Chapter 4: First Contact of the Trans-Dimensional Kind
December 2nd, 2187
Traveling through a mass relay was supposed to have a calm restful effect. That was when stars created a streak of light that rocketed by at such speeds, it made a fascinating light show. Unfortunately, that wasn't true for mass relays travelling through the space between dimensions.
It was darker than pitch black, and the only evidence that the SSV Palaven's Pride was even moving was the steady humming of the ship's drive core under the decks. These conditions did nothing to dampen the oppressive sense of apprehension that permeated the crew. Not even Commander Vakarian was immune to its effects, but he managed not to show it.
At the moment Garrus wished the rest of the Normandy crew were here. Not only would the presence of the most advanced warship in the galaxy ease tensions, but Garrus simply hadn't seen any of his old shipmates in nearly nine months now. As far as he knew most of the crew were still there. Joker, Ashley, Vega, Liara, Tali, Chakwas, all still official crew of the Normandy. The rest had apparently scattered. Samara had gone back to what was left of the Justicar Order. Jack had returned to teaching biotics, and the two ex-Cerberus officers were now serving who knew where. Wrex and Grunt had begun a return trip to Tuchanka. Massani and Kusumi had simply disappeared after Garrus had left. Still, just one of them would have been a comfort.
Personal wishes aside, there was a job to do. Garrus had tactical command of two frigates and they were venturing into the definition of unknown territory. Everything had to be airtight.
"Comms, have you finished the analysis on the alien codes the Shanghai recovered?" Garrus asked
"Yes sir, the analysis identified a code similar to our own universal distress, SOS. I've programmed the system to broadcast it on all frequencies on your order."
Garrus nodded in response. "Weapons, what's our status?"
"Sir, all GUARDIAN lasers are green. The Menae's Might is reporting the same."
"Good," Garrus said. "Ops, how is the rest of our systems?"
"Everything is at 100% sir. Barriers are up, and response teams are standing by."
"Nav, what our eta?"
Sir my best approximation is 30 minutes," Navigator Prolov said. "I can't seem to get a solid read on the exact location of-. Commander! There's something in front of us. It looks like wall of...of... I've no idea what!"
Garrus strived to maintain his composure, "Is it solid? What's the time until impact?"
"I can't tell if it's solid or not. Whatever it is, it'll be on top of us in two minutes. It should be visible out the forward viewport." Prolov went back to typing rapidly on his console.
All the other bridge officers mirrored the navigator, frantically searching for information on what they were currently speeding towards. To Garrus the controlled panic in front of him was a reflection on Turian naval discipline and felt proud to be in command of these men. However, the image outside the foreword viewport snapped him back into reality.
It looked like a plain white disk, rocketing to meet the two vessels against a backdrop of black. There were too many unknowns, Garrus didn't know if there was a proper way to approach this thing. All he could do is prepare for the worst.
"Full power to forward barriers. Order all hands to brace for impact. Relay these orders to the Menae's Might." Garrus told the communications officer. He strapped himself into his chair and braced up against it.
"That is not a wise decision sentient."
The unfamiliar voice originated from the bridge speakers. Its sudden appearance caused every officer to pause and glance at the nearest speaker. Garrus felt quite annoyed that someone had accessed restricted systems.
"This is Commander Garrus Vakarian to whom am I speaking?"
I am 888 Inverse Tangent and I have little to no time to explain. Your vessels are approaching a dimensional barricade. In order to pass with an acceptable margin for error, you must deactivate all defensive measures. If you wish to reach the home dimension intact sentient, you will do as I have stated. Mantle guard you sentient."
Garrus didn't quite know what to think. The orders from the Shanghai hadn't mentioned any A. I. watching the relay. On the other hand, the thing had told them how to pass through what was in front of them. Garrus was at an impasse, did he believe the A.I. and lower the barriers or did he take a chance and keep them raised.
"How long until impact?" he asked.
Navigator Prolov answered, "thirty seconds."
Garrus made up his mind. "Deactivate our barriers. Radio the Menae's Might to do the same."
"Aye sir."
Garrus squeezed as far down into his seat as he could, as did the rest of the bridge crew. He counted down the seconds as the oppressive white disk got bigger and bigger in the viewport.
First 10 then 5...4...3...2...1...
Every bulkhead within the Palaven's Pride groaned so loud ears were left ringing. Anything that wasn't bolted down flew in a perfect horizontal vector straight into the wall. The only things keeping the crew from doing the same was their safety harnesses holding them into their chairs. Still many passed out due to the intense G-forces pushing them towards the prow.
Just as the ship seemed to calm down. The G-forces switched directions and began pulling the crew towards the aft section of the ship. After what seemed like five minutes of acceleration the Palaven's Pride slowed down to tolerable speeds, permitting the crew to unhook themselves from their safety harnesses. On the bridge Garrus fought of a wave of nausea that had struck him early into the event. Glancing around he saw that a half the bridge crew had passed out and the other half were busy with their stations or attempting to wake the others.
"What's the ship's status?" Garrus said groggily.
"Sir, the drive core has spun to zero. We're drifting. Engineering teams are working on it," the ops officer said.
"GUARDIANs are offline. I'll need to rekey the system," the weapons officer reported.
"Do it," Garrus ordered. The Commander could see that they were still travelling through the relay. "Nav, where are we? Nav?"
Garrus glanced over and saw Prolov still unconscious on his console. Unclipping his safety harness Garrus got up from his seat and walked to the navigator. Setting him upright, Garrus did a quick check to make sure the older Turian was stable. Content in that regard Garrus turned his attention to the console itself. Though Garrus was never a navigation specialist he still could read basic readouts. According to the data they they were going to exit the relay in one minute.
Garrus didn't wait to snap into action. "Strap in! We're exiting the relay," he barked. "Status on the drive core?"
"Drive core at 45%," the Ops officer said. "Powering it up."
The engines of the Palaven's Pride hummed to life as crew all over the ship strapped themselves back into their seats. Just as Garrus estimated the countdown at ten seconds the ship began to violently shake and vibrate. However, almost as soon as that began it stopped when stars exploded into view.
Garrus got a quick glance at a silver colored mass relay as the Palaven's Pride sped by it at dizzying speeds. "All stop," he yelled.
With near agonizing slowness the ship came to a complete and level stop. Unclipping himself from his chair a second time, Garrus took in a massive gulp of air and exhaled. 'That was a lot rougher than a regular trip through a relay. What is regular these days?' Garrus thought to himself. Standing up, Garrus began pacing around the bridge taking note of how each of his officers were reacting what they'd just been through. Halting beside the ops officer Garrus requested an update on the Palaven's Pride and the Menae's Might.
"Sir, all ship systems are reading green and recharging normally. The Menae's Might materialized 5000 kilometers from our position and have transmitted an all clear. They're fine." Garrus could tell the officer was tense as he finished his report. Yet the young Turian managed to keep his composure.
On the other side of the bridge Navigator Prolov had regained consciousness and resume his duties. However, the information his console was giving him was confusing and damn near impossible. "Commander," he called, "you're gonna want to see this."
Garrus strode back to navigation and bent over to get a good view. At first Garrus didn't make the connection. The readout on the console showed a common type of solar system consisting of a single mid-sequence star orbited by one superearth type planet. Then it hit him, this the same star system they had left hardly an hour ago.
"Comms, attempt to contact the Shanghai. I think the relay is a bust," Garrus couldn't mask the disappointment in his voice.
The communications officer complied, typing in the necessary commands into his console. Soon however, he turned back to Garrus, confusion painting his face. "Sir I'm not picking up any friendly signals on any standard frequencies." The officer continued to type, "The QEC is unable to find a connection with anything."
A small bloom of hope and excitement appeared in Garrus's stomach. "Give me a picture of the planet with the forward viewport."
The Palaven's Pride steadily rotated until it was perpendicular to the planet below. This orientation provided the bridge crew a panoramic view of the planet's landscape. Unlike the planet they had departed from which was lush and green. This one was barren, black, and rocky. For a second Garrus could have sworn he had seen a volcano belching ash near the horizon. It proved one thing, they had moved. Whether to a different dimension as Captain Bradshaw had insinuated, or simply to an uncharted region of their own galaxy was yet to be determined. They had entered a mass relay and emerged somewhere else. Somewhere, where apparently there were people who could provide aid the galaxy desperately needed.
Comms," Garrus said, "begin broadcasting that SOS signal on all known frequencies at maximum range." 'Time to dial up the locals," Garrus thought to himself.
/
Location: Unknown. Date: Unknown
36 hours later
Garrus laid on his bunk within the captain's cabin of the Palaven's Pride. Compared to the Normandy's Garrus's quarters were cramped and bare. Completely lacking any of the grandiose decor of the Normandy. Garrus's quarters only provided the necessities a bed, desk, and an isolated location.
So far the Palaven's Pride and the Menae's Might had endured one of the toughest trips through a mass relay only to have to endure 36 hours of waiting. Which wouldn't have been bad compared to a month confined to FTL, however the crews of both ships were thoroughly gripped by a strong sense of apprehension due to their circumstances. Within that period of time both ships had repeatedly surveyed the star system they had found themselves in. Confirming that they had indeed landed in an exact but slightly inverted copy of the system they'd left earlier. A brief connection had been established between the two frigates and the Shanghai through the preplaced mass relay com buoy. However Garrus only had time to deliver a brief report before the connection died. Both sensor probes that had been sent in before them had been recovered. The reason behind the probes failure to transmit any information had been theorized to be because the probes hadn't found anything Patrol Fleet 33 didn't already know.
In light of this Garrus had left explicit instructions to retrieve if a situation developed. He'd then retreated to his quarters for some sleep.
Deep inside the frigate, towards aft of the ship was the engineering compartment. Just like every other piece of Turian developed equipment its design was exceedingly spartan, showcasing just how militarily oriented the Hierarchy had been.
Hunched over a console near the drive core itself was the chief engineer of the Palaven's Pride. Being a Quarian, Kal'Teblain naturally knew every bolt and code inside the core. However, the crazy ride just get to where they were had placed incredible strain on the core. Even 36 hours later, not all of the effects had dealt with.
Currently he was frantically searching for a proper bypass for a pair of systems too damaged to simply patch. Kal also wished his sister Mara had been the one assigned to the Turian warship instead of him. Where humans in Kal's opinion were competent and reasonable shipbuilders, second only to Quarians, Turian ships were infuriating. Primarily because it seemed that the concept of spare parts stored on the ship was as alien to Turians as an upper and lower lip. Mara had always been the master at jerry rigging, she'd have been perfect for this post.
Briefly Kal allowed himself to remember back to when the two of them had been young children. Twins had been something super rare among Quarians when they'd been confined to the Migrant Fleet. So when Mara and Kal had come along, they quickly became something of a parade item. Their parents had been so proud of their achievement, and that pride only doubled when a section of their home vessel the Shellen lost power. At eight years old, in the dark with a portable lantern, a fistful of wire, and bits of scrap the two youth had fabricated a makeshift replacement for what they believed was a critical component to the ship. It had turned out to be a simple fuse and a light switch, but the twin's deed garnered them instant celebrity status among the other children and a few adults.
Kal was rudely interrupted from his thoughts of happier times by a safety valve that blew up right above his head. Instantly, he was doused in hot gasses. Had Kal not been wearing his exosuit he would've been boiled.
'Damn, freaking Turians, 'Kal thought angrily as he scooped up a plasma torch to repair the damage. 'What idiot designs a safety valve directly above an important terminal.' Kal sighed out loud, there had been many times when he'd prayed to Keelah that he'd get an opportunity to leave this ship. Now was one of those times.
/
The weary never got a good rest. Or so Garrus thought as his Omni-Tool beeped to life and deposited a simple message from the comms officer.
"Commander, you're needed on the bridge."
Emitting a quiet yawn, Garrus sluggishly crawled out of his bunk and slipped on his officers uniform in an equally sluggish manner. He made his way out of his quarters and onto the central elevator. Which took him down one deck to the bridge and CIC.
Garrus took a moment as he walked to see how the crew were doing. Palaven's Pride had been designed for a crew of 20, yet the current crew numbered twice that. Garrus hoped that the cramped conditions of the ship wasn't negatively affecting them. The only way Garrus knew how to comfortably assess whether or not it was, was to watch from a distance. Shepard had always been the talker, while Garrus was the observant shooter. So far the crew didn't seem to mind either the ship's conditions or their commander's oddities. Feeling content with how his crew were performing Garrus stepped onto the bridge.
Taking his seat at center of the bridge, Garrus asked for an update.
He got one from the ops officer. "Commander, our sensors picked up a concentration of high intensity radiation 35,000 kilometers off our prow 15 minutes ago. Since then concentration has doubled."
This definitely felt off to Garrus. Empty space didn't spontaneously become radioactive. "Have the sensors identified what type of radiation makes up the concentration?"
"Yes sir, the common name is Cherenkov Radiation. It's commonly observed in nuclear reactors," the ops officer answered.
Nuclear reactors, such things were banned by Council law, and radiation normally seen from them in space? Something was very wrong here. "Ops, continue to monitor the concentration. Nav, where is the Menae's Might?" Garrus said.
Navigator Prolov didn't wait to answer. "Commander the Menae's Might has taken position 500 kilometers to our port. Do you have orders sir?"
Garrus thought for a second. "Raise barriers and warm up the GUARDIANs. Bring us to combat alert."
Officers all over the bridge and CIC raced to relay the necessary orders and power up certain systems. As this was happening Garrus contacted engineering. Kal'Teblain was quick to respond.
"Chief Engineer, what's the status of the drive core?"
"Mostly repaired, you should have normal functionality commander. However, if you push it too hard it won't last long." The Quarian said gloomily.
Just as the communication between the bridge and engineering ended, something occurred that Garrus would never be able to accurately described. What could only be described as a bluish white circle materialized from within the center of the radiation pocket. This circle expanded to nearly a half dozen kilometers and from its center emerged a ship.
Garrus and the rest of the bridge crew gawked at was undoubtedly the strangest spacecraft they had ever seen.
It was shaped like an artistic flattened teardrop with a wide aft curving inward to a pointed prow. What appeared to be fins or strange antenna protruded the underneath the prow. The profile and general appearance of the strange vessel conveyed an intimidating image that screamed warship.
Garrus's anxiety was only enhanced when magnified images of the ship revealed massive square shaped metal plates that bristled with dozens of objects that had an uncanny resemblance to missile tubes. These were the only obvious armaments the ship sported, but something told Garrus that this vessel was even more dangerous than it already looked.
"Ops, give me some details. I'll take anything you've got," Garrus said.
"Commander, all I can say is this vessel is about 1.7 kilometers in length. That's larger than any dreadnought-." The ops officer suddenly cut himself off, "sir! all my sensors just scrambled! I'm blind!"
Cold fear materialized in Garrus, reinforced by what the comms officer had to say. "Commander! I just lost all communications. I can't connect to any frequency!"
'Spirits,' Garrus thought. "Are we still broadcasting the SOS?"
"Yes sir, but I can't tell if it's going anywhere."
"Commander," Navigator Prolov said pointing to the viewport, "look."
Garrus turned and what he say chilled him. A white colored pinprick of light had appeared on the alien ship's prow. One instant later everything went to hell.
A lance of pure white energy shot from the alien ship at such speed, that in an eye blink it struck the upper hull of the Menae's Might. The ship was briefly enveloped in an intense cocoon of energy. As the beam dissipated the Menae's Might was revealed to be intact but completely devoid of power. The engines were dead, every light was dead, and there was no perceptible movement in the viewports.
"Evasive maneuvers, arm GUARDIANs!" Garrus shouted barely restraining himself from leaping from his chair. "Move us to the opposite side of the planet." It was a reasonable move one frigate versus an oversized dreadnought was the definition of suicide, and as far as Garrus knew the crew of the Menae's Might where all dead.
The Palaven's Pride roared to life, rotated 180 degrees and booked it away from the hostile ship, rocketing to the starboard then to port. Never staying in one spot or in a straight line. Onboard Garrus watched through an aft camera as the alien vessel launched missiles, 15 in total. Each of them locked on and pursued the fleeing frigate.
Just as the missiles maximum range the frigate's aft GUARDIAN lasers opened fire destroying twelve. The last three missiles slipped through the laser fire and slammed into the Pride's upper hull near the base of the engine nacelles.
"Aft barriers are at 5%!" the ops officer yelled.
Garrus could hear the hull groan under the stress.
"Gah! The scanners are still jammed," the same officer yelled in frustration.
Turning back to the aft camera, Garrus could see the enemy ship accelerating towards them. Even though the camera couldn't pick up or provide detailed information, Garrus could still tell that vessel had surpassed the Pride's velocity and was catching up. Another thing Garrus spotted with the camera was the projectile the ship had just launched at them. It had the appearance of an orb of blue fire as it gracefully streaked towards the Pride.
"Hold for orders!" Garrus yelled, still tracking the projectile with the camera.
Every officer on the bridge silenced themselves and focused on their stations, awaiting their commander's orders.
Garrus continued to track the projectile bearing down on them. When he estimated the distance between it and the frigate at about 2,000 kilometers he called out his first order. "Pour all power to the engines! Bring us hard to starboard at five degrees!"
The bridge crew complied, bringing the ship into a sharp starboard turn. The projectile adjusted its course to match the Pride's, but it was now coming at them at an angle.
Garrus waited until the projectile was about 500 kilometers then issued his second order. "Hard to port, 170 degrees."
Again the Pride performed a sharp turn, this time to port. The projectile, coupled with its awkward angle couldn't adjust to the Pride's sudden change in direction. It sped right by the frigate and continued onwards. The bridge of the Pride erupted into wild cheers as the crew congratulated themselves on cheating death.
Unfortunately, all sense of celebration vanished when the fiery projectile accomplished a near perfect 180 and continued to pursue the frigate. None of the crew had time react as the projectile crossed the distance and slammed into Pride, completely bypassing the kinetic barriers and began eating away at the hull.
Commander Garrus Vakarian had never seen such weapons. Where as with the Reapers they'd had at least a small defense against the weapons of the machines. Here, in this universe, they might as well have been tissue paper in a fire to whatever the alien ship had shot at them. Garrus silently listened to his officers screaming as more and more systems went offline. The Pride had been gutted.
Suddenly, his Omni-Tool chimed with an incoming message, briefly breaking Garrus out of his daze. Accepting the message Garrus found himself staring at the faceplate of a frantic Chief Engineer Kal'Teblain.
"Commander!" the Quarian screamed in panic. "Something's melting the hull! The drive core's taken too much damage, it's going critic-"
An explosion could be heard in the background. Kal'Teblain completely vanished from the screen as if yanked out of frame. Soon after that the camera feed died. Garrus only learned what happened a moment later from one junior bridge officers.
"Hull breach! We have a decompression in engineering. Repeat, we have a decompression in engineering!"
Decompression? Undoubtedly everyone who'd been in that compartment had died. Also meaning no one was attempting to stabilize the drive core from going critical. Garrus had only one option left, fighting off a wave of guilt he inputted a code into his console meant for commanding officers only. Immediately a unique alarm began blaring on the ship's intercom. An alarm all Turians knew to dread, abandon ship.
Everywhere crewmen flocked to the nearest escape craft, launching as soon as capacity was met. The bridge crew and Garrus, a total of eight Turians, managed to fill up a single pod and jettisoned away. Garrus remained at the back of the craft to get a look at the damage his ship had sustained. He could see that the entire aft section was coated in what he could only describe as brilliant blue fire. Garrus could even see blobs of molten metal forming spheres as they floated away from the wreckage.
He also could see the alien ship that had shot them down. At this range Garrus didn't have trouble discerning details of its design. Oddly enough, the ship was colored purple. Which starkly contrasted the black metal squares sporting missile silos. In fact, at this range the squares appeared to have been crudely welded to the ship's hull. Either way, the whole thing reeked of a predator.
"What are we going to do, Commander?" Navigator Prolov asked as Garrus took the pilot's seat.
He didn't know. They were in a strange universe. Completely cut off from reinforcements and communications, and they were being hunted by an unknown enemy. All Garrus could think of was to attempt to link up with any other survivors. Maybe, if enough could be gathered then-
Garrus attempted to maneuver the craft, but the controls had locked up. Pulling up a readout of the engine on the console, it indicated that that the thrusters had been disabled. Then a series of about a half dozen thumps reverberated through the craft. All eyes turned to the back hatch for what became their first look at their attackers.
The figure that swung into view was humanoid, roughly two meters tall and covered in a purplish white armor that must have been vacuum sealed, the thing's head was encased in a polarized helmet. Strangely, once the creature had positioned itself outside the hatch, it stopped and just stared into the craft. Apparently it was studying the Turians as much as the Turians were studying it.
Garrus decided to make the most of this moment of inactivity to formulate a plan of any kind. What he came with was simple and hopefully not too dangerous to his crew. The standard issue Turian naval uniform actually had a second purpose. They were specially designed to be used as an emergency EVA suit. Using a unique fold up helmet stored inside a special pouch within the uniform a vacuum seal that would endure brief exposure to space could be created.
Using a series of rigorously drilled hand signals Garrus successfully conveyed his plan and received confirmation from the bridge crew. Who all retrieved their helmets and securely attached them to their uniforms collars.
Meanwhile, the alien outside the hatch watched all this motion with what looked like a quizzical eye. Garrus didn't care however, because whatever it was, it was going to be as good as dead in a moment. As soon as the last Turian was secure, Garrus calmly pressed a red circular button labeled "emergency release." The hatch slid open, breaking the alien's grip and leaving it vulnerable to a blast of atmosphere that propelled it away from the escape craft and into the depths of space.
Their small victory was short lived. Two more of giant aliens appeared at on both sides of the hatch, and these ones were armed. They had what looked like a massive black pistol with two bayonets attached to the weapon's underside.
The alien to the left fired into the craft before any of the bridge crew could react. Garrus got a good look at the projectile. It appeared to be a solid blue metal spike. There didn't seem to be anything energy based about it. Unfortunately, Turian naval uniforms didn't come standard with kinetic barriers.
Two spikes hit two Turians in their shoulders. Both Turians spasmed once, then stopped moving altogether. At that moment three Turians who happened to have pistols themselves pulled them out and opened fire. Their shots had no effect, simply bouncing off whatever type of shields these aliens employed. The pistol wielding Turians had no chance as the aliens methodically fired one spike per Turian. Garrus snatched up a floating pistol and resumed firing only to watch as one of the alien fired a spike at him. Suddenly, Navigator Prolov was in front of Garrus and took the spike meant for the Commander. Like with the others Prolov twitched once then went still. Pushing the Navigator to the floor Garrus attempted to line up another shot, only to take a second spike to his arm. Instantly Garrus felt an agonizing wave of electricity course through his body. Briefly fighting through the pain, Garrus saw the last member of the bridge crew, who'd also seized a pistol, take a spike to the knee and go limp. Only then did Garrus black out.
/
"Chieftain, we have captured the survivors."
"Good, how many in total?"
"58 of the whelps, chieftain. We had to use stunners on some of them and lost a few warriors."
"Grrrr, how many did we lose?"
"Three, chieftain. Two were killed, one was lost to space."
"Roundup six of the currs and execute them. By the way, what race are they."
"I don't know, I've never seen any of their species."
"Hmmm, return to the ship. It's been a good haul and a good hunt. We might even gain favor with the Overlords for finding something new for them."
"Yes, chieftain."
/
Location: unknown. 72 hours later
UNSC Polaris, March 6, 2596
"What am I looking at, ensign."
"Ma'am, the sensors have found two vessels. One has been destroyed, the other isn't generating any power. There also appears to be a large structure orbiting the planet."
"Any life signs?"
"Sensors are still working ma'am.
"Any indication of who did this?"
"Indications of plasma damage and explosive residue consistent with Type 80 rockets. My money's on Brutes, Ma'am."
"Damn raiders."