Chapter 2: The Dormant God Awakens
It's been a few hours since the meeting with the council ended. The ageing Zabrak studied the holo-records to find any information on this Shepard. There were a few other Jedi in the room, some were helping him but most went about their business. Considering how the many Galaxy systems have records going back as far as 100,000 years it seems kind of strange that a Galaxy ending calamity happened only 50,000 years ago. Interstellar Travel alone happened 100,000 years ago so this evidence given makes little to no sense.
Seeing that this evidence came from Dantooine, Dack began looking through records of the Dantooine legends, mythologies and Religions to try and understand this. After all, every myth and legend has some basis in facts, whether it is actual stories or exaggerated claims from an unknowing species, legends still have a very important role in looking at the distant past.
One such legend comes from the Dantari race, or at least theories on their depictions of what appears to be a legend on various cave and rock surfaces. The Dantari are a near-human like race that developed on Dantooine. It's unknown if they actually originated from Dantooine or maybe the decedents of survivors of a lost Republic ship from eons ago, but their culture is very much like a Hunter Gatherer. They have yet to even develop Agriculture or forge metals.
The paintings on the walls seems to show some kind of war between their people strange demon like beasts. The demons were depicted as oval drawings with various lines, much like legs or tentacles, that came out the bottom. The beasts descended from the sky while the Dantari fought back. It is possible that the Dantari were descended from an intelligent race that was wiped out by this threat. Who it could be is a mystery, 50,000 years ago the only civilization to possess interstellar travel was the Columi, it wasn't till the Rakata that interstellar travel was possible.
Well, many races got interstellar as far back as 200,000 years ago but it was slow and almost impossible to reach other planets, The Rakata were really the first to travel through Hyperspace and that happened almost 20,000 years after this calamity. Perhaps there is another race all together that waged this war, one we know nothing about. After all the Galaxy is a very big place, many experts say there could literally be thousands of civilizations as big as the Republic all in the same galaxy. The odds of 2 empires colonizing the same worlds and meeting is almost nonexistent, so many worlds that it could take millions of years for these empires to meet. If this force that brought about this Calamity existed it could still be around, possible inhabiting millions of planets that the Republic has not yet discovered. The possibilities are endless.
So it is very possible that the calamity that the AI spoke of was more localized, possibly some great civilization that had Dantooine as a Colony and was wiped out by another civilization. That raises some scary possibilities, if this civilization is still alive and it returns to Dantooine, what would it be like? It would be the Sith Empire all over again, after all how long has the Sith Empire stayed dormant on Dromund Kaas before being found? They weren't even found, they made the first move.
This "God" that they found could greatly fill in the blanks. Even if it's not as dangerous as the AI said, encountering a new civilization could be dangerous, especially in this now Cold War with the Sith. With both sides severely low on resources and slowly recovering to full strength it could just be a nail in the coffin.
Which brings Dack to another point, how safe is it to waken this man? If he's anything like the legend says that could spell disaster, especially if he has knowledge of the force. Some Sith Lords in history have been known to destroy entire planets, others had potential far beyond imagination.
"Master, the Council would like a word." Dack's young apprentice said as she entered the holo-records. Dack collected his things and made his way to the Council Chambers where the Masters now convened. With a disappointed face Adrial walked away after Dack told her she must leave for only high ranking officials could be here.
"Welcome back Dack." Satele said as the other masters gathered around. "And what have you found during your time in the Jedi Records?" Dack took a breath and prepared to relay his findings.
"I've not found much, the only thing I could call evidence is cave drawings from the Dantari race, showing what appears to be some kind of war between a humanoid species and an oval with what appears to be multiple legs, some had 3 others had more." He said.
"And we are to base our decision on the legends of a species that has yet to even master farming?" Master Orgus asked.
"Remember Orgus, all legends have their roots in facts." Gnost-Dural said.
"All I'm saying is there is not nearly enough evidence to say that this calamity applies to us, it could just be a local planetary battle. Even if it was a galaxy scaled war there is nothing to suggest that this calamity force still even exists. Surely we would have found some evidence about them." Orgus argued.
"The Galaxy is much larger than can be imagined. If the stars are simple grains of sand than each one would be miles away from each other and there are billions of stars in our galaxy alone. The odds of multiple civilizations existing in the same galaxy without each others knowledge is great. Especially considering the possibilities of not having hyper-drive. Before it was invented civilizations resorted to means like Hyper-gates, there would be no way to bump into them from travel. Even then space is so large the odds of 2 ships getting close enough to pick each other up is nearly impossible." The keeper of the records retorted.
"I personally say it's worth waking him." Dack said. "While it may be nothing it is better to take the initiative and be sure that there is nothing to worry about." Some of the council members nodded their heads.
"All opposed to awakening the Shepard?" Satele asked and only Orgus raised his hand.
"All approved?" The rest including Satele raised their hands.
"So be it." Orgus said. "I respect the councils decisions and will awaken him." And the man walked away to prepare the "God's" revival. Satele still had a look of doubt in her eyes.
"Master Dack, do you truly believe in this calamity? Do you really think this is anything to fear?" She asked.
"Honestly Master, Satele, I do not. If anything this could be an excellent way to study the past and learn of civilizations before the Republic, but the possibilities of another Galactic Race within our own borders is simply too great. We've only colonized so many worlds, and there could be billions. One day soon, either recently or thousands of years later we will run into another great Civilization." Dack bowed to the Master and left the chambers.
Dack returned to his Apprentice, who was in the middle of meditation, or at least trying too. Dack could sense she was greatly anxious to hear the councils decision and could not focus on her meditation. Dack had to remember to lecture her about controlling her emotions.
"Be mindful of your feelings Adrial, with the distraction of emotions you are letting your feelings interrupt your meditation." The young apprentice glared at him but instantly changed her mood when she remembered the Council meeting.
"How did it go? Are we going to awaken him?" She jumped up from her sitting position, almost jumping with joy at the prospect.
"What did I say Padawan, mind your feelings, continue to meditate and I will tell you when you are done." Dack ordered. Adrial new better to protest so she just sat back down and continued to meditate, although somewhat poorly. Occasionally random objects would start floating around the room due to her lack of control.
Adrial has showed impressive force potential at a young age and has the most potential of her age currently. Her problems come from her lack of discipline and control. Often when she would get into moments of emotional distress she would accidentally break something with the force. While uncommon it's not unheard of, many Jedi have this side effect at young ages. The only difference is that it is more pronounced for her.
Dack sat next to her and meditated with her, overpowering her own force powers and lowering the objects. Dack was picked to train her because of how much control she lacks, he is able to counter her Force powers when they got out of hand, which happened somewhat often actually.
This would happen often between the 2, Dack never liked it when Adrial meditated alone. When in meditation a Jedi can sometimes block out all other things happening around them. This is very problematic when Dack has to pay damages to the Republic Apartment they rent because Adrial can't control her powers.
After some time Adrial opened one eye and looked at her master, trying to determine if now would be a good time to ask about the Council.
"No." Dack said as he felt Adrial concentration falter. Adrial got up and walked away. "Where are you going?" Dack asked as he turned around to see her.
"I'm bored, I'm going to go outside." She said.
"We aren't finished training." Dack said.
"We'll finish when I'm done outside." Adrial smirked to herself at he clever tactic of reverse psychology.
"Al right, if I tell you will you please return to training." Dack said through gritted teeth. As much as he prided control he always got irritated with his apprentice, she always knew how to push his buttons.
"Deal." Adrial said. She practically ran back to him and listened intently to what he was about to say.
Dack told her the basics, that the Council will be awakening him and hopefully learn what it is that he can offer. Hopefully the language barrier won't be too much of a problem but with what the AI said it shouldn't be too difficult to communicate with him.
"This is so exciting, who knows what wisdom we can learn. A relic from an old civilization. What about technology? What kind of irrigation systems did they use, what kind of entertainment. The list goes on." Dack had to almost yell to get his Padawan's attention from her own monologue.
"Remember our deal?" Dack asked. Adrial looked slightly disappointed and somewhat embarrassed.
"Right, sorry Master." She sat back down and continued to meditate.
Next Day
The preparations were complete, the Jedi council along with Master Dack and Havoc squad waited patiently for the Tank to drain. Adrial was not allowed access due to the potential danger of this human like creature. The Shepard was still floating and in the brightness of the medical ward Dack got a better look at the man. He had a buzzed and shaved head, with some kind of scar at the top left of his hair line. His face shows signs of minor scarring that appeared to almost glow with a dim red light. Underneath are what look like robotic implants of some kind. His eyes were closed so there is almost no way to tell what color they are.
With a nod from Satele the scientists began to drain the liquid from the tank, allowing them to open the Tank. Shepard was held in place by some small restraints, no doubt there to keep him from moving too much. The gears on the Tank doors were broken so they resorted too cutting the glass off the hinges to allow him to get out.
As the Glass was slowly removed they noticed that he was naked, he wore no clothes of any kind. His body was well built, with many scars and marks to prove his past as a great warrior.
Slowly the medical team lowered him out of the Tank after removing the supports and restraints. So far all seemed normal. They took him over to a bed to begin examining him, careful not to cause any damage to his body. They began to attach plugs and other monitor devices to his body to check his vitals.
"What is his current condition?" Master Satele asked.
"His vital appear to be all good, with the exception of a few robotic implants in his body he seems perfectly healthy. I don't think he'll be walking for at least a day or 2 but he should wake up at any time." The doctor said.
"Have you found any anomalies in his blood?" Orgus asked.
"One thing, we've found traces of an unknown element in his blood stream. By cross referencing what we found in the ruins we discovered it is a similar element to what was found in the engines of one of the ships." The Doctor showed them the element strain on the computer.
"Do we have any other records of this element?" Satele asked.
"No, it's completely new. We can give no more information on that though, it would be best to talk with someone who has more experience in that field." The Jedi's nodded.
"How is his mental state?" Asked Dack.
"Alright, he has decreased brain activity but that's to be expected in this kind of state." The Doctor than gave him a dose of Bacta to ensure he has a good recovery.
He could hear voices, voices he's never heard before. In the eternal blackness that engulfed his senses the tired veteran tried to move his limbs but received no feedback. With the exception of the oily voices that surrounded him the only other sounds was his slow breathing and thumping heart.
He tried to remember his past and for a moment he could remember nothing. As he willed his mind into over drive he began remembering. His orphaned past, his enlistment, the battle on Akuze, the Prothean Beacon on Ilos, Sovereign, the Collectors, the Reapers...
His eyes darted open as his battered mind remembered the war he was currently fighting. His last thoughts was when he refused to activate the Crucible and fell unconscious on the Citadel. He heard voices blaring around him and small hands fall onto his body. Even with his eyes open all he could make out were blurs and shapes. Gathering his wits he brought up his hands and unleashed a powerful Biotic Throw, knocking many people back and causing many to fall to the floor. Without a moment to lose the tired soldier got up and ran for what his blurred vision could only describe as the exit.
"You ok Satele?" Dack asked as he looked over the Master.
"I'm fine, I was not expecting that." She said as she got to her feet. That strange force push knocked everyone back, it happened so suddenly that no one was prepared for it. Though they were down for only a moment the man managed to use that time to run out.
"Lt. Cross, put the Temple on alert and have your men set up a perimeter, make sure he does not escape." Orgus barked orders as the Scarred trooper saluted and relayed the orders to his men. "Still think it was a good idea Dack?" Dack looked somewhat insulted.
"The man was most likely scared or does not know where he is. The AI said he was last conscious during a battle so it's safe to say he thinks we are the enemy." Dack argued.
"And I thought you said he wouldn't be able to walk until tomorrow." Orgus turned to the Doctor who finally got his bearing.
"Apparently we underestimated him." The Doctor said.
"For now let us locate this soldier, he shouldn't have gotten too far." Satele said as the Jedi left the room in pursuit of the man.
Taking refuge in a small room Shepard did a mental check of his current state. He was butt naked and lacking his weapons, with the exception of his Omni Blade and Biotics. Moving to a small cupboard he opened the doors and saw some clothes in them. They were simple enough, knee high leather boots, khaki pants and a type of martial arts shit that went down to below his butt. It was a little baggy but the shoes fit well enough and it was workable.
Those men had to be Cerberus, they had white and yellow armor, a clear sign of one of the Galaxies greatest Terrorists. Slowly opening the door Shepard tried to sneak and find an exit, hopefully he'd be able to find some kind of weapon.
Making his way silently down the hall Shepard saw a few young kids, about 14 to 18, walking along. With them was an older woman, about 30, who strode in front of the group. When she saw Shepard she ordered for him to stop.
"You there, Padawan, where is your Training Saber?" The woman asked. Shepard just stood there, unsure of what to say or do.
"Sorry?" He asked.
"Another one lost it? I swear you Padawan's are getting more and more undisciplined with every shipment, this is why we don't train adults." She muttered to herself about the war causing adults to be trained.
"My apologies, I'll find it immediately." Shepard said over the crowd of giggling kids.
"I will take you to the training room, please follow me." The woman motioned for him.
"I can't do that mam." Shepard said, trying to avoid a confrontation.
"You must be new Padawan so I'll go easy on you, simply follow me to get a new one and I'll let you off without any punishments." The woman got closer to Shepard. Shepard knew that the only way out of this situation was to fight or at least force the Woman to back off.
As the woman neared him Shepard grabbed her arm, taking her by surprise and flipped her over his shoulder. When she hit the ground he gave a hard punch to her face which knocked her out and possibly broke a bone. The kids all took off running, afraid to be next. Of course Shepard wouldn't actually hurt them but it was good for them to run, it let Shepard move without having trouble.
Shepard saw a strange cylinder on her belt and took it. He pushed a small button on the side and it extended a strange kind of Omni Blade, this one was purple in color and looked more like a cylinder. Shepard took a practice swing at the wall and cleaved a deep gash in the dense metal. This thing had more bite than his own Omni blade. Why Cerberus made it out of a handle was beyond him but either way this would be a big help.
Shepard continued down the way, leaving the unconscious woman behind and looking for an exit. He reached the front entrance and saw what looked like an Earth like world. There were what looked like Students everywhere, between ages 5 and 20. Occasionally Shepard saw a few guards but they did not pay him any attention. To his left he saw some kind of transport that hopefully would take him away from here. The transports were topless but he was determined to escape this place and get back to the fight. Hopefully there was some kind of way to get in touch with allied command.
"I'd like transport to the nearest pad for exit off this planet." Shepard said.
"Understood, you will need 25 Credits to proceed." Shepard took out his Omni tool and waved it over the Mech, hopefully having enough. Luckily he had over 3,000 Credits remaining so it won't be a problem. He's actually pretty surprised at how cheap it is. "Sorry, but the deposit is invalid." The Mech said.
"What?" Shepard asked, trying again to give it the credits but again failing. As he was about to give up someone came up from behind him and payed for him.
"Here you go, 25 credits." Shepard turned to see a woman with a western like accent. She had blood red hair that reached to her shoulders and covered 1 of her eyes. Age wise she looked to be around her late 20s or early 30s. "There you go cutie, now you owe me." She winked at Shepard. Shepard smiled back with a slightly cocky grin.
"Perhaps we'll set something up later." Shepard flirted.
"Careful, if you're going to make promises like that you better be prepared to follow through." She flirted back. "Captain Amelia Armstrong by the way." She held out her hand.
"Commander Shepard." Shepard shook her extended hand.
"No last name?" Amelia asked.
"Shepard is my last name." He let go of her hand.
"First name then?" Amelia asked.
"I think I'll keep it a secret for now, adds to the whole mystery effect." Shepard smirked.
"Well, it's working a bit so far, I'll see you around Commander." She did a mock salute and walked off, with each step she moved her hips in a sensual way. Shepard clearing his mind continued with the task at hand and entered the Hover vehicle.
Shepard sat down comfortably in the nicely padded interior, it was not as good as the Leather seats in the Normandy but it was very nice. The Vehicle began to zoom across the surface at relatively slow speeds, for some reason it only stayed a few Meters off the ground and never took to air like normal but Shepard didn't feel like debating about this.
About 3 minutes into the ride a sudden flash of yellow hit the side of the vehicle and it came to a halt. More flashes went around him and Shepard assumed the worst, thinking quickly he dove behind the now grounded vehicle and oriented himself. Taking a peak around the downed vehicle he saw what looked like walking hammerhead sharks attacking him with strange kinds of weapons. There were 3 in total, 2 had a strange yellow glowing stick and the last one had some kind of pistol. The projectiles that came out seemed to be slow unlike normal Mass Effect generated weapons.
The one with the pistol kept firing non-stop while the other 2 moved in slowly. They rounded the vehicle and Shepard materialized his Omni Blade, digging it into the stomach of one of the hybrid beasts. It screamed with a low but loud growl and tried to bite Shepard. Shepard removed the blade from its stomach and drove it straight into the beasts skull, making it fall to the ground instantly.
The second one did a horizontal slash which Shepard dodged and took out the purple Omni Blade, extending it and slashed at the creature. The creature blocked it with his own and kicked Shepard in the gut. Before falling to the ground Shepard hit the beast with a Warp attack, knocking the brute to the ground. Shepard recovered first and plunged the blade into the beasts upper chest, killing it almost instantly.
Another projectile hit near Shepard and he dove back behind the vehicle as the other one continued to fire blindly at him. With all these shots you would think the pistol would have over heated by now but he still kept firing. Shepard thought about using Lift to stun it long enough for him to move up and finish it but soon the beast turned its attention to Shepard's left.
Shepard turned and saw a young girl, maybe 18 or 20, charge the beast with a blue Omni Blade. She managed to deflect all the projectiles coming at her and in one simple move sliced the pistol in half. The beast knowing it was out matched turned tail and ran. The girl put her hands on her hips and smiled, proud of herself for beating the creature.
She turned and curiously looked at Shepard, who had an eyebrow raised at the sight. Most weapons use a Mass Effect field to send a sliver of metal the size of a grain of sand at a fraction of the speed of light, there is no way you can counter or dodge that in mid-flight. Either those weapons are slow as hell or the girl is psychic. Most likely not the latter. She walked over confidently to Shepard with a smile, he hands still on her hips in a heroic pose and talked to Shepard in the best hero voice she could.
"Looks like you're safe now, no worries here. You should probably get back before you get hurt." She said proudly. Shepard kind of just stared at her, unimpressed with her heroic act.
"Thanks, now can you please point he to the nearest Station, I need to get off this rock." Shepard said.
"Oh yea, it's..." The young girl stopped as she studied Shepard for a moment. "Don't I know you?" She asked.
"I don't believe so." Shepard lied. Clearly this girl is working with Cerberus, possibly an experiment like Jack was, although with more hair and less tattoos.
"Now I know, you're the guy from the Tank." She looked very excited and almost jumped close to him, her eyes full of wonder and curiosity. "What are you doing out here? I didn't think the council would let you out so early. And why didn't Master tell me sooner? I really wanted to meet you. I have so many questions." She ranted on. Master? Apparently Cerberus has resorted to slavery now.
"Sorry, but I must leave now." Shepard quickly turned away but very quickly the girl ran around him and got in his way again.
"Just a few questions, what was your technology like? What kind of Religion did you worship? Was your society war like or focused on science? Are you capable of using the force and lastly, how old are you?" The girl asked very quickly. Shepard just stared blankly at her.
"Yes." Shepard answered, well more like mocked as he again tried to get around the girl. All of a sudden something in the girls coat pocket began to ring. She took out a kind of circular device and on it appeared a hologram of a man.
"Adrial, the Shepard escaped and ran out. We've lost him in the temple, if you see him contact me immediately." The girl, now known as Adrial looked at Shepard with a bit of awkwardness, not sure how she was going to tell the hologram. "He's with you... Isn't he?" It's like the guy can read minds.
"Yup, he escaped?" She asked. Shepard used throw on the young girl which knocked her down, careful not to over due it and hurt her. He then turned and broke into a sprint, trying to escape the area before back up arrives. As soon as he felt confident about putting some distance from the girl, she darted in front of him with unnatural speed once again cutting his escape route, the blue Omni Blade extended.
"I don't want to hurt you kid, get out of my way." Shepard said as he brought out his own Omni Blade, deciding to use the regular one as apposed to the purple one.
"Why'd you run?" Adrial asked.
"You're kidding right?" Shepard asked. This girl has been seriously brainwashed by Cerberus. For all Shepard knew this was a brain washing facility meant to take a bunch of kids and raise them into an Army.
All of a sudden the girl jumped forward, clearing the 10 yard distance between them and slashed lightly at Shepard. Shepard blocked it with his Omni Blade, apparently strong enough to not break from what ever kind of technology produces that blue blade. They stood there in a lock for a second before Shepard easily overpowered the young girl. Shepard swung his fist at he face, hoping to knock her out but the girl jumped back to her original starting point. The 2 warriors held back a second, studying each others stances.
Shepard made the next move, sending a Warp directly at the girl who effortlessly dodged it by jumping 5 yards to the left. This girl is agile like a cat, Shepard can't take his eyes off her or else she'll nail him with a good swing.
"You don't want to fight me." The girl said as she waved her hand at Shepard.
"That's what I said, now stand aside." Shepard said.
"You want to surrender." The girl again waved her hand.
"No, I don't, now move." The girl cursed herself and readied her blade.
This time she charged with the blade in the air ready to strike downward, Shepard dispersed his Omni Blade and grabbed the girls hands before she could strike down, taking her by surprise. He then brought her hands down and disarmed her, using a basic move he learned in N7 from the Martial Art called SGC (Standard Galactic Combat). He then twisted her arm so her back was against his chest and wrapped an arm around her throat, intent on choking her unconscious. This way he can end this fight without hurting the young girl.
The next thing Shepard knows is a blinding pain in his head and falls to the ground, releasing the girl. The last thing he remembers is a bunch of feet walking up to him and then blacks out.
End Chapter 2
Well, I got some feedback so might as well continue the story. Thanks everyone and remember to give me some feedback, good or bad (But be respectful).