"Awaken my enemy" Liara groaned as an explosion of colour tore through her mind and she tried to open her eyes only to see blackness consume her vison.
She slowly became aware that something soft and cool was resting upon her forehead, with something kind of liquid trickling down the side of her face.
Raising a hand to her face, Liara hand discovered a wet cloth was resting upon her head. But that wasn't the only thing she noticed as she slowly regained feeling across her body. She wasn't standing, nor was she lying upon anything. But she felt weightless, like drifting through the void of space.
Or, being trapped in a singularity.
Ripping the cloth from her face, Liara gasped as she saw herself glowing biotic energy. Looking about, she then realised she was in some kind of cave, with organic looking substance covering the walls and large crystals glowing illuminated the place.
"Calm self my enemy" Liara froze as the voice seemed to echo in her own mind, then slowly she took a better look around the room.
"Who's there?" she called out fearfully, something moved in the shadows, something much larger than herself.
"Please show yourself" Liara begged, eyes watching the shadows for further movement.
"What do you seek my enemy" spoke the voice again, carrying a powerful female tone behind it, Liara was confused.
"I'm not your enemy" began Liara as a feeling of dread swept over her. Was she dealing with a new species, did they believe her to be hostile? How did she even end up here?
"Child of my enemy's, what do you seek from my hive" Liara heard impatience behind the voice and dark unhappy colours flickered through her mind.
"I seek answers" stuttered Liara in fear, a flash of curiosity flickered through her mind but it was not her own.
"Answers to what questions?" was her reply.
"I seek answers, about Humanity" as the words flickered past her lips, something shot out of the darkness and into her vision.
"Goddess!" she swore, recoiling back in alarm as multiple large eyes stared at her face to face.
"You seek the Mercy Singers my Enemy?" there was amusement in the voice, followed by cheerful colours.
Slowly the eyes drew away, revealing the speaker at long last. But Liara rather not have seen who was speaking once she realized what it was.
The speaker was a Rachni, she learnt about the species that threated the galaxy 2000 years ago as a child. They were supposed to be extinct, long gone. But what was standing before her defied the common belief taught by history.
"Rach…ni" stuttered Liara in disbelief.
"You sing of fear, not war or songs of peace" the Rachni tilted her head "How has my enemy come to my home?"
"I was… Following the trail humanity left behind…. It brought me here" said Liara hesitantly, eyes never leaving the unblinking gaze of the Rachni before her.
"The Mercy Singers showed us mercy, now I shall do the same for my enemy" and with those words and a confusing barrage of colours, Liara felt her feet slowly press against the ground and the biotic field around her dissipated.
Now standing under her own power, Liara realised how much larger the Rachni was compared to herself.
"I am Sings-song-of-Peace" the Rachni bowed her head slightly as she spoke before turning her head to look at something.
Liara followed the Rachni's gaze nervously, until she was staring at a large and unfamiliar looking console with a familiar statue sitting upon its surface. Then a thought struck her, a panicked filled thought that filled her with dread.
"Where are the others?" the Rachni looked at her, expressing colours of confusion.
"My crew, the other people who were accompanying me" explained Liara.
"Enemy land upon ancient city, sung to children to defend land" Liara stomach dropped as the Rachni spoke.
"Enemy fought, we sung song of victory, brought survivors here…. They study the hives of old Mercy Singers" Liara was taken aback, so the Rachni captured most of the crew and was letting them study the human ruins here on this planet, these Rachni sounded nothing like the ones she learnt from history lessons.
"Why didn't you kill us?" it was a dangerous question, but Liara just had to ask.
"Kill when must, don't kill needlessly. This is the wisdom the Mercy Singers have sung for many cycles" Liara noticed the way the Rachni spoke was as if the humans were still alive, but they couldn't be they disappeared 50 000 years ago... Unless they were still here hiding behind relay 314!
"May I see the Mercy Singers?" she asked, trying to suppress the excitement and tension in her voice.
The Rachni moved to the console and waved one of her clawed appendages at the console in question, before tapping a button. Stepping back, Liara watched in silence as the machine began to hum and a shower of red data particles circled in the air.
Liara watched with deep fascination as a holographic form of a Rachni Brood warrior materialised in the room, the creature looked at her briefly before collapsing into data once more and rebuilding itself into something else. The young Archaeologist was shocked when the data particles began forming into a body that nearly looked identical to an Asari, yet as the head was constructed she noticed the head crest was significantly different.
This creature's crest turned into many strands of unknown purpose, which curved backwards then circled back around to form a pair of what looked to be horns, Liara wasn't sure if that observation was accurate but the being before her look 90% identical to an Asari like herself.
"Greeting Dr Liara T'soni, my name is EDI. I am what the Rachni call a Mercy Singer, and what you call Humanity" stated the holographic in a blunt but casual voice, Liara felt her legs tremble beneath her with both excitement and shock.
"I believe you have questions I may be able to answer" continued the hologram, holding both her hands behind her back and looking at Liara with an expectant gaze.
"Your… an AI?" said Liara slowly.
"Yes and no" was the blunt reply from EDI, before she, Liara assumed it was female began to smile softly.
"While I may appear synthetic, I am human but am confined to contacting you in this form" explained EDI.
Liara nodded slowly in understanding, remembering the holographs used by some people when contacting each other. They weren't physically there but one could still see their body language and expression allowing better communication.
"So this is just a communicator?" asked Liara gesturing to the console.
"No" Liara was taken aback, what did she mean no?
"This machine is home to my consciousness, I have no physical body only my mind…. The simplest explanation I can grant you is that my mind was uploaded into the machine" Liara felt like sitting down, this was just all too much for her.
"I know this may seem overwhelming, but please continue with your next question. I am enjoying this conversation" said EDI smiling, Liara looked between the silent forms of the Rachni then back to the holographic person standing before her.
"Are there more… Humans like yourself?" EDI looked surprised by the question, or so Liara thinks. She had no clue what the body language of a human would be like.
"There are some few trillion human minds yes, but only a rare few like myself are permitted to leave the Guardians collective consciousness" explained EDI, creating more questions than it answered.
"Guardians?" questioned Liara, she was surprised when the Rachni spoke up to answer her.
"Mercy Singer body, large powerful" as the Rachni spoke with warm colours, the Rachni itself was surrounded by biotic energy and it extended a mass effect field around the statue, making it weightlessly drift towards Liara who caught the statue with careful hands.
"Wait… This is what humans really look like?" Liara exclaimed in alarm, both the Rachni and EDI seemed to find her outburst amusing.
"No, I am a representation of a human being, what you hold is our Guardians…. That is what humanity resides within" EDI tried to explain, causing Liara more confusion.
Why was everything so complex, sure she was learning more now than months at any dig sight hat uncovered, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that this information was hollow? Like it was unimportant.
"I think I have shared enough for now, I have enjoyed this conversation Dr T'soni thank you" said EDI before looking to the Rachni.
"My enemy, to continue your path for answers you much pass a test" announced the Rachni, taking a step forwards and into Liara's personal space.
"A test?" Liara asked fearfully.
"One of our children is lost in your space, she is young and innocent, without a name or hive to protect her" Liara was bombarded with sadden colours, grief and worry all pounded against her own emotions and she briefly saw the equivalent of an unborn Rachni child.
"Go to her, bring her back to the Singers and we will allowing you to continue your journey for the Mercy Singer's" it sounded more like a deal than a test, Liara had to simply retrieve some unborn child and bring it back to the Rachni and they would let her learn more about Humanity.
But there was a problem, she didn't have a ship or a crew.
"Your research vessel will be your transport, I have taken the liberty of repairing the ship and granting you a small crew of VI controlled mech platforms" informed EDI.
"When do I leave?" asked Liara meekly, eyes looking between the giant Rachni and EDI.
"Immediately!" Liara jumped at the harshness of the Rachni song, before noticing there were two smaller Rachni warriors in the room flanking either side of her.
As Liara was awkwardly lead out of the room and into the dark twisting tunnels of the hive. The Rachni queen lowered herself onto a platform and held her twitching two finger hands against her chest. The implication of Liara's arrival had been partly unexpected, for 2000 years her kind had lived in perfect Harmony with the Mercy Singers, but with Liara's arrival came a disturbance.
Sings-song-of-Peace looked towards EDI, before gazing up at the ceiling deep in thought. She had been taught by the former Queen of peace that one day the Rachni, her people would eventually have to make amends for the war they caused long ago. Though her genetic memory she saw the horrors her people had committed under the influence of the sour note in the past, Sings-song-of-Peace was determined to right the wrongs of the old days.
She may be the Queen of Peace for Shanxi, that didn't mean she knew that sometimes you have to use violence in order to redeem oneself.
"Contact the Singer of the hymns of War, we need one of her cruisers immediately" announced the Queen, causing EDI to raise her holographic eye brows in reply.
"May I inquire why you need a cruiser my Queen?" asked EDI calmly.
"We Sing alone, the Children sing of peace and tranquillity… Harmony…. We still carry the burden of the past, must make amends and sing with the other singers of the galaxy" said the Rachni, wavering a bit as she became tired of using the irritating grammar of non Rachni species.
"You wish to contact the council races?" asked EDI looking surprised, this was way ahead of schedule the Rachni while independent weren't supposed to contact the Citadel until the Guardians could ensure there would be no violence towards them.
"No, help others. Sings song of Mercy to the weak" the Queen clarified.
EDI understood now, the Queen was tired of waiting. It was time for action, to rebuild the reputation of the Rachni species into something not of violence and death, but of liberation and friendship. It was a good idea, build rumours of helpful Rachni to increase popular support when they one day re-join the wider galaxy.
"I'll make the call, but you could've done this already without my help?" said EDI with a hint of concern, Rachni were telepathic, able to contact one another through their minds. The Queens especially were the strongest telepaths, able to contact other planets if they were determined enough.
"Grown Old, have many children. Much to do so little time" EDI looked sadden at the news, and casting a brief scan over the Queen the data confirmed her worries.
"I'll see it done my Queen, you should rest" the Queen rested herself upon her platform, singing softly to her children and basking in their songs of joy and happiness as they continued to expand the hive and care for the city above.
Present age
Unknown Location in Dark Space
Deep in the dark gloomy expanse of dark space outside the Milky Way galaxy, a silent form sat motionlessly in the void. The mass hadn't moved in over 50 000 years or so since the last cycle, when the forces of humanity and Prothean had fallen to the silent rulers of the galaxy.
But despite this, a slight signal traveling through the universe made the hulking form twitch slightly. Like a child twitched when they experience a bad dream of nightmare, and like any child the mass slowly awoken.
Slowly a few glowing blue lights flickered to life across the hull, before darkening to hide itself and turning a bright golden shake instead. Being careful to not awaken the others, the mass opened a private and encrypted massage through galaxy, towards the only race that had significantly defied the silent rulers.
BaddEGG: Had the nightmare, was the movie played?
GreenBacon: Movie was played, blue Monkey put it on.
BaddEGG: Blue Monkey? Unexpected, are school grades good?
GreenBacon: Promising grades, make good care taker of flock.
BaddEGG: Pleasing, must go before troll notices me.
GreenBacon: Understandable, keep in touch.
And with that short conversation, the communication signal disappeared without a trace. Slowly the golden lights disappeared before anyone else noticed they were on, and like nothing happened the mass went back to deep sleep.
Across the other side of the galaxy, drifting silently through the Sol System towards the green and blue planet known as Earth. Admiral Hackett sent out a signal to his fellow Guardians, notifying the awaken dreadnaughts to an urgent meeting that needed to take place.
Around the battered and scared surface of Earths Moon, 4 Guardian class dreadnaughts of varying size landed upon the dark grey surface and touched wing tips, forming a massive circle with their metallic bodies.
From each Guardian, a hologram emitted into the centre of the circling, bringing to life a large circular table with 4 human beings sitting around it.
Admiral Hackett sat in full Alliance uniform, dressed in blue and gold attire with an admirals had perched upon his scalp. His grey beared face looked old, and holographic scars covered his face showing his age and former years of combat experience against the Protheans and Reapers alike.
The next individual was the younger, youthful looking Captain Jeff. The man was in his pilot's uniform with a cap perched upon his head and sleeves rolled back on his arms. He had a rather casual look about him despite the meeting and made light jokes to the man sitting to his right.
Agent Jack Harper was different from his companions, dressed in a suit without a tie, the man sat back casually in his chair smoking an imaginary cigar while cybernetic eyes gazed at a holographic data pad. A data pad that he passed on to his right towards the next meeting member.
Anderson took the pad silently his eyes skimming over the contents while his dark skinned and weathered face contorted slightly in disapproval as he glanced up towards Hackett. Unlike the admiral Anderson had chosen to dress in more traditional marine attires, distinguishing himself as a simple Alliance marine.
"You know why we're here" stated Hackett bluntly shattering the silence that hung between them all.
"The signal has been sent, the next Shepard has been found meaning it's time for us to act" declared Jack lazily as he took a deep draft from his cigar.
"Finally, I was getting kind of lonely out here patrolling the relays by myself" said Jeff cheerfully.
"Jeff this is serious, were behind schedule" said Anderson sternly at the former pilot, Jeff lost his smile and gave Anderson a stern glare.
"You don't think I know that, I've spent the last 2000 years settling the Rachni into our former homes, there only just beginning to build up a respectable fleet and we still haven't touched the other races!" yelled Jeff trying to keep his composure, he'd grown tired of the lack of action from his brethren, who refused to fully commit until after the first artefact had been discovered.
"I may be able to solve that problem Vanguard" announced Jack casually, everyone went silent and Hackett gestured for the man to continue.
"While not fully committed, I have been keeping tabs on the systems outside our control… The Krogan would make a promising ally, they have been neglected for too long and we have the resources to rebuild their home and forge an alliance… I only need 7 other Guardians to transport the resources and a willing Rachni Queen who sings songs of building" announced Jack.
"The Krogan will never let it pass, they are the sworn enemies to the Rachni" Jeff nearly growled, slamming a fist on the table. But Hackett gestured for the Vanguard to back off and stood up.
"Manipulating people is what I'm best at Vanguard" Jack inhaled on his cigar "I'll have the alliance made, I already have support from several Rachni Queens who approve of my chosen candidate" announced Jack as he exhaled smoke from his lungs.
Jeff felt angered, the Rachni were his people to protect, and he didn't like it when the other few Guardians who'd been awaken began to meddle with them. He knew they'd never intentionally harm them but they were like children, and Jeff felt an urge from all the female minds of his Guardian the Normandy SR2 to look after the Rachni like his own children.
Jack slid a data pad across the table, showing Jeff a picture of a red armoured Krogan with a red face plate that was heavily scarred from combat. Down the side of his yellowish scaled face were more scars that made those red eyes look even more menacing, but there was a certain intelligence behind those eyes.
"Urdnot Wrex was a former Chieftain of his clan and once tried rebuilding his home from its state of chaos, but he didn't have the resources to do so...Resources we can provide" informed Jack calmly, looking to Hackett expectantly.
"Are you certain he can do it?" questioned Hackett, Jack looked almost offended… Almost.
"With the assistance of Cerberus and myself, I can't see him failing anytime soon" declared Jack, Jeff didn't like these shady types, but if he got the Rachni number one enemy on their side, that mean it would be far safer for his adopted children to mingle amongst the galaxy once more.
Meanwhile back on Shanxi, Liara T'soni sighed to herself as she sat back in her chair and stared aimlessly at the ceiling for several minutes, before resuming the task of typing down everything she remembered onto her computer.
So much unwanted excitement and adventure, sure she dreamed of heroic adventures as a child but after her first real exploration in uncharted space. Liara was second guessing her carrier path, maybe a job as a cafe owner would be better, less Rachni and confusion involved.
After her conversation with the Rachni and EDI, Liara had been taken back to her ship which had been renamed EVE by the Rachni for some unknown reason. She couldn't help but notice despite how terrifying they appeared, the Rachni acted so peaceful and curious, like children investigating new people.
She found it hard to imagine the Rachni as vicious war hungry creatures, especially how timid they acted when she got to close or when she sneezed once or twice. She swore her Rachni guards jumped back in fear on the first occasion, it was mildly amusing to watch but also terrifying as she didn't know if they would react violently.
Then there were the Mechs, Liara had seen security bots before on several occasions but these things. A few looked like Geth!
They were humanoid with sleek frames and exposed muscle fibres for strength, but it was the eye, that flashlight like orb for a face that really made her uneasy.
Thankfully they weren't the only mechs around there were other more combat looking mechs with rectangular heads and two slit like optics on the side of their heads that glowed a murderous red. These mechs carried large rifles and covered in thick battle armour.
A knock at the door disturbed Liara from her train of thought, and she looked to the door of her new room with confusion.
Strangely the old captain's quarters had been striped and repurposed to be her personal chamber, it was strange but the Mech had been blunt about the issue before disappearing leaving her with the Rachni Brood warriors… Who were oddly still on the ship guarding her door last she checked.
"Enter" called out Liara, inhaling a breath to prepare herself for any un-pleasantries.
To her surprise one of the combat Mechs strolled into the room, its navy blue armour glittering softly in the light. As it strolled into the room, it suddenly gave a Turian salute to her before standing tall like a soldier, with the armour of its head flicking upwards to reveal a smooth domed surface with several funny lines on it.
The lines were positioned almost like a face, well a childish drawing of a face.
"Commander T'soni, I am Platform 17333 your XO aboard this ship" informed the Mech with a serious expression on its face.
"Commander?" said Liara startled.
"Affirmative, at 1900 hours Dr Liara T'soni of the Asari republic was officially granted Rachni citizenship and promoted of command aboard the EVE" informed the Mech, giving a smile at her in a comforting manner.
"Goddess" said Liara her jaws agape in shock, this couldn't be happening, why would someone she never met just give her command of a retired warship?
"Commander the ship is prepared to depart, shall we proceed to relay 314?" questioned the Mech suddenly, snapping Liara out of her shock.
"Umm yes that would be preferable" said Liara nervously, she was distinctively aware that the door to the room was still open allowing the Rachni outside to overhear the conversation.
"Affirmative, I shall oversee the procedure.." suddenly the Mech raised an arm and activated a red Omni tool much to Liara shock.
"A Rachni codex has just been uploaded to your Omni tool commander, I shall be awaiting upon the bridge" the Mech saluted once more, before departing from the room leaving Liara in shock.
Liara finally found the energy to speak, and mumbled to herself as she activated her Omni tool and began to read the new Codex entries that were uploaded to her device. She was shocked by the wealth of knowledge bestowed upon her, and astonished to see a small snippet of humanities history included amongst the data.
Almost unaware of the EVE beginning its departure from atmosphere, Liara begin reading how humanity was bestowed upon with ancient technology. Technology that housed an AI which advance humanity be centuries and into a space fairing species, the Codex was heavily summarised but it went all the way to a time in history where the Protheans made contact with humanity.
Liara was astounded to discover that the Protheans were a rather violent race, and according to the Codex the two races started a war due to the planet Shanix, where she currently resided being orbitally bombed by Prothean forces.
From the Codex, Liara learnt about Rachni sub species and felt shameful that she acted rather poorly before a Rachni queen, more exactly the Queen of Peace for Shanxi. It was a strange system where several Queens developed pacific roles for their hive.
One hive may be military in outlook, one centred around building and another around ensuring peace. She also learnt what a Guardian was.
Looking up from her Omni tool, Liara looked towards a book shelf where the Guardian statue sat with its glowing golden eyes. While unnerving, Liara was positive the statue held great importance. She remembered touching the stone before blacking out and seeing a blur of memories that weren't her own, maybe once this was over she could ask the Rachni queen of Peace to use her Telepathic skills to help her understand these foreign memories.
"What secrets do you hide" she muttered to the statue coldly, the eyes glowed brightly for a moment and Liara doubled over in pain as it felt like knives slashed through her mind.
To be Continued…..
And so the bizzar cross between Mass Effect and dragons continue hahahha! Space Dragons wow I come up with some weird ideas, but out of curiosity how many people actually like the idea?
I'm honestly surprise that a lot of people have followed this story thus far and it leaves me scratching my head. But nether the less thanks to everyone for the support and I hope I can continue to produce some entertaining reading material for you all.
However sadly I may have gotten... Side tracked with another story, lets just say I wrote another Mass Effect fanfic based on the First Contact war ending with humanity becoming extinct... But not before leaving something behind for the Galaxy.
It's called Mass Effect: Chimera... Ye I need better titles for the story.
Anyway I got a rough idea where to go with the Lost Guardians story, just gotta write it down... this will take a while ^.=.^;
Also the person who called this a Mass effect / Spyro crossover, I think you need a cookie I got a good laugh from that.
Thanks again to everyone for there support and please share you feelings of the story, I need some input for this work as I'm not 100% familiar or accurate with my writing, anyway stay tune for another edition of MASS EFFECT LOST GUARDIANS!
PS: Would it bug people If I wrote some Omakes for this? Just for laughs?