cora comforted Sara.
"Yeah, and when he does, he'll wanna hear stories." She told the Biotic, who closed Sara's locker.
"So, let's get out there and find him one." She told her.
"I'll grab the helmets. SAM, can you open the armaments locker?" I said, walking to the helmets and handing Cora's and Sara's before grabbing mine.
"Affirmative, Alan. The Pathfinder is now requiring sidearms. Please arm yourselves." SAM replied and we all walked to the locker to grab M-3 Predators.
"Let's hope we don't run into some hostiles." Sara said as we walked to the door, leading to the shuttles, which were in the hangar bay. As we entered, the team was getting ready and one of them was Dr. Harry Carlyle. I thought he couldn't handle action.
"Doctor Carlyle, with everything going on, I'd think the ark needs you more than we do." Cora told him as he was sorting some items in a crate.
"Pathfinder wants a medic on hand. And if that is home down there, I'm happy to knock on the door." Harry told us.
"Though we don't know what's on the other side of the door." I replied.
"No problem. If it has teeth, I brought the pliers. Yank 'em out myself." He remarked before grabbing the crate and carrying it off.
"Alright, team, button it up. We leave in five." Alec informed us all.
"Sir, we broke out the weapons as requested. Anything we should know about?" Cora asked.
"Seemed prudent, given the situation. We'll be shorthanded with Scott out." Alec stated, making Sara look down in concern, which didn't go unnoticed by him as he walked up to her.
"I heard what happened. Your brother's strong. He'll make it." He assured his daughter.
"Scott wouldn't want us to worry because of him." Sara said, putting on a tough face. That's good.
"You're right. The mission comes first. Though I doubt your mother would've seen it that way. I promised her I'd get you two here safely." He said before walking up to the shuttle and then faced us all.
"Okay team, listen up. I chose each of you for the Pathfinder team, not just because you're talented and passionate. But because you're dreamers, like me. We dream of exploring the unknown, of finding the edge of the map and then discovering what lies beyond. When people look back on this- and they will- they'll remember we didn't give up. We kept dreaming. That our first, few faltering steps in Andromeda were the beginning of everything they know. We only get one chance to be the first. So let's go make history." Alec passionately explained to all of us.
We were now more inspired to keep going. Cora followed Alec into one shuttle while me and Sara got in the other.
"Ark Hyperion, this is Shuttle One, switching to manual guidance." Alec said over the comms as we lifted off.
"Shuttle Two, taking your lead." Kirkland replied as he piloted the shuttle we're in as we flew out.
"Good luck, Pathfinder team." Dunn said.
As we flew down towards the planet, we got a better look at whatever this thing was that we crashed into. It reminded me of artwork of clouds in space.
"Look at this thing. It stopped the Hyperion in its tracks." I said.
"It appears to be an unstable mass of dark energy." SAM told us.
"That's comforting." Sara remarked dryly. The shuttles were close to the mass and started to shake.
"Gravity anomalies detected." SAM pointed out.
"I'll see if I can even it out." Kirkland said.
"My stomach would appreciate that." Greer told him. Eventually, we were now smooth sailing, heading right to Habitat-7.
"We're clear. Accelerating to cruising speed." Kirkland updated.
"You know, I remember thinking that going to Andromeda would be a way to start a new life. I just hope that does happen." I told Sara.
"Yeah. And I wanted to explore new worlds." She replied.
"Beginning our deceleration. Planet's dead ahead." Fisher stated. We then reached the planet and we knew we were decelerating because we were burning up from the speed as we entered the planet's atmosphere.
"Hang on, initiating atmospheric entry." Kirkland said.
"Flight guidance is scrambled!" Fisher revealed. Well, that's just great.
"It'll pass!"
"The controls are fighting me."
"We're through!"
We were now able to see outside the window and the landscape was ravaged, scorched and nothing like what was promised.
"Shuttle Two, are you seeing this?" Cora asked over the comms.
"Copy that. Doesn't look like a golden world from here." Sara said.
"Ionization levels are rising." Kirkland informed us.
"Stay on course to the landing zone." Alec ordered. I noticed lightning bolts striking some of the mountains and then I saw some kind of structure.
"Uh, Shuttle One, I've spotted some kind of structure port side. And there are floating mountains." I informed over the comms. I swear those mountains are just like the ones in that vid I love about those blue feline aliens.
"That has to be advanced engineering." Cora considered.
"Hyperion, this is the Pathfinder. We've got evidence of an alien civilization." Alec said.
"Has anyone seen us?" Sara asked.
"Don't know. We need to consider the chance they aren't friendly." I reasoned.
"We stick to contact protocol: No use of deadly force unless hostile intent is clear." Alec told us.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning nearly hit us and we flew through a cloud and then we actually got hit and the shuttle door got ripped out and I was thrown out, only managing to cling on to the side.
"CRAP!" I yelled in fear.
"ALAN!" Sara cried out, reaching out for me but then we were all split apart from each other and I found myself yelling in worry as I descended fast.
Thankfully, my jump-jet was still functional so I used it to control my fall and I managed to land on my feet on a slope on a mountain.
"Whoo. That was close." I said to myself. I tried to contact the others and SAM but it seems that SAM's offline and the comm link is fucked.
"Shit." I cursed and then I traversed to hopefully find someone and to my luck, I found Sara, who was watching the floating mountains, trying to contact the others.
"No good, Sara, SAM's offline and comms are down." I told her before hugging her, grateful that she's okay.
"Did the others make it?" She asked me immediately.
"I don't know. You're the first person I've encountered." I shook my head.
"Eitherway, we need to see if anyone else is alive." I then said and we both walked through some pathway. One thing that struck me was the plantlife. Some of it looked akin to tentacles and others were mushrooms. And they're glowing.
"Are you seeing this?" Sara asked about the plants.
"Yeah, they're bioluminescent but without SAM, we can't learn more about them." I said as I scanned them.
Sara then walked over to what looked like the QEC Communications Relay. It had smoke coming out of it.
"No fixing this. Must've broken on impact." She said.
"Well, now we know why we lost our SAM connection." I added and then we walked further ahead.
"Oh, and safety tip, don't breathe the air. Found that out the hard way." She advised me. I immediately knew what she meant.
"Ouch." I said out loud. As we walked, there were some flashes of light ahead of us and when we got close enough, we saw that it was because lightning was striking on the ground with some rocks lifting up from the ground.
"Crap." I cursed, knowing we'd have to go through that.
"Come on, we gotta get through it!" Sara shouted and we bolted through, avoiding the lightning bolts and being light on our feet.
"Keep moving!" Sara shouted as she was ahead of me, advantage of being slightly younger and lighter.
"Looks safer under there!" She then shouted, pointing at a tunnel. I then gained a burst of speed and we managed to get out of harm's way.
"Just what the hell's going on with this place?" I asked, taking a quick breather.
"Planet's trying to murder us." Sara joked to help lighten the mood.
"We've survived plenty of shit, this is just a walk in the park." I remarked as we walked past a good amount of those glowing mushrooms.
"By the way, is your gun working good?" I then asked her and with that, she grabbed her M-3 Predator and aimed it at a banged up fuel cell ahead of us. It seemed to function fine.
"I'd say it's working." Sara stated. As she finished saying that, I heard something out in the sky. I turned and was a bit surprised to see a couple of creatures fly around.
"Sara, look. There's something in the sky." I pointed them out and she too was in awe of these things. They had a grace and flow that was elegant.
"Wow. We're not in the Milky Way anymore." She said. We looked at the creatures for a few more seconds until we both went further ahead and reached near a deep drop on the right. I looked up to see a way to high ground.
"If we keep going, we'll reach high ground and find our bearings." I told her as we reached a point where there was a cave. We both entered and there were more of those mushrooms, but there was something in the rock wall. And there was a noise as well. But it ain't from the mushrooms.
"What's that sound?" I asked Sara as she was scanning that thing in the wall.
"I don't know, but it seems to come from inside the mountain." She replied.
"I'm detecting a lot of energy. Can't make heads or tails of it, but it's powerful." She then said as we walked out and continued the path up, which involved scaling and using our jump jets if what we're reaching was too high.
"I guess all those times rock climbing paid off." I reminded Sara of when she and Scott took me to climb rocks and even mountains when we were in our teens.
"Told you it would come in handy someday." She chuckled before we jumped over a few gaps and scaled some more to the top. Once we made it, we got a clear view of the sky, which looked like it was warped over that structure we saw earlier. And some kind of mean from it reached to the sky.
"What the hell?" I questioned.
"It's not a hotel, that's for sure. Nothing around here makes any sense." Sara noted.
"Considering we're in a new galaxy, there's bound to be new ways to die." I replied.
"Just not today." She remarked and then we walked until we spotted part of one of the shuttles, wrecked and on fire. But we also saw Fisher.
We would've gotten to him but we saw movement and ducked into cover behind some rocks. I peeked over and saw some aliens searching the area. They looked like they had a shell of some kind and had blank, emotionless faces. They also had rifles, which looked unlike what I'm familiar with. They were also about to get closer to Fisher.
"Shit. And to think we can't fire unless they fire at us. What do we do?" I asked Sara.
"Just be ready if this goes south." Was all she said before we got up on our feet and slowly walked up to the aliens, with our arms out, looking peaceful. They saw us and acted a bit aggressive.
One of them said something in some language we couldn't understand from our translators.
"We can't understand you. Give us our man, or this gets ugly!" Sara ordered the aliens. One of them said something and the other was walking up to Fisher. He then lifted his rifle. FUCK!
"Oh, no you don't!" I yelled and blasted him in the head, blood splattering all over. Sara made quick work with the other with her Biotics. With that over, we caught up with Fisher, who looked banged up.
"Hey, you alright?" I asked him.
"So much for making peace with the locals. Thanks for jumping in." He thanked us both.
"We tried talking, I guess they didn't want to listen. What else could we do?" Sara questioned.
"You saved my life." Fisher said.
"I had suspicions things wouldn't go smooth with the locals. Given our sudden appearance." I noted. Sara sighed.
"We still don't even know what they wanted." Fisher said as Sara knelt next to him with her omni-tool out, making scans.
"For all we know, they could be after what's in that structure." I theorised.
"Who says we'd even understand? Or they'd understand us? It's a new galaxy. I guess it's too much to expect they'll play by Milky Way rules." Sara said as she finished and stood up.
"Yeah. That type of false security would kill us out here." I agreed with her.
"But why go after us like that?" Fisher then asked.
"I don't know. But it can't be good." I replied.
"What about the others?" I then asked him.
"Gone. Kirkland and Greer went looking for help." He answered. Sara then grabbed his hand.
"Come on." She told him, pulling him up on his feet but he let go and held his right leg.
"Ahh… my leg." He hissed in pain. I looked and it was possibly broken.
"It's more than likely broken. Can you hold your own by yourself?" I asked Fisher.
"Yeah. Just find us a ride out of here. And take a few more of them out while you're at it." He told us. Before we could leave him, Sara took a scan of one of these aliens.
"Well, I don't have SAM here, but I can try to make sense of it. They're DNA based. And their armour reads as some kind of bone. But the genetics are all over the map." She informed me as we proceeded forward and left Fisher.
"Must've been a different evolutionary turn. Let's just hope the others are alright, especially Cora. Wouldn't want Scott to wake up and to learn that she's dead." I said.
"We'll find them. And don't worry about Cora, she can handle herself. But we might want to scout around first." She told me.
"Roger that." I said and we kept going forward until we spotted some gear that we recognized.
"It's gear from one of our shuttles." Sara said. I got closer to see it was the Atmospheric Analyzer. I pressed some buttons to see that it still worked fine.
"This thing's working perfectly. It seems there's no sign of industrial pollutants. So that didn't kill this place. And no one's nuked this place since there's no radioactive isotopes." I read aloud the readings.
"That seems odd." Sara said as I stood back up.
"Yeah. This place is whacked. Let's go." I replied and we kept going until we saw another structure and heard some of the aliens yelling with a bit of gunfire. We instantly ducked into cover. Sara, behind a rock and me behind a slab from the structure. I peeked to see Kirkland with his arms up, surrendering to the aliens.
"Please! I surrender!" Kirkland begged. One of the aliens shouted at him.
"I said I surrender!" Kirkland pleaded but then the alien, which had its rifle aimed at him, shot him in cold blood to the face.
"You son of a bitch!" I roared using my own Biotics to use a Charge and I slammed into the one that shot him, killing him instantly. Sara killed another in the head and I finished off the last one with a point blank shot in the face.
"Did Kirkland make it?" Sara asked as she caught up with me. I examined his head and there was a prominent hole in his forehead.
"He's dead. Shot in cold blood. And he was just surrendering." I said coolly.
"Would we treat them any different if they showed up on Earth, armed to the teeth?" Sara asked me a 'what if'.
"Fair enough." I sighed, getting back up.
"Peace isn't going to be an option here." She then said as we both grabbed an M-8 Avenger assault rifle. Now we have extra umph with the firepower.
"We'll come back for his body once we find the others." Sara said.
"Let's just hope that Greer's alive." I replied as I examined my rifle to make sure it was functional. Sara then used her omni-tool to scan the door next to us.
"I've seen Prothean artifacts in my time, but nothing quite like this. It's at least three or four centuries old." She told me.
"And the arks left over 600 years long range scans wouldn't have shown this because I don't remember this being here when we left the Milky Way." I said and with that, we continued on, using our jump jets to get higher. Then as we reached the top, there were a couple of flares in the sky.
"Those flares could be from our own people." I told Sara.
"Got it. I'll mark the navpoint." She said and right as she finished saying that, we heard a roar from ahead of us.
"What was that?" I asked, slightly nervous until I saw some kind of shimmer move like some kind of camouflage!
"Look out!" I shouted and fired some shots at it and the camouflage was off, revealing some kind of feral alien, now limp.
"How'd it cloak like that?" Sara asked, slightly in shock as I scanned it with my omni-tool.
"There doesn't seem to be any technology. It must be organic." I answered.
"Really? Biological cloaking?" Sara questioned but now wasn't the time as we went further on until we reached an open space where there was some wreckage.
We got closer and it was from our shuttle.
"It's the other half of the shuttle. We're really lucky to have survived this." I commented, seeing how trashed it was.
"Uh… Alan, there's movement on our perimeter." Sara told me. I looked around and I saw some movement. I used the jump jet to skid forward and saw some more of those aliens.
"Ambush!" I shouted as I fired at a few of them and Sara was busy with some other ones.
"They got the jump on us!" She said. I got behind a crate as the last one fired at me. Thankfully, my Throw is akin to heat seekers so I used that and he was down instantly.
"Got 'em all!" I shouted and with that, we both reloaded and took a breather.
"That was intense." She remarked.
"Yeah. Let's look around and see if there's anything useful." I replied and so we both went down this path, not knowing exactly where it went but we eventually did because as we walked further down, we stumbled across some kind of structure. It looked like it was built in not long ago.
"Are you seeing this?" I asked Sara.
"Yeah. Let's see what's inside." She replied. We headed to the entrance as the lightning was striking on these poles. I think they're made to prevent lightning from hitting living beings.
Once we entered, it was so dark that we had to turn our lights on.
"It seems there's no one in here." I said, noticing how eerily quiet it was. We reached a door and we walked through it into a more open space.
"You're right. There's no one here." Sara agreed. We looked around and saw all kinds of devices and terminals if I had to take a guess. It all looks like….
"This must be some kind of research facility. So the aliens aren't local to this planet." I theorised.
"It does seem that way. But we need to get some lights on. This place is giving me the creeps." She said, sounding like she was having shivers. The both of us looked around until we saw an orange light coming from a room. We entered the room and there were all kinds of devices in here. One of which was in the middle of the room, and it looked akin to a generator. Based on that, I activated it and it started making sounds.
"Alan, what are you doing?!" Sara quietly shouted at me. The sounds then got more intense and just as we thought it was going to explode, the lights in this place all turned on.
"Phew. It was a generator afterall." I said.
"Well, it may have done something else." Sara added. She may be right on that. I walked over to the desk in the room and there was some device on it. I pressed a button on it and it played some audio log in that language those aliens spoke in.
"Same language as those aliens. Wonder what he's saying?" She asked.
"No clue. But given what we've seen, it can't be good." I told her.
Thinking that we found as much as we could from this place, we headed to the entrance, only to see a door that is now open. I remembered that it was closed earlier.
"Sara, that door's open." I told her. We got on edge to the point that we pulled our rifles out and slowly entered into some kind of cave with a door that looked like the one we saw where Kirkland got killed.
"This looks like a research lab." Sara said.
As we walked up to the door, there was this sound emanating from the other side.
"Do you hear that?" I asked her.
"Yeah. It sounds mechanical. And from the other side of the door." She answered. I then noticed some form lying in front of the door. I walked up to it but it suddenly sprung to life, making me jump back.
"Watch it!" I shouted, instantly firing at it until it sparked and exploded with blue and black smoke that had sparks in it.
"Great, hostile aliens were bad enough. Now we have to deal with killer robots, too?" Sara asked in annoyance.
"The Geth were bad enough." I told her. She then used her omni-tool to scan it.
"Doesn't say much other than it's not organic. Old, though. Like centuries old." She informed me.
"Like some kind of guard?" I wondered.
"Could be." She considered as she then scanned the door.
"Some serious energy on the other side of that door." She said.
"There must be a reason for it being closed." I said as I noticed some kind of control panel with a corpse of one of those aliens. I first scanned the panel.
"These guys were poking around where they shouldn't have." She replied.
"This thing is fried. It must be used to open the door." I stated and then I moved onto the corpse to figure out how it died.
"It seems his wounds are from an energy blast. More than likely met our robot buddy." I revealed.
"Damn."
"It seems these aliens are interested in this stuff. Maybe even that structure we saw." I said as we walked out and headed outside.
"It would seem so. The technology is really old and underground here. And they're interested in it, like archeologists." Sara agreed. She said that just as we got outside to see that nothing's changed, weather wise.
"Still shit." I noted. But then some of the aliens and their feral friends showed up.
"Crap! They were waiting for us!" I shouted as we took cover and fired at them, even though they took cover as well. I used a Throw at the cloaked creatures as they were about to bite us.
"Jesus!" Sara cursed in shock. She then took down the last one, which seemed to charge at us. Idiot.
"They have to be stalking us. Why else would they just suddenly pop up?" I pondered.
"Starting to feel like it." Sara said.
Now that the firefight was over with, we noticed that there were two paths for us to go down. It was decided we go down the right and as we got further, we approached a cave and heard voices inside. I looked over at Sara, who nodded for us to enter and see what it was.
When we entered, it was lit by glowing mushrooms and we heard the voices much more clearly.
"What do you want?" We heard Greer ask. We turned the corner to see him at gunpoint by two of the aliens. They didn't notice us so we both fired at the same time and killed them both with clean headshots.
"Whoa!" Greer exclaimed in surprise and he turned his head and saw us.
"Thank God. I was tapping my mic, hoping someone would notice." He told us as we walked up to him.
"You okay?" Sara asked him.
"Yeah. Where are the others?" He asked.
"Those bastards killed Kirkland. But Fisher's alive at the crash site with a broken leg." I updated him.
"Alright. I'll check around for supplies, then head back." Greer told us.
"Stay put when you get there. We'll look for my dad's shuttle." Sara stated.
"Good luck. Can't wait to get off this rock." He replied.
"You and me both." I sided with him as me and Sara headed back out of the cave. We proceeded down the path and immediately saw some kind structure. We had no clue what it was as we just walked past it into a narrow pathway, heading to some kind of circular door.
However, when we got closer, an alarm rang and the door opened to reveal a whole bunch of those aliens in a group.
"SHIT!" I bellowed in surprise as we fired down upon them, taking them down with a scratch.
"That must've been a patrol of some kind." Sara said. It did seem to look like one.
"Come on, we need to keep moving." I then said and we went on our left, towards a path, leading to higher ground. We jumped over a gap with our jump jets when our comms came on.
"SOS frequency 154.3. Anyone there?" We heard Cora's voice over the comms. She's alive!
"Cora, we read you. You're alive!" Sara replied.
"Shuttle repairs are underway, but we're surrounded!" Cora told us.
"On our way!" I assured her, knowing it's those buggers again. We climbed our way up and as we got closer, we heard gunfire and knew it was the others.
The both of us bolted for it and we immediately met with familiar company in the middle of a firefight.
"Hey, Cora! We got your back!" I told our resident former Huntress.
"They're trying to pin us down!" She told me as we fired back at the aliens, who were using the rocks as cover.
"Doing a good job of it, too!" Hayes added. Sara managed to spot one that was using a particular rock to hide and fired a shot at its leg, making it get out of cover and she bursted a few shots, killing it.
"Calvary to the rescue. Nice to see you guys." Harry greeted us.
"You too, Harry. How is everyone?" Sara asked.
"Still in one piece. You got here just in time." Cora replied this time. Sara looked around and she seemed a bit on edge.
"Where's my dad?" She asked. Yeah, she's right. Where's Alec?
"He went scouting ahead while we fixed the shuttle." Cora informed her. Right.
"Guys, there's weapons and ammo at the shuttle. Stock up." She then told us. I looked over at the weapons cache and there was a Charger pistol lying there. I instantly took it and replaced my M-3 Predator with it. I then grabbed some ammo as Sara did.
"Did these things try talking to you at all?" Sara asked.
"Barely a word, then started shooting. What about you?" Cora answered.
"Same with us." I told her.
"Oh hell… enemy ship on the way!" Hayes suddenly warned us. We looked and there was a ship speeding right to our position.
"Get to cover! Go, go!" Cora ordered and we all did as told. I got behind a rock as the ship hovered and some of the aliens jumped out.
And now we were in another firefight. And this is the first one where I got shot at and the shields were taking the beating. I shot out some controlled bursts since the Charger had a huge spread when bullets were fired.
"Don't let up!" Cora said as we fired at them still. There were enough for us to focus on some of them each. I was so busy firing and using my Biotics that I didn't notice their ship flying off and getting hit by the lightning.
"Ha! Lightning zapped their shuttle!" Harry cheered.
But then another ship showed up and this time, I got out of cover and used my jump jet to get to the other side, along with Sara.
"Sound off!" Cora barked.
"I'm here!" Harry replied.
"Still alive!" Sara shouted.
"Doing good!" I said being able to stab one of those feral aliens with my omni-blade
"Present!" Hayes said. This time, me and Sara handled the rest of these blokes, but there was one that looked to be a heavy based on the fact that this one looked bigger and had a bigger gun as well.
"Come on, big guy!" I challenged him and he fired at me but missed overall with some stray shots hitting me as I Charged at him, throwing him over the edge, falling to his death.
"Cover fire!" Sara requested and I and Cora obliged as she handled one of the aliens and me and Cora took down the rest.
"That was more intense than before." I told Sara.
"Tell me about it." She said as we walked up to the others.
"What happened to the others?" Cora asked us.
"These assholes killed Kirkland. Fisher's wounded but sitting tight. Greer's with him… though our shuttle's in pieces." Sara explained. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Harry holding onto Hayes, who placed a hand on her stomach, around her kidney, or around there.
"Guys…." She said, with hurt being present in her voice.
"She's been hit!" Harry informed us. Shit!
However, before any of us said anything, the ground started lighting up and rocks were levitating. Oh no….
"Take cover! Take cover!" Sara shouted. Me and Cora looked at each other and nodded, knowing that Harry and Hayes would be hurt. The lightning was about to strike when me and her ran in front of the two and held our arms out, forming a barrier to protect them.
"Hang on!" Cora told them as we kept the barrier up when the lightning bolt struck. It jolted through my arm, which hurt but we kept them safe.
"A good thing we're Biotics, don't you agree?" I asked Cora.
"Mmm hmm." She nodded.
"Before they attacked, I… I managed to fix our comms." Hayes informed us.
"You're a lifesaver. Now just take it easy." Cora told her. I saw Sara on her omni-tool.
"SAM, are you there?" She asked.
"QEC link established. Affirmative, Sara. The Pathfinder needs to speak with you." SAM replied and then a video link was made with Alec.
"Good to see you in one piece. What's our status?" Alec immediately asked.
"Alan and I are with Cora." Sara replied. Cora joined in with the video link.
"We have wounded crew. The good news is our shuttle's been repaired. We can get back to the ark." Cora informed him.
"Not with these storms. It's too risky to fly." Alec replied to her. Are you kidding me?! I'd rather take that risk then just stay on the ground and potentially get crisped up from the lightning.
"I'll take that chance. It's not any better on the ground. We're just human lightning rods running around here." Even Sara felt the same way.
"Not if we can turn the lightning off." He told her. What?
"I don't follow." Sara voiced my confusion.
"I have an idea. Rendezvous at my coordinates, we'll- Damnit. They've spotted me." Alec said, cutting off, seemingly having just encountered those things.
"Sir! Sir!" Cora tried to contact Alec but it was no good.
"Can you two handle yourselves?" I asked Harry and Hayes.
"I can keep her stable. For a while." He replied. That was his way of saying 'yes'.
"Let's move." Cora told me and Sara and so we headed back in the direction we came from.
"SAM, do you have the Pathfinder's position?" She then asked as we jumped down the steep drops.
"Marking the napoint on your map." He informed us. I looked and it was actually nearby where we encountered that patrol.
"It's close. Let's get there quickly." I said.
"What was my dad scouting for?" Sara asked Cora.
"He was trying to get readings on that tower." She told us. I looked back at the map and it seemed that he was near it.
"Well, he seems to be near it, based on the navpoint." I pointed out as we got closer to the gap.
"Exercise caution. The storm front is already gaining intensity." SAM warned us. And he was right as the lightning bolts were now more frequent than before.
"Nice to have you back, SAM. How about some good news next time?" Sara asked as each of us used our jump jets to get across the gap and we approached that door.
"Look, the rods, they're drawing the lightning away." Cora noticed as we then saw a whole bunch of corpses.
"Uh, Sara, we didn't shoot these guys down." I pointed at them.
"You're right. It's my dad's handiwork. Incendiary rounds." Sara said as she scanned them.
"Well, he was an N7. They don't mess around." Cora reminded us. Good point.
After that, we kept going forward, past the door and past a puddle of what had to be rather unpleasant chemicals.
"Somebody was pretty clever with these rods." Cora stated.
"Only way to survive here." Sara replied. We then reached a spot where there were a couple of high walls.
"We're close. The navpoint shows my dad's up there." Sara revealed, pointing up the walls. Alright then.
We reached the top with our jump jets and there was Alec, crouched as he was looking out at the tower and some facility, similar to the one me and Sara came across earlier.
"Sir…" Cora said upon seeing him as we then crouched around him.
"Stay low." He told us. We were already crouched, Alec. We peeked over and there was some kind of electrical wall, fortifying the facility. And there were some bolts of lightning hitting the rods that these aliens placed.
"Who are these guys?" Cora asked.
"Visitors. Just like us. I don't think they're native to the planet." Alec answered. So he came to the same conclusion me and Sara did.
"They're not. We found an abandoned lab. Like they've been studying the place." Sara told him.
"Good work. You actually did some scouting." Alec told her. Wait, did he think we wouldn't do such a thing?! Did he not have faith in us, especially his daughter?!
"Wouldn't be much of a recon specialist if I didn't." Sara coolly replied, sensing the lack of faith.
"Well, you're off to a good start." Alec told her.
"Baptism by fire." She then said.
"Sir, you said something about the lightning?" Cora asked Alec.
"It's the dark energy cloud the Hyperion hit. It's affecting the whole planet, interfering with that…" Alec informed us, pointing to the tower. It would make sense if that's the case.
"The tower is caught in a feedback loop with the cloud. Together, they're disrupting the entire climate with undirected energy." SAM then explained as a wave of energy spread in the sky.
"Which suggests if we can get in there and shut it down…."
"The lightning would theoretically go away." I finished for Alec, of course, stressing theoretically since he's just theorizing with unknown tech and science.
"And the shuttle can get us out of here. In theory, like you said. We just have to get past them…." Alec pointed out.
"We're banking on science we don't really understand. What if the theory's wrong?" Sara asked with some concern.
"The alternative is an 85% chance of death from lightning strike, capture or worse." SAM answered as Alec was on his omni-tool.
"Well, when you put it that way…." Sara quipped.
"No illusions about this. It'll be a nasty fight the whole way." Alec warned all of us.
"Beats getting fried by lightning. But we risk turning a skirmish with these guys into something worse." Cora weighed the possibilities.
"It's them or us." Alec told her.
"The problem either way is that we're outnumbered." I reminded him.
"I've been working on that. We just need to change the math." Alec said before bringing his omni-tool out. He then hovered his hand over it, as though he was waiting for something. Then he pressed on it and one of the rods exploded. And then another. So with them gone, the lightning now hit the shield blocking off the facility and it was taken down.
Alec then jumped down.
"That would be quite an entrance." I remarked as the rest of us jumped down after him.
"Let's go!" Cora shouted and so we charged and got into cover as some of the aliens started firing at us.
"SAM, load Combat profile." Alec ordered the A.I. Cora Charged one of them as I made a Throw.
"Here they come!" Cora shouted. I peeked and there were some more arriving to fight against us.
"We definitely got their attention!" I shouted as we progressed further up and got on the structure of the facility.
"Watch the lightning!" Sara then warned us.
"Get into that building! We don't want to get bogged down out here!" Alec told us all as we made our way up slope and shot some more of those aliens, our shields taking the beating of course.
"This went south in a hurry!" Sara stated from next to me once we reached a fork in the pathways. We headed to the left one and barged right through.
"SAM, Biotic amp interface mode." Alec told the A.I. as I Charged at an alien on the other side of a gap, throwing him at a wall, killing him. Cora shot the other one down as they all joined up with me around the door.
"Ready? Let's get inside there." Alec told us all. I interfaced with the door and it opened. We all entered and got into another gun fight. My Charger needed reloading and I didn't have time so I changed back to the Avenger and started firing as I headed for cover.
"We need to keep moving forward! Don't let them catch us!" Alec stated as he, Sara and Cora gave me covering fire to move. I used my jump jet to move behind a crate and then I rolled out and fired the killing shot in the neck.
"Go!" I barked and they all moved and we jumped up the next level. It turns out we're now getting closer to the tower and we continued down a pathway and I made a Throw at one of them that was behind some cover and he got taken down quickly. Alec then down the next one with a few shots to the neck and head.
"SAM, give me Engineer profile." He said. We got further and noticed something in the middle of the space in front of the tower.
"This looks like the control centre! Keep them off my back!" Alec then told us.
"You heard him!" Cora backed him up as we all grouped up and fired at all the remaining aliens until they're dead.
"Now what?" I asked.
"I need to get through that door." Alec informed us, looking at the control panel in front of said door. Thankfully, we had enough breathing room to allow me to reload the Charger and gather more ammo.
"What now?" Sara asked her dad.
"I need to decipher the language." He replied, using his omni-tool to interface with the control panel.
"There's more coming up!" Cora updated us. Crap!
"They're gonna surround us at this rate." I added.
"We need to defend both sides, or they'll flank us!" Sara shouted.
"Alright then, Cora, you take the right flank and I'll take the left one!" I stated.
"Roger that!" Cora agreed with that strategy and we got behind some cover on our flanks. As we did, I noticed something.
"Crap, there's movement already!" I told everyone.
"We held them off at the shuttle, we can do it again!" Cora encouraged us and it worked as I felt a new wave of confidence as I made a Throw and then fired some shots at some of the aliens, taking four of them out already.
"Lot of people still counting on us!" Sara reminded us. No need, woman!
Then a heavy popped up and I grabbed my Charger and fired at it, draining its shield and managed to kill it with the whole magazine, thankfully.
I quickly reloaded and noticed odd movement and fired at it to see some more of those feral aliens.
"They mean business! Keep them off your dad!" Cora told Sara, who was going back and forth with backing up me and Cora.
"Analyzing possible inputs. Twenty five percent decrypted." SAM revealed to us.
"Hurry. We don't have long." Alec said, sounding tense.
There were two aliens charging for some reason and I took one down and then the other was taken down at the same time, I looked over my shoulder to see Sara aiming her rifle.
"Hold both sides! Can't let them slip through!" She said as she went over to Cora.
"These guys really want this place back!" I pointed out.
"You're right. They're desperate even!" Sara added.
"Well?" Alec asked SAM.
"Fifty percent decrypted. It's an unusually complicated syntax." SAM replied.
"I can see that. Try a recursive search." Alec told him as we continued firing.
"I will need a moment to evaluate the pattern."
"We only have a moment. Do it." Alec pressured the A.I. There was another heavy who constantly fired at me. So much so that I had to stay in cover until Sara came around and gave me cover fire and I popped out and made a Throw, killing it instantly.
"Sir, any progress?" Cora asked.
"Decryption is 75% complete." SAM informed us.
"We've almost got it!" Alec backed up.
We kept some more for roughly thirty seconds until suddenly, they all ran away.
"They're falling back!" Cora stated.
"They could be regrouping for another push. So stay sharp." I cautioned as we all joined back up.
"Decryption complete." SAM then said.
"That did it! It's a security override. I'll try to open the door from here! Ah, damn, it's jammed! I need to take a look at it!" Alec said before jogging up to the door.
"Sara, I need your help over here!" He requested.
"Go, it's okay! We'll keep a lookout!" Cora assured Sara, who ran up to her dad and helped him out.
Me and Cora moved out to see if we can find where those aliens went.
After searching for a few minutes, there was no sign of them.
"Cora, I got nothing on my end. You?" I said over the comlink.
"Same here. They must've left." She replied. Just as she said that, the beam from the tower got green and then the sky changed. It became clear and started to be less volatile.
"Holy shit…" I muttered in surprise.
"This is the Pathfinder, we need an emergency extraction! Repeat, we need an emergency extraction now!" Alec said over the comms, sounding desperate. Oh no….
"They're spinning up the shuttle! ETA is three, maybe four minutes!" Cora replied to him.
"We don't have that long." Alec stated. Wait…. SARA!
I blocked everything out as I ran back to the shuttle as fast as I could, joining up with Cora, and when we got back, everyone, including Greer and Fisher were aboard the shuttle and we flew to where Alec's navpoint was.
Once we got there, down in the chasm below the tower, I instantly saw the limp bodies of Alec and Sara Ryder.