Chapter 3: Explanations and Doubts
Dack was very tired at the moment. After the whole incident with Shepard somehow escaping and defeating his pupil in Lightsaber combat he decided some time alone meditating would do him some good. Adrial was next to him and her punishment was 3 hours of constant meditation for being foolish enough to engage in combat against orders and against an unknown enemy. While he wouldn't admit that if she wasn't there Shepard could have escaped, he still wanted her to learn to choose her battles wisely. The young girl has become too prideful because of her victories against the Flesh Raiders and acts as if she was invincible. Flesh Raiders are easy to face, a Padawan could defeat on in their sleep.
Adrial's pride comes from the fact that she was trained from a young age. She was still too old at the time if the restrictions have not changed during this war, but she was one of the rare padawans that began their training at a very young age. Most Jedi begin training in their early teens these days because the war demands for a greater number of Jedi but a lot of them severely lack in training and discipline. Many of the newer Jedi have the mentality of soldiers instead of peace keepers. Many are also not well trained, these days it's not uncommon for a lowly bounty hunter to defeat a Jedi, even a Sith.
The Sith have suffered the same problems, beginning training at older ages and having a lack of training and discipline. Sith have always lacked discipline but thanks to their lack of training even a single Trooper could defeat a Sith warrior with the right mind set and training. It's very rare to actually find powerful Sith at lower ranks, only the masters from before the war are as powerful as real Sith should be.
It's the same for Dack, since he was trained before the War he is much more powerful than most Jedi these days. Back in his prime, unless you had a Lightsaber and expert training you could not even touch him. These days however Jedi are being defeated rather easily by nothing more than lowly troops.
Dack opened one eye to glance at his pupil, who was rocking her head back and forth slightly, no doubt playing a song in her own head and completely ignoring the meditation. Adrial was one of the rare padawans who have had training from a young age, couple that with the fact that she has the unique potential and she is a prized warrior for the republic. From an early age she has been groomed which is another reason she's so prideful.
Dack's communicator began to vibrate and he stood up and walked to the medical bay, intent on meeting the Shepard face to face and conscious. The man was finally going to wake up and this time he was restrained so as to properly assess the situation. Adrial surprisingly stayed back in the room, not bothering to follow. I could sense a bit of anxiety inside her and a bit of fear. After all, she did nearly get killed by this man so it makes sense that she would be nervous around him. It was also the first time she fought an actual warrior, Dack still remembers his first duel which ended in nearly loosing his leg.
Dack entered the hospital room where Shepard now lays once again unconscious but this time strapped to the table to ensure he doesn't escape. Monitoring equipment were all over him and beeped to ensure that he would be ok. Satele and the other Jedi Masters were already in the room and had their Lightsabers loosely clipped to their belt in case he tried to attack again. Cross and Havoc squad kept their blasters on stun and ready to attack at a moments notice.
"Master Dack, how is your Padawan?" Satele asked with a bit of concern.
"She's well, she's currently meditating and relaxing after the encounter but is still shaken up from the defeat." Dack replied.
"She doesn't want to attend?" Gnost-Dural asked with a bit of surprise. Surely the young and adventurous girl would relish in the chance to learn about this new discovery.
"We decided it's best she saty back for now, it was her first real fight after all and she's still shaken up about it. Can you remember your first duel Master Gnost Dural?" Dack asked.
"Enough. Nurse, prepare to awaken the Shepard." Master Orgus said. One of the nurses nodded and prepared to give the sedated god an adrenalin boost to wake him up.
The adrenalin worked faster than expected, the god began to awaken and slowly his eyes opened, trying to adjust to the light. He began to flex some of his muscles and the Masters knew he was mentally assessing his current physical condition. As he realized that he was restrained he tried to break free of the bonds. He grunted and struggled but was unable to break free from the restraints.
"Save your strength warrior." Satele said soothingly. "We only wish to speak to you." The man glared at the Jedi Master.
"If you want to talk than how about you release me?" Shepard asked with venom in his voice, expecting that they would leave him bound. To his surprise Dack motioned for the Nurse to undo his bonds. Shepard immediately got up and took a defensive stance but held still, waiting for the Jedi to make the first move.
"The restraints were there so you don't attack us again, give you some time to hear us out before blasting us into the wall." Orgus said. Shepard raised an eyebrow and lowered his guard slightly.
"You're not with Cerberus, are you?" Shepard asked. If this was Cerberus he would either be dead or indoctrinated right now. Since he still regards Cerberus as the enemy it's most likely not the latter.
"What is the last memory you have before awakening?" Dack asked. Shepard though for a second but replied rather quickly.
"Someone hit me in the head when I tried to choke that girl out." Shepard remembered.
"Sorry." Cross said across the room. Shepard shrugged, obvious to the fact that he had to do what was needed to save his comrade.
"I'm talking about before you woke up the first time and sent half of us into the ceiling." Dack clarified.
"Right..." Shepard looked down for a moment and had a look of concentration on his face. He tried to recall his previous memories from before he was frozen. Everyone was interested in what he would say and the answer did not disappoint.
"Well?" Orgus asked impatiently. "What do you remember." Shepard glared at him for a moment but responded with a stern Military voice. Looking straight and with his back straitened he looked like any other soldier in the Republic.
"My last memories was the Crucible, refusing to activate it and choosing to battle the Reapers than live my life a pawn to their proxies." Shepard said. His eyes immediately shifted to us as if he just realized something. "How long have I been out?" He asked.
The entire Council didn't know how to respond. How do you tell a man that believes he's woken up after a couple of days that he's been in a state of suspended animation for over 50,000 years? Satele broke the news with a heavy heart.
"You're allies... in an attempt to save your life put you in a suspended state for over 50,000 years, according to the AI we found... you have been asleep for over 50,000 years." She said with a low voice, understanding that the answer could either anger him or invoke sorrow. Without Jedi training of emotional control it's unknown exactly how he would react.
Shepard stared at her intently, trying to determine if she's lying. He studied every feature in her face, every muscle and every movement. Satele, a master of her own emotions stared him straight in the eye. Not a single twitch in her features or a single break in eye contact. Lying is difficult, a trained expert could tell a lie by very subtle facial expressions. Twitches in the lips, eye brows, unable to look the person in the eye etc. Shepard was very skilled in this subtle art of lie detection and knew that she was being truthful.
Shepard averted his eyes, looking down at the ground. The Masters could feel through the force what he was going through. Anger, regret, sorrow and fear. Shepard looked back at them, seeming afraid to ask the next question.
"Did we win?" He asked hopefully. For a few moments no one would answer until Dack stepped forward.
"We do not know the details, in the past 50,000 years much of history has been lost. We don't know exactly what happened. Our best estimations is that your civilization failed but we can not be certain." He said in a matter of fact tone. Shepard got the general idea that these people either lacked emotions or tuned it out of their lives.
"So the Reapers are still out there." Shepard said, mostly to himself.
"Reapers?" Dack asked, just now officially learning the name of the calamity.
"Sentient machines from dark space, every 50,000 years they return to the Galaxy and exterminate all intelligent life, preserving it in the form of a new Reaper." Shepard clarified.
"For what purpose?" Master Satele asked.
"It's a long story." Shepard said. "I found creatures deep in the oceans of a distant planet, called 2181 Despoina. We called the Leviathans." Shepard explained.
"What are these Leviathans?" Gnost-Dural asked with peaked interest.
"I'm not entirely sure, they were the great life forms I know of. Their empire stretched back millions of years ago. The creatures I found were remnants of this great civilization." Shepard said.
"You have just given us knowledge on possibly the oldest known intelligent species in existence." The scholar said.
"If what he says is true." Master Orgus said. Shepard chose to ignore the old man.
"They created an AI program, capable of solving one of the greatest problems for lesser civilizations at the time." Shepard said.
"And what would that be?" Satele asked.
"To improve their lives organic civilizations would create synthetics, machines capable of self awareness, in turn the Machines would rebel and threaten to destroy all organics. The AI was created to solve this problem, so it came up with the Solution." Shepard now had an angry look on his face. "In order to protect Organics it destroyed the ones capable of creating synthetics, preserving them in Reaper form. This in turn would protect the lesser organics from threat. It's first target was its own creators, they became Harbinger, the first true Reaper." Shepard said.
"How Ironic." Dack said to no one in particular. "They created an AI to stop other Synthetics but were consumed by their own creation."
"Assuming what this man says is true." Orgus said once again.
"You disagree?" Gnost-Dural asked the aging Master.
"We have no proof of any of this." He defended.
"Everything I say is the truth, the Reapers will come again and doom your species..." Shepard just noticed something odd. "You're human?" He asked.
"Of course, so are you." Orgus said.
"How is that possible, the Reapers should have wiped out all of humanity." Shepard marveled. "Perhaps we have a chance, if the Krogan and Asari are still alive we can stop the Reapers." Shepard began to formulate the basics of a new strategy to defeat the Reapers in this cycle.
"Hold it." Orgus cut him off. "Even if what you say is true we will never be able to convince the Senate to put resources into this venture with the war going on." This peaked Shepard's interest.
"War?" He asked.
"The war with the Sith Empire." Satele answered. "We've been at war for 30 years now and have reached a stalemate."
"Damn." Shepard said. "There hasn't been an official war when I first fought the Reapers, even though there was still some bad blood with the Turians and Batarians."
"It's taking everything we have just to hold off the Sith, if we begin to divert resources to an unconfirmed threat it could weaken us enough to severely loose our position."
"If we don't prepare than everyone dies, the Sith and the... What are you guys called?" Shepard asked.
"The Galactic Republic." Dack answered.
"Fuck." Shepard cursed. "I'm going to have to play politician all over again." He said bitterly.
"All over again?" Satele asked.
"You think my civilization believed me? Wasn't till you had Reapers raining from the skies that anyone took me seriously, despite my Spectre Status." Shepard said than chose to elaborate on Spectre's given the looks on the Jedi Council. "Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, the most elite unit in the Council. Though that was revoked during my time with Cerberus and I never officially got re-instated as a Spectre after I told the Council to cram it." Shepard began to mumble to himself. "Not going to lie though, saving their skins back during Sovereign's attack was worth it to prove the Reapers existed, never let them live that down." He chuckled to himself but instantly got sad again, remembering that everything he knew is now gone.
"If what he says is true we should at the least report this to the Senate, give them our findings and see how best to approach this situation." Dack argued.
"They would never believe us, and even if they did what would we do about the Sith?" Orgus reasoned.
"We must do something." Shepard said. "I don't care what it takes, I will not let those bastards win again. Too many lives have been lost and no matter what it takes I will end them." Shepard said with fierce determination.
"And how exactly do you intend to convince the Senate of this discovery?" Orgus asked.
"I'll find a way." Shepard said simply. "I have no other choice."
"As amazing as your story is..." Satele began. "Even we find difficulty believing you, if we find difficulty than what will the Senate think?" She asked.
"It doesn't matter." Master Dack said. "We must bring this find to the Senate, if there is even a small chance that this could be real than it's enough to bring to light." Most agreed but Orgus still remained stubborn. "All in favor of speaking with the Senate?" Only Orgus did not speak out.
"It's decided." Master Satele said. "We will send a message to convene a Senate meeting on Coruscant, until then you will be given a room Shepard. You will be given all the basic things you will need, food, clothing and hygienics." Shepard nodded his head in affirmation.
After that the Council was broken up and went their separate ways, one of the staff in the Temple told Shepard to follow her to his room. Shepard walked in complete silence, without the distraction of the impending reaper threat as the main topic his mind wandered to the 50,000 years he has been under.
When he reached the room he shut the door and took off the Jedi clothing that he stole. He went into one of the shower stalls and turned the water until it was freezing cold. With no hesitation he stepped into the freezing cold torrent of water and let out a long and pained sigh. The sting from the water kept his mind off of the pain he felt for his lost comrades. Even now it hasn't really sunk in, he still can't comprehend the fact that every one of them are gone, either killed by the Reapers or passed away of natural causes.
All at once the Universe seemed so much darker, everything he did, everything that him and his entire family in arms have accomplished means nothing. Just another legend and rumor for future generations to pick at with a drill.
His mind then wandered to his Prothian ally Javik, so this is how it feels to wake up 50,000 years later. The once sprawling Empires reduced to cinder and forever lost in the fog of history. What kind of pain did Javik feel, how much invisible anger lurked under those 4 eyes. The more Shepard thought about the Prothian's anger the more it bubbled to the surface. Everything he was, everything he knew was forcefully taken from him. He would have his revenge, he will destroy the Reapers, even if he has to once again convince politicians, even if he has to topple Empires he will win.
Dack returned to his pupils room to once again encounter the floating objects that became a staple in her training. Using his mastery over the Force he willed the objects to lower and overpowered his Padawans own force output. Even though at this age her Force potential greatly outmatches his own, his expert control is more than enough to restrain her.
Adrial's eyes instantly shot open as she felt her Master overpower her and make her lose her concentration. She turned and jumped straight up to her Master, using a bit of force speed to get there even quicker.
"So how'd it go? Do I need to catch him again?" She asked but also mocked a bit.
"First off Padawan, you didn't beat him, had it not been for Cross you would have been choked out." Dack replied to his eager pupil.
"Well excuse me I can't beat a freaking god..." She muttered but loud enough for Dack to hear. "Next time I'll just let the possibly dangerous god go and have you search the Galaxy for him." Dack began to get a bit irritated.
"Mind your feelings of pride young one, such thoughts lead to the dark side." Adrial had a huge fear of the Dark side. Her early life as a slave to Sith rule created a instinctual fear of the Sith and the Dark side, every time it's mentioned she immediately stops and represses any emotion deemed dark by her Master.
"Apologies Master." She said with a bow. Dack knew that she always get's formal when afraid. Normally he would also lecture her of the danger of fear but seeing as how it's a fear for the dark side he didn't feel the need. Another trait that Adrial had that all Masters wanted was her fear, no worries of her ever being turned. At least not by her own choice, she would never seek out the darkness but there are ways the Sith can convince you if captured. It's a way Dack knows all to well.
"What was your question?" Dack decided to drop the subject. Instantly that look of eagerness and discovery filled her youthful eyes.
"So did he talk?" She asked, willing herself to answer one question at a time.
"He did." Dack said.
"So what's going on?" She referred to the warning the AI gave.
Dack explained everything that happened, every revelation and every single choice made by the Council. Dack would also be going to the Senate as one of the founders of Shepard and also act as Shepard's guide in this new Galaxy.
"And that's about it." Dack finished. From there they began having a very long talk, talk about all the possible theories Adrial had and how amazing the discovery was. Dack just smiled to himself at his Padawan's eagerness. In the back of his mind he began thinking of an old fear of his, the possibilities of her being captured and tortured by the Sith. As heartless as it may sound, he could deal with her dying. There are worse things in dying and at least he would be reunited with her after his own death. But to be forcefully turned by the Sith or broken by their sadistic ways, the thought made him sick.
"Is he you know... evil?" Adrial hesitated to ask.
"Not from what I could tell, he seemed much like any other soldier really. Had a strict and professional nature about him and was very good at keeping his emotions in control. No doubt he's feeling a bit of shock, fear and anger from his recent ordeal." Dack explained with a bit of thought.
"How old is he?" Adrial asked with a light blush on her face, Dack could feel her anxiety and simply labeled it as another side effect of her fear of him.
"Not sure how that question is relevant." Dack said with a raised eyebrow. "But I'd put his age in late 20s to late 30s. Then again with how evolution works his species could live to 1,000 for all we know and he could be 300 or something." Dack began to mumble to himself a bit, which Adrial always got annoyed with. Dack had a habit of over analyzing every detail so she just got into the habit of zoning out and walking away. Most of the time he wouldn't realize she left until he actually tried to talk to her.
Adrial decided she wanted to meet this god for herself and figure out just what he was. She looked around for a bit before she felt the mans presence in a small room. While not the best at feeling others feelings, she could make out the distinct emotions of sorrow and anger. It made her feel a bit intimidated but at the same time a bit anxious. Steeling herself and suppressing her emotions she entered the room to find Shepard sitting on the bed, his back turned to her. She could feel that he was deep in thought, through not only the force but his body language as well.
Shepard noticed her presence and turned to the young woman, his brow raised in recognition of the Jedi he nearly choked out. Shepard was still dressed in the robe that she fought him in and Adrial still felt intimidated by his very presence. After a long moment of silence she raised her hand in greeting and spoke to him in a quite voice.
"Hi." She greeted meekly. Shepard returned the greeting with a nod and turned his whole body to face her.
"Sorry about the fight earlier." Shepard said in an honest voice. Adrial could feel he meant it and waved it off.
"It's ok, it was probably my fault anyway." She said. "After all, you did just wake up so it was understandable that you woke up that way." Shepard nodded to her.
"I never got your name." Shepard realized and spoke his thought out loud.
"Adrial Shantih, Jedi in training." She announced proudly.
"Never thought they would let people as young as you in." Shepard said without knowing the irony behind his words. Adrial flushed in indignation at the remark but controlled her pride, knowing that he just probably didn't really know much about Jedi's.
"For your information, I am 20 years old." She said with a bit more venom than intended. Shepard cracked a smile and laughed lightly, but genuinely.
"Really?" He said with a bit of surprise. "I would have thought you're at most 16." He said, his mood getting much better. Adrial could feel that as of now his feelings were peaceful and happy, sort of. May be a bit embarrassing to be seen as a kid but at least she helped him feel a bit better.
"So..." She didn't know how to begin her question. "What was your civilization like?" She asked hopefully. She desperately wanted to know what kind of people he lived with and the kind of civilization he originated from.
"What do you want to know?" Shepard asked, Adrial thought for a second. She fought real hard with her self to try and limit it to 1 question at a time and not get the better of herself by saying 20 questions at once.
"What was your Religion like?" She asked randomly. The force in itself was a Religion, perhaps with the strange force powers he displayed it would give insight to the kind of Force followed during his time.
"Well..." Shepard began trying to remember his affiliation with the question. "Originally I was an Atheist, or Agnostic, however you want to define it. I never really had a care for it. A woman who was really close to me however was what was called a Christian, she believed in an all powerful God or something like that. Frankly I don't know much about the Religion. After everything that's happened and how much she was passionate in the Religion, I guess a part of me would like to believe. Sometimes I go back and forth but these days I've been leaning more towards her beliefs." Shepard said.
"Were there more than one?" She asked.
"Many, for humans alone there was many Religions but most fall under the category of believing in a single God. For the Asari many believed in a Goddess or spiritualism. Many Turians believed in War gods or again Spiritualism. I'm not to familiar with the subject really." He admitted.
"Asari? Turian?" Adrial asked.
"Asari are an entirely female race, capable of same sex pro-creation but are also capable of inter-species procreation." Shepard said. "However the child always comes out as a Female Asari." He said.
"How does that work?" Adrial asked.
"Not entirely sure, They can mind meld or something with each other and reproduce. Other than that they have working sexual organs. I even dated an Asari for a time." Shepard admitted.
"What do they look like?" Adrial asked.
"They have blue skin, most are very beautiful. But instead of hair they have long appendages on their head. Other than that they look more or less human." Shepard said.
"And the Turians?" She asked.
"Basically giant looking lizards, or fish, depending on how you look at them. Their society is very war like. Asari are the technological apex of civilizations... or were anyway." Shepard said downheartedly. "Turians however were regarded to have the strongest Military in the Galaxy, or at least the strongest Space Fleet. The strongest ground Military goes to the Krogan." Shepard noticed Adrial's interest and held his hand up to stop her. "Even bigger looking lizards, their society is defined by instinctual and clan based warfare, in a society that demands strength and power above all else. Their inter-species wars tore their home planet apart many years ago. At one point after the Rachni wars the Krogan nearly destroyed the Galaxy."
"Rachni?" Adrial asked.
"About 1,000 years ago a race known as the Rachni, giant bug like aliens threatened the Galaxy. The Council at the time, made up of representatives from the strongest species in the Galaxy, used the Krogan's to defeat the Rachni. It wasn't until a few months ago that I discovered that they were indoctrinated to do the Reapers bidding." When Adrial asked what the Reapers were Shepard gave her the same explanation as the Jedi Masters.
"Incredible." Adrial said to herself.
"That's enough for now." Shepard said, growing tired. "I need to get some rest." Adrial nodded, a bit sad to have her talk end but she understood that Shepard must be tired.
"Thank you Shepard." She said with an ear wide smile. "I really appreciated it." She said. Before she could finish Shepard's head hit the bed and he was out cold. Adrial blushed slightly as she watched him sleep. He reminded her so much of the Mandalorian who saved her life from slavery.
Adrial remembered that day fondly. She was to be shipped to the Sith training planet, though she could not recall its name, and forced to become a Sith. The night before her departure she managed to escape, but just barely. A Mandalorian hunter was sent by the Sith to recapture her. To this day she doesn't know why the Mandalorian saved her and took her to the republic.
When she spoke to Master Dack about it when she was younger he said the Bounty Hunter was probably offered a better deal by the Republic. Those sort only care for credits he said. Adrial however liked to believe that there was some good in him, that when he saw the young and scared girl that he protected her and felt bad. Adrial refused to believe that he did it simply out of greed. She witnessed first hand as a child how greedy people act and there is no way that Bounty Hunter was like that. At least, that's what she was told.
She never even saw his face, the reason Shepard seems so much like him is they both act and speak in a similar way.
Turning around and marching out of Shepard's room she quietly turned off his light and allowed the door to close automatically. Soon she would finally travel to the center of the Republic and meet the Senate. Finally, after her whole life of training she was going to do things vital to the war effort. Like many young Jedi she craved for the chance to prove her worth, to do her part in defense of the Republic.
Exited for the new adventures around the corner she decided to stay up all night and train to be better prepared for the trials ahead. With a heart full of valor she would make a name for herself and prove to the Galaxy that she is more than a simple slave girl.
End Chapter 3