Galactic Fallout

Disclaimer

This is a non-profit Fan Fiction

Mass Effect is owned by Bioware

Fallout is owned by Bethesda

Please support the official release

Chapter – 2 – Renegades and Traitors

To say Liara T'Soni was nervous was a gross understatement, saying she was also excited was also highly inaccurate. It had been three weeks, three whole agonising, slow and mind numbing weeks. The crew of the Alronzo had departed its dock on the Citadel with little to no issue or fanfare and headed out into the unknown depths of space. It had barely taken them a few days before they passed through the registered and inactive Relay Three-Seventeen. And from there it had been a hop skip and jump from one relay to the next.

The dangers of opening three undocumented Relay's did not dawn on the young Asari's mind. To her and by extension the Citadel Council only the promise of the Prothean metaphorical gold mine mattered. But the mumblings of strange alien creatures had kept many in the crew on edge.

Still as she waited on the bridge Liara help could not be terrified at the same time. As she leaned against the railing that encircled the tiny room she let her mind wander. Something about the trip sent off warning lights in her brain. The fact that her entire funding had just evaporated and then suddenly reappeared was one of many issues she had had even before she came on-board. At the time it had been worrying, but its sudden return had been even more troubling.

Then there was the ship itself was a piece of junk, bought second hand from a Volus ship dealer it had been rated more on its cargo capacity and efficiency over its looks. Blockish and rugged the ship itself looked more like a roughly hewn rock hacked to resemble something vaguely reminiscent to the shape of a space worthy vessel. Still it hadn't failed them yet, though looking around the bridge and its terraced Turian layout, Liara wondered if the rest of the crew felt that their investment had been sound. Looking up at the centre of the room she guessed by the Asari captains expression the answer was no.

But then there was the crew.

Liara had dealt with mercenaries', cut-throats and even battled that one gang of pirates in her few decades at dig sites. But all she could say about her crew was that they were possible the single largest group of misfits she had ever seen.

Her dig team were nearly all friends that she had pulled together after the universities had abandoned her. Like Treeya who she had helped through her under graduate years, or were at least people that she respected and trusted to pull their weight as the first team into an important historical find, regardless of their attitudes. They also had a Salarian documentary maker, Solik Vass who seemed nice even if his questions were a littler persistent, but then again his company was paying for a small part of their fuel supply.

The engineering core on the other hand had been hired mostly as independents as much of the team's diminished budget had been spent on equipment rather than reliable engineering guilds. They were neither organised or knew the procedures of being on an archaeological dig and were keeping the ship running at a bare minimum. Liara thanked her crest that the head mechanic Jacobus was ex-military and was able to keep things running relatively smoothly, even if he did complain about having a Quarian working for him.

And then there were the mercenaries. They were hired to protect the team from any potentially 'hostile' life forms, as while each of the team knew how to hold a gun the difference between a professional and a practice hand was more noticeable then most people would expect. Like the engineers they were largely independent that had signed on for a small cut of the profits. They had everything on this trip from a squad of Salarian troops to a pair of Batarian twins and even a rather grumpy Elcor who stayed down in the cargo hold. Liara was grateful that the Serrice University had awarded her a small contingent of Asari Commandos to act as head of the ships security. Shiala herself was nice, and well meaning, and nowhere near as hard as her two compatriots, and she was excellent at defusing that fight between that Ex C-Sec Turian and the Krogan. In truth she was the only person Liara trusted to keep the mercs in line.

Still the motley crew had managed to make it this far to their destination without killing each other, another hour or two would not hurt.

"Excuse me Dr T'Soni" a calm voice from behind called, its sound dragging the young women back to reality, "but we are almost ready to exit FTL"

"Oh sorry Melvia. I was miles away" Liara smiled, turning to face the Asari captain

From the centre of the room the captain returned Liara's awkward small talk with a grin before returning her attention to a holographic screen that lay out before her on the raised command plinth.

Typing a few commands into the screen the captain brow troughed as she read the readouts. Calling to the staff seated outwards on the lower circle, she ordered them to reduce thrust as they pulled out of FTL. In compliance the team all punched in their command and Liara felt the sudden vertigo of the engines changing propulsion.

Looking around it looked like a large number of people felt it to. Treeya was absently rubbing her stomach, while a Salarian and Hanar held onto the rails that surrounded the circular indent. As Liara began to feel her stomach almost twist inside out she knew she should have forked out more for better inertial dampeners. The only person among the crew who seemed un-phased by the sudden shift in FTL was a lone Turian, Jaliruss Anthon, who was standing perfectly at attention, likely a sign of dedicated military service.

"Attention all crew" the captain began, shouting into a communicator, "we will be entering system in… ten…nine… eight"

Liara prepared herself for whatever was about to appear.

"Seven… six… five"

This would be the turning point in her career.

"Four… three… two"

"Hold on my camera is not ready" Solik Vass tried to yell over the countdown as he fumbled with his equipment

This would unlock the secrets of the Protheans.

"One!"

A sudden jerk suddenly rocked the ship forcing everyone standing to suddenly lurch forward. Liara could see the blue outline of the element zero give way round the bridge view screen showing the vast expanse of the endless void and its twinkling stars.

"Attention all crew" the Asari captain stated, a smug grin creping across her face "We have arrived"

The air within the bridge suddenly became tense, not an unnatural awkwardness more a feeling of suspense, like that you just get before a birthday party or some other amazing event. Many of the gathered scientists and archaeologists all had expressions of disbelief or amazement slowly creeping towards the view screen, their eyes darting through the oncoming blackness as if trying to pick the location of the artefacts by hand. Liara herself was now leaning out into the great glass done that formed the front of their tub shaped ship, her smile almost as big as the endless ocean of the void.

"We're here" she said disbelieving the words that left her mouth.

"Are we certain of that" the Turian asked from his un-shifted position at the back of the bridge, a tone of suspicions flowing from his tongue "Shouldn't we check?"

"Agreed" Treeya nodded holding Liara's shoulder as she talked to a nearby Salarian, "Professor Kelzad could you please run a scan on the surrounding area"

The amphibious alien nodded, its great domed eyes blinking. Strolling past the far more confused Vass the Salarian waved the documentary maker aside allowing him to access a nearby consul. Pulling on some gloves and headphones as he went Kelzad began to type rapidly on thin air, the holographic light flashing in response to his motions. Soon after a hologram showing a number of data readouts appeared causing the Vass to jump back, the far more pale Salarian taken by surprised by the wealth of data, his equally large eyes engrossed by the potential story..

"Activating probes, infrared and ultraviolet scanning commencing, scanning signals activated" came the monotone expression of the Professor, "Preliminary results will be available in three to five minutes"

"Very good keep up for the next hour or so we should find the location within that time"

Liara quickly shot the Turian a disapproving look, she had only bought him because of his success in translating Prothean dialects, and while he had done everything by the book, she was slightly resentful he had just jumped the gun.

"Something wrong Doctor"

"No nothing Treeya" Liara replied, realising her expressions had betrayed her inner most thoughts again; "it is just".

"Ahhh!"

"What is it" came the hurried responses, with everyone suddenly looking towards Professor Kelzad who had jumped nearly out of his skin. His rapid breathing and shocked expression making his concave stomach look almost flat in comparison to the species.

"Sorry just… I heard… its…"

"Well spit it out man" the Turian now growled not waiting for the poor man to catch his breath, earning himself another series of angry glances.

"I just heard... well I am not sure what I heard" Kelzad explained, lowering his head phones from around his horns, looking more unnerved then frightened.

"What is it" Asked another Archaeologist from the back of the bridge "What did you here?"

"It's easier for you to listen to then to explain"

Pressing a button, his glove fingers gave way to reveal what looked like a transmission, a bar showing a wavy line that quickly began to fluctuate as the bridges speakers played back the transmission, each words that it emanated making absolutely no sense.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOWAAHHH! This is Three DOOOGGGGG speaking, giving you the latest, truest and best news that your little heads can handle".

"What" was all Solik Vass could mouth before the Salarian documentary maker was cut off by another wave of wild hyper speed ramblings.

"I would like to give a shout out to Miss Elder Lyons and her lovey dubby Bear of a Husband, keep up the work you two and fight the good fight. And no Sarah you do not look fat. Anyway news time. On today's schedule it seems raider numbers are at an all-time low so much so I can report no disappearances of caravans in the last month. I mean I think this has been the first time since the bombs dropped that someone didn't kick the bucket due to this radioactive monstrosity we called a planet. HA! All thanks to our boys in Grey and the wondrous kid from one-oh-one. Hey Michael this one's for you"!

"Did anyone understand that" called one women, the strange language making no sense?

"What kind of creature has that sort of lungs" asked an even more confused Anthon astonished by the seemingly endless rant that had just been spewed at them?

"What kind of creature talks like that?"

"The better question T'Soni" Kelzad asked "is what kind of 'Intelligent' creature talks like that" his two bulbous black eyes expanding.

"Three… two… one"

The anti-climactic sound of a party horn broke a silence that almost deafened the engine room. The gathered myriad of aliens and engineers all crammed round the intercom in the rather tiny, listening to the 'egg heads' argue and complain about their sudden arrival. Pressed up against the two giant cooling tanks that took up a whole side of the room, a number of these individuals tried to crane their heads over the others to get a better look at the intercom. For all good it did.

Only one person stood apart from the others. Her Name was Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, a Quarian, one of a species of refugees who now drifted throughout the galaxy in ancient ships, looking for some way to return home after their creations took it from them. Tali however currently tinkering with the room's solar cell, trying to find the reason behind the flickering light over Rentola's work place.

The Quarian herself was not exactly ecstatic that she had been excluded from the rest of her 'peers' but it had been made clear the day she had got on-board she was not welcome. Hired due to an impressive resume by one of the many archaeologists, the engineering team had taken issue with her the moment she had shown up. 'Suit Rat' had been one of the many terms hurled at her, that and Cyborg, Clanless, Flashlight face, Skalap, whatever that meant. In truth Tali was glad at times she had to wear an environment suit, it meant that she could blend in better with the machinery, allowing her to hide from them when they were looking for someone to blame. Even if she had to wear a helmet all the time just not to die from a sneeze.

Still as she heard the chief mechanic yell at the men to get back to work she braced herself for the disgruntled crew to barge past her. Taking out their pent up time traveling on some poor young girl just on her pilgrimage, to think she left the Flotilla for this.

Sighing she saw her mouth piece flash as she breathed out, just as she waited for the large Batarian to slam her into the circuitry she had just been working on. Forced to the ground Tali let them past knowing any retaliation was just going to get her hit, and she didn't need to fix her HUD's glass again, especially after the head engineer had cracked it last time.

Speaking of him.

"Hey suit rat! Get up" the bare faced Turian barked.

Looking up at the lanky form of the pale Turian, Tali winced at the term she still hated being called that. Still she was just glad the helmet hid everything accept her eyes, it allowed her to fend off insults with silence.

"I said get up!" He shouted again, swinging a large case at her, it missing her by inches and hitting the coolant storage!

Without another word, Tali climbed to her feet, her two toed boots clinking as she balanced herself back onto her feet. Glowering back at this 'Commander Jacobus as he titled himself, Tali felt almost disgusted she had to share the same amino acid clarity with the bosh'tet. Glowering back her, the Turian held an equal expression of disgust bouncing the case he had just tried to hit her with in his left hand. Still thanks to the helmet, all the Turian could see was her silver eyes. She was pretty certain that he would have another go if he could see her face right now. Thankfully he didn't.

"Now you" he growled "get back to work" he spat, some saliva leaving his mouth and landing onto the girls purple drapes.

Un-phased the Turian engineering chief walked off down the narrow corridor in the direction of the Fusion core, leaving the poor Quairan to wipe the liquid off her suits decorative cloth.

'Bet he did that to get me sick' Tali swore to herself as she wiped the slime off her, 'how a creep like that made engineer I will never know, he doesn't even do anything but yell at u… what's that"

Looking down Tali saw something lying on the ground. It wasn't unusual to see parts just lying on the floor down with engineers but this thing was strange. She was an expert engineer, hell a mechanical genius, within three days being on the ship she knew every section of it and every art it needed. And this thing… whatever it was she did not recognise it, which was strange.

Picking up and holding in-between her finger and thumb she examined it. It was long and thin, with a red stub at one end and a thin point at the other. It looked like a pin, a very thick pin, but a pin none the less. It was obviously electronic with its small indents and exposed wiring near the top, but apart from those marks it seemed wholly unremarkable. Maybe it was a specialist part, if it was she had never seen it, probably belonged to another mechanic.

Turning to one of her nearest colleague she reached out and tapped him on the shoulder. The Drell swung round and glared at her once again his reptilian if otherwise humanoid face look offended that Tali had just touched him, but softened when she tilted her head.

"Erm sorry…" Tali asked kindly "is this your" she added as she extended her palm, stretching out to show him the part.

The Drell looked it for a second, his eyes twitching as he searched his very deep memory, finally giving her a blank stare.

"N-no sorry" he said with a brief pause as if he was somehow shocked.

"Sorry" stated, taking it to her pocket before she felt a hand reach out and grab her by the wrist.

"Where did you get that?" came a quick and hushed question.

"Rentola what are you" Tali spluttered trying to struggle against the Salarian surprisingly strong grip.

"Where did you get that?" He asked again a little more vigorously again.

"On the floor I was just asking…"

"Take it to the Shiala" he ordered before moving away without another word.

'What in the ancestors?'

Authors Notes

Well here is the second chapter, it isn't much but once again I am testing the water, true there has been no Fallout yet but that will turn up next chapter. I did consider giving the Lone Wanderer an appearance in the end of this chapter but then again I felt it would subtract from his overall appearance. Anyway I hope people are seeing subtle hints of certain things I am working in and the overarching plot line that is evolving.

Anyway please review it really gives me a boost in the confidence department to keep writing. Also I like to have pointers on how to improve my work so be as critical as you like.