Beta Edited by Kogarashi
CHAPTER 1: Stranded
T▒e Norm▓ndy SR▒ Date: 21▓▒ G▒T Mont▓h
Shepard's cheek stuck to the chilled metal platform beneath it. A heavy sleep-induced haze wrapped her mind.
What...happened?
Slowly positioning herself upright, Shepard blinked her dazed eyes until the fog faded from her vision. As her pupils focused, memories began to resurface.
The Normandy SR2, Bahak System, 2196 GST Month 8 (Afternoon)
Shepard sat at her desk, reviewing the section on Arashu's epic in her tomb, a portion of the drell faith dedicated to the journey of a Siha. Ending her study, Shepard placed the bible on the table as she stood. Her hand lingered on its leather binding as she closed her eyes and softly exhaled.
"Amonkira, give me strength."
A week from today, Shepard would retire. At age 42, she was considered a young admiral, with her career just starting. But with the strain of the passing years, Shepard no longer held that steadfast determination. Maybe it was the PTSD or perhaps the years. But she was tired, and it was time to rest. But, of course, that wasn't the only reason. The last of the Batarians had assembled and requested year after year on the anniversary of the Bahak System's destruction for Shepard to step down. The Alliance—specifically Hackett—kept pressure against the proposal and assured Shepard that she always had a place in the Navy. But upon reflection, she acknowledged it was time. The name Shepard was intrinsically tied to the Reapers and the war; there was no separation from the two anymore.
It's time to forget and move on.
Cracking her back and stretching her limbs, Shepard headed for the lift. Her destination was port observation. Joker would be driving by the memorial site for the Bahak system. And although the building would not be operational for a few months' time, Shepard wanted to witness the memorial. It was unlikely that her visit to the completed station would be welcome on its opening, so this might be the only chance for her to pay her respects.
The Normandy SR2, Bahak System, 2196 GST Month 8 (Evening)
Shepard gazed out the windows of Port Observation. A station no bigger than Gagarin Station sat in space. It employed the same von Braun wheel that many other stations had. The coloration and design of the wheel-like structure reflected the former planetary system that occupied the location. Separated into five slices, each section of the station was engraved with the name of a planet, "Bastzuda," "Clogon," "Urmola," "Yunaca," and "Aratoht." Shepard repeated their names and the titles of the fallen space stations in her head like a chant. Nails from her tightened fists dug into her flesh, and her heart drummed heavily. Minutes and hours went by until the door slid open behind her.
"Hey, Joker wanted me to check in on you." Garrus stepped into Port Observation. "He also wanted me to ask when he can move the ship closer to the relay." Crossing his arms, he narrowed his eyes at Shepard's balled hands. "How long have you been in here?"
Shepard placed one hand behind her neck and the other under her opposite elbow, averting her eyes from her best friend. "Since about 1100 hours, I think."
"It's 1574 hours, Shepard." He shook his head, and exasperatedly sighed. "You should get something to eat. Come on." He pointed his thumb towards the door.
"Yeah, you're right." Shepard sighed.
Garrus began walking to the door, turning away from her.
Shepard looked down at her hands. Blood pooled in her palms from the cuts she had made with her nails. "Hey Garrus, do you think there's salvation for..." People like me. She shook her head and dropped her arms down. "You know what, never mind."
Shepard connected her earpiece to the comm system. "Joker, bring the Normandy over to the new Bahak Relay."
T▒e Norm▓ndy SR▒ Date: 21▓▒ G▒T Mont▓h
That's right...we were in the Bahak System.
From what she could recall, she had brought her team to watch over the last mass relay's activation. The momentous occasion was to be a celebration for the end of the post-war rebuilding effort.
As Shepard's vision cleared, she gazed out to view an empty CIC. Had she passed out while standing at the galaxy map? Exactly how long had she been down? And where was everyone?
Raising to her feet, Shepard paused, astonished by how refreshed her body felt. Her muscles were relaxed and pliant, her joints flexible and sturdy. No soreness was apparent in her bones or muscles. An unusual and rare occurrence since the war. After the explosion on the Citadel, she had persistent aches and pains from her fried implants, a constant reminder of just what she had sacrificed when she ended the Reaper War. Given an impossible choice, she had voluntarily carried out a mass genocide of her own decision. "It was to destroy the Reapers," Shepard would tell herself. But the millions of dead geth lingered in the back of her thoughts. The subsequent blast not only destroyed artificial life but also the implants that had helped to bring her back from the dead. The discovery of her body on the Citadel and resuscitation efforts had left her with ill-fitting replacements that caused constant pain, eventually lessened but never truly gone. Shepard had accepted it. The persistent dull ache would serve as a reminder of what she had sacrificed. But now, her body was absent of discomfort. Strange.
Shepard steadied as she stood, an unsettling fear forming, but there was no time to sit and ponder.
"EDI, run a full diagnostic of the ship and crew."
There was no response. Shit.
The CIC was empty, not another crew member in sight. Shepard needed to sweep the ship and get EDI back online. She brought up her omni-tool and linked it to the comm system.
"This is Shepard speaking. I need a status report from all crew."
Without waiting for a reply, she walked towards the cockpit. She could see the pilot's seat, but there was no Joker to be seen. In the co-pilot's chair EDI's body lay inert. A few more memories began to piece together upon observation. The Normandy had encountered some sort of anomaly. But why was everyone on the CIC missing? Were they ambushed? Had the crew been taken again, like when the Collectors had attacked all those years ago? Shepard's jaw clenched and her fist tightened.
A blue glow from outside the cockpit window caught her attention. A faraway ship? Perhaps a station? Or….
Shepard narrowed her eyes. A mass relay?
But it wasn't just any mass effect relay… it was an older model. A relic from before the war.
She stared at the structure in silence, eyes widened in disbelief. All of the relays had been destroyed in the blast from the Crucible.
Where were they?
A nagging buzz in her ears started to form, intensifying as Shepard felt fear creep in. She hadn't experienced this kind of dread since the Reaper War over ten years ago. Senses now heightened to alarm, Shepard turned and walked towards the lift. Her footsteps echoed across the soundless space as she entered the elevator. Descending to the crew deck, her thoughts focused on getting the AI core up and running. Shepard needed access to the ship's surveillance recordings from after her black out along with a report on the ship. EDI would also need to manage the ship's operations with the missing flight crew.
Her omni-tool lit up.
"Alenko here." Kaidan's voice was gruff and raspy, its rhythm unsteady. "Going to check on Liara." Shepard exhaled heavily. At least one of her crew members was there.
"Understood. Heading to the AI core."
Shepard arrived on an eerily silent crew deck. The usual bustling chatter was replaced by the hushed pulses of the life support systems. Again the deck was devoid of life. Not another member aside from Shepard walked the halls. Mess tables held half-filled abandoned plates and mugs and the kitchen was missing it's immovable cook. As she approached the door to the med-bay, the dull buzz in her ears had grown to a loud ringing, and when the doors slid open, there was no sign of Dr. Chakwas anywhere.
"Dammit," Shepard hissed through clenched teeth.
The power was down in the AI core. Shepard hoped there wasn't any lasting damage to EDI. Much of her programming had been laced with Reaper code, courtesy of Cerberus, making the bulk of her data irreparable after the Crucible's blast had partially destroyed her systems. They had spent a year rebuilding what was left of her from the ground up, and when she had finally been activated once more, she was, of course, altered. She might have had the ship recordings and copies of previous data to build on, but still, EDI lacked the critical connections and conclusions that she had made throughout the journey.
Shepard's heart began to drum violently in her chest. What if the anomaly they encountered had somehow affected EDI? Undone ten years of painstaking recovery? She hurried over to the terminal and activated the AI core, foot tapping anxiously as she waited until power was fully restored to EDI's systems.
"EDI. EDI, can you hear me?"
What felt like an eternity passed.
"Shepard, I'm back online." EDI's voice echoed in the small, sterile space.
Shepard's foot ceased its incessant tapping, the stiffness of her shoulders relaxed. "Glad to have you back, EDI. Is everything okay?"
"Running a diagnostic check..." EDI paused. "My systems are fine, Shepard, but..."
"I know." Shepard shook her head and gripped the panel hard with her hands. "Some of the crew is...missing. For now, I need a status report on the Normandy and a crew count stat. We need to focus on finding out what happened and checking on the remaining crew. "
"Understood, Shepard." A few moments passed. "Shepard, the Normandy is running above its optimal capacity. It is...unusual."
"What do you mean?" Shepard crossed her arms, and the knot of her brows formed a permanent wrinkle on her forehead.
"The ship appears to be in new condition, with little to no corrosion or wear."
Shepard sighed, "EDI, the Normandy is over 10 years old. That can't be possible. Are you sure you're not experiencing a diagnostic issue? Or are you trying to tell me someone snuck onto the ship and fixed it while we were out?" She shook her head in disbelief.
"No, Shepard. I have completed hundreds of diagnostic scans within the span of our conversation." EDI paused. "But, it appears as if the Normandy has been reverted to a previous state. Parts exhibiting extensive corrosion or rusting are undamaged. This would suggest a major repair effort of the ship. However, the corresponding components match the serial numbers already logged on file. To put it plainly, the previously eroded materials are now in excellent condition."
That didn't make any sense. Confounded, with even more questions than before, Shepard tried to focus on something else. "Okay, what about the crew?"
The door to the AI core opened and Liara and Kaidan stepped in. Shepard stared in shock, jaw slack, eyes widened. Kaidan looked years younger, the spitting image of the lieutenant she'd served with aboard the SR1.
"What the hell?" Shepard murmured.
Kaidan looked as bewildered as she felt. She likely appeared younger as well.
What the hell happened to them? With Shepard's eyebrow now cocked, Kaidan stepped a foot closer. His mouth opened, showing he was just about to speak. Shepard held out her palm, gesturing for him to wait until EDI replied to her prior question.
EDI's voice broke the confused silence. "I've detected seven life signs other than you, Shepard. Four located on the crew deck: Spectre Alenko, Samara, Dr. T'Soni, and Ms. Goto. Zero located on the CIC. Three located in engineering: Tali'Zorah, Engineer Donnelly, and Javik. And Zero in the cargo bay."
"Well, shit." Shepard dug her fingers into her bicep. "EDI, pull up the security footage from the Normandy dated from just before the new relay was activated and send it to the War Room."
"Understood, Shepard." EDI logged out.
Shepard turned to Liara and Kaidan.
Kaidan's head tilted as he scratched the back of his head. "Damn, Shepard, that's all that's left of the crew? What's going on? And why are we—"
"Not sure. Right now, we need to find the remaining crew and check for injuries or...uh...well, whatever this is." Her hand gestured between the three of them. "Anyway, Kaidan, I need you to check on the remaining crew members and perform scans on everyone. Liara and I will head to the War Room to check the security footage with EDI. Join us after you round everyone up and treat for any injuries."
With a nod from her crew at their respective orders, Shepard turned and exited the AI core.
When Shepard and Liara arrived in the War Room, EDI's mobile unit was already there waiting. As EDI pulled up the feed, Shepard had time to check out the state of her body with a full body scan via her omni-tool. Vitals were normal, nothing irregular detected, but her implants were performing above expected levels. She inspected the report. "Admiral Jane Shepard, DOB: 04/11/2154, Sex: XX, Medical Age, 29."
Wait, twenty-nine?
Shepard scanned herself again. Same results.
Shepard tilted her head and scratched at her forehead. "Uh...Liara, have you run a full-body scan?"
Liara didn't answer at first, too busy typing away at a terminal to the side of the room. Then, after several minutes, she grabbed a datapad beside her and approached the center console. "Not yet. But I've discovered a few things that you might find interesting, Shepard."
Liara transferred the data to the center terminal, a series of articles that she had found on the extranet filled the holograph. Titles included "Eden Prime: Betrayal and a Rocky Start for Humanity," "An Inside Look behind Nihlus Kryik and the Race after Saren Arterius," and "Butcher of Torphan to Council Spectre, Are Humans Ready for the Galactic Stage?" Shepard stared at the article headlines. Liara added another to the terminal: "Nihlus Kryik and Jane Shepard: The First Step in Renewed Turian & Human Relations."
"Liara, what are you showing me?"
"Articles and reports from the Alliance and Citadel News Networks, and a few reports from local governments."
Shepard opened her mouth to say something in reply but promptly shut it and rubbed the point between her eyes while sighing. They should check the surveillance footage before making any assumptions. "I see. EDI bring up the security footage I asked you about."
"Understood, Shepard." EDI waved her omni-tool over the terminal, pulling Liara's articles to the side and bringing a complete view of all of the onboard security cams up. "Shepard, I recommend playing my mobile unit's recording before watching the surveillance." EDI enlarged the suggested footage on the holograph.
Shepard cocked her head and folded her arms. "Any particular reason why, EDI?"
"Yes." EDI nodded. "My mobile unit recorded the anomaly that we encountered before the collision."
"Collision?" Shepard's brows furrowed.
"Yes, Shepard. The Normandy collided with the anomaly moments before we went offline."
"Okay. Go ahead and start the footage."
The recording began with a view of the cockpit as EDI walked to her seat beside Joker, and the shutters opened onto a view of the progress on the last mass relay. It had been a long journey since the war's end, defined by a large-scale reconstruction effort to restore what was lost when the crucible fired and destroyed the Reapers. Most of the galaxy had worked together to help rebuild, and finally, after ten years, almost all of the new relays were operational. After finishing the Bahak System's new relay, interstellar mass effect travel across the galaxy would finally be complete. It was an incredible galactic feat, and in celebration, the Council sent the Normandy and its original crew to oversee the final testing process before activation. A simple mission that would mark the end of a long period of reparations and strife and bring the dawn of a new golden age in the galaxy. But as EDI sat calmly chatting to Jeff, an unknown blip appeared on the Normandy scanners. A spike in dark energy.
Something was wrong with the new relay. EDI pinpointed a structural weakness in its design; the mass effect fields generated from the element zero core was unstable, and the Normandy was within a possible blast zone if things went awry. Joker attempted to reroute the ship, but then EDI raised her voice. "Space anomaly detected." The Normandy's screens showed an enormous blackened spherical object growing in size in the center of the relay's core.
Joker yelled, "What the hell is that?!" fingers furiously typing away on his flight pad. He attempted to make an FTL jump, but the drive core was unstable and inoperable at the moment, due to the emissions released from the anomaly. Instead of escaping, the Normandy was sucked closer to the anomaly.
EDI's feed abruptly ended.
"EDI, any ideas on what that was?" Shepard asked, brows now furrowed into an impossible knot.
"I am not sure, Shepard. Its signatures do not match anything on current record."
"Horizon lines..." Liara brought her hand to her chin and paced. "It looks remarkably similar to a black hole. Could they be related?"
"EDI, rewind the recording and display the anomaly," Shepard said.
EDI paused the holo on the strange spherical aberration. It was relatively small in size but similar to other black holes observed. Was it possible for a black hole to be as miniature and dense as the structure caught on feed? Liara and Shepard stared at the terminal.
"EDI, do you have any theories that could explain this?"
"Yes, currently, there are 1,237 possible theories."
Gods, there were too many possibilities. EDI needed to trim that down. "Okay, what is the most probable theory?"
"One minute. Searching and comparing over 100,000 research papers and queries." A few tense moments passed. "The most probable and well-theorized explanation is that we encountered an Einstein-Rosen bridge."
Liara gaped, her mouth slightly ajar and eyes wide. Shepard's eyes narrowed, and her head tilted.
"An Einstein-Rosen bridge? EDI, are you sure?" Shepard asked. Her hand rose again to knead the knot between her brows.
"What we encountered is similar to that theorized space structure," EDI stated plainly.
"Well." Shepard sighed, her hands resting on the terminal below. "That would explain the mass relay that the Normandy is parked in front of and my medical scans."
Liara's eyes darted to Shepard. "What mass relay?"
"There's a mass relay out front. It looks just like the ones before the Reapers hit."
"Goddess," Liara whispered.
A heavy silence filled the room. Liara stopped pacing and took out her omni-tool, presumably scanning her own vitals. Shepard furiously pressed her fingers into the bridge of her nose. What now? Thirteen years into the past? Would she meet another Shepard? And more importantly, where was the missing crew?
"EDI, play the footage of Normandy's CIC before the collision."
EDI minimized the recording of the anomaly and brought up the CIC footage, which included feed from the bridge, galaxy map, meeting room, and war room. The quality was grainy, perhaps caused by the aberration. Shepard hoped that the crew hadn't been exposed to anything dangerous.
The recording began with Shepard standing over the galaxy map, Traynor beside her at her usual terminal. The Comm Specialist typed something and yelled to the surrounding CIC crew. The cam shook as the ship rocked, and Shepard staggered on the ramp. The audio was missing, but Shepard remembered the shouts and sirens.
Shepard's head swung upward, listening to something—an announcement on the comm systems? She whipped around to walk off, and then the footage darkened for a few moments.
When the screen brightened again, she was on the floor, knocked out with blood pooling around her forehead. Traynor was lying against the elevator wall, passed out. The other crewmates were scattered unconscious on the deck. It appeared an energy burst of some sort had knocked everyone out.
The feed didn't stop, though. Shepard's limp figure seemed to warp. Her orange scars disappeared and reappeared in rapid succession, flickering like a soon-to-be-blown fuse. Then her form began to split into two, tearing apart and combining once again.
What the fuck?
She looked at Traynor's body, still in one piece but now fading slowly at moments and then flashing seconds later, similar to a holo. The phenomenon continued until the feed went black again, for several minutes this time. The trio waited in tense silence until it finally reappeared. Traynor had disappeared along with the other crew members. Liara gasped, and Shepard stared.
"EDI, play the footage from the Crew Deck," Shepard said once she recovered her voice.
EDI brought the feed up from the crew deck without a word and played it. The same pattern repeated: grainy footage, turbulence, a cut in the vid, and then the flickering and disappearances, leaving only Liara and Kaidan—who had split and recombined just like Shepard—behind.
They watched the feed from all other decks, but the pattern remained consistent. Shepard couldn't make much sense of it. But, she hoped, EDI might be able to. This was unlike anything they had ever encountered before. A mass disappearance, regained youth, and an unidentified anomaly in space? What was this, A Space Odyssey or some shit? Shepard glanced over at Liara, who looked equally as confused, brow lines pressed tightly together, mouth slightly agape.
"Any theories on the missing crew, EDI?" Shepard asked.
"Adding new information, Shepard. One moment. I have generated a new working theory to fit our situation."
"Go ahead."
EDI walked around the terminal. "Based on Dr. T'soni's extranet articles and assessment of the anomaly we encountered, the most probable working theory is that the relative state formulation or the Everett interpretation of the universe is correct in its assumptions." She stopped and placed her hands behind her back. "Therefore, the Einstein-Rosen bridge we collided with, or more accurately, 'traversed through,' did not necessarily take us back in time. Rather, the anomaly allowed us to pass through it and into another universe." EDI shifted her feet underneath her and straightened her back to stand at attention.
Shepard's mouth dropped open slightly, and she tilted her head. She was confounded, taken off guard by the AI's new theory. Liara mirrored her confused expressions..
"Wait, EDI. Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Shepard sighed, resting her weight on one leg, and shook her head. "We're in a parallel universe?" Skepticism etched on her face. How could they traverse to another dimension?
"Based on the data available, yes."
Her dry reaction caused Shepard to momentarily lose her balance. "What happened to the rest of the crew then? Why didn't they pass through the anomaly with us?"
"I do not have enough information to formulate an accurate conclusion."
"But you have theories? Why did some of the crew disappear in the feed?" Shepard pressed.
"The warping and disappearance of the crew viewed on the Normandy's surveillance footage shows evidence of a separation event. It is entirely possible that the existing crew may be a set of duplicates of our previous selves." EDI paused. "As for why some crew members were 'separated' while others were not, I have no theories regarding that matter."
"I believe I might." Liara said, and began to pace. "EDI, run a search on the extranet for all remaining crew members on the Normandy." One hand cupped her chin while she read through the information on her omni-tool.
"Searching through queries," EDI stated. "Am I looking for any specific data?"
"Yes, pull up any articles relating to deaths or disappearances."
"I have located credible articles. Bringing them up now." EDI swiped her hand in the air, and the information appeared on the screen.
Reports and articles filled the terminal in front of them, the titles troubling. "Remembering Spectre Jane Shepard." "Controversial Archeologist Dead after Normandy Tragedy." "Praised Justicar Found Dead Under Mysterious Circumstances." And several others. The names matched the crew members still on board the Normandy.
Liara swiped her omni-tool over the screen to bring up more news announcements on the opposite side of the holo screen. "These articles are related information I could find regarding the Normandy." There were poignant differences between their accounting of events. Liara played an interview with Spectre Kryik and Chief Williams after the death of Commander Shepard, the first human Spectre.
"These reports and that vid…" Shepard's words trailed off.
"Yes. The 'missing' crew is alive, while every single member aboard the Normandy at this moment is currently listed as dead or missing." Liara tilted her head and scratched at her forehead while staring at the data in front of them.
"So, what do you suppose happened to us in our, uh, original time or universe?" Shepard asked.
"I'm not sure. EDI, do you have any ideas?"
"One moment, adjusting to new data." EDI stood blankly. "I am unsure. We do not have data from our split versions. But if we were able to safely traverse through the anomaly, there is a chance that the original Normandy SR-2 remains intact with the entire crew. It is also probable that they would have no knowledge of our existence."
Shepard's omni-tool pinged. An incoming call from Tali appeared. "Shepard, we've finished scanning everyone. Our life signs are...Keelah. I can't believe I'm saying this, but they're reading us to be thirteen years younger. What's going on?"
The med-bay group filed into the War Room, and Shepard motioned for everyone to gather around the center terminal. Everyone was unsettled by the developing situation. Ken stood with Tali, his complexion off; Gabby's disappearance must have hit him hard. Tali nervously fidgeted with her hands, her shoulders slumped. Samara and Kasumi huddled together. The entire team looked...young. Eyes filled with uncertainty stared at one another.
Except for well, Javik, who stood off to the side with his arms crossed. He shot Shepard a glare and motioned for her to join him.
"Shepard, it is strange…" His eyes peered around the room guardedly. "I do not sense anything from the ship."
Shepard stared at him curiously.
"The ship no longer holds memories. It is as if nothing has ever dwelled in it."
Shepard patted his back, giving Javik an understanding look. It made sense that Javik would be unable to 'read' the ship now. After all, it could be a duplicate and not the actual Normandy.
Shepard walked towards the center terminal and nodded to Liara, giving Kaidan a comforting nudge. She thanked everyone for coming, mentioned that the information they had found was not easy to digest, recommended that anyone who still felt vertigo take a seat before she debriefed them. The crew eyed her strangely. It was unusual for Shepard to have such a long and ominous preface to her debriefings. She had never done that, even during the Reaper War. The tension in the room spiked.
"Admiral, I have no patience for mind games," Javik hissed.
Shepard gestured to EDI, and she brought up her mobile platform's holo footage, stopping it at the image of what appeared to be a black hole.
"Okay, I'm going to keep it brief and to the point, everyone. No questions until after. Also EDI, Liara, and I might not be able to answer everything." Shepard exhaled and crossed her arms. "Before moving forward, I want to inform you that this is a working theory. But it's the only theory that fits our current situation."
She eyed the crew one by one, waiting until they were ready. Ken and Tali sat down on the stairs to prepare themselves for the worst. Kasumi leaned against Samara. After everyone settled in, Shepard continued.
"The footage in front of you is from EDI's mobile platform before the activation of the Bahak Relay and the surveillance feed from the Normandy."
EDI replayed the short encounter with the aberration and then paused it when it arrived on screen.
"We've come to an agreement that this oddity is most likely an Einstein-Rosen bridge. After making contact with the structure, the Normandy was pulled into it. That's how we ended up in this situation."
"What?" Kaidan's eyebrows shot up, "Shepard, you're not sayin—"
"It's a wormhole, Spectre Alenko," EDI stated.
Kaidan's eyes widened in doubt. A few mumbled words came out of the observing crew members, a "keelah" from Tali and "Mother of God" from Ken.
"EDI play the surveillance feed."
The crew watched in horror and confusion as the vid played. Shepard wondered if she'd made the same perplexed expressions.
"What the hell?" Kaidan blurted when it was finished.
Ken looked like he was going to be sick. Tali let out short, stifled hiccups. With the squad's shocked expressions, it was probably better to rip off the medi-gel patch and get to it. Shepard gestured to Liara to bring up the articles.
"Here are some of the articles Liara and EDI found on the extranet." Shepard gestured to the displayed data. After allowing several minutes for the crew to briefly scan the information, Shepard motioned to Liara to play the interview. When it finished, Shepard continued.
"The current date, according to the extranet, is GST year 2183, month 7, day 22. However, if you pay attention to the information from the articles and vid, a few points conflict with our account of events. For example, Spectre Kryik is alive, the Council hasn't made a formal declaration as to who attacked the Citadel, and Kaidan was reported as deceased after Virmire. Currently, we are missing the entire flight crew except for EDI and Ken. Within the ground team, Garrus, Jack, Grunt, Miranda, and James are also missing. Looking at everyone's body scans, we are all thirteen years younger than before the mission at the relay started, and currently, the Normandy is parked outside of a mass relay that is similar to relays predating the war.
"The active theory that Liara and EDI have agreed on is that the Einstein-Rosen bridge we traversed through not only took us into the past but also into another universe. A 'separation event' may be the cause of the Normandy crew's current state. Those able to traverse through the wormhole are currently known to be either deceased or missing in this universe. Most likely, everyone in this room is a duplicate of our previous selves. We were only able to travel to this dimension because we lack a quantum equal in this universe."
"What about the, um, original Normandy...?" Tali's voice trembled.
"EDI theorized that it's possible we still exist in our timeline since the anomaly didn't kill us. But we 'separated' from ourselves when we collided with the anomaly, meaning that the entire Normandy crew would still exist in our original time, but would have no knowledge of our other selves."
"Oh, God," Kaidan whispered, "can we go back?"
"Unlikely. The technology needed to artificially design a path back to the exact moment in time is centuries from development. The only crew member aboard that could conceivably live to oversee its creation is Dr. T'Soni."
Shepard's teammates paled. Even the stoic Samara had lost her vibrant icy blue tint for a dull gray sheen. Kaidan looked like he had the galaxy's worst migraine as he bent over, hands on his knees trying to keep himself standing. Everyone looked visibly shaken. But none of them doubted it. The evidence was compelling through their youth alone.
An audible clunk startled everyone. All eyes turned toward the noise, to regard a prone figure splayed on the ground. Javik of all people was out cold on the deck of the War Room.
Really, out of all of the crew, he passes out? Shepard shook her head as Liara went to check on him.
While Liara revived Javik, the rest of the crew asked questions. EDI explained the more intricate details of their travel through the wormhole, and Liara answered what little she could with the limited intel she had. Everyone separated to their quarters soon after. Shepard did a few preliminary searches on the extranet via her omni-tool, attempting to find out more information regarding her alternate self. It wasn't much, limited as she was to public records and articles. Shepard asked Liara if she could gather any additional information, but Liara informed her that it was too dangerous to try the Shadow Broker's contacts for now, as Shepard had to reluctantly admit when Liara pointed it out. They had no idea who would be in that position of power in this version of the universe, after all. It looked like the only safe course of action for the time being was to stop by Alchera to confirm the state of events. Javik would be able to read the wreckage there, at least, and they wouldn't have to alert the Council if they stayed in the terminus systems. They would have to avoid the Widow system and operate in stealth mode, staying off major com buoys while they compiled information and made the voyage to Alchera. It would take over five days of travel through this route, but options were limited, and they needed information.
Alchera, 2183 GST Month 7 (Mid-month)
Shepard brought EDI, Liara, and Javik down with her to Alchera. The crash of the Normandy SR-1 had occurred in the same area and on the same planet, luckily. EDI and Liara were tasked with scouting the crash zone for enemies while Javik would 'read' the information melded into the metal wall of this time's Normandy. It was taxing for Javik, but they needed confirmation of their theory. The group moved from section to section, Javik explaining the scenes that flashed in his mind to EDI.
Shepard moved independently, separate from Javik's group, trying to find her helmet in the rubble, but she couldn't locate it. That was concerning. She took note of it for later and moved on, searching for any other possible discrepancies. Shuffling through the snow, Shepard stumbled upon dog tag after dog tag and nothing was particularly out of order. Even Pressly's journal was strewn aside the ruined CIC.
Eventually Javik finished his trek around the wreckage, exhaustion plain on his face. They didn't run into Legion, Cerberus, or Collectors, although it was past the point where those groups should've shown up, so maybe that remained unchanged. But Javik informed them he had found no evidence that any of those groups had ever showed up.
With the search finished, Shepard herded the ground team back onto the shuttle, and back to the Normandy for the briefing. Everyone huddled into the mess due to the lack of seating in the War Room and conference room. Javik complained about explaining everything, so EDI opted to relay the information learned on Alchera.
"The differences are...interesting." EDI said. "It appears that there are variances in the two timelines. The most concerning deviation being the presence of Spectre Kryik aboard the Normandy."
"What was he like?" Tali asked.
"Too altruistic, an overbearing idealist," Javik grumbled.
Shepard's eyebrows raised. "That doesn't sound like the Spectre Kryik I met on the Normandy. Anything else?"
"Yes, Shepard." EDI tipped her head slightly to the side. "You were quite different in Javik's report."
"Yeah, I figured. I looked up some things about her."
Most of the crew perked up in curiosity at Shepard's reserved tone.
"Well..." Shepard crossed her arms and brought her chin up, focusing on the wall above them. "She's severe. Hailed as the Butcher of Torfan. She was in a few gangs when she was young. She's also an orphan. Makes me wonder what happened to my parents here. I also found a Holostream vid of her punching Khalisah al-Jilani in the face. Not that I haven't been tempted to do that, but…." She shrugged.
"Javik said she was more prothean than our Shepard," EDI added. "He described a fight with Spectre Kryik when they were aboard the Normandy. They had finished the mission on Noveria, and Shepard questioned Spectre Kryik's decision to let the Rachni Queen go. She shouted profanities at him. For example, "You chicken shit bastard." The group laughed.
"Shep, you sound like Jack," Kasumi teased.
EDI explained other changes. Judging by the remnants of memories on the crashed Normandy, some crew members were different from the current squad. Kaidan had worse symptoms from the L2 implants. Javik found the migraines intolerable. Liara was also not as biotically gifted. But some members remained constant, like Pressly or Joker. EDI cataloged the differences between the two timelines. The information was troubling. Samara had died during the chase after Morinth. EDI found information that hinted that Keiji was alive, but Kasumi might have been killed in his place. Tali was reported missing during her pilgrimage, and reports suggested that she might have been one of the Quarians found dead on the Citadel right before Eden Prime. Ken was killed in action after the attack on the Citadel. Liara had gone down with the Normandy. Kaidan died on Virmire while Ash lived. Spectre Kryik was the spearhead of the push against the Reapers along with Shepard. Joker, Ash, and Garrus were reported to be actively working with Spectre Kryik. Worst of all,Udina was the Councilor recommended by the first human Spectre Commander Shepard.
"Keelah, this really is a different dimension." Tali placed her helmeted face between her hands.
Kaidan looked upset. "I don't understand, Shepard. So you...your other self chose Udina to be the first human Councilor?"
Shepard didn't know how to navigate the developing situation. They were in unfamiliar territory, with little intel, an impending galactic war, and an understaffed crew. Suddenly appearing on the Citadel with a ship of dead people probably wouldn't yield the best results. What they needed was more information.
Shepard weighed her decisions and came to a conclusion.
"Liara, let's try to arrange a meeting with the Shadow Broker as soon as possible." Shepard crossed her arms and leaned back. "We've always had a good source of intel before during the war. We need the same resources if we're going to fight the Reapers again."
Shepard's words were the final nails in the coffin. The crew grew silent. Another Reaper War? They had barely made it out alive last time. Would it be the same now when so much had changed? Maybe the Reapers were stronger. Maybe Cerberus would be more treacherous. Perhaps the galactic community wouldn't have enough power to hold the enemy off. The silence was heavy in the room, as each member of the crew faced an internal battle.
"On it, Shepard," Liara said, activating her omni-tool and taking her leave first.
"Kaidan, you're EDI's co-pilot until further notice." Shepard patted him on the back. "Ken, Tali, just keep the engines running as usual. Samara, Kasumi, you'll be in charge of food rations. EDI, make sure to keep the Normandy in stealth mode for the foreseeable future. Alert me immediately if anyone picks up on our signature.
"Everyone dismissed."
Notes:
Chapter 1 edits are finished, hope you enjoyed this new version! Big thanks to Kogarashi for the amazing work.
The chapter is pretty much the same as before (plot and event wise), but there are a few added sections just to clarify some portions of the story and improve overall readability. Also finally the time has been updated for the GST changes. Look forward to another updated chapter next week! (Also a new chapter will still be released on schedule (: )