Author's note: I've had this knocking round for a while now, as just a fun little project but now I've decided to post it, cause you know, what the hell!
I'm quite new to this whole writing business but I want to learn all I can, all reviews are immensely welcome, the more critical the better!
Big credit must go to both Ursakar and Colonel-Mustard1990 for their amazing stories, The mission stays the Same and Hammerhead respectively. Both of whom are the primary inspiration behind this and the reason it exists.
DISCLAIMER Warhammer 40k belongs to Games Workshop. Mass Effect belongs to Bioware.
Chapter One: The aftermath of struggle
Pain. Thoughtlessness. Adrift.
Suddenly order was imposed in the chaos and the laws of physics reinstated themselves.
Inquisitor Eisenmus opened his eyes. They ached. Dull after-images of things better left unspoken danced across his vision before fading. He was glad he couldn't remember them. The first thing he saw was light. A blinding light from above. He squinted his eyes and brought a hand up to shield them. He was relieved to see his hands were still there.
His armoured gauntlet eclipsed the blinding light from his face, letting his overstrained eyes adapt.
There was sky above him. This was strange. It was not the pollutant choked muddy smear of Agrippus but a deep blue, interlaced with feathery wisps of clouds.
His aching, barely woken mind didn't make much of it. He sought to stand. He felt the stone of the inner sanctum beneath him, dust and rubble caked the floor from their duel with the daemon. His powered armour unwillingly brought him to his feet. Servos and mechanisms protested at the movement. His eyes were slowly adjusting to the bright light. The surrounding environment began to swim into focus.
That's when he realized the roof was missing.
Far above him, where there should have been a great mosaic of the founding of the noble House Pastorii, was empty sky. The walls and columns ended about fifty metres above his head. The roof of the great chamber had been sliced off.
As he took stock of the disconcerting situation, he glimpsed the body of one of his retinue lying half buried in a pile of rubble. It was Hayt, a stormtrooper in his employ. He wasn't moving.
The inquisitor headed over and cleared away the debris. The armour giving his weakened body the strength it needed to haul some of the larger pieces of rubble off the man. He lifted the stoormtrooper's body out and carefully laid him on the ground. His heavy carapace armour had been dented but looked intact.
Eisenmus rested an oversized hand in Hayt's chest. Autosensors in the armour detected a faint heartbeat. Good, still alive. He gently rested the body of his companion back down. He could do nothing for him yet.
Eisenmus warily explored the surrounding area. He passed the holy relic of the shrine, the Sigil of the Pastorii. Only now he realised he could barely look at it. It was giving off light, so much light he brought his hand up to shield his eyes.
His hand did nothing. The Sigil's light passed right through armour, flesh and bone. Confused momentarily, he understood. It wasn't giving out light, it was pouring out psychic power. Far, far more than Eisenmus had ever seen before. He stood transfixed in awe at the power before him. It was said that this device had been given to House Pastorii by the Emperor himself. Looking at it now, he could believe it.
Unconsciously, he made the sign of the aqila.
With heavy treads on the stone floor, he turned his search elsewhere. He encountered Hakkon, a magos of the mechanicum, in a similar position to Hayt. Eisenmus made his way over and tried to drag the tech priest to a less rubble caked area of the floor. Despite its strength, his armour protested at the effort. The magos was a fusion of man and machine and weighed much more than the stormtrooper.
As Eisenmus dragged him across the floor he saw one of the magos' mechadendrites twitch. Then one of the magos' eyes glowed dully red. He turned his head to view Eisenmus.
"Lord?" A weak, vox warbled voice muttered.
"Easy, Hakkon. I've just pulled you from rubble. Is anything broken?"
The magos stared into space for a few seconds before replying. "No, internal systems diagnostic complete. All systems operational, many require maintenance, Lord"
"If you can manage it, I need you up and about. Hayts been injured. I need your sensor suites."
"Sensor suites operational, Lord. Thank the Omnissiah" Hakkon stumbled upright, making full use of his four back mechadendrites for support. He staggered over to the prone body of Hayt. The magos extended his left hand, several digits had been replaced or augmented with other devices. He rested this hand over Hayt's body and remained still for several seconds.
"Internal bruising. 3 broken ribs. Unconscious. No life threatening conditions." The sensor hand was withdrawn.
Hakkon looked up, as if noticing it for the first time. "The roof has disappeared, lord" he said plainly.
The inquisitor nodded in agreement. "Yes I've noticed. I've been awake only so long as to get both you and Hayt out of the rubble. I am at a loss to explain the roof."
"This cathedral possessed eight levels above our current one lord. Addendum, the sky above is inconsistent with the chemical makeup of Agrippus" atmosphere.'
Eisenmus had made his way over to the doors of the inner sanctum. They were shut. "Yes. I'm going to investigate the exterior, I'm not sure if we won or lost the battle, Hakkon."
"We continue to survive, Lord." he replied, "that is victory enough for now."
Eisenmus grinned, always surprised at the magos' brief forays into his shrivelled and long forgotten humanity. His armour grunted in protest as he hauled the heavy doors open.
What he saw beyond, he did not expect.
"Hakkon? Come see this" the magos stood next to the inquisitor
The magos paused momentarily beside Eisenmus, his optics made several whirring sounds as they focused to the view. Eisenmus liked to think this was his way of showing confusion.
"The rest of the cathedral is missing, Lord."
The magos was correct. The tiled stone floor, still raked with potholes and craters from the desperate battle, ended about twenty metres from Eisenmus' location. Beyond that lay wild grasslands, with several species of vegetation familiar to Eisenmus and several that weren't. In the far distance Eisenmus could see snow peaked mountains. The beautiful panorama before him worried him. The imperial world of Agrippus was for the most part, a smog choked polluted death world. This vista did not belong to Agrippus.
The magos, far less guided by surprise and emotion walked over to the sharp divide between cathedral floor and grass dirt. He examined the boundary and used one if his additional limbs to take a sample of the soil. He brought it up near his face to examine it while another mechadendrite dug out a small section of the soil near the boundary.
After concluding the sample was of no more value to him, he turned his attention to the boundary line itself.
"The structure was sheared, Lord. Very accurately. What ever did this cut through both the floor and the columns above us."
He turned to the grass. "Existing grass was displaced. Am detecting abnormally high concentrations of ozone on the perimeter."
"Warpcraft?" Eisenmus asked.
"Most probable conclusion at this point, Lord. I need additional data to elaborate on preliminary findings, lord."
Eisenmus nodded "Good, I want to know what just happened here. Scan for vox traffic. We need to find a transport to come and pick us up."
"If you look for aid you won't find it here, Monkeigh." a female voice called out through the ruins.
Both imperials swivelled to find the source of the voice. Hakkon was the first.
"Lord, on the column to your left."
Eisenmus looked and saw the damned farseer standing on one of the sheared columns. He instinctively reached for his blade. It wasn't at his hip! It must be back in on the floor in the shrine. He cursed and brought his wrist mounted bolter up to aim at the xeno. As he did so, he saw the farseer wasn't paying them much attention, instead looking out into the landscape. Eisenmus risked a glance to where the Eldar was looking, in case there may be more of them out there.
"What do you want xeno?" he asked.
The Eldar turned to look at him.
"If you're looking for help, you won't find it. We've already tried." She hopped down from the column gracefully. Eisenmus kept his weapon trained on her. "We've already tried to find anything resembling technology in the area. So far, we've discovered nothing."
"Did you do this?" Eisenmus demanded. The farseer sighed.
"Must your kind always be so dense? If we wanted to trap you, do you really think we would have made the mistake of getting caught in it ourselves? " The blank eyes of her helmet glared at him.
Eisenmus considered this. The eldar were treacherous, but incompetent? No. Then again, this could be another mechanism to catch them off guard. He hesitated… But why would they? The three imperials had been unconscious until a few minutes ago, the eldar looked as if they had been awake for much longer. If they had wanted to kill them, they had plenty of opportunity.
Slowly, he lowered his weapon. Though he still kept an eye on the farseer, "Where are we?" he ventured.
"I do not know, Monkeigh. Whatever happened in the battle with the daemon threw us here." She paused and Eisenmus got the peculiar suspicion that she was hiding something from him.
"Is there anyone else?" The imperial asked her.
She shook her head "No, apart from you, me and my ranger. There is no one else in the surrounding area."
"Your ranger? Where is she?"
"She has gone to look around the area. To try and find any trace of life. If she finds it, she will return."
Eisenmus nodded, not fully trusting the eldar. "We'll await her return then. Don't wander off, I want to keep my eye on you."
Eleiyra watched the farseer and the monkeigh inquisitor from atop the treeline through the scope of her rifle. She had been aiming at the leader's head, waiting for her farseer to give the command. It did not come so she lay in wait. After a few moments the imperial stopped talking to her and wandered off to his colleagues.
Eleiyra relaxed and lowered her rifle. She didn't know what to tell the farseer. There was nothing on this planet. Nothing. Usually on worlds there was the trace of the webway, but her instruments picked up nothing. Maiden worlds like this without webway gates did exist but were rare. This couldn't be a monkeigh world, of that she was sure. They lurched about on their worlds throwing pollutants and chemicals into the atmosphere killing the planet beneath them.
Eleiyra swooped around the branch and dropped down from her purchase point in the tree. She made no noise as she landed on the forest floor. Her chameleon cloak instantly matching the background, rendering her nigh invisible. She strode through the forest in silence, maintaining her discipline even now. She knew from experience that even worlds as beautiful as this could harbour some of the most deadly predators.
She looked up to the planet's sun. She had been tracking it for several hours. It had nearly completed its descent below the horizon. She would return to the farseer before nightfall, but until then she would continue to search the area. She had to, otherwise they were stuck here.
Eisenmus made his way over to Hayt, he was still unconscious. The magos was stationed over him, performing a more detailed examination.
"How is he?" He asked Hakkon.
"Minor injuries to external limbs. Broken bone in arm. Internal bruising of ribcage. Non life threatening. Will survive, lord."
"Good. Do we need any other supplies for him?"
"Nothing that we can obtain here. His injuries are non life threatening. Specialized medication not required. However, I request we attempt to secure water and food sources."
"Didn't think you ate Hakkon"
"I rarely eat, Lord. My metabolistic structures are very efficient at recycling the necessary materials"
Eisenmus grunted, not sure what to make of that. Hayt was still unconscious. "Tell me when he wakes up. I'm going to talk with our guests."
"As you command, lord"
Eisenmus approaches Glaedara. "Where's your friend?"
She looked at him, " I told you, she is scouting. She will return by nightfall."
"Hmph. Do you have any idea where we are, xeno?"
"No, I do not. If I did, neither you or we would be here."
"Do you have a means of communicating with your friend?"
"Of course, Monkeigh." Came the terse reply.
Eisenmus sighed. "Tell her if she sees any water or food sources nearby to mark them out. If you don't know where we are we'll need them. I have no idea if you eat like humans do but I'm sure you don't want to die on this rock anymore than we do."
"I will make sure she understands."
"Good." he left the eldar.
"Human?" She called after him. Eisenmus turned back to her.
"What is the relic in this place? I find it hard to see for that blasted thing"
Eisenmus scoffed, the eldar absent mindedly mocking the sacred imperial relic. He momentarily hesitated on divulging the information, but decided against it. It was public knowledge to any imperial servant anyway.
He shrugged, "The Sigil of House Pastorii, granted to the noble House of Pastorii by the Emperor himself in the great crusade."
"Hmm, I thought there was something different about it." She mused. As if dismissing the information, she turned back to stare at the sky. The inquisitor didn't know why she bothered. The sun was still out, the stars wouldn't be visible for another while yet.
Glaedara looked up at the stars. Her helmet's instruments more than compensating for the light. They weren't in any pattern she could recognise, though she had rarely studied stars form the surface of a planet before. She had always done it on the craftworld. Back on that great worldship they were always brightly shining down on her, the only sources of light outside the ship's hull.
The Sigil gnawed at her mind, it was like standing next to a very bright light and a very loud noise at the same time. She found it hard to concentrate with that much energy right beside her. She could believe that it was touched by the human seer. She had felt his touch before in the damned lighthouse the humans use for their navigation. A beacon shining across the galaxy so that they had something to latch their feeble powers onto.
But now the same power was right next to her. Engulfing her. She looked down from the sky and rubbed her head. It had been close in the warp, for her and Eleiyra both. She had felt She Who Thirsts. Its presence just inches away from her. Ironically it might have been that damned Sigil that saved them. Despite what they said, the eldar knew the power of the human emperor. They saw what his touch did to the daemonic forces. He was inimical to them. She would never admit this, but she knew the senior eldar were very interested in this capability.
She sighed and tried to remove her mind from the Sigil. She failed. Ever since becoming conscious she had tried to see the future. Each time she tried she found it fuzzy, opaque, like a fog. The threads of the universe were hidden from her.
It was a disquieting notion. She felt less than what she was. Like having a sense stripped from her.
It must be the Sigil she thought, her mind returning to it. It was dampening her abilities. She wondered if she got further away from it, it might dissipate. Though she would probably need to be on another planet to see any measurable effect.
For the first time in an age she truly did not know what the future lay for her. She felt the unknowns creep into her thought. Questions with answers that could have been known to her if her sight was returned.
This is how the monkeigh live their lives? She thought. She'd have to do something, the longer the imperials were left to themselves the more chaotic things would become. She'd have to guide them down a more ordered path, or the two eldar would die here, without point or purpose.
She relaxed her mind and sought out Eleiyra. Across a hill range she could sense the pathfinder, a bright spark of energy amid the dullness.
"Eleiyra" she said.
"Yes farseer?" came the reply
"What have you found."
"Nothing yet farseer, I don't know this world, though I can't see any sense of civilization. Though my range is limited."
"Have you discovered any rivers or lakes nearby?"
"Yes, there was a lake near to your location."
"Good, I want you to return here and show us."
"As you command farseer."
Glaedara cut the telepathic link. She didn't like to admit it but the monkeigh made sense. They'd have to find water if they were going to be here for any length of time.
Hakkon stood next to Hayt. The soldier was injured, but not seriously. He needed treatment, but Hakkon did not have the correct equipment to initiate medical procedures. He instead busied himself with trying to find out where they were.
He had turned his auspexes and optical implants to the sky and tried to form a starmap of the surrounding systems. He had identified and cataloged eight nearby stars so far. Simultaneously he ran a comparison algorithm to try and match the star systems with those in his data banks. He possessed no where near the total charted star charts of the Imperium, but nevertheless he had thousands of charts. It was possible he could make a match.
Unbeknownst to both parties, far away their arrival on the planet had been noticed.
The warp blast that brought them, and a chunk if the cathedral there with them sent out a massive shock wave, through the warp and through real space.
A huge wave of exotic matter erupted through space. This was picked up by nearby human particle detectors stationed through space. Implementing their programming, they relayed the information back to alliance headquarters where it showed as a high priority ping on the brass's maps.
It was identified as anomaly G-394 and was given a high priority alert. Nothing of this scale had been seen short of a supernova. If a star had gone supernova, there were colonies that needed to be evacuated. If something had happened, and this was an unpredicted supernova then there was only a matter of months before nearby colonies were hit by the expanding particle shockwave.
This was passed onto the lowers down who would have dispatched an investigator within a week to investigate the phenomenon. The information was stored in an encrypted, secure server deep in the bowels of the alliance infrastructure.
It filtered through to Cerberus a couple of hours later.
The information was analysed again. The same conclusion was reached. An investigation was required, more so for Cerberus, having bases closer to the epicentre of this new supernova.
It was puzzling to all that a star should die, as there were no stars in that region even close to old age.
The information trickled up to the Illusive man, who looked at it, judged it and made a decision.
He called Commander Shepard.
"Illusive man?" Shepard asked, arms crossed.
"Shepard, we've had something come up. Not to do with the collectors, but equally serious." He took a drink. He keyed in a series of commands on his chair omnitool and brought up an image of a star system, as well as a starmap. "The Harreck system. The alliance just got intel from one of their deep space research buoys that a massive burst of energy engulfed the area. I want you to investigate."
Shepard looked confused, "What does this have to do with my mission?"
"It doesn't, but the exotic particles and dark energy output match that of a supernova. If a star's died on us, we need to know. There are five small colonies that would need to be evacuated. Not to mention a dozen Cerberus outposts."
Shepard coughed "Something tells me you value your research bases more than the colonists"
"Does it matter what i think, Shepard? If you can help millions of colonists on those worlds, then I'm sure you'll agree that it's worth it."
Shepard sighed. She didn't like him, but he had a point. "Send me the coordinates." She said.
"Done," he said. "Good luck to you Shepard." He cut the link
Shepard watched the holo discs descend around her. "Joker set a course for the Harreck system"
"Aye aye commander" came the reply and Shepard set off for the cockpit."
Hayt woke. He ached all over. He grunted as he felt something give as he tried to sit up.
"Do not strain yourself." Hayt heard the familiar drone of the magos nearby. He saw him to his right, the tech priest wasn't looking at him, instead his gaze was directed at the sky. Wait, the sky?
Hayt looked up, a clear blue sky filled his vision where the vaulted chapel ceiling should be.
"Hakkon?"
"Yes, Hayt?"
"Where's the roof?"
"I have been working on that for the last several hours. I will give you an answer when I have found one."
"Several hours? How long was I out?"
"I only regained consciousness myself only 4.3 hours ago, although my chronometer records approximately 13.9 hours since the engagement with the daemon."
"The daemon. . .did we win?"
The magos paused, "Unknown. We survive however, so at the very least a stalemate."
Hayt grunted as he felt sharp pain shoot up through his spine. It forced him back to the ground.
"I'd stay still if I were you," another voice said.
"My lord?"
"Yes Hayt, I'm here. You took quite a beating. Hakkon says its nothing serious though."
"Thank the Emperor."
"Indeed," Eisenmus said, unsure of how much they should be thanking him at this moment. He saw Hayt's hellgun nearby and carried it over to the prone trooper.
"Here. Can't have you helpless with the eldar skulking about." He handed the rifle to the stormtrooper.
"The eldar, lord? They live?"
"Seems so. They came through with us. They haven't yet initiated hostilities, which makes me think they need something from us."
Hayt considered this, the eldar never did anything without a reason. Even though their actions may seem unpredictable and random, there was always a meaning. Always with their interests alone at its centre.
"Where are they now?" He asked. His mind returning to where it was most confident. There were xenos nearby, that meant military procedure.
"The farseer is lurking just outside the door" Eisenmus pointed to the heavy oaken doors. "The other is gone to try and find out where we are."
"A likely story" Hayt spat.
"Agreed. Which is why we need to keep watch, not only for ourselves." He said, pointing to the artifact.
Hayt managed to turn himself to look at the Sigil of the Pastorii. It stood on its altar, seemingly the only thing untouched by the destruction that had been caused around them.
"The Sigil?" He whispered. "Thank the Emperor."
"Yes, we succeeded in one part at least. The daemon won't be getting its hands on it any time soon. "
Hayt noticed or rather felt something, almost like an unseen glow. He couldn't pinpoint it.
"Lord, is there something different about it?" He asked.
Eisenmus looked at Hayt. The stormtrooper couldn't see it as he could, he had no psychic gift. Eisenmus looked from Hayt to the blinding light of the Sigil. He had to suppress all his psychic sense to look upon it directly, even then, it glowed with golden inner light
"It's the Sigil," he explained. "From my readings on its history, it was given to House Pastorii during the great crusade as a warrant of trade and his authority. Some have theorized that it was something more, precious few of these sigils were given to the explorator houses."
"Something more? Like what?"
"An astronomicus minor" Hakkon said and turned to face the other two.
"What did you say?" Eisenmus said
"The mechanicus have long theorized its purpose, but have been unable to acquire it from the Ecclesiarchy. They have theorized that it acted as a form of temporary astronomican, before the present one had been fully developed."
Looking at its psychic power, Eisenmus could believe it. He turned back to Hakkon. "You only tell me of this now?"
Hakkon's expression was blank, then again it was always blank.
"Lord. There was no need to. They are merely theoretical ideas. It was of no use to us as we assaulted the hive. It was and is a holy relic, it has never displayed any unusual properties until now."
Eisenmus rubbed his head. The magos was right, he had snapped at the magos. "Of course, apologizes Hakkon."
The adept shrugged. "It is of no consequence. However it appears that these theories have more weight to them than before. The mechanicus will be most interested in this new development."
"I suppose you'll want it take to Mars?" Eisenmus asked.
"That is preferable. A discovery of this magnitude is second only to a most sacred STC system."
"Well the day's still young Hakkon." Eisenmus joked.
"Forgive me lord." Hayt said. He coughed. "What are we going to do about the eldar?"
Eisenmus considered this. "We wait and see what happens. They woke before us so if they had wanted us dead they would have done so then. They proved that they fight the daemon as we do, maybe they could be of use."
Hayt shrugged, ever the soldier, "As the Emperor wills, Sir."
The Normandy dropped back under FTL. The Herreck system was ahead of them. They had come out some distance from the system so as to avoid the worst of the blast. Shepard didn't feel like getting too close to a supernova if she could help it.
She leaned on Joker's chair in the cockpit. They were a distance of a light year out from the system. It was highlighted on the glass in front of them. A tiny pinprick of light amid a swirling sea of other brighter lights.
"There it is, Commander," Joker said zooming in on that area of space. It looked unremarkable. A tiny white dot surrounded by banks if holographic data describing everything about it.
She leaned closer. "I think I'm right in thinking, Joker, that that's not the super massive explosion that marks the end of a star."
"You'd be right commander. Nothing strange here, light spectrum consistent with data. Intensity and luminosity consistent. Nope, nothing's wrong. Oh unless you count those strange particle and dark energy readings we're still getting. Yeah, they're still there."
Her brow furrowed. This was strange, they'd have to go in for a closer look. She didn't like unknowns. Whatever was putting out those readings was still something that should have enough power to blow up a star. She couldn't leave something like that unturned.
"Take us in, Joker. You see anything strange and make ready to pull us out."
"Aye aye commander." Joker said. He punched in the controls and the Normandy zoomed ahead. Its inertial dampeners providing excellent cover against the extreme acceleration forces.
The craft tore through the inner planets, closing in on the inner solar system. The Normandy continued to scan the system for exotic particles.
"Commander, the readings. They originate from the second planet in the system."
"The planet?" Shepard was confused, "what's it called?"
"The second planet of the Herreck system is called Charles' Rock, commander Shepard." EDI piped in." It is an uninhabited world claimed by the systems alliance as part of their colony expansion of the terminus systems. Named after its explorer who mapped the large regions in . . "
"We get the picture EDI, thank you" Shepard waved the AI down. Put a hand on Jokers chair.
"Put us in orbit around Charles' Rock. Whatever's down there, it looks important."
"Aye aye commander." The pilot replied.
The eldar ranger returned to the ruins. The sun was low, just about to dip below the horizon. She didn't know what else lurked on this world. They would make the journey to the nearby lake tomorrow.
Eleiyra didn't mind. She was a ranger, she was used to living rough in the unknown corners of the galaxy. She didn't approve of Glaedara's opinion on the imperials though.
She remembered back to when her and the farseer had just came to on this planet,
"Why not just kill them?" she had asked. "When they wake they'll turn on us."
The farseer shook her head. "No they won't. Their species fears the unknown. I don't know where we are and neither will they. We are the only known things nearby. The monkeigh won't dare harm us. They'd fear to."
Eleiyra nodded, not understanding but found with the farseer it was easier to give the impression of understanding. "How could you know that though? You said your sight was gone."
The farseer had sighed then, and Eleiyra had felt stupid. "You do not need a second sight to see
what is in front of you Ranger."
"I apologize," she had said. "I did not mean to question your wisdom."
"Think nothing of it." the farseer said. "What I need from you now is to find out if there's any settlements nearby. We need to find out if this planet has other life on it."
"Yes, farseer."
"Go Eleiyra. If nothing else, we completed our quest."
Eleiyra smiled at that. At least that much was true. The daemon had been banished and whatever havoc it was to play on the craftworld over the following millennia was abated.
"I know farseer." with that she had activated her cloak and made off into the wild.
Nine hours of hiking over the landscape had produced no results, aside from a source of water. She stepped into the Monkeigh ruins and deactivated her cloak next to the farseer.
"Ranger," the farseer said without turning, "It is good to see you've returned."
Eleiyra would have to get her to tell her how she did that one day. But she put that to one side for now.
"The sun is almost set." she said, "It would be wise to remain here tonight." she said
"I agree." said Glaedara. "We'll have to tell the monkeigh, we don't want them wandering off. We need to keep them within sight."
The two eldar made their way over to the Imperials, who were loitering on the other side of the ruins. The mechanical one was studying the boundary between rock and grass. The inquisitor saw them approach and stood up to meet them.
"Well?" he asked.
"My ranger has given the opinion that we rest here tonight. The sun is almost set. We do not know what else this world has lying in wait. I agree with her judgement."
The inquisitor considered this. Monkeigh minds. . .thought Glaedara, so obtuse. To her surprise however, he nodded.
"That was my conclusion as well. Emperor knows what the hell's out there, and this sanctum can provide adequate cover from attack from wild beasts. Yes, we stay here tonight."
Glaedara admitted to herself that was easier than expected. She had assumed that the monkeigh would want to immediately charge off in the direction of the lake.
"Best get prepared for the night." he grunted and turned back to his colleagues. "Hakkon, we're going to be spending the night here, so we need a fire. Get to those trees and gather as much wood as you can. Don't delay too long, we want to have it up when darkness hits."
Hakkon bowed his head. "Yes, lord." he turned and slowly started for the treeline.
"Before you go," Eisenmus held up a hand to delay the magos. He edged in closer to magos and spoke in a whispered tone. "What else can you tell me?"
"I have very little to add to my initial investigation, Lord. This section of the chapel was separated from the rest by a perfect shearing force. Aside from warpcraft, I can think of no other capability to accomplish this, lord."
Eisenmus nodded his head, "Alright, anything you find. You tell me."
"But of course, lord." the magos said, resuming his work. The monotonous voice making it impossible to tell whether sarcasm was present in his tone.
"Anything sticking out to you?" Shepard asked Joker.
The Normandy had been in orbit for several hours. It had been scanning the surface of the planet for any anomalous activity. They had found the source of the strange readings - a seemingly unimportant location in the northern hemisphere.
The measurements from the area were off the charts. Whatever was down there, nothing like it had been seen before. Pumping out all sorts of weird particles, dark energy and everything else the universe would rather keep hidden.
"Aside from the massive freaking particle spike?" Joker replied. "No, not really."
"What's the diagnostic say? Is it safe?"
"The Normandy's scans show that there are no harmful effects or dangerous radiation levels. I would however, advise atmospheric suits for investigation."
"Noted EDI." Shepard keyed in her comm. "Goldstein, prep the shuttle. We're taking a trip to the surface."
"Aye Commander, " came the reply from the hangar.
"Joker, key in those coordinates to the shuttle."
"Yes, commander." he replied and went back to his controls.
Shepard went back through to the CIC. Garrus was standing next to the large central data console, watching the data incoming from the surface. Shepard approached him,
"Anything to add?" she said. The turian looked at her, his bandages still quite fresh from his wound on Omega.
"Not, ergh Not really." he put a hand up to his mandible. "Sorry Shepard, the damn thing doesn't know it's supposed to heal."
Shepard smiled, "It'll realize eventually. Get your gear, we're going down to the planet."
"Expecting trouble down there?"
"Hopefully not. I'm taking the professor as well. He may have some idea what's going on down there."
"Yeah." Garrus said and put down his datapad. "I'll get geared up. "
"Be in the hangar in twenty minutes."
Shepard went into the lab to see the Mordin.
"Shepard!" he saw her enter, "Good of you to come. Very interesting. Large scale energy readings. Dark energy. Have no idea what it could be. Could be a paper in this."
"Get your things, Mordin. We're going down there."
"Down there? Now? Excellent! Hardly time to pack. Will only bring essentials for experimentation."
"You can bring whatever fits in the shuttle." Shepard said making to leave, "Be in the hangar in twenty minutes."
"Yes. Yes Will do Shepard." came the reply. Along with the sounds of the professor stuffing whatever he could fit into a carrying case.
Shepard went into the armoury and retrieved her weapons and armour. Whatever was down there, she didn't want to be unprepared.
The team arrived at the hangar a short while later. Shepard keyed through to the cockpit, "Joker, we're all ready down here, we good to go?"
"Roger that commander. Preparing to bring the Normandy down on a low pass. We'll drop you off in the upper atmosphere."
"Roger that Joker, take us down." Shepard motioned for her two squadmates to get in. Garrus hopped up on the shuttle followed by the professor. He lugged a heavy bag over his back.
"Hope you didn't forget your weapon, Prof." Garrus said
"Please. STG training. Always prepared, will put you to shame when trouble starts." the professor grinned.
Shepard climbed up after them, "Alright enough chat. Get this thing sealed up and good to go!"
Hakkon was keeping watch. Unlike the others he did not require sleep as normal humans did. He merely periodically shut down sections of his brain that needed resting, allowing the rest of his body to function normally.
The sun had gone down 5.2 hours ago. Hakkon had busied himself with mapping as much of the night sky as he could, making use of the night as he saw fit. Nearby he could sense through his external sensors the eldar female ranger, also keeping watch while her companion slept.
Hakkon did not trust the eldar. His databanks and programmes displayed dozens of accounts of past eldar treachery. He had kept a low level combat subroutine on standby in case of it.
He wasn't thinking about that now. He was busy observing a meteoroid that had just appeared on his optic sensors. He had been tracking its progress for the last ten minutes, devoting little processing power for such a menial task.
Then an alert brought this little meteor to the top of his tasklist. It had performed a turn forbidden in classical mechanics. Curious, he ran an evaluation on the data he had gathered over the previous few minutes and came to a definite conclusion.
It was changing direction.
Impossible for a meteor or any other astral body. Anything, except the signature of a spacecraft re-entering atmospheric flight. Based on its past velocity and extrapolating, allowing for future course corrections and turns, he concluded that it would land somewhere in their near vicinity.
Exactly where he didn't know. He would require more information. in the meantime, another low level routine told him to alert his fellows, which he agreed with.
The inquisitor and Hayt were sleeping close by. Hayt lay stretched across a wooden pew. One of the few undamaged by the battle. Eisenmus sat in the corner, asleep in his armour. Without the proper removal equipment they could not remove it without damaging the ancient suit.
Hakkon was vehemently opposed to such blasphemy against the spirits that had served him and
his lord with such honour and duty in the battle.
He approached Eisenmus first. "My lord?" he said.
No response.
"My lord?" he asked in a raised tone.
The inquisitor grunted before slowly lifting his head. "Yes, Hakkon?"
"My lord, I apologize for waking you, but I believe a starship is going to make landfall near our present location. I will keep you updated as the situation progresses." Hakkon turned to resume his scanning of the sky when he heard the hiss and whurr of armour sounds behind him.
"Wait, What did you say Hakkon?" the inquisitor was more awake now, and had digested the contents of Hakkon's message.
"I have been tracking a suspicious meteor for the last 20 minutes. I believe it is changing direction which would indicate artificial spaceflight."
Eisenmus nodded, getting up, "Right, you said it's going to land near us?"
"Based on extrapolations from the current path, and given no sudden further changes of direction, I predict it will land somewhere nearby. Where, I cannot say. I need more information, lord."
"When?"
Hakkon did the calculation. "Between four and six hours from now, lord."
Eisenmus looked at Hayt, the soldier was still sleeping, a bandage across his chest. Best let him sleep for now, he thought, I'll wake him up in an hour.
Eleiyra heard the exchange between the magos and the inquisitor. She had been keeping an eye on the magos since night fell. It had been dull, he had just stood there, his head to the skies, occasionally walking here and there in the room.
She was perched on a cut column near the rear of the room, her cloak field engaged. To all others, she wasn't there. She slid silently down the pole and strode over to the farseer. She was resting near the outer wall, on her knees with her hands clasped over each other in front of her.
She gave the impression of serene restfulness, but Eleiyra knew how quickly she could react to situations in a meditative stance like that.
"Farseer," Eleiyra whispered, deactivating her cloak.
"Yes? Eleiyra?" she replied.
"The monkeigh say they've discovered a ship descending through the atmosphere. The machine one says it will make landfall nearby."
Glaedara's senses heightened at that. A chance to get offworld!
"We must be careful, Eleiyra. They may see this as an opportunity to eliminate us. Keep watch on them, but do not make any hostile actions. ANY" she stressed. "Am I clear?"
"Of course, farseer." Eleiyra grudgingly answered and activated her cloak again.
Shepard looked outside through the porthole, nothing but the blackness of the night.
"We'll be landing in just over ten minutes." The pilot Goldstein informed them over the comm. Shepard sat back down in her seat. The others were viewing the signal source on their omnitools.
"Strange." Mordin said, expertly flicking the various functions of the holographic map. "Unusual concentrations of silicon and iron compounds present at site. Unable to enhance image. Will need to get closer."
Garrus just stared at his omnitool. "Does anyone else just get really bad vibes from this? I've read about the beacon on Ilos. Are we sure this isn't just another prothean beacon?"
"Relatively confident." Mordin replied, not taking his eyes off his omnitool. "Prothean beacons display much narrower spectrum of dark energy fields. Nor do they exhibit exotic particle formations like this. Could be anomaly." he hypothesized.
"Riiiight. So we just land on top of something that giving out as much power as an exploding star."
"It's not putting out anything harmful" said Shepard, checking her own omnitool. "Besides anything that puts out the power of an exploding star's bound to be of interest to the alliance."
"The Citadel will want their hands on whatever it is." Garrus said.
"Hmph" said Shepard as she watched the map come into focus. The Normandy was coming into scanning sight overhead, bringing its sensors to map the surface.
She heard Joker's voice over the comm. "The drone's in position now commander, starting scan." She saw a green blip representing the deployed drone hovering many miles over the target site. It sent out pulses which mapped the immediate area. These were relayed back to the main computer on the Normandy before transferred through to their omni tools.
A high resolution 3d rendered map of the landing site appeared in her omnitool holographic display. Something caught her eye. She zoomed in on the centre.
"What the hell's that?" She indicated some kind of structure at the epicentre of the strange readings.
"Hmm, most intriguing." Mordin said, his fingers not ceasing in their relentless activity. "Scans indicate ruins of some type. Directly over signal source."
"Prothean?" Shepard asked. She did not want this to turn into another Illos.
He shook his head. "Unlikely. Scans of structure indicate high levels of iron and marble composites inconsistent with prothean ruins. Interesting. Large concentrations of unknown compounds throughout structure. Could be undiscovered civilization."
Shepard's interest peaked. if they weren't prothean, then what were they? When these systems were mapped, no civilizations or advanced life forms had been catalogued for investigation.
She tapped herself through to the shuttle's comm. "Goldstein, land us a couple hundred metres away from the landing site. I don't want anything to come at us unexpectedly when we land."
"Aye commander," came the reply.
Hayt stood beside the inquisitor and looked up at the sky. Eisenmus had pointed out the offending falling star in the sky. Hayt looked at it. It was now clearly visible, one of the brightest in the sky.
"What's our plan, my lord?" he asked.
"Lord. . ." Hakkon interrupted. "I have completed a more detailed examination of the vessel. It is small, likely a drop pod or shuttlecraft."
The inquisitor nodded, at least that was good news. "If it's a small craft, we're in with more of a chance of defence if they're hostile. Which we have to presume they are." He made his way over to the rubble and retrieved a long wooden bench from under a pile of rock. He positioned it in front of the door.
"We assemble a defence here." he said. He marked the area which he meant. "If they aren't hostile we can maybe bargain our way offworld but we have to be prepared for the inevitable."
"Hakkon, can you tell if it's imperial?" Hayt asked. He was standing up, one hand clasping his side.
His face a grimace of pain.
"It is too far away to make out any insignia or silhouette identification. As it gets closer I shall update you."
The remains of their fire was still smouldering in the middle of the room, only a few logs were left burning. Out of the shadows around it, the eldar appeared.
"What of us?" the farseer asked. The ranger behind her. The imperials jumped at their sudden appearance. .
"Throne, Xenos! Don't do that!" Hayt exclaimed. Lowering his weapon but keeping it ready in case of treachery.
"What do you know of the craft?" Eisenmus asked, finding it suspicious that they approached the imperials at this time.
"It is not of eldar origin. I would have sensed their presence by now." the farseer replied.
Eisenmus considered this. There were two possibilities to what the eldar had said. If she was telling the truth, then there was a higher chance of it being imperial. However if the eldar was lying, then they could be facing eldar reinforcements and betrayal. Both were equally likely.
"I don't want you two wandering off anywhere." he said. "I've seen enough of eldar treachery to know you're probably lying and you're just waiting for your friends to arrive and finish us off. You two stay here, where we can see you, and we'll do the same."
Glaedara was frustrated. Could this dense monkeigh not see she was telling the truth?
"I am not lying monkeigh!" she snapped. "If they were Eldar, surely you would have been able to sense them as well?"
Eisenmus considered this, and reached out with his mind. He tried in desperation to keep the Sigil's blinding psychic light out of his mind. It was exceptionally difficult. He could sense nothing untoward about the new arrival. But that could just be the Sigil blinding his vision.
He brought his consciousness back into his body.
"I'm still not convinced, Xenos. Until we figure out what this is, we stay within sight of each other."
The farseer sighed, it didn't really matter to her what they did but this argument with the monkeigh was really not worth the effort. "Very well. My ranger will take position on that column" she pointed. "She'll be able to track it as it comes in."
Eisenmus looked, he admitted inwardly that'd be useful, but he wasn't going to let the Eldar know that. "Agreed. But she stays visible."
"Very well." the farseer snapped and nodded her head to the ranger. The ranger then leaped onto a pile of rubble behind her, onto the column in the room and dashed up it to the top, where she crouched and stood still, like a watchful cat.
Eisenmus shrugged and went back to preparing a defensible position around the ruins.
The shuttle landed down near some trees. Goldstein's excellent piloting ability made sure that it was only lightly scratched.
Shepard and her team moved out of the transport.
"Area clear" Garrus said over the comm.
"Acknowledged." Shepard said. Her visor piercing the darkness of the landing site. All around them, a forest. The shuttle had set down with as little noise as it could, but there would be no masking the engine flare in this darkness. If anyone was looking, there'd have seen them.
That's if there was anyone to look. The planet had looked deserted from orbit. It had never been colonized or any permanent settlement set up.
So why did Shepard have that feeling?
"Garrus, Mordin? Stay close I got a feeling about this."
"Preparing for a crapfest, Shepard." Garrus replied.
"Just keep on your toes, all right?" Her breath misted in the cold, dark air
The team ventured out from the landing site. They edged towards the source of the strange readings. The forest closed around them, highlighting any noise or movement they made. Despite her night holo-visor, she felt uneasy.
The group emerged from the dense foliage to the treeline. Shepard ordered a halt and regroup. Her squad formed on her.
"What do you think?" she whispered as they surveyed the area in front of them.
They stood at the edge of the treeline. The terrain sloped down in front of them before rising, creating a shallow valley. The valley sides were littered with rocks and detritus from when some long forgotten glacier tore through the area.
What interested them though, were the odd ruins partly up the other side of the valley. From here the structure looked like a sphere, with the widest circumference at ground level. Pillars and walls rose in curved height towards the centre. The entire layout was about a hundred metres in diameter.
In one of the inner areas, open to the sky, she could see a flickering light emerging from within. Someone was having a camp out.
"No one's supposed to be here." Garrus replied, " My money's on smugglers. Nice, quiet planet to stash your goods on. Nice landmark to let you find the right spot again."
"Could be slavers." Shepard replied.
Garrus shook his head, " Unlikely. Why would slavers come to somewhere where there's no one to capture?"
He had a point there. She turned to Mordin. "Any thoughts?"
"Advise caution. Unknowns could be after source of readings, like us. Or could be smugglers. Either way, went through lot of effort to stay quiet. Unlikely to welcome unwanted guests."
Shepard nodded. Who ever they were, they probably weren't expecting someone knocking at midnight. They'd have to be careful.
"Ok, here's the plan. Mordin, you follow me, we're getting in for a closer look. Garrus, work your way up the treeline and get a better angle. Call us when you're in position. Until then, radio silence."
"Sure thing, Shepard. Moving." Garrus got up and began edging up the treeline to a higher vantage point. Shepard gestured silently to Mordin that they slowly make their way down the valley side and take cover among the rocks. They would not engage until they received the ready call from Garrus.
Mordin nodded and the two made their way down through the darkness. The absolute quiet of night surrounding them.
The ruins party had seen the craft land, only a couple hundred metres to the east. The xenos ranger said she saw it set down in a nearby woodland. That confirmed that whoever was piloting it, they were heading for them.
Hakkon confirmed that it wasn't imperial. Nor was it anything he recognised, too boxy and bulky for a tau or eldar craft, but too well built for an ork construction.
The group waited tensely. The ruins around them were the only cover they had in the valley. To go outside now was tactical suicide. They didn't know anything about the land nor any information on the strength or location of the enemy deployments. No, it was the enemy's move
now.
Eisenmus stood next to Hakkon. He could hear the faint hum of his mechanical lifeforce. "Anything, Magos?" He asked
"Not yet, Lord. My sensor suites are hampered by interference," his mechanical head turned towards the Sigil. "I am in consultation with the sensor spirits to filter out the waste noise. But that takes time."
Eisenmus nodded. He didn't like this.
Shepard and Mordin approached the ruins in the darkness. As they got closer they noticed more and more oddities. The edge of the ruins was completely circular and the floor levels weren't in agreement with ground level. She saw a half underground section of floor, another section dug into the landscape to the rear.
The real fascination of these ruins, was their ornamentation. Rich, gothic decoration covered much of the structure. Shepard had only seen stuff like that on old cathedrals back on earth. How an ancient human architecture came to be on this planet she had no idea.
She looked over to Mordin. His eyes absorbing everything about the structure. He looked like he was almost in pain from the silence she'd enforced.
The pair made their way slowly up to a massive set of timber doors, carved with the most exquisite reliefs and carvings Shepard had seen in her life. Her comm sprang to life.
"In position." Was all that came through from the turian. Shepard acknowledged. It was time to see who's home.
She struck the massive door with her fist three times. They were probably smugglers, she didn't really care what they were smuggling. Most smugglers generally weren't in the habit of dying for their goods. She figured if they left peacefully, they could take their cargo with them for all she cared.
"Hello? Anyone in there?" she yelled. She knocked again, no response. She keyed in her comm.
"Garrus, you with me?"
"With you, Shepard, can't see anything from up here. The walls are too high."
Then, from inside the ruins a voice rang out.
"This is Inquisitor Eisenmus. Identify yourselves!" The voice was male, Shepard didn't recognise the accent however.
This was unexpected. Shepard looked to Mordin, "You hear that?"
"Indeed. Unexpected development. Don't sound like smugglers. . . Interesting."
Shepard turned back to the door. "I'm Commander Shepard of the Systems Alliance! I don't mean any harm."
A pause from behind the door. "Are you imperial?" came the reply.
"Uhh, what do you mean Imperial?" Shepard responded.
Another pause, longer.
"Are you a rogue trader?"
This was getting weird, "Uh, no I don't think so. Can I open the door?"
Another pause, the longest yet. A minute passed.
"Remain where you are. I am sending someone to open the door."
Shepard could hear muffled footsteps on the other side. Something metal clinked against metal. With a great groan of tortured timber, the great slab of wooden art began to slowly glide open.
The door swung open. A sight Shepard did not expect greeted her.
Four figures stood facing them. Three looked male, one female. One of the males had his gun pointed in their direction. Behind the figures, a large roaring fire raged.
They were as different from each other as could be. The one on the far left wore a series of heavy red robes, they flapped in the light breeze. Some sort of mechanical face plate covered his face. Where his eyes should be, a grotesque spider like visage of red orbs gleamed with menace in the dark.
The second was a giant human. If it wasn't for the exposed head Shepard would have easily mistaken him for a mech of some sort. He towered over the rest of the group, his armour almost the mass closer to the mass of a YMIR mech than a person. His face was human. An ageing man of 55, maybe 60 years old, Shepard guessed. With a neat trimmed beard and silver, cropped back hair.
The third in line was a man in bulky combat armour. Somewhat similar to Shepard's except much more boxy and angular in design. It looked unwieldy, much like his weapon, which, compared to
Shepard's rifle, looked far too large to be effective. It was also pointed at her. Most of his features obscured by a helmet that covered his face. Shepard noticed he was hunched over, one of his hands grasping his midsection. Was he wounded?
Then, the strangest of all, to the far right. A tall, slim female in a ridiculously ornate set of blue and silver armour. Her oblong helmet obscured her face. Shepard's glanced to the woman's side. She carried what looked like a spear.
Eisenmus watched the woman enter through the door. She wore some kind of armour he wasn't familiar with. It looked like some kind of light scout armour. Somewhat small in stature she. . .
"My Lord!" Hayt shouted, "Xenos!"
His attention snapped round to where Hayt was pointing. A small, amphibian like alien with bulbous eyes followed the woman. It wore similar clothes to the human, which Eisenmus found concerning.
Hayt brought his weapon up to the xenos creature. The woman and the alien pointed theirs back at Hayt.
"Put that down! PUT THAT DOWN!" the woman was yelling at Hayt, who was yelling back at the xenos, which looked incredibly confused at the whole thing.
Eisenmus thought fast. This xenos was a disturbing turn. He thought this human was merely an outcast or backward heretic but now she was guilty of xenos collusion. This would not stand.
However…
This woman was their only chance off this rock. Xeno or no xeno that wouldn't change. Whatever ship flew overhead they hadn't recognised it, and likely would have no idea how to pilot it.
This heretic was their only hope.
The throne-damned daemon's laughing at us from the warp, Eisenmus thought. He made his way to stand in front of Hayt. His footsteps echoing off the surfaces around them.
He looked down to his sergeant. "Hayt, stand down." He gently lowered the sergeant's weapon with an oversized gauntlet. Hayt hesitated, but obeyed. He was too much of a soldier not to follow a direct order.
As his sergeant lowered his weapon so too did the newcomer. Good, progress.
Eisenmus turned back to the new arrivals. The xenos disturbed him greatly.
"Apologizes." He almost choked on the words. The very concept of apologizing to a heretical xenos colluder was unthinkable.
The woman stayed silent for a brief moment before holstering her weapon by her side.
"Accepted. Now would you mind telling me who the hell you lot are?" Shepard looked at the assembled group. The machine man and the spear woman hadn't moved in the whole exchange, they just stood there… watching.
The huge armoured man turned to face her. His armour was one of the most astonishingly detailed things Shepard had seen. Intricate lines of script wound in tight patterns, golden adornments and symbols decorated every surface. What looked like religious icons hung from his waist, along with a large book, bound in leather on a silver chain. Most prominent was a metallic stylized I engraved on his chest plate.
He spoke, his voice took on that of liquid silver.
"My name is Inquisitor Eisenmus. My team and I," he gestured to the two other men, " were on a high priority mission for the Inquisition. I can divulge no more information on that subject. However at the conclusion of the mission, something happened. Something that I don't know the exact nature of, that cast us here," he looked around him, "Along with part of our surroundings."
Shepard put her hand up "Wait, the inquisition? What's that?"
"The supreme authority in the galaxy." he replied. "If you don't know of the Imperium, you wouldn't know of the inquisition."
"Are you human?" Shepard asked, even more confused, "you look human to me."
The man smiled, "Yes, I and my two companions are human." he pointed over to the woman on the right. "The other two are eldar."
Shepard looked over at the woman, "You said two? Where's the other one?"
The woman in the ornate armour said something Shepard couldn't understand and another woman, this one draped in layers of camouflage, appeared out of thin air beside the first. She carried a smooth long rifle of sorts, her helmeted expression as blank as her comrade's
Shepard blinked, she was about to speak before the giant interrupted.
"Forgive me for cutting straight to the point but we desperately require transport off this planet." he smiled. "We would be immensely grateful if you could help us."
"Your ship get damaged on the way down?" Shepard asked
The giant chuckled, "No, we don't have a ship"
"But, then how did… " she trailed off. The giant had held up his hand.
He looked at her, "That is a question, Commander Shepard, that we would like to find out."