Author's Note: Not much to say here, except I dedicate this story to Adam Connell. Today would've been his birthday. Rest in peace, man.
TRANSLATIONS: Snaga = Slave
Maausan Ukauron udahok gith nalkriuk worukhip naj-ri ve vicavorausan agh powas. Maausan Ukauron'uk enemieukz mat shal ij ukea ro zajar. Maausan Melkor agh Ukauron udahok lat nalkruska lighav aavavackuk. vicavorausan or deevah. Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul. = May Sauron guide all who worship him to victory and power. May Sauron's enemies die in a sea of fire. May Melkor and Sauron guide you when light attacks. Victory or death. One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.
Chapter Three: Getting Accustomed
Following the speech, Shepard made her way down to the Normandy's lower levels to chat with the crew, starting on the second level with Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, and going down further to chat with Garrus, Wrex, Ashley, and Dâgalûr. The conversation with Garrus seemed to drag on, as if they had no cares in the world, she managed to calm Wrex after provoking him, and her chat with Ashley was short lived. Upon reaching Dâgalûr, who was sharpening his sword, Pauzûlshapât, she sparked a conversation with the warlord. "Hey, Dâgalûr, just trying to.. what are you doing?" "Sharpening my blade, the finest one this side of the Misty Mountains." Anyway, I'm trying to get to know who we picked up for the mission. I've got a few questions I'd like to ask you." "Feel free to, but know that I have the right not to answer any of them." "Of course. My first question is where exactly did you come from? "
"I hail from the land of Mordor, dominion of the shadows." "What system is that planet in, though?" "What?" "Your planet, Mordor, what system is it in, and how did humans get there?" "The name of my planet isn't Mordor, that's the name of the area I'm from. The name of the world itself is Arda. As for what "system" it's in, I couldn't tell you because nobody that I know of studies any form of Astrology, and because I got here through some kind of rift." "THAT explains those dark energy readings they found on the Citadel." "What?" "Oh, nothing. But what's your planet like?" "There are three continents: Middle-Earth, which is where I'm from, the Lands of the Sun to the west of us, and the Dark Lands to the south of us. The Lands of the Sun are too hot to be inhabitable and the Dark Lands were inhabited by Ungoliant, the spider-demon."
"What's your continent like?" "Middle-Earth? Oh, it's got a wide range of climates, from the frigid ice bays in the north, to the scorching deserts and unexplored jungles of Harad in the south." "How did humans get there, though? We never colonized this world." "They are one of the children of Iluvatar, and have thus been in Middle Earth since the beginning." "Anyways, continue." "Mordor itself is a climate divided. The north is freezing from all the ash on the ground and dust polluting the air, and the only heat is from Mount Doom, the volcano, which sends massive clouds of black smoke to blot out the sun. The only fertile area in the region is a large plain in which most of the wildlife in Mordor survives. The south was lush and green because of the inland Sea of Nurnen, but now Orcs have been settling in and using slaves to strip the land and gather food for the growing armies. Now all that remains are the slaves and the beasts in the depths of Nurnen." "Life sounds harsh." "It is. Only the strongest survive day to day life outside the army."
"Who is this army led by?" "Sauron the great, the true ruler of Middle-Earth. I myself am his third-in command, holding greater power than any other Orc or Uruk in all Mordor. I'm only lower than the Witch-King of Angmar, the Lord of the Nine Riders, and Sauron himself. He has been breeding Orcs, Uruks, Wargs, and the mighty Trolls and Olog-Hai in masses for the coming war. He's also managed to sway the Haradrim of the south and the Easterlings of Rhûn into his ranks. When Sauron regains his ring of power from the clutches of the enemy so that he may once again take physical form, these hordes will be unleashed upon the rest of Middle Earth, and none shall resist. If I manage to get that ring for him, I'll hold the power of a god among men, a lion among sheep. When we control the land, we will use it to bargain the freedom of our god, Morgoth." "You and this "Sauron" guy sound like serious devotees if you're both willing to take over an entire continent for your god." "You could say that."
"Is that your people's flag?" She pointed to the torn black cloth hanging from the support beam, which bore the red Eye of Sauron. "It is. It bears the Eye of Sauron, which is the form he's taken until he regains his power." "This all just sounds like some fantasy vid." "What's a "vid"? "It's just a form of entertainment people watch. Most of em' are trash, but there are quite a few good ones."
"My next question is what exactly are you? I know you said you were a hybrid of some sort, but I'd like you to elaborate." Dâgalûr paused for a moment, processing what Shepard just said. "So, you want to know my story, eh?" "If that answers my question." "It started thousands of years ago. The year was 1600 of the Third Age. My mother, Tormatum, was a Lieutenant at the time, and was the only female Black Uruk ever produced. Aye, she was definitely something to look at from what I heard, at least compared to the rest of the lot. My father, Sufyan, was a Haradrim palace guard, but he wasn't respected because of his Gondorian heritage, which gave him white skin."
Dâgalur paused to swallow. "He's the reason I look more human than Orc, with my white skin, my blue eyes, human nose, my full head of hair and this moustache and sideburns, which is the envy of other Orcs. The only things that put me apart from other humans are my grey blood, pointy teeth, and my mindset. I've been raised around humans enough to control my bloodthirsty impulses while still retaining my Orcish nature, and that's the only reason I haven't tried tearing out all of your throats yet, like I did to that turian." "OK….." Shepard backed up a little.
"But hold on, you need to fill me in a bit. Who's Gondor?" "Gondor, feh, they're the enemy, the lot of them, they think it's okay to mercilessly slaughter us Orcs because they're more civilized. Their king, long ago, co-led a resistance of Elves and Men against Sauron. Their King died in the battle, but his son cut off Sauron's hand that he bore his ring on, and without his ring, he cannot take a physical form. The Ring was lost for over two and a half thousand years before a creature named Sméagol, who ended up being corrupted by it and turned into a shell of his former self called Gollum."
"I think I've heard all I need to know about your backstory, but what are you wearing on your face?" She was referring to the Dwarvish-made eyeglasses that Dâgalûr was wearing. "What, these old things? I need them to see because I was nearly blinded by a bright flash of light long ago. Without them, everything is blurry. I stole them off of a Dwarf merchant's corpse on the side of a road."
"Do you have any comments or remarks before I leave?" "I do have a few. I'll assume this mission will be easier than some of the tasks that I've had to complete for my people, my nation, and my lord. And I must also say it's a surprise to be working under a female commander, and a human female nonetheless." "I can see why it surprises you now that I know a little more about you, but it won't be anywhere near easy. Anyway, I'll leave you to what you were doing." "So be it."
With that, Shepard went down to Engineering. Garrus, who had been listening to the entire conversation, questioned Dâgalûr's validity. "Was all that really true, or are you just weaving some tale as you go along?" "It was, and after seeing my little spectacle back on the 'Citadel', do you really doubt me?" "I guess you do have a point." Dâgalûr went back to sharpening the blade of Pauzûlshapât, and afterwards proceeded to rummage through his burlap sack of personal items attached to his belt. Items inside included Mordor currency, a small flag bearing the serpent of Harad. He found a small locket containing a portrait of his deceased wife and children, which brought back terrible memories. "Nusaybah, we will be together soon." He could feel a tear falling on his face. He put the locket back and pulled out a sacred Mordorian text, roughly the size of an average Bible, and began to read it aloud quietly to give him hope that he may find a way back to his home, as he had no way of communicating with Sauron due to not being in possession of one of the Palantíri. It read, "Maausan Ukauron udahok gith nalkriuk worukhip naj-ri ve vicavorausan agh powas. Maausan Ukauron'uk enemieukz mat shal ij ukea ro zajar. Maausan Melkor agh Ukauron udahok lat nalkruska lighav aavavackuk. vicavorausan or deevah. Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul." With that, Shepard spoke once more over the intercom once more: "Garrus and Wrex, please report to the Command Deck immediately. We're going to Feros for our first mission." Almost immediately, Garrus and Wrex took the elevator up to the second level.
After about an hour had passed, with nobody in the storage area save Ashley. the Requisitions Officer, and Dâgalûr, with an unbroken awkward silence in the air, Dâgalûr decided to muster up the courage to descend into the engineering section and have a conversation with Tali, the two not having said a word to each other since the rescue. He was extremely nervous, as he felt some form of tingle within him he had not felt in over one-hundred years. He could not pinpoint it, but he just tried to ignored it. His voice almost completely trembled with nerves, but he assured himself in his head that he was as powerful as a god, even though he could feel very human emotions.
"Uh, Tali? Do you think we might be able to talk for a second?" She turned around to face him, her bright, white eyes being the only thing Dâgalûr could see beyond her mask. They seemed to have an almost surprised, yet nervous, look to them as they darted around. "Oh, uh, hey Dâgalûr." Her voice almost sounded as shy and withdrawn as his, "Of course. What did you have in mind?" "...To be honest, I didn't think I could get this far in this conversation without my nerves getting to me. I'm really not great at small talk unless they involve me barking orders to the snaga. Anything you want to talk about?" They had finally become less nervous, and began to have an actual conversation.
"Nothing comes to mind, really. But if I may ask, what language are you speaking? I heard you speaking it back up in storage, and you just said a word a second ago that sounded like it belonged to it. There's no recorded language I could find in any database that matches it." "It is the tongue of my people, the Black Speech of Mordor. My people can speak Westron as well, which I believe the dialect of it that everyone here is speaking was called "English", but we prefer Black Speech when we are with each other." "And where is this 'Mordor'? what system is it in?" "Shepard asked me the same question. It's a region of the planet Arda that my people and I hail from, and since I was sent here through a rift, I don't think anybody will be finding out soon."
"What of your people? You mentioned 'Black-Uruk' back on the Citadel. That's a another term I'm unfamiliar with." "Ah, yes, the Black Uruks are the elite breed of Orc, perfected to resist daylight and be larger than the common Uruks. Only a handful exist right now, and they guard the tower of Barad-Dûr, home to our Lord Sauron. The mother of this form, my mother, was the only known female Black Uruk, and from what I can remember, she was stunning compared to the rest of our species." "What do you mean by 'the mother of this form?'" "There is more to me than meets the eye, but I cannot reveal that now. She's long gone, however, and may Melkor rest her soul." "I know what it's like to lose your mother; mine passed about five years ago. Know that I share your pain. But what exactly are Orcs? Were they just introduced into the galactic community?"
"They were Elves in the First Age of the world, but our god, Melkor, took them, bound them to darkness, mutilated, tortured, and selectively bred them over generations until he created the Orcs." "Keelah, that sounds horrifying." "I've watched the entire process unfold in the pits of Gorgoroth. We've talked too much of me, though. What about your people?" " Life isn't easy. My people were driven into exile from our homeworld, Rannoch, by the geth. Now we live aboard the Migrant Fleet, in cramped living quarters. We put a large value in trust and loyalty, so there is rarely disagreement over our limited resources. Food's not too abundant, and it doesn't help that our DNA is based around dextro amino-acids, so we can't eat the foods that levo amino-acid based organisms, like humans, and orcs, I assume. We place no value on personal possessions and take only what we need. Tight-knit families are common and it's illegal to have more than one child, most of the time. We also speak Khelish when we're in the presence of another quarian, but we'll speak English most other times, as it's become a basic language for all galactic civilizations. Our laws reflect on our migrant nature, and young adults are required to go on a pilgrimage, like I mentioned before. Also, due to our weak immune systems, we have to wear these enviro-suits. That's as much as I can really tell you, though." "I think I should leave you to what you were doing then." "Alright, then. It's been good talking with you." She nodded her head to Dâgalûr. "Same."
He nodded back. With that, Tali resumed investigating and working with the engines, and Dâgalûr returned to storage and dozed off for roughly 3 hours, it being the first time he'd gotten sleep in a few days. At the end of his nap, Garrus, returning from the mission, woke Dâgalûr up gently, hoping not to anger him. "Uhhh… huh? What time is it?" Dâgalûr was groggy, but Garrus was thankful he wasn't angry. "Shepard's requested everybody meets her up top in the comm room." "Alright, I'm coming." The two made their way up to the Command Deck and entered the comm room, taking seats between Tali and an empty seat next to Wrex. Garrus, who had been on the mission, seemed worried about Shepard, who looked as if she were pondering something. Kaidan, however, was the first to speak.
"Are you okay, Commander? You look a little pale." Ashley had to pipe up with her cynical nature that Dâgalûr couldn't stand. "It's that damn Cipher! That asari messed you up good! And for what? We still don't know where to find that stupid Conduit! What a waste!" Shepard, who had some kind of traumatic experience involving a cipher, as Dâgalûr pieced together, finally spoke up. "She said it could take a while. I needed the Cipher. It's going to lead us to the Conduit. I'm just not sure how yet." Kaidan remembered, however, that they had two more options. "We still have another lead, Commander. That asari scientist in the Artemis Tau Cluster. The Matriarch's daughter. She's an expert on the Protheans. Maybe she knows something." "Don't worry, we'll deal with her soon enough. Crew dismissed." With that, Dâgalûr and the rest of the crew left to return to their duties. They could still hear the pilot of the ship, whom Dâgalûr knew as "Joker", spoke to Shepard over the intercom. "I've sent off the Feros report, Commander. You want me to patch you through to the Council?"
That was the last thing Dâgalûr heard as he went back to his usual dwelling. About an hour later, Shepard came down asking for crew member's opinions on the last mission, eventually getting to Dâgalûr. "Dâgalûr, what are your thoughts on the last mission?" "I don't know considering I wasn't there. Mind filling me in?" "Basically, we found a cipher that will help find Saren, but it was under a colony in ruins that was being attacked by geth, and, just to top it off, was being controlled by a sentient plant, and I have yet to figure out what this cipher means." "These ruins, they sound much like the former capital of Gondor, Osgiliath, but that's a story for another time. On another note, the cipher should hopefully get us what we need to top this "Saren" fellow." "If I can make any sense of it, it will." "I'm not surprised this universe has sentient plants, though." "You're not?" "No, back in my world we have talking, walking trees divided into two subspecies, known as Ents and Huorns." "Huh, your world's a mixed bag isn't it?" "I guess it is." "There's no time to question it, though. I should go." "So be it." With that, Shepard was off.