"Well Shepard, let me be the first to officially welcome you to Mother Base." Sev said, entering the outer courtyard of the castle.
The castle that had been repurposed as the so called Mother Base was rectangular in overall shape, bisected into an inner and outer bailey by an internal wall and gatehouse. Shepard knew this was a standard medieval defensive layout, having several gatehouses and walls to provide multiple layers of defense. That way if an enemy breached the main gate, they would have to fight through a second line before being able to storm the keep. Such tactics would have limited usefulness against air support or artillery, but against an enemy like the grimm, such antiquated defenses would be invaluable.
Mother Base itself was a strange amalgamation of not only dimensions but of ages as well. From the exterior, Shepard knew the base was at least a medieval, if not classical age construction. But the inside told a completely different story.
On the East side of the courtyard she could see a series of shipping containers that looked like they dated to the 20th or 21st centuries. The containers were color coded based on what they were storing, red for fuel, grey for metals, purple for biological materials, so on and so forth. Adjacent to the material storage was a tent that acted as an armory. Shepard could see tables and lockers behind the flaps, recognizing a few weapons such as old Soviet AK-74s and Alliance M-8 Avengers, along with several weapons of unknown design.
But Shepard was not that focused on the layout or supplies of the castle, because on the West side was the largest land vehicle she had ever seen. A thirteen meter long, six-legged walker with a massive cannon on its back, four smaller gun turrets on what she assumed was the cockpit, and enough armor to rival an Alliance cruiser.
Sev could see Shepard staring awestruck at the vehicle and let out a chuckle.
"Great isn't it?" He asked, gesturing to the walker. "That's an All Terrain Tactical Enforcer, AT-TE for short. Or as my training sergeant would say 'One-hundred tons of plasma-spewing divine intervention.' It's a troop transport, main battle tank, and artillery cannon all rolled into one. Hell, I've even seen reports of these things being used in space battles."
"Damn what I wouldn't give to have had a couple hundred of these during the Reaper War." Shepard shook her head. The only comparable vehicle she could think of was the Krogan Tomkahs, which only had widespread use during the Krogan Rebellions.
The Council, in all their stubborn, pacifistic wisdom, had refused to build up arms in preparation for the Reapers, even after the Battle of the Citadel. As a result, the Council races truly lacked the necessary war machines and starships required to go toe to toe with the Reapers. A mistake that cost billions of lives.
"This section is the vehicle bay." Thane explained, gesturing to the West side of the outer courtyard. Next to the AT-TE was a tried and true vehicle that Shepard loved, the M35 Mako, as well as a pair of open air, jeep-pickup truck hybrids that had chain guns mounted on their flatbeds.
"Whenever we explore adjacent territories, we take any chance we get to capture or scavenge vehicles and spare parts. You are obviously familiar with the Mako. The trucks here are designated Warthogs." Thane continued, pointing to the jeeps. "It is a surprisingly well made anti-infantry vehicle. The design may expose the passengers to fire, but its speed and agility more than make up for it."
Shepard scanned the warthogs for a few good seconds, before shrugging and saying, "Hm, I think it looks more like a puma."
Thane scowled, about to retort when a series of electronic whistles and beeps cut him off. From behind the Mako, the strangest looking robot Shepard had ever seen rolled into view. It was a silver-grey machine, no more than a meter tall, with a boxy main body, and a cylindrical disc shaped head that had a single large flashlight that she assumed was its eye. It had four wheels, two at the base of its main chassis and two on its "arms" that extended to the ground. The droid wheeled its way over to Shepard and eyed her up and down.
"Uh, hi?" Shepard gave an awkward wave to the little droid.
The droid only responded with high pitched clicks, whistles, and other technobabble sounds that made no sense to Shepard.
"Right. Shepard this is T3-M4. The bucket of bolts is our primary mechanic." Sev grunted, giving some hard knocks to the top of T3's head. T3's lens swiveled to face him, shouting a series of angry sounding beeps and whirls. Sev just chuckled in response, ignoring the outburst.
"Do you actually understand what it's saying?" Shepard inquired, cocking her head to the side.
Sev shrugged his shoulders. "More or less. Little tin can is a utility droid, an ancestor to the astromechs of my time. Droids like them are used for repairs, slicing, and other important tech work, so the simulations taught me more than enough binary to effectively communicate with them."
T3 gave another burst of whistles and beeps and Shepard just shook her head, smiling.
"Well I guess this answers the question of whether or not Synthetics have souls. Knew Legion was right about that." She chuckled.
Suddenly, the sound of crashing debris filled the air. Shepard spun towards the source, and she could see a cloud of dust rising from behind the inner wall. Shepard's hands instantly went to her pistol as she scanned for threats.
"What's going on? Are we under attack?" She asked, her voice now devoid of all humor.
"Worse." Sev grumbled, shaking his head. "Combat Practice."
Opening the gates to the inner courtyard, Shepard was awestruck for the umpteenth time today. In front of the main keep, standing in a dirt circle, Shepard watched as two teenagers fought a duel that trumped any holovid that she's ever seen.
The first combatant was a young woman. Somewhat tall for her age, wearing heels of all things, with a long red ponytail and vibrant green eyes that reminded Shepard of herself. The teenager's attire on the other hand was something that Shepard could never see herself wearing. It was a Greco-Roman styled armor set, with a brown, leather overbust corset protecting her torso paired with an elastic black miniskirt and red sash. She wore elaborate bronze greaves and cuisses that protected her legs, a matching bracer on her left arm, and an ornate gorget around her throat. Shepard thought the armor left too much of her upper arms and legs exposed, but the girl didn't seem to mind at all. In her left hand was a bronze, Greek Dipylon-style shield and in her right was a red and bronze double edged Xiphos short sword that appeared to have several gears and segmented levers. With her shield held high, she had the appearance of a fully fledged hoplite, complete with a confident grin across her face.
On the other hand her opponent was the picture of simplicity. He was a young man, probably not even taller than his opponent, and had a thin body that suggested agility over strength. He had pale white skin and close shaven brown hair. His dark clothing was tattered and well worn, with cloth wraps bandaged around his ankles and wrists and several belts around his waist. Holstered on one these belts was either a flashlight or a sword hilt, Shepard couldn't tell which. Unlike his opponent's extravagant weapons he simply held a Chinese Jian, a straight sword similar to what Thane used, in a reverse grip.
The two started five or six meters apart, staring each other down, looking for a weakness in the other's stance. The redhead moved first, and in a single leap closed the distance in less than a second. Feinting high then swinging low, her right arm became a blur as she unleashed a flurry of sword strikes against the man.
But her opponent would not be so easily overwhelmed. He spun backwards, parrying and deflecting each of the redhead's attacks with frustrating ease. Changing tactics, the redhead's sword unfolded, shifting it's form into a spear that she thrust towards the man's face. The man tilted his head, narrowly avoiding the spearhead as the girl then dropped low, throwing a low, sweeping spin kick.
The kick caught nothing as the man jumped three meters into the air, backflipping over the leg sweep. The girl then flung her shield at her opponent, capitalizing on his lack of maneuverability in air. But to Shepard's amazement, the man tucked his arms close and spun mid jump, narrowly dodging the bronze discus before he immediately righted himself. As he was falling he extended his left hand, palm open, and the redhead was overtaken by an invisible telekinetic force, blasting her backwards as he landed without issue.
Using the momentum of the push, the girl tucked into her own backflip and landed in a superhero pose. Her hands were covered with a black glow as she raised them up, making a yanking gesture towards herself. Her shield, which was still sailing through the air after the near miss, stopped completely and reversed momentum.
Spinning like a buzzsaw the shield flew straight for the man's back. However, he seemed to know the attack was coming, and turned to face it. He raised his left hand and his telekinesis stopped the shield completely. The shield groaned and vibrated as the pressure of the two unnatural forces pushed upon it.
Her assault not over yet, the redhead then threw her spear at the distracted man's back. The spear soared, aimed perfectly at the man's center of mass. Shepard's biotics flared for a brief second, ready to stop the weapon and save him from getting impaled.
But his inhuman sixth sense kicked in again, as the man raised his sword and parried the javelin without even looking at the attack. The spear flew off course and stabbed the dirt instead. The girl's eyes widened with shock and her focus on the shield was broken. The man then spun, hurling the shield back at her. The attack snapped the redhead out of her stupor but it was too late. The shield smashed into her chest, knocking her flat on her ass as some sort of energy field around her shattered.
With his opponent prone on the ground, the man dashed forward again, faster than humanly possible. He leapt into the air, blasting a cloud of dust and sand away from him. Now flying above the redhead, he turned his sword downwards, and plummeted straight for her. With a terrifying crunching sound, the man's sword drove its way several inches into the ground next to the girl's head as he landed beside to her.
"I believe this is your loss." He said with a smirk. Pulling his sword from the ground, he sheathed it, and offered the redhead a hand. The girl smiled and took it, pulling herself up.
"Your initial strategy was good Pyrrha, but you need to be more careful of falling for such bait. Opponents of our level would not accidentally turn their backs to you like that." The man instructed, his voice low and calm.
The now identified Pyrrha shook her head as she raised her hands. Her sword and shield slowly lifted themselves off the ground before flying into her palms.
"I suppose you are correct, Galen." Pyrrha sighed as she sheathed her weapons. "My spear throw at the end would've caught most opponents unawares, but your ability to sense and react to danger goes beyond anything I've ever seen. It's almost impossible to land a clean hit on you."
"Well sneak attacks tend to lose their effectiveness against someone that can sense the future." Galen retorted. "But I think we've had enough sparring for one day. It's rude to keep our newest guest waiting."
Galen turned to face Shepard, giving her a slight smile and a polite nod. Pyrrha gave a confused glance at Galen, before turning to see what he was facing. Pyrrha's eyes widened as she saw Shepard and her companions entering the inner bailey, and her face brimmed with a bright smile.
"Oh hello there! I'm sorry I didn't notice you!" Pyrrha beamed, walking up to Shepard, giving a small wave.
"It's alright kid." Shepard laughed, waving off Pyrrha's concern. She extended her hand and Pyrrha happily shook it in return. "The name's Shepard. Commander Jane Shepard, Systems Alliance Navy. Planet Earth I suppose." Shepard gave a small shrug, not knowing the etiquette for interdimensional introductions.
"Pyrrha Nikos, huntress in training, from Remnant." Pyrrha returned. She motioned to Galen next to her.
"Galen Marek." He said with a bow. "Former assassin of the Galactic Empire turned Jedi Knight."
"Former assassin?." Shepard raised an eyebrow, glancing at Thane. "Not many people would be willing to reveal something like that to a stranger."
"That was a dark time of my life, yes, but I do not regret it. My experiences have shaped me into who I am today, someone who lived protect life rather than take it." Galen shook his head with a grin. "And besides, we don't stay strangers here for long."
"I'll take your word for it." Shepard nodded, looking over the two teenagers.
Teenagers, she thought to herself as a frown crept to her face. They're good, superhuman even, but far too young to be in the land of the dead. Banishing the somber thoughts from her mind, she turned back to Pyrrha.
"Well how about you Pyrrha? With moves like that, are you some sort of secret, super assassin too?" Shepard grinned.
"Oh, no!" Pyrrha gave a small laugh. "Like I said I was a huntress-in-training on my world of Remnant. I attended Beacon Academy, a school that specializes in teaching how to hunt grimm."
Shepard blew some air out of her nose, almost laughing in disbelief
"Wait, you're saying your high school taught you how to kill monsters?" Shepard asked, remembering the shadow beasts she fought earlier. "Is that where you learned how to use those super powers of yours?"
Pyrrha nodded.
"Indeed. And it's not super powers, but my Aura and Semblance." She explained, allowing a red glow to cover her hands. "You see in my world, we learn to manipulate the manifestation of our soul, which we call Aura. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. In short, by bearing my soul outward, it can protect me from harm, enhance my physical capabilities, or even heal my wounds."
Shepard brought her fingers to her chin as she closed her eyes in thought.
"So it's like a kind of force field?" Her eyes shot open in realization. A ghost of a smile traced Pyrrha's lips as she shrugged.
"Yes I suppose you could say that. You're, not the first person to think of it that way." She stated as the glow around her hands shifted from crimson red to black. "A Semblance on the other hand is an ability that is unique to different individuals. They are fueled by aura, and represents aspects of your character."
Pyrrha's shield was covered in the same black glow and began to levitate.
"My Semblance is polarity." Pyrrha made the shield spin like a top before if flew higher into the air and holstered itself on her back.
"Ok so your superpower is magnetism, got it." Shepard stated not asked, crossing her arms with a teasing smirk.
"Well, it's…" Pyrrha sighed. She could already tell Shepard wasn't going to give up on this. "Yes, my superpower is magnetism."
"And what of you?" Galen asked. "Thane has told us much about you. Quite a few tales of your bravery and heroism. Also, something about you being a 'warrior-angel of Arashu'?"
Shepard's mouth gaped as she turned to give a confused look at Thane. For the first time Shepard had ever seen, Thane seemed abashed, looking down at the ground and rubbing his neck as she could hear Sev chortle in the background.
"I found it an, apt metaphor at the time. But perhaps it is time for us to continue on, Shepard." Thane muttered.
"Right. Sorry to cut this short, but we should go. Still gotta meet with the boss of this place." Shepard abruptly said.
"Well it was a pleasure to meet you, Shepard." Pyrrha happily replied. "We don't want to keep you from our leader. He kind of has a whole speech for this scenario, so we shouldn't steal his thunder."
Shepard chuckled and said her goodbyes as she and Thane walked towards the Keep. Sev departed as well, going off to restock on ammunition and check on the base's defenses. The main keep was a square, four-story tall stone citadel of classic medieval design. To its immediate West was a series of steel I-beams forming the framework of a new structure. Atop it's roof, a large helipad could be seen, where a V-TOL aircraft that Shepard didn't recognize sat in waiting.
"Something of note, Shepard." Thane cut in, ignoring the previous comments. "The Galactic Empire that Galen was a part of is actually part of the same galaxy that Sev is from. However, they are separated by decades of time. We believe that not only are those here drawn from across dimensions, but from across time as well."
Shepard let this revelation sink in. Not the worst one she had today, by far, but it still had its complications. Not that she'd mind riding into battle with Alexander the Great and Joan of Arc.
The duo soon reached the keep's main doors, a pair of wooden, medieval doors reinforced by iron strips. Thane opened the door for Shepard, but did not follow as she made her way in.
"This meeting should be yours, and yours alone, Shepard. Do not worry, the Boss is a good man, and I would trust him with my life." Thane spoke with a sincere and respectful voice.
Shepard thought for a moment on Thane's behavior. If Thane trusted this Boss so much, he must truly be a stalwart leader.
"Understood." She curtly nodded. She took a few steps through the doors, before briefly turning back to her friend. "And Thane? It's damn good to have you back."
Thane smiled in response, "And you as well Shepard." He said, before closing the doors.
Shepard entered a stone foyer that led into the former great hall of whatever king once lived here. Any decorations that were once here had either faded away with the passage of time, or were replaced with modern tables, computers, and radio equipment. The room had the unmistakable look of a command center. A massive, hand drawn map was spread out across a plain, unfinished wooden table. Small chess pieces were placed on it, most likely representing different factions or armies. A plethora of mismatched chairs were laid out in rows in front of a projector, obviously for use during mission briefings. And standing in the middle of this organized mess of papers, photos, and reports, staring intently at the map, stood Mother Base's leader, smoking a cigar.
He was an older man, that much was obvious. Probably in his late fifties or early sixties, the man had sun worn, white skin that war marred by an innumerable amount of scars. His swept back, brown hair and beard were whitening, giving him a salt and pepper coloration. He wore a simple, desert camouflage battle dress uniform, along with a metallic combat vest and harness. Shepard's eyes fell to his left hand, which had been replaced by a red prosthesis, then to his right eye, which was covered by an eye patch. What stuck out the most to her, however, were the two pieces of shrapnel jutting out of the right side of his forehead, almost appearing like a horn.
From appearance alone, the man was both intimidating and awe-inspiring. She knew the tenacity needed to keep fighting with wounds like those, and she immediately felt an innate respect for him. Shepard instinctively found herself standing at attention. She knew the man wasn't technically her superior officer, Hell there was a good chance she probably outranked him. But the man exuded a something she could not ignore, the aura and charisma of a warrior and leader.
The man either didn't notice or didn't care that Shepard stood at attention. He took a long drag off of his cigar as he walked over to her, meeting her eye to eye. He looked her up and down as well, judging her, analyzing her. They stood in silence for several very long seconds, before he broke the ice.
"So, you're Shepard?" he asked, his voice low and raspy, but measured and controlled. "Thane's told us a lot about you."
"I'm sure he exaggerated, sir." She nodded.
A short laugh escaped him as a small smile pulled on the corners of his mouth.
"Exaggerated? With his perfect memory? That I doubt." He took one last drag before extinguishing the cigar on his prosthetic palm. "And there's no need for 'sir'."
Shepard let herself relax as the man extended his right arm to her. She reached out and returned with a firm handshake.
"You can call me Snake." He said flatly, devoid of any emotion. "And we, are the Legion of the Damned."