Disclaimer: I offered Bioware and Bungee a dollar for copyrights, but they just kicked me in the nuts and went home. So no, I don't own anything.
"Get me Anderson," Hackett ordered his adjutant.
"Yes, sir?" Anderson said, stepping into his office ten minutes later.
The office was simple, plain and bereft of decoration. Some flag officers had oak panelling, paint, brass or any other combination of things. Not Hackett. He preferred to keep it simple in all things.
"Get Shepard," Hackett told his subordinate Keeper, whose eyebrows rose. "Not only is it time to head to Eden Prime for the Citadel, it is time for the one foretold in the Secret to return. I've just received word she's beginning to wake up. On Eden Prime."
Anderson's eyes were wide, but he nodded.
"Obviously this is far more important than just a beacon and getting Shepard into the Spectres," Hackett continued. "For her to be there of all places … and waking up now … I want a warrior on scene. She'll at least have respect for Shepard because of that and hopefully work with us long enough for me to meet you on the Citadel and explain things to her."
"Sir?" Anderson asked after nodding his understanding of orders. "May I ask …?"
"You've heard the basics of the story about the Titan?" the older man asked after a few moments of thoughtful study.
"Yes, sir," the younger man nodded. Then he blinked in surprise and awe etched itself onto his face. "You mean … she's coming?"
"I received a message from the Ghost just before summoning you," Hackett nodded. His tone grew sharp. "Keep your head on straight, Anderson. We're considering a position higher within the Keepers for you, so don't fuck this up. I'll let you know more on the Citadel."
"And Shepard?" Anderson asked. "What do I tell her?"
"That you expect her to find a strange woman in … unique armor, wielding exotic weapons. She is to be polite to this woman and offer a place on her team until the mission finishes, at which point she is to escort her to the Citadel where the two of you will be introducing her to me. If Shepard asks for more, tell her it's classified and she can talk to me about it after I meet with the Titan."
"Understood, sir," Anderson saluted.
Hackett returned it, then waved the man out. He heaved a sigh of relief when he was alone. A beacon found on Eden Prime, just as the Titan was waking up? The fact she was there and the timing set the hairs on his neck rising. The words of the Traveller, spoken all those years ago just before it left, rang in his ears.
"When the war she is destined to fight begins, so shall the Guardians return," Hackett breathed.
Such bullshit, Shepard thought, stalking up to the cockpit of the newly christened Normandy. Anderson could have at least told her who this strange woman was. And why the hell was she supposed to keep it a secret from everyone? Something was fishy here. Add the Spectre and the level of shit she was supposedly being told rose even higher. This was no simple shakedown run. There was something else going on. Maybe two somethings. You don't call Shepard in the middle of a class on biotics on fucking Thessia and call her home for a fucking shakedown run.
"Lost a fucking ten thousand credit bonus for this shit," she muttered as she stalked past Navigator Pressley. He wisely kept his mouth shut as she went up to where the pilot was. He was spitting out the run to the relay we were approaching and the Spectre, Nihlus, was standing there watching. "Nihlus," she greeted him with a polite nod.
"Shepard," he replied, nodding back.
Nothing more was said, but she saw him eyeing her. She was about to deck the bastard when she realized he wasn't just looking at her tits, but all over. He paused at the weapon loadout, but finished his study and put his eyes forward. She let it slide, figuring his experience as a Spectre made him curious about her gear.
She barely noticed the jump, she was so caught up in her thoughts.
"1500 is good," Nihlus said suddenly, breaking her free of her paranoia. "Your Captain will be pleased." At that, he turned and left.
"I hate that guy," the pilot said after making sure the turian couldn't hear him.
"Nihlus gave you a compliment," a Lieutenant said, sounding amused. "So you hate him?"
"Remembering to zip up your jumpsuit after hitting the head?" the pilot shot back. "That's good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead, so that's fucking amazing. Besides, he's a Spectre. I don't trust him."
"Council helped fund the construction of the Normandy," the Lieutenant said in a drone. "They have a right to send someone along to see if that investment paid off."
"That is the official story," the pilot agreed. "But only a fool believes the official story."
"Damn straight," Shepard snorted. Both men jumped in their seats and looked at her, wide eyed. "Joker I can understand being startled," she shook her head. "But you, Lieutenant? Is your peripheral vision utterly fucked and if so, how are you a marine in the first place, never mind of your rank? Get your shit together or get off my ship."
"Joker!" Anderson barked over the intercom, saving the pathetic Lieutenant from further wrath. "Report!"
"Green across the board, sir," the pilot replied smoothly. "Everything is good."
"Good. I want us patched into Arcturus and sending reports before we reach Eden Prime."
"Will do, sir. Keep an eye out for Nihlus, sir. He was headed your way."
"He's already here," he growled. Joker facepalmed. "Tell Shepard I want to see her in the comms room."
"Well, you heard him, Commander," Joker sighed. "Sorry to have pissed him off for you."
"You didn't," she chuckled. He looked at her curiously. "You just miffed him a little. Anderson pissed off? That scares me. It'd make you want to take up jump roping while shitting yourself."
He snorted at that image and waved as the N7 moved away. She was still irritated. Ten thousand credits is a lot of money. Plus that fucking Lieutenant … Alenko, she thought his name was. Sad sack couldn't even keep his fucking eyes open enough to know she was there. She was still shaking her head as she went into the comms room, but Anderson wasn't there.
Nihlus was. He turned to her.
"What do you know of Eden Prime, Commander?" he asked casually after greetings.
"Beyond the press bullshit? Not a damn thing," she admitted. "Why?"
"It's a symbol to your people, isn't it?" he asked after a moment. "A sign of prosperity, of success in your colonization -"
"Cut the shit, Spectre," Shepard snorted. His mandibles twitched in shock. "Look. I got called off a teaching job three days early that cost me a ten thousand credit bonus - from Thessia - and put on this fucking ship. Shakedown cruise? I don't fucking think so. Then a Spectre boards? Fucking alarms are clanging in my head so damn loud I'm getting a headache. Now you talking this shit? Please. Cut the shit. I'm not an idiot. Stop treating me like one."
A chuckle came from the door and Anderson was standing there. He strode down into the room and looked the turian dead in the eye.
"Tell her."
"Very well," Nihlus sighed. "A Prothean beacon was discovered on Eden Prime. Your people are going to share it with the Citadel and in return, a candidate will be considered for the Spectres. I am here to evaluate you."
"Figures," Shepard snorted, shaking her head. "Next time you 'evaluate' my gear, don't spend so long staring at my tits. Perv."
"Captain, we have a problem!" Joker called over the intercom. "Distress call from Eden Prime!"
"Put it on!" Anderson ordered.
The viewscreen lit up and they saw helmet cam footage. It was tilted up to stare at the marines fighting, not at the enemy. Shepard silently cursed at idiots who don't know the value of good intel. A woman in phoenix armor appeared and shoved the cameraman over, yelling at him to stay down and get a look at the enemy. Then there was a noise that even over the line, froze her blood. All gunfire stopped for a few moments and the helmet cam turned to show a massive dreadnought shaped like a squid or cuttlefish. The transmission cut out a moment later.
Anderson reversed it to stare at that ship for a few moments. Nihlus and Shepard did the same.
"Shit just got real," Anderson said gravely. "Nihlus, I need a moment with Shepard."
The turian, stunned, left without a word.
"Any questions about your other mission down there?" Anderson asked.
"Lots," she muttered. "But apparently it's all 'classified' so I won't goddamn bother. I'll just fumble my way through it as best I can and hope this lady doesn't get killed in whatever the fuck is happening down there."
"From what I know, Shepard - and it isn't much - that woman can teach you a few things about combat. She's not biotic, but has some kind of other power. I don't know any details about what kind of power, but it's supposed to be pretty impressive."
"Good to know, but a name would help," she nodded.
"We don't know it," he sighed. My eyebrows rose. "The only thing we do know is that she is what's called a Titan. Call her that and she'll at least listen to you. Tell her that if she helps you complete your mission on Eden Prime, we'll take her to the Citadel where Hackett will meet us and talk to her about what's been going on since she went to sleep."
"Sleep, sir?" she asked, intrigued.
"A stasis of some kind," he sighed. "I shouldn't be telling you this, but she's been sleeping for a very, very long time. Think about that for a moment."
She did. The way he'd said 'a very, very long time,' had sent chills through her. It implied she was older than the space race early in the century. A lot older. And if that was the case, how did she get to Eden Prime? But the kind of tech needed to get that far didn't exist at that time. Nor had it ever, as far as she knew.
"Is this woman human?" she asked after my thoughts ran their course.
"Yes," he said. Then made it weird. "Sort of."
"Sort of?" she repeated.
"I don't know the specifics. She used to be human, but … evolved into something else. With help. I don't know anymore than that and I've already told you too much. Maybe the Titan or Hackett will fill you in on more, I don't know. But that's all I can give you, Shepard."
"Alright," she sighed. "Well, it's better than the nothing I knew before."
"Yeah. Now go get ready. Take Alenko and Jenkins."
"Alenko? Will he keep his eyes open?" she snorted.
"He's good on the battlefield, girl," Anderson snorted. "Give him half a chance and you won't regret it. He just relaxes off the battlefield more than you do is all. As for Jenkins … keep a tight reign on him. He's … enthusiastic about getting into a fight."
"Thanks for that," she grumbled, flipping him the bird as she walked out. He chuckled at it. She boarded the abysmally slow elevator a minute later with the two men and they went down to the hangar to get kitted out in the armory.
"You stay in formation," Shepard said firmly to Jenkins as he finished gearing up. He blinked at her. "A fight is coming. Running to it without care will just get you killed. We'll get there either way. Stay. In. Formation. You read me, corporal?"
"Yes ma'am!" he barked, coming to attention.
"Good." She turned to Alenko and eyed him. "Anderson says you're good on the field. Prove it."
He nodded and said nothing. The Commander looked over at Nihlus where he was standing alone and messing with his shotgun.
"I'll scout ahead," he said without looking up. "I move faster on my own."
"So you're not evaluating me anymore?" she asked archly. He looked up at her, blinking. "Do your damn job, Spectre. Evaluate. Can't do that running around playing lone hero."
"Commander, we need to know -" he started.
"I'm not saying don't scout ahead," she interrupted. "I'm saying don't get too far from us that you can't do your job. And if you get into trouble, I can charge in and help. Meat shields one and two can provide fire support and you don't get your ass shot off if something slips by you."
"Meat shields?" Jenkins whispered to Alenko. "That's cold."
"Prove me wrong, corporal," she said without looking back. "If you can't, kiss your asses goodbye. Either here or later on after I've replaced you with competent marines."
Shepard could literally hear them both stiffening at that, but ignored it. She kept her eyes locked on Nihlus.
"Very well, Shepard," he nodded. "We'll do it your way."
A minute later, we departed the bay and set foot on Eden Prime.
The muffled sound of battle woke me up. It was strange at first. I thought I heard some words. Some strange voice calling out to me from a great distance. Then it faded, almost like a dream.
My Light was weak, very weak.
"Nox," I rasped. My voice was also rather weak.
'Cora?' came the voice of my Ghost over the link. 'Oh, thank the Traveller you're awake! Hang on! Oh shit. You're … in terrible shape. Give me a minute and I'll start sending some Light your way. I'm … sort of nearby. It'll take me a few minutes to get there, but I can do my job. Just sit tight and heal up when I send you the Light. A great deal has changed, Guardian. I've arranged to have someone escort you to … a historian, of sorts. A warrior woman named Shepard. Keep an eye out for her. Okay, Cora. Here comes the Light!'
Nox's voice cut off and the Light poured into me. I groaned at the feeling and spread it out all over my body. I glowed with it, there was so much.
I was in a small … was this a coffin? Some kind of stasis pod? It didn't matter. I felt the layers of dirt above me and rammed my fist into the top of the pod. Arc energy crackled out and blew the lid off, along with what looked like a hundred feet of solidly packed earth.
I stood and stretched, feeling the Light rejuvenate my muscles. I let out a groan of satisfaction. I was always tired before, in the last hundred years before I went to sleep. But now … I felt good. Alert. I was always alert, of course. But this felt different. I reached out and felt the Light and nearly fell over.
The Traveller … it was gone! I paused. No, it had never been to this world. I didn't realize I wasn't on Earth at first. Which made no sense. Where was I? And then, the Light itself. There was plenty of it, just … spread out. Across the galaxy itself. Like there was no Darkness at all.
Then I felt it.
Something monstrous was above. A Darkness so foul it made the Black Garden look like a paradise. But it was … localized? That made no sense.
I looked down at myself and realized my armor was in pretty sad shape. I sighed.
"Nox? Armor and weapons?" I asked.
I felt a silent acknowledgement and then that familiar feeling. I had access to my armory again and smiled. With a thought, I stripped down to the bodysuit I wore under my gear. That was in terrible shape too, but not as bad. I spared a little Light to clean it up, then got out some old gear and put it on.
The Kerak Type Two set, with a layered blue shader.
For weapons, I chose Bad Juju for my main weapon, Toil and Trouble for my backup and Edgewise as my heavy. I checked my powers and found everything good to go.
I jumped, then hit the wall of the pit with my left foot and sprang upward again, veering toward the right, where I repeated the action. Back and forth, I made my way up the pit and then sprang out of the ground. Bad Juju was in my hands as I landed and saw …
Abominations. Humans, turned into husks of their former selves. They were attacking a group of five - four humans and an alien of some kind, who fought with the humans and against the husks. The soulless wailing of the things set my teeth on edge and I opened fire on the horde moving toward the humans.
Each of my shots tore through a husk and with three shots per burst, I was doing incredible damage. Three quarters of the things broke off and headed right for me. Bad Juju was already on my back as I leapt into the air, my warcry ringing in the air. My right fist up and wreathed in Arc energy as my left grabbed my shotgun.
I slammed my fist into the ground right before the pack of husks and the wave of Arc energy flowed outward and turned the things to glowing particles drifting on the wind. I dashed forward and brought up Toil and Trouble and with a quick burst of shots, ended the rest. The other warriors had accounted well for themselves, but nowhere near what a Guardian could do.
"Greetings," I said to them. Four of them looked stunned. One of the women of the bunch did not. I met her eyes and saw within her the heart of a true warrior. "Are you Shepard?"
"I am," the woman admitted. Her eyes narrowed. "How did you know that?"
"Nox told me," I shrugged. I looked up to the sky. "Nox? How long until you join us?"
"About thirty seconds, or thereabouts."
"She'll be with us shortly," I said to them. "My name is Cora, Titan of the Guardians."
"So you're the one I'm supposed to find, huh?" Shepard asked, eyeing me up and down. "Nice to finally have a name."
"Shepard?" the alien asked. His voice was strange. There were harmonics laced into it. I heard curiosity in it. "What is this and why don't I know about it?"
"Call it a side mission, Nihlus," Shepard said dryly as I eyed the alien with a frown. Not that he could see it. "And you don't know it because it's classified. If I may continue, your Spectreship?"
The sarcasm was enough to make me chuckle, even if I didn't understand the title.
"Thank you," she said to the grumbling alien. "As I was saying. Cora, I've been tasked with several missions here. You are one of them. If you would care to join me and help us complete the rest, I'd be happy to escort you to someone who can answer any questions you may have. I understand you may be missing some details about history and this person can help fill in the blanks."
Nox appeared just then.
"Nox!" I grinned at her arrival. Her shell was new. "New shell?"
"Yes," she said cheerfully. "I'll tell you all about it later. It is good to see you again!"
"You too," I smiled. I looked at the others and saw guns up. "Hey! What the fuck?"
"What is that?" the alien growled.
"My companion," I growled back. He blinked at me. "Harm her in any way and I'll peel your plates from your skin and use them to heat my dinner." Everyone just stared at me and then Shepard chuckled. And lowered her gun. That was enough for the other humans, but the alien kept his up. "Now how about you explain to me what the fuck the problem is with my Ghost?"
"They have a prejudice against AI," Nox informed me. I blinked. "Too bad they are too stupid to understand that I am NOT an AI. Just because I was created, doesn't mean I'm a fucking machine."
"What does that mean?" the alien asked.
"Lower the weapon and I'll show you," Nox countered.
"You'll show me either way -" he began, then stopped when my shotgun pressed into his face.
"Speak politely," I warned. "Or speak to the dead."
"Fine," he growled, lowering his weapon.
"Nox, pop the shell, if you please," I said, keeping the gun trained. Nox's shell opened up and we all saw the ball of pure Light. After a moment, it closed again. "Thank you. That Light is pure soul. She is alive, in a way that none of us understands. The metal is armor … which I'm very curious about. Now, can we all keep our shit together long enough for me to find out what this mysterious mission is so I can decide if I'm helping or going my own way?"
"Mission is … sort of simple," Shepard began after everyone agreed. "Do you know about Protheans?" I shook my head. "Long story short, race of super advanced aliens that disappeared fifty thousand years or so ago. They left various archives around that have been discovered and advanced the other races to a point where they could join the galactic community. There's also beacons. Nobody really knows what's on those beacons. They've never been activated before. But supposedly there's one here. We're here to pick it up and take it to the Citadel, the heart of the galactic community. Which is where Admiral Hackett will be waiting for you. He says he needs to talk to you and I was sent to escort you, along with whatever else needed doing here."
"Hackett can fill you in on what you missed while you were sleeping, Guardian," Nox informed me.
"Understood," I nodded. "And these … abominations?" I asked, gesturing to the husk corpses.
"We don't know," Shepard sighed. "They used to be human. Geth put them on spikes of some kind and then they get turned into … that." She pointed at a strange device.
"Nox, get a scan please?" I asked. She bobbed a nod and went over to scan the thing. "What are geth?"
"Artificial Intelligence," the alien growled.
"Networked AIs," Shepard corrected. I arched an eyebrow at her and she somehow knew it. "They were accidentally created about three hundred years ago. Originally supposed to be a labor force, but the more were added to the network, the smarter they all got. When their creators realized what was happening, they tried to destroy them and got kicked off their planets. The quarians now roam space as outcasts."
"I see," I frowned. "So this galactic law that states AIs are what … illegal?" I asked. The alien nodded. "They just left the illegal AIs alone and instead punished their creators for an accident by condemning their descendents to a long, slow and excruciatingly painful extinction? Including humiliation?"
"Uh …" the alien said. His mandibles were twitching.
"Basically, yeah," Shepard sighed. "The geth stayed holed up in their territory and didn't bother anyone. Three hundred years. Now they're here. With whatever the hell that ship is."
She pointed and I looked and saw a massive ship. I felt a growl come from me as I realized this was the source of that foul Darkness.
"That is no ship," I spat. "It is the enemy."
"I sense it too," Nox said quietly, coming back from the device she'd scanned. "Guardian … you don't have enough reserves to fight it now. You need to recover from your long sleep. Work yourself back up to form."
"How long was I asleep?" I asked with a frown.
"A little over eighty thousand years," she told me flatly.
I tore my gaze from that ship and found myself seated in the dirt as I stared at the Ghost. My hands shaking, I lifted them to my helmet. The seals hissed and I plucked the heavy thing from my head and stared some more.
"You're … human?" the alien asked, his voice soft and confused. "But … how?"
"Hackett has some answers," Shepard spoke into the silence. Her voice was hard as iron and I took comfort from that. "You with us?"
I looked at Nox, who bobbed a nod. I took a deep breath and nodded, then rose to my feet smoothly.
"Good," Shepard nodded. She had a small smile on her face. "This is Jenkins, Alenko and Williams and this guy is Nihlus. His species is turian. He's a Spectre - Special tactics and recon - and is above the law. They only answer to the Council. And he's evaluating me to join them."
"Be sure you do not become as arrogant in your power as he is," I told her seriously.
"I'm actually one of the least arrogant," Nihlus snorted. "Should see my mentor. He'd beat me bloody for supporting Shepard in joining the Spectre's. He hates humans."
"Then why are you supporting her?" I wondered.
"Because I disagree with his statement that they are barbarians who aren't ready for that kind of position within the galactic community. They clearly are, but his hatred blinds him."
"Clearly you learned from that," I shook my head. "But not enough, it seems, given your reaction to Nox."
"Ah," he sighed. "You have a point. I'll … work on it. Not too much, given the geth attacking, but enough to get over my problems with … Nox."
"Appreciated," I smiled at him, then put my helmet on and drew Bad Juju. "Shall we?"
We moved out with Shepard barking orders at her people … and at Nihlus. She only made suggestions to me, however. I couldn't help smiling at that.
We ran into a flock of flying drones of some kind that had guns attached. The bullets made a tink sound as they bounced off my armor. I put Bad Juju away with a chuckle and brought out Thorn and let off a round. A drone exploded. Violently. Thorn boomed out a few more times and the drones were down.
"How did you cut through their shields?" Shepard asked curiously as we moved on.
"They had shields?" I snorted. She laughed.
"What kind of ammo does that have?" she asked.
I flipped the chamber open and reloaded the used shells, then closed it. I handed her a bullet.
"Gunpowder?" she blinked.
"No," I denied. "There's an explosive gel in there instead of gunpowder. It works even in vacuum. I'll show you when we're not busy."
She nodded and handed it back. We took down a few more drones, then stopped when I raised a fist and took a knee. I pulled out Long Shadow from my armory and looked through the scope of the sniper rifle.
"Nihlus," I said softly. "You know this guy?"
The turian pulled his own rifle and looked through it, taking a sharp breath.
"Yes. Saren. My mentor. What is he doing here?"
I was about to suggest a course of action when a small group of humans appeared. They looked afraid and cautious, but approached the turian named Saren.
He killed them. Savagely. Then he paced back and forth, glaring in another direction.
"What's that way?" I asked.
"The direction I would have approached from, had I not come with Shepard," he said quietly.
"Son of a bitch," Shepard breathed, venom in her voice. I was about to ask when I saw it.
Machines appeared and approached Saren. He spoke to them, then stalked away. He hopped on a cargo train of some sort and sped off.
"He would have killed you, Nihlus," Shepard said quietly, lowering her own rifle.
"As it appears he is working with the geth, I believe you are right, Shepard," Nihlus said, sounding very weary. "This is … confusing."
"How about something not so confusing?" I offered. He looked at me curiously. "Shoot geth."
He chuckled, as did the others. Everyone lined up with a sniper rifle, except for Alenko. He held up his pistol and watched our backs.
"Three … two …" I counted.
I didn't say one or fire, but everyone fired at the same time. The shots were all good and they blew the flashlight heads off the machine people. My shot utterly shattered the entire thing, blowing it into thousands of pieces.
I kept firing. The others got another shot off and then their rifles beeped at them and they charged, switching them out for other weapons. I stood and continued firing, swapped mags and kept going.
There were only a few left by the time the others got in range and Shepard did something unexpected.
She turned into a blue fucking comet and slammed into the remaining geth, obliterating the one she hit and knocking the rest down. Her shotgun boomed rapidly and then it was over. I swapped mags again and raced down.
"The fuck was that?" I grinned at Shepard.
"What, the charge?" she asked. I nodded. "Oh, right. A biotic charge. Should see me when I really get going."
"Nice," I grinned, holding out a fist. She laughed and smacked it with her own.
"Thanks," she smirked. "So what did you do earlier with that fist to the ground?"
"It's called Fist of Havoc," I chuckled. "I modified it a bit. Arc energy. It completely destroys everything it touches in a certain radius. Fortunately for you, I've been able to refine my skills in all areas and can use some pretty neat powers."
"Hopefully we get to show off at some point," the other woman laughed.
Against her better judgement, Shepard liked this strange woman. This Titan. Cora. It was so similar to her own name. She wondered if she had a last name? She briefly shook her head as they made their way over to the spaceport.
That's when that huge ship took off.
It should be impossible for something that size to lift off the surface of the planet, yet there it was. Lifting into the sky with that horrible cry.
Then Cora was there, blazing like a sun with a pure, awesomely bright … Light. It shone from her like the fury of a star and she drew a fucking bow of all things, pulling it out of nowhere and drawing the string.
A shaft of pure light formed in the bow and it seemed to drink in all the light that blasted out from the Titan. A few moments later, the woman was back to normal and the string, bending the bow back so far it looked like it should have snapped a long time ago, released.
TWANG!
The bolt of light shot into the air and flew after the ship. Surprisingly, it was gaining on the massive ship. Even more surprising, the ship appeared to speed up to avoid it.
But the 'arrow' was going too fast now and slammed into the ship. A mechanical scream tore through the air and the ship lurched in the sky, then continued up at a slower pace, eventually disappearing.
Then Cora bellowed in a voice like thunder, hurling her words after the ship.
"The Light knows you, abomination! The Light remembers you and your taint! I am a Guardian and I was made to fight the Darkness! To obliterate you in all your vile forms or die trying, then get up and keep going! I am Cora! Remember my name, for this Traveller born Guardian shall kill you!"
Cora slumped to a knee, breathing hard.
"Easy, Guardian," Nox said gently. "That took a lot out of you and you are not yet at even a quarter strength. I'm easing some Light to you. Soak it in and take it easy for a minute."
Everyone stared at the now slightly glowing woman, heaving breaths as if it was something new and fearsome, a look of terror on her face. Shepard was not at all ashamed to be one of those staring. She was, however, proud to be the first one to find their voice.
"What. The. Fuck." She stated. Eloquently, if she might add.
"Guardians subsist solely on the Light," Nox informed us calmly. "Having been asleep for so long, her normally vast stores of the Light are practically nonexistent right now. She just used the majority of it to fire that arrow of Light and send her message to the creature and now she is in danger of death. I am slowly easing more Light into her. At the moment, she fears for her life, which, given that she does not technically need air, has her panicking just a tad. I've never seen her like this before, even when fighting machine gods that took a solid month of nonstop combat."
Indeed, Cora did look panicked. Didn't need air? Crazy. That light though. It … stirred something in Shepard. Something deep, something … old. It didn't make any sense. But she knew what she was seeing in front of her. So she did something about it.
She knelt in front of Cora, took her helmet from her hands and, after nearly dropping it from the sheer weight of it, set it aside. Then she took her measure as the half mad, half panicked woman met Shepard's eyes.
And slugged her as hard as she could, right in the jaw.
Shepard's gauntlet shattered, along with a bone or two, but the woman's head snapped to one side. She froze, not even breathing, before slowly turning to meet Shepard's now terrified gaze, her eyes grim and dangerous.
"Aaaah," she sighed, sounding almost … happy? "Finally. Someone with the strength to make me feel a punch and the balls to actually do it." Cora grinned at the N7, who blinked. "Thank you, Shepard. I was losing it. That smack did the trick."
"Smack?" she repeated. She looked down at her fist. Her bloody fist, with bones sticking out. Her shattered and useless gauntlet. "That was far more than just a smack, woman."
"Right," she chuckled, shaking her head. "Normal human. Anyways, here."
She stomped her foot and a strange, jagged symbol appeared on the ground, glowing a soft yellow. Shepard stared at it and then at her hand as her bones shifted and slid back into her hand. After a few more moments, she flexed her fist and it felt fine. Not a trace of the wound. The glowing symbol faded into nothing.
"A healing rift," Cora explained, then pulled out a pair of gauntlets and handed them to Shepard. "And this is a loan, until you can fix or replace your own. As thanks for snapping me out of my … funk. Nox? I'm better. You can up the amount of Light I take in now."
"No, I can't," she snorted. "You nearly killed yourself with that move. I have to be very careful in how I saturate you with Light after that or I could permanently cripple your powers. Which, given the situation, would be very fucking bad."
"How bad?" she asked, her eyes narrowed.
"Your strength returned to a normal human, as well as everything else. That's if you don't just flat out die from the lack of Light."
"Wait, we've been cut off from the Light before," she argued. "What's the difference?"
What the shit was this?
"The difference is that you were cut off from it before, as were the other Guardians. This time, you've been fucking drained dry of the Light! You get it now?"
"Ah. Okay." Cora appeared a little sheepish at this distinction.
"Cut off?" Shepard asked. "Other Guardians?"
"Long story," Cora replied with a slight smile, but a haunted look in her eyes. "I'll … tell you another time, maybe. I need to figure out when and where I am first, I think. And … Nox? Can I at least fight?"
"No powers," the shiny black sphere said firmly.
"What?" Cora blinked. "Not even grenades?"
"If you use their kinds of grenades, sure," Nox replied. "NOT your own. Don't even try to call on your power for punches or double jumps. Guns and fists only. Absolutely no powers at all. Just giving you the strength and speed to carry your armor is pushing things, so don't even try for more."
"Alright," she sighed. Then firmed up. "New loadout. Frontier Justice, Gallant Charge and Thunderlord."
Her weapons disappeared, replaced by others. She plucked up each one and checked them over quickly, then settled on what looked like a strange blend of assault and sniper rifle.
"The fuck are those?" Williams asked, finally finding her voice.
"Scout rifle," Cora held up one. "Semi-auto, long distance, good stopping power. Fusion rifle," she tapped a short barrelled looking rifle, "for up close fighting. Better at clearing away numbers than a shotgun. Heavy machine gun. In case of big bastards that need taking down hard."
"Bombs just got activated!" Nox shouted, drawing all eyes to her. "Other side of that tram! There's maybe ten minutes until the whole colony goes up and the ride will take five! Move it!"
"You heard her!" Shepard barked, pulling on the gauntlets loaned to her. They tightened to fit just right as she put them on. "Whoa."
"Yeah, Guardian tech," Cora smirked, then put her disgustingly heavy helmet on like it was nothing. "Nox, you handling the bombs when we get there?"
"Yes. I've gotten much better at hacking while you slept, by the way. Should only take a few seconds to disarm each one, but I'm detecting multiple geth in the area, so expect a fight. Tram is coming."
We all jumped on the tram when it arrived and the Commander barked out orders.
"Cora, Nihlus and Williams, up front with me. Alenko and Jenkins, cover our flanks and rear. You see a bomb that isn't already dead or being worked on, holler it out and point."
Amused, I nodded at Shepard as she gave me my marching orders. Nox had got the tram moving as soon as we were all on board and it sped down the track at impressive speeds without a single jostle.
I spied the end of the line first and leapt out as soon as it was in range of a single leap. I was off and running as soon as I hit the walkway and pointed at a bomb, which Nox teleported to and shot a beam of light out at. I let off a few shots and shattered the lower neck and upper torso of several geth, killing them instantly. Nox was back at my side a moment later. I glanced at her in surprise.
"Yeah, I told you I was better at hacking," she said with an audible smirk. "Besides, this crap isn't anywhere near as tough as a warmind to hack."
I snorted and moved on just as the others dashed up.
"What's a warmind?" I heard Shepard mutter as she rushed to keep up.
"Planetary defense mind," I explained, taking a few more shots. "Similar in concept to an AI, but much more advanced and reliable than what you're thinking. I mean, if all your guns came up at just the idea of AI, then you've obviously done something wrong in the mental cultivation of the mind."
I shook my head and emptied the magazine at more geth. Reloading, I figured these people had likely tried the old 'give it to the military' or 'have scientists experiment on it' routines and the poor things had gone insane.
"What would you suggest then?" the other woman asked acidly.
"First, keep a new mind the fuck away from military discipline and any and all scientists," I snorted. I was surprised she was keeping up. "Make sure it can grow in an environment that is nurturing and caring, where they can have an opportunity to figure out who they are before being automatically exposed to sadistic drill sergeants and ambitious scientists. Let them choose their own paths instead of forcing them into one and just expecting stellar results. 'Cause yeah, slaves always react so well when they discover they have free will, don't they?"
My sarcasm must have persuaded her. Our guns rang out, taking down geth left and right. I spied a rather large geth and slid to a stop.
"Go find the last bomb," I told Shepard. "I got this one."
Shepard glanced at the geth and nodded, then looked around and took cover near the last bomb as Nox went to work on it. I swapped guns and with my fusion rifle now in hand, I ran toward the big geth, charging the rifle as I went.
Rounds from the giant geth bounced off my armor and as I drew near, it raised a fist to hit me. I dropped to my knees and slid the last few feet, aiming Gallant Charge, then hit the trigger.
Brilliant orange rays of energy shot out of the rifle and slammed into the geth, as well as the two flanking it.
All three of them screamed as their bodies disintegrated.
A quick look around told me all geth in the area were down. I switched back to my scout and jogged toward Shepard. She was staring at me with a very keen expression on her face.
"I want one of those," she said flatly. I just started laughing.
"Sorry Shepard," Nox told her while I sat down to laugh some more. "Guardian weapons. Normal people can't use them. It draws a little Light out of the bearer. It's not enough to be a problem, even with her levels as they are now, but in normal humans, it could cripple."
"Well," Shepard sighed. "That blows." I couldn't stop laughing. "Would you stop that?"
"She can't right now," Nox explained. "She's got a lot of really cool weapons that will make you jealous and right now, she's thinking of a large number of them that would have you pouting."
Shepard pouted at that and I was left a laughing mess on the ground.
"Damn, skipper!" Williams panted as the others staggered up. "I thought I was in good shape! What the hell do you add to your wheaties to run that fast and not even be out of breath?!"
"You do know I hold the record for every course at N school, don't you?" Shepard asked pointedly.
"I do now," Williams admitted. She looked at me. I was still chuckling. "What's got her in such a good mood?"
"Apparently imagining my face when she brings out some awesome guns that I can't use," Shepard sighed.
"Hostiles ahead," Alenko said quietly, halting my laughter.
Just like that, everyone was back in formation. There was still some heavy breathing from the others trying to catch their breath, but they were up and ready. I smiled.
The smile dropped away as we rounded the corner and saw more of those husk things. There were geth among them too and between the six of us, they were rapidly destroyed.
There was a large, glowing green structure off to one side. Shepard barked orders at her people and they fanned out. She and Nihlus stepped up next to me.
"Ash!" Shepard called. Williams looked over. "Was it doing this before?"
"No ma'am!"
"Nox? Anything?" I asked.
Nox appeared in front of me and scanned.
"Energy field around it," she reported. "The beacon is active, but … there's something off. It's been tampered with. My guess is Saren used it, then sabotaged it." She paused, running another scan. "The field won't affect me. Give me a few minutes to figure it out. This is the range of the field. No closer on any side."
Shepard held up her left arm and a glowing orange hologram appeared. She worked it for a minute before dropping her hand and it disappeared. Alenko, Williams and Jenkins all held up a hand as their own arms flashed with the same orange glow, then nodded. They returned a few minutes later while Shepard was calling in her ship for pickup.
"Area clear, ma'am," Alenko reported. "Found a decent pistol and a lot of crap we turned to omni-gel."
"Alright," Shepard nodded. She looked over Alenko. "Good work. You too, Jenkins. I trust you learned your lesson with those drones earlier?"
"Yes ma'am," he nodded, flushing a little. "Won't happen again, ma'am."
"If it does …" Shepard began.
"Kiss my ass goodbye," the kid finished. "I remember, ma'am."
Nox finished her scans just as a sleek looking ship swooped down to land near us. I saw the word NORMANDY painted on the side. Shepard had called her ship that, so I didn't do anything. I silently told Nox to wait until the CO joined us before reporting. Shortly, a man about as large as I am moved toward us out of the hangar that opened on the bottom of the ship.
"Commander," he nodded to Shepard, then looked at me. His eyes went wide, then he stiffened and saluted.
"Salute back," Shepard whispered, shock written on every feature. I did and the dark skinned man relaxed and smiled, then offered a hand to shake.
"I'm Captain David Anderson, in charge of the Normandy," he introduced himself as I shook. "I assume you're the Titan?"
"Yes," I said, eyes narrowed. "Cora."
"Cora?" he repeated, then looked at Shepard, eyebrows raised. She rolled her eyes. Odd. "Shepard's first name is Cory. Odd coincidence."
"Maybe," I shrugged, eyeing the other woman, who eyed me right back. "If we suddenly run into someone named Cara, then I'll start questioning the sanity of the Traveller."
"Traveller?" Shepard asked. Anderson was chuckling, however. He knew what the Traveller was.
"Later, Shepard," her CO told her. "This the beacon?"
"Nox, report," I told the Ghost. Who nodded to Anderson - and he nodded back - before beginning.
"The energy field around the beacon is designed to pull a person in and keep them still while implanting a message directly into their heads. The beacon was designed with Prothean physiology in mind, so anything put in a person's head will inevitably drive that person insane. I can, with about an hour's time, access the message and display it, though it will require about a week to translate anything it might say. I have not delved deep enough to know if there are actual words involved or not, so that is merely a possible outcome. Also, there is a built in activation switch that requires biotics to use. A prod, so to speak, like one would use an old light switch, just using biotics instead of a finger. It is right there, about three inches below the surface."
A beam of light shot out and hit a certain point.
"Can you disable the sabotage?" I asked.
"I don't believe so," Nox swivelled, as if shaking a head. "The power source is damaged. It would need to be taken offline to fix, but that's only if we can identify and replicate the exact piece needed. And there is a risk that turning off the machine will render it useless forever after."
"We can't take that risk, sir," Shepard said immediately. I smiled a bit. "We need to know the information on there. I volunteer."
"Very well, Commander," Anderson nodded slowly after a moment of thought.
"Wait," I said, clamping a hand on Shepard's shoulder before she could move. "Nox? Can I handle this as well? And can you record the information I might get?"
"You should be fine," Nox bobbed an affirmative. "And the link we share means I know what you know. I'll keep an eye on the internals while it does its thing and do my best to record the message and keep the beacon from exploding. Or minimizing the damage, if I cannot stop it."
I held out my hand to Shepard. After a long look at both the hand and my helmeted face, she took it. We faced the beacon and stepped forward.
We were lifted into the air and drug forward, but I kept hold of Shepard's hand. It didn't try to force us apart.
Then, for a brief moment, I saw Nox hacking the machine before everything went dark.
Images assaulted me. Sounds. Smells. Blood and death, the screaming of trillions of dying souls. Metal grafted to flesh and bone, the acrid smell of cybernetics being fused to living bodies without care of the pain. A sky, darkening with foreboding shapes as they descended, huge and imposing.
The shapes of ships that looked just like that one from earlier. Millions of them. And a word.
Reapers.
I felt a chill run through me at the word. I had heard it before, when I went into the Shadow Keep. Even the Darkness was terrified of the Reapers.
"Explosion imminent!" I heard Nox yell.
Acting purely on instinct, I tugged on the hand in mine that I somehow still felt and twisted. I just barely had the form of an insensate Shepard in my arms with my back to something when I was jerked out of the vision and tossed like a ragdoll.
Again, my reflexes saved us. Keeping one hand around Shepard and using my free hand and legs, I kept her head and spine from hitting the deck as we tumbled a few feet. Then my back slammed into something hard.
I let Shepard down to the ground gently and sat up, leaning my back against what turned out to be the strut of the Normandy. I pulled off my helmet and looked around. The beacon was a charred mess, completely destroyed.
"Ow," I muttered.
"Titan!" a voice called, sounding very worried. I looked over and saw … Anderson. He was running toward us. "You alright?" he asked, skidding to a stop.
"Yeah," I grunted, standing slowly with a groan. I stretched and my back popped a few times. "Yeah, better now. Nox!"
"Got the message, boss," she said, appearing. "Power regulator was sabotaged. Cross referencing tells me the way it was done is one of Saren's signature moves."
"The fuck happened?" Shepard groaned at my feet, slowly waking up.
"Beacon went boom," I informed her. She looked at me curiously. "Nox got a backup file and also referenced the manner of sabotage as being something most often attributed to one asshole named Saren. You good?"
"Yeah. Feel like I just had three days of shore leave and spent it all at a bar, but … meh. I'll be fine."
I held out a hand and after she took it, hauled her to her feet. She nodded her thanks at me.
"You're very lucky, Commander," Nox said to Shepard, who blinked. "Had Cora not grabbed you at the last second and shielded you from the blast with her own body, the best you could hope for is a fifteen hour nap and a heavy concussion."
Shepard stared for a moment, then looked around. A look of horror appeared when she realized where we were and she looked at me.
"Shattered a few spinal discs," I shrugged. Everyone gaped at me. "Guardians heal fast. Don't worry about it."
"One of those rift things?" Alenko asked.
"Nah," I shook my head. "I don't need those. They're for allies. Or tough spots when there isn't time to heal naturally."
Anderson invited me aboard with the others and it was only then that I realized Williams was the last of her squad still living. I nodded when Anderson offered her a place on the ship and as we all boarded, I put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.
"Losing people is hard," I said simply. "Here if you need anything."
"Thanks," she whispered. She attempted to smile, but it kind of fell flat. I got where she was coming from though and was soon in a large elevator that was extremely slow.
"Nox, can you speed this piece of shit up a little? This is ridiculous."
One beam of Light later and we were on an actual elevator instead of a metal snail crawling up a shaft. It was determined that Shepard and I get looked at by the doctor and Anderson would accompany us. There was also the matter of an omni-tool, the glowing arm thing I had seen before. Nox agreed I should have one, just in case. She'd take a look at mine before it was implanted into my arm and make sure it wouldn't short out with my powers.
"Joker!" Anderson called out, looking at the ceiling. "Send a message to Admiral Hackett that our friend is with us, then get us to the Citadel at fastest speed."
"Aye aye, sir," a man's voice said from a speaker. "Message away and plotting course. ETA … seventeen hours. Lifting off now."
I looked around me. The ship was clean, seemed brand new, in fact. The people were all well trained. Shepard herself seemed about as tough as a normal human could get.
But my world had changed. I knew just by looking at these people that Earth had changed. The lack of knowledge about what I was told me that history had forgotten us. That the Traveller was gone. Shepard seemed to know very little and Anderson a tad more, but that was it so far.
It seemed like everything I had fought for was either gone completely, so drastically changed that it no longer mattered or so fucking over my head that I didn't know what to think.
Like that Reaper. I found myself angry just at the thought of it and brutally shoved the emotion down. Now wasn't the time for such things.
For now, I had a new world to get caught up on. A galaxy to explore. And enough tech to have me dripping on the floor through my armor for a solid century. But most importantly, I had one thing I needed to study up on.
A new war.
I intended to be on the front lines of it and nobody was going to stop me from fighting it in the way that only a Guardian can.
Author's Note: This story is only possible due to an idea given to me by Viperstrike2. It is with his full permission that I have been allowed to take this story and run with it. Many thanks to Viper.
This is my first attempt at publishing a story. I have written for myself for many years, but thought it time to share something. I have no plans to publish a certain amount per week or month. This is a story that comes when it comes. So be patient, please.
Reviews are welcome and appreciated. Criticism is also welcome, so long as it is constructive. Trolling and other such comments are not appreciated, but all are welcome to read the story. And remember: if you don't like it, don't read it.
Take care and enjoy your days.
-CB