Human Calendar: June 20, 2027
Thessia Dock Control
The blinking lights of her terminal made her eyes water. Goddess, she was working too hard. She needed a week off or something.
She looked down to her cup of tea, which had long since gone cold, and the datapad that lay beside it. She smiled as she reread the message. The patrol her Turian bondmate was serving on would be taking some shore leave on Thessia for the next few days. At last, he'd be in her arms again. But now her shift was over.
Finishing the last of her tea, the maiden reached to turn off the terminal when a new signal appeared. She was about to pass it off as another patrolling Asari frigate then saw the silhouette image. That definitely wasn't anything Asari. What was more it didn't come from the Mass Relay, in fact there was nowhere it could come from… other than dark space.
Goddess.
oOoOoOoOoOo
Charybdis Heavy Frigate: Empathy
On route to Thessia
"Captain Karoth to the Bridge."
Xar opened his eyes and sighed irritably, the relaxing water seemed too good to leave, but he had his duties to fulfill. He drifted down to the floor where his empty harness waited. His limbs slid easily into the mechanical suit and it sealed around him, surrounding him in its comforting embrace.
"Brightness," he addressed the AI over the intercom. "Please drain my quarters."
Within moments vents opened on the floor, draining the water and sending it to the purification plant on board. When it drained completely he stood, running diagnostics to insure everything was in working order before he made for the door. It opened silently as he approached and he turned towards the bridge.
Despite knowing what his people were capable of, the repairs still impressed him. Every single dent in the hull to even the water ventilation systems was flawless; he even believed Officer Olenn hadn't seen the ship in such perfect shape before. Still, what did he expect from a colony almost full of Mechona who hadn't had a good project in years?
He did feel sorry for Vorlen though. His brother had wanted to come, saying that it would be a good break from filing reports and other official stuff. Unfortunately, there were almost nine hundred protocols and orders preventing any Colony Marshal from leaving his post without consent from a higher up. Also unfortunate that Xar wasn't one of those that could authorize it. Shame.
"Captain on the bridge," the cry went out as he stepped into the command center. The recovered crew had taken to the mission well, despite having barely enough time to rest between repairing the Empathy. Maybe the heroic speech he had given them had something to do with it, all about saving one of the most powerful fleets in their navy and the honor that came with it.
He reached the Captain's chair and sank into it, collected himself for a moment, then clapped his hands and the blizzard of holographic screens surrounded him. Reports from engineering, communications, weapons, sensors and dozens of others. He glanced over them briefly, nodding with approval before dismissing them with a gesture.
"What is our position?"
"Nearing the planet now, sir." Brightness answered, his blue ball appearing before him. "Out of caution, I dropped us out of the wormhole outside the system to avoid any collisions upon exit."
"It's doubtful we would hit anything, Brightness. There wasn't a collision in our empire for almost three hundred years, before we left anyway."
"That was after the Gates were established, and even if there was designated highway here I still wouldn't have run the risk."
"Well nothing we can do about it now," he sighed. "How long before we arrive?"
"Less than an hour till we enter orbit, Captain. In fact Thessia should be in visual range now."
Indeed it was. Through the windows of the bridge, the bright orb of the planet was growing larger by the minute. As were the glowing outlines of incoming ships transmitted to his HUD from the Empathy's Scanners.
"Should we be worried about those?" Xar nodded towards the growing outlines.
"I don't believe so, Captain." His hologram disappeared as he transferred himself to the sensor station, appearing beside the operator. "Give us a minute."
"Captain," Officer Olenn exclaimed, filling in for the dead communication operator. "They're hailing us!"
"Brightness! Threat assessment, now!" Xar shouted to the AI; its hologram disappeared to devote its full processing power on the problem. Ordinarily he wasn't one for negotiations, which was why he captained the Black Depths, his role in the fleet of Eternal Lasting was firepower when negotiations went to hell. Now he didn't even have firepower on his side. The Empathy was a fine vessel, but it lacked everything he liked in a warship, mainly big guns, thick armor and the destructive tendency of his drunk brother on steroids.
He would have to play his cards carefully; no doubt the Asari would panic at the prospect of a whole alien fleet hiding under their very feet. Worst case scenario if they screwed up they could splash down into the ocean, regroup with Breaking Justice, then get the hell out of there.
But now to play the game. First card, acknowledgement.
"What are they saying?"
"The translation software is still working on it, but I would guess they want us to hold position." Braf replied, as he said it his screens lit up with the completed translation. "And I was right!"
Second card, compliance. For now.
"Engines, full stop." Xar commanded, and the Empathy drifted to halt as the Asari ships moved to surround them.
Third card, he thought shifting to more comfortable position; patience. For a warmongering idiot he was playing this game quite well, if he dared say so himself.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
The bridge of the Mornings Grace was chaos. Asari rushed everywhere, trying to find out anything about this strange vessel that had appeared out of nowhere, right on their doorstep.
"Does anyone have anything?" The face of Captain Yesia was filled with worry and a twinge of panic, as she addressed the anthill that was the command center of the mighty Dreadnought.
"Nothing ma'am," the asari at scanners shouted out. "It's shields are blocking everything we try. But we can't find any traces of Element Zero!"
The entire bridge fell silent as the words sunk in. No Element Zero?
"But that's impossible." A younger Asari said, breaking the silence. "Isn't it?"
"I don't know." Whispered Yesia as the crew turned to look at her, awaiting orders.
She took a breath, collecting herself before saying. "Did they respond to our hail?"
"They didn't answer ma'am, but they did stop."
She smiled, they understood, now on to the more complicated part.
"Create a first contact package, send it when it's ready." The crew nodded and got to work, their earlier panic replaced with excitement;after all it wasn't every day you were involved with a first contact.
"Ready ma'am." A crewmen said after a minute.
Yesia nodded, nervousness gripping her with its icy fingers once again as she considered the aliens response as the package was sent.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Sir, we're receiving something else." Brightness appeared floating before the captain's chair. "It appears to be a data package of a first contact nature."
Xar paused in examining the threat assessments of the alien ships. Ten currently surrounded the Empathy with another hundred on the way from the planet. They ranged in lengths from two hundred meters to a full kilometer and all had the same weapon systems, rail-guns. How primitive.
But primitive or not, they still had a chance of bring down the heavy frigate, and as Xar looked on that prospect was looking more likely by the second. The smallest ones had no chance of taking them down on a one-on-one fight, but with the number on scanners, they could easily overwhelm the Empathy. The medium largest, the cruisers, could do a small amount of damage to the shields. But like with the frigates, numbers would surely be the death of them. Finally the largest, the dreadnoughts. He almost chuckled at that, dreadnoughts less than a kilometer? Give him a break. But he was worried about them none the less; their guns could probably break their shields with a single shot, if the crew let them hit them anyway.
He had confidence in the crew's ability to dodge the worst of it, if indeed it did come. That was what Charybdis frigates were famous for, the un-hittable tide turners of every major battle due to their speed, mobility and unorthodox fighting tactics. Tactics that probably couldn't help them in this case.
"Let's see it."
Instantly an image appeared on the main view screen. A blue skinned alien that would have looked the same as Maria if not for the lack of a nanoshell and the tentacles on the back of their heads. It was soon replaced by picture of an Asari playing some kind of instrument, and another, and another, and another.
He soon lost track as picture after picture flew by, their intent, no doubt, to show their peacefulness and willingness to cooperate, if an Asari shaking hands with another species was anything to judge by. Then after ten minutes of pointless footage of Asari doing everything from writing to skydiving the slideshow finally stopped.
"Well that was enlightening." Said Xar sarcastically as he stared at the blank view screen.
"Are you sure, sir? The only thing I got of that was that they like montages!" Someone shouted, causing everyone to laugh.
"Be that as it may," Xar chuckled as he called up the communication interface above his chair. "Brightness, start recording return message… now."
The screen before him flared with the red dot, seemingly the universal symbol for recording.
"Asari vessels, I am Captain Xar'Karoth of the Charybdis species. While we thank you for your enlightening material, we had another mission in mind. Our lost fleet lies buried beneath your waters, we have come to take them home."
He stopped recording and Brightness sent it on its way.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Ma'am, we're getting something!" Yesia's communication officer shouted, breaking the silence that had fallen over the bridge.
Yesia smiled, punching in the last few letters in her report before sending it off to Thessia Command. They had been preparing Thessia's orbital defences and almost all of the home fleet to blow the ship out of the sky if it proved hostile. Now that had proved themselves to be reasonable friendly, meaning they hadn't attacked yet, maybe Command would have some of the reinforcements stand down to make them feel less threatened. But right now she had another thing to worry about.
"Please play it," she said politely. The officer nodded and typed on her console, starting the message.
Yesia's smile vanished and she winced as a jumbled mix of organic and synthetic came over the speakers. Around her, she saw her crew in similar states of discomfort before the officer shut off the message, casting the bridge into silence once again.
"What was that?" Yesia asked, trying to make sense of the strange language.
"I have no idea, ma'am. Translation software can't make heads or tails of it."
Now here was a problem she hadn't thought about. Finding out the ship didn't run on Element Zero was shocking, but not to be able to understand them, impossible! Every space faring race in the galaxy had found Prothean ruins and, more likely than not, had learned the Prothean Language from the recovered data. Because of that they all had a universal language that they could use in situations like this, but this time they were utterly lost.
"Prep another message, audio only." The comm-officer nodded, typed for a few moments then gave her the thumbs up.
"Unknown vessel," she began. "I am Captain Yesia Torres of the Dreadnought, Mornings Grace. I thank you for your reply but we cannot understand your language…"
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"... but hopefully we can work together to fix this inconvenience."
Xar stared out into space at the Dreadnought in front of Empathy, his face beneath his mask neutral. At least they were honest about it.
"Is there any way we can correct that without breaking protocol?"
"Unfortunately no, sir." Brightness answered.
"Well then," Xar sighed, bringing up the Asari first contact package. "Looks like we'll have to get creative."
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Yesia stared out the alien ship floating before the Mornings Grace with growing trepidation. Command had been breathing down her neck for the past twenty minutes ever since the last transmission sent to the aliens. They wanted results and they wanted them now, but the aliens weren't responding to anything. Had the acknowledgement that they couldn't understand them do this? Did they think that…
"Captain," the voice of her comm-officer broke through her racing thoughts. "We're getting something!"
She bolted upright, her worry returning full force as the transmission played in front of her. She blinked. Confused, she looked to her officer, who only shrugged at the image before them.
A picture of Thessia. Recently taken as well, for she could see the Morning Grace clearly against the blue of her home. Then as she watched, the picture began to zoom in towards the surface.
She watched, an uneasy feeling growing within her as it finally converged on the ocean just beside Thessia's capital.
"They… want the water?" One of her younger crewmen suggested uncertainly. She probably watched those new vids about a new hostile race that came from dark space to suck every planet dry of its resources. As a Salarian would say, it was ridiculous and stupid to even consider and that it would never happen. Or could it?
She considered the implications with growing dread. A strange species that didn't use Eezo that came from out of nowhere without using the relays. Perfect setting for a cheesy alien invasion drama, only it was really happening right in front of her.
"Ma'am." A voice interrupted her thoughts before she could properly panic. The picture was still the same, except for the single, seemingly copy-pasted, alien ship in the water.
"They use water as… fuel?" She had to admire imagination gone wild. But then again it was a likely possibility. Oh Goddess help them! Thessia, the jewel of the galaxy, turned into a fuel station!
She immediately cast out that crazy idea, berating herself for even imagining it. Then blinked, as a second ship appeared on the picture.
What was the point of this? Sending them a picture with their ships in the ocean. Well, she did ask for something they could understand. But still, why put ships in the… ocean…
Oh Goddess help them. Her eyes widened in horror as the realization sunk in. An alien fleet was hidden under their waters. Her crew seemed to get the point as well, staring at the picture with disbelief and fear as more and more ships appeared on the screen.
"Get me a line to Command." She said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Tell them we have a big problem."
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"You think they got that?" Xar asked.
"Undoubtedly, sir. Every ship around the planet is now heading in our direction." Brightness responded, his synthetic voice sounding as worried as it could be.
"And how many would that be?"
"Close to two hundred fifty."
"Alright." Xar mused worriedly, creating another holoscreen before him. "I think that wasn't the right way to break it to them."
"You think?" Said Brightness, with as much sarcasm as an AI could muster.
"Even the best can make mistakes."
The AI didn't respond, his primary programing and logic core going the rebuttal he would have made.
"Anyway, prepare another transmission. Let's try and…" The Empathy shuddered violently, throwing Xar from his seat, as something collided with them.
"Shots fired on the port bow!" He heard the tactical officer shout as he climbed back to his chair. "Shields down to eighty nine percent!"
"Who hit us?" Xar roared.
"Twenty new ships have entered the system from the relay!" Tactical responded. "They're not Asari. But they definitely the ones!"
"Captain!" Braf shouted. "I'm picking up comm traffic everywhere! The Asari are just as surprised as we are!"
So there was still a chance of talking their way out of this. Thank the Father for that. Hopefully the Asari could keep a tighter rein on their allies during the coming negotiations.
"Captain, their charging weapons!" Did fate hate him or something?
"Who?"
"All of them." Tactical replied nervously.
Yep. The universe hated his guts. Or it was caution on the part of the Asari, after all, shots fired during first contact were never things to ignore.
"Shield status," he asked.
"Ninety five percent and charging." Tactical reported, then grasped his terminal as the Empathy was hit by another round.
"Eighty one percent!" Tactical corrected himself, typing frantically as he transferred power from non-vital systems.
Xar swore as another round struck them. Negotiations or not, he wouldn't stand for this.
"Engines, full throttle!" He reached down and hit the intercom button on his chair. "All crew, brace for splashdown!" His heard his voice echo throughout the ship.
He felt the inertia dampeners kick in as the Empathy went from zero to nine hundred thousand kilometers in a few seconds. Before them, the smooth form of the Asari dreadnought grew larger by the second. Time for the crew to show their true colors.
"Who's the best grappler on this ship?" He asked.
"I am, sir." Xar looked down at a Mechona who had appeared by his side, as if setting a collision course was his cue. He only hoped that they were as good as they said they said.
"Take your place, crewman."
The Mechona nodded then rushed to the pilot station. The pilot, seeing him coming, began bringing up hundreds of different holo-interfaces over his station before vacating his seat.
Xar watched with interest as the two worked in practiced sync, hooking up the Mechona into the combat systems of the frigate. Within moments the station looked completely different. Dozens of wires and tubes were plugged into the Mechona's multiple implants, looking like metallic hair arching into the terminal.
Through the view-screen the tentacles began twisting experimentally as the Mechona's mind gradually merged with the combat system.
"Ready, Captain." The Mechona's voice echoed through the bridge, coming from the intercom instead of his body.
Xar nodded, his eyes fixed on the Asari dreadnought, which was growing a little too close for comfort. He could see maneuvering thrusters flaring as the dreadnought tried to get out their way. However, as Xar watched, the Empathy adjusted its course to match.
Xar rarely got nervous, he had trained and conditioned himself for all instances, but now he couldn't help a little doubt from growing in his mind. He wasn't used to handing his life, in fact every life onboard, to one single member of his crew. In his opinion a ship should never have to rely on one single person to pull it out of the fire, it should be combined effort of the entire crew. To be like a carefully oiled machine, every single part working in unison to accomplish greater goals. And if the parts couldn't do their job or broke they could be replaced. It was a depressing thought, that a captain or even an admiral could be removed from duty or replaced just as easily as a faulty harness. And right now, with possibly the fate of their whole species at stake, they had to put their trust on this one part. A real pity Brightness wasn't a combat class AI. That would have calmed him down a degree.
"Twenty seconds." The Mechona said. The dreadnought was looming before them, so close he could see their point-to-point defense guns swiveling in their direction. Ah, now he remembered this trick. He had heard from other captains, and some admirals too. Meat shield.
Reverse thrusters flared just before they collided, lessening the impact, but not by much. Xar clenched the arms of his chair as he was thrown forward, stopping himself from crashing to the floor.
Recovering from the shock, he looked up. The Empathy had stopped short of a complete collision, even so, through the view screen he could see they were around a hundred meters away. He could also see the tentacles wrapping themselves around the sleek vessel, magnetic clamps along their lengths securing them in place.
The engines roared as the Mechona pushed them to their limits. Xar felt the whole ship seem to rotate, then after a look at his displays he realized it was. The two ships were effectively trading places, putting their back to the planet and their new meat shield to the hostiles.
"Maneuver completed, Captain." The Mechona's voice echoed. "Time until planet-fall; two minutes."
"Captain, they've stopped firing." Tactical reported.
Xar nodded, of course they would stopped firing. But whether it was to keep from damaging their own ship or just the shock of seeing a dreadnought used a shield was debatable.
"Damage report." He called out.
"We took five more hits before we grappled." Tactical replied. "Shields are down to sixty one percent and recharging fast. All decks are checking in. Some minor injuries reported, a few dents, nothing more."
Xar sighed. He had a new respect for the people that flew these tin cans. To go through that every battle was a little nerve-racking. How these frigate captains handle that on a regular basis he would never know.
"One minute thirty." The Mechona said. "Captain, do you wish me to release the vessel before we hit the atmosphere?"
Ah yes. Continue to use it as a shield all the way down to the surface and destroy it or release it and scavenge whatever remained of negotiations. To him the answer was all too obvious.
"Release them."
"Understood, Captain. One minute."
The next thirty seconds was chaotic mess. Crewmen rushed about making last minute checks on everything and insuring the ship was water tight.
Moments before the effects of gravity took their hold, the tentacles released their clamps and the two ships drifted apart. The Empathy falling towards the ocean while the dreadnought's engines strained to keep itself out of the planets gravity.
Xar was all too acutely aware of every passing moment as the Empathy plummeted down to the water. The view-screen was filled with the blue sky, the flames of re-entry licking around the edges. They were going to hit the water with their triangular stern, and knife through the water like any professional diver. That was the hope anyway. He had heard too many horror stories about frigates that had landed on their sides. The ship remained largely intact but the same couldn't be said about the crew, some shaken to death or impaled on loose objects as they were thrown about.
He took a steadying breath. Nothing like that would happen. This crew had splashed down hundreds of times, they were too good to fail now.
"Brace!" Someone shouted.
A great force slammed into his back and his vision went black. But he could hear voices all around him as stations shouted out their status. Reporting a successful splashdown. Thank the Father.
Slowly, the blackness in his vision faded away as he recovered from the sudden G-forces. The first thing he saw was water flowing over the view-screen then submerging completely.
"Cargo bays filling. We're sinking fast, Captain."
Xar nodded, somewhat shaken. How they could handle a dropping like that he didn't want to know. Well at least it was over with. Now the only thing he had to worry about was facing a, possibly furious, admiral.
Through the view screen the surface of the water rose further away as they sank deeper into the depths.
"Captain. Scanners are picking up something rather… convenient." Brightness spoke suddenly.
"Convenient?" Xar asked. "What do you mean, convenient?"
In response Brightness created a holographic map before him. On it, he could see the Empathy descending down to the ocean floor. Only there wasn't one. Below them was a massive hole, going down deeper towards the planets core.
"I have identified three different spots on the chasms wall where it appears to be dug by artificial means. What's more, the diameter is large enough to comfortably fit a Hydrodox class dreadnought."
That was convenient. Considering a Hydrodox dreadnought was almost ten kilometers in diameter.
"Is it resent?"
"Negative."
So this was how Breaking Justice hid for so long.
"Take us down, fast as you can." Xar ordered, then frowned at the viewscreen. "And can you give me a forward facing camera, please."
Instantly the view changed from the water's surface, now far above them, to the yawning dark of the approaching abyss.
For the next thirty minutes, Xar was left staring out into the dark waters. How deep did they drill down? He was about to ask for a status report when a brilliant bright light breached the dark before them. He blinked as his HUD automatically polarized and saw the unmistakable shape of a spitfire floating before the camera.
"Comms, prep our ID." Xar ordered, eying the spitfire nervously.
Spitfires were one of the most dangerous things for a frigate in space. Not to mention the ugliest thing to ever spawn from the shipyards and yet their destructiveness was unmatched by anything else in its class. Essentially a floating crate with guns, almost a hundred meters long. But they weren't real ships, no one who had any brains would even think to fly one into battle, instead they operated more like a mines to cover an escape. Hundreds of missiles and other weapons made the spitfires into a force to be reckoned with, even for a dreadnought. Firing off their payloads within half a minute and destroying anything within range. So when retreating through a wormhole, if one hostile ship followed you through before the wormhole closed, transmitting back your location, you were done for. So to prevent being followed, cruisers and dreadnoughts would deploy dozens of spitfires around their exit point, keeping them off just long enough to escape.
So he didn't much appreciate being on the receiving of one.
"Hurry if you please." He added, noticing the spitfire arming its many weapons.
"ID sent, Captain." Brightness chimed.
To his relief, the spitfire powered down but still kept its spotlight trained on them. Then a transmission.
"Captain of the Empathy, your ship is being targeted. State your personal identification and stand by for verification."
He should have expected this. With so few of them left they had to be extra careful about who was at their front door. A Reaper infiltrator posing as them was a likely possibility.
"Captain Xar'Karoth, service number; 5567-432-52. Former captain of the Black Depths, now acting CO of the heavy frigate, Empathy. Pass-phrase; the victorious are united once more."
The link was quiet as they clarified his ID with his bio-signature on scanners.
"Frigate Empathy, you are cleared. Sending course correcting to docking ring. Can you confirm?"
"Confirmed." Xar heard the pilot respond. He had missed them switch places with the Mechona on their way down.
"Copy that, Empathy. Do not deviate. Over." The transmission cut out as the spitfire retreated, drifting deeper into the blackness. The Empathy following after its fading form.
For the next few minutes the blackness remained unbroken, with only the spitfire to guide them through the dark waters. Then for a moment Xar thought his eyes were playing tricks on him as blue glow began to permeate the water. But the further down they went his eyes widened and his heart swelled with pride.
The downward tunnel had ended, opening into a vast cavern filled with the soft glow. Directly beneath them, was what looked like a gigantic spire reaching up to the opening. But as Xar looked closer, he saw it for what it truly was. The main hull of The Fallen Destiny, the commanding ship of Breaking Justice. Hundreds of glowing plasma conduits lit up the water as they floated down along its length, heading for a docking ring about halfway down.
The spitfire suddenly changed its course, darting away from the Fallen. Xar gestured and instantly holograms flowed around him. The views from the multiple cameras set about the Empathy's hull.
He grinned as he saw the spitfire fly towards another vessel floating in the water, its engines warming up as it prepared to leave. He looked around, seeing the remaining ships of Breaking Justice, each one readying itself to fly away.
He could remember each one by name. And though their numbers were down, only fifteen ship to their original three thousand, they still were the largest in this galaxy. The smallest, the Prosecutor, was three times the size of the Empathy.
Then his grin faded as they approached the docking ring, another thought occurring to him. Without a doubt the admiral would call a meeting of the captains in the fleet and he would have his reputation to defend. He often bragged about commanding one of the most indestructible vessels of their whole race. Now to see him as acting CO of one of the weakest would be a huge blow to his pride. He hadn't thought about it much since he had more troubling things to worry about, like extinction. But now with the prospect of meeting some of his old colleagues he began to dread the coming meeting.
The Empathy jerked to a stop as the docking clamps attached to their hull.
"Captain." He heard Braf approach his chair. "The Admiral is requesting your presence on board the Fallen." He nodded, looks like he was out of time.
"Tell him I'm on my way." Xar rose and made for the door. "Have everyone stay at their posts. We may leave within the hour."
He didn't hear Braf's response as the door shut behind him. His mind in overdrive as he tried to think up of anything in his defense that could save his dignity. The only thing he could think of was that he saved their entire species in the little tin can. Maybe add in couple of curses; that always made things more believable. And if that failed, he could always show them reason at the end of a blade. Yeah, that would do.
He came to stop before the airlock and waited for the decontamination cycle to finish. He hated how long it took.
"So do I, Xar."
He groaned in frustration, it wasn't that his thoughts escaped to his mouth. But about who was now standing beside him.
"Didn't we leave you back at Horizon?" He turned to look at Nar'Kallas, who only shrugged.
"Ah, you know me, Xar. I'd never miss an opportunity like this." Said Nar, fidgeting as they waited for the door.
"The last time you said that you sent three people to the hospital, devastators no less, and spent three full months in the brig." Xar grinned. Despite his friends terrible sense of humor his pranks could be hilarious. "I suppose I'm lucky you did it on the Fallen and not on your home turf."
"Yeah, sitting in the brig is a lot better than clean up."
"What was there to clean up?"
"Nothing that time. But the floors had to be completely scraped of the wax. The admiral said I would stay in the brig as long as it took to remove it."
"Well one corridor shouldn't take that long."
"It was the whole ship."
"What!" Xar gaped at his friend, while Nar's eyes glowed with excitement.
"I wired up the wax to the primary janitorial systems. It waxed the whole ship!"
"The whole ship!" Xar starred with horror as Nar laughed.
"During a gathering of the captains no less!" Nar wheezed, trying to catch his breath. "I have footage of them all… slipping everywhere!... Ha ha ha! I didn't know Paluna had such a large vocabulary!"
Xar sighed at his friends ethics before a thought occurred to him. Paluna was still alive and would be at this meeting, and would undoubtedly be the first to insult him. Now he had a weapon against them all.
"You think I can borrow a copy." He asked, hopefully.
"Why?" Nar retorted, suspiciously. "You going to rat me out or something?"
"They already know it was you. And for all they know Brightness gave it to me."
"But he's not a…"
"Nar, please." Xar held out his hand, allowing a note of desperation to creep into his voice. "I need this."
Nar looked suspicious, then his eyes brightened in understanding.
"I see. Your bragging catching up with you then?" He reached down to his waist, revealing a data chip and handing it out.
"Something like that." Xar acknowledged, taking the chip and hiding it in a slot in his arm. "Just incase."
Nar nodded, everyone needed insurance at one point or another.
Another minute passed, but the door remained firmly closed.
"Does it usually take this long?" Nar asked. He was fidgeting again, a sure sign of nervousness.
"Maybe they're wondering whether to let you on board or not." Xar wondered aloud. "Come to think about it, how do you get on the Empathy in the first place?"
"I hid myself in the vents a full day before you launched." Nar replied smugly.
"So that's why we couldn't find you. I wanted you under lock and key to keep anything going wrong or missing."
"That hurt, Xar. That really hurt. I would never sabotage something like this."
Xar sighed, yeah he should have known better. But what was taking so long? Did their scanners pick up something wrong on the Empathy? A Reaper artifact? An alien or… no he wouldn't.
"Did you bring Maria with you?" He snarled. That would explain what was taking so long. Trying to pinpoint exactly where she was for extermination.
"Come on! You know I'm not that stupid!" Nar defended. "Even if she did manage to get on board how I would I know? Her cloak is almost as good as Ori's!"
"You're right. Sorry for my outburst." Xar sighed, slightly subdued.
"No problem. But what is taking so long?"
Xar had no idea. There were hundreds of things that would stop an airlock from opening, but everything was green, on their end at least. Anything could have gone wrong on the other side, a pipe might have ruptured, spilling plasma into the corridor or the admiral… oh right. He had forgotten that the admiral liked to make personal appearances when greeting important officers coming boarding his vessel.
He did a quick calculation. Preparation for liftoff from an underwater position required all power from all non-essential systems diverted to the engines, elevators and trams included. So to walk the distance from the airlock to the bridge would take a long time. Add on the time taken to cut through engineering so his personal guard wouldn't have to crawl through tight spaces, and they were looking at estimate of three hours, give or take a few minutes.
"Oh shit." He heard Nar groan as he came to the same conclusion. Xar wasn't sure if it was good or bad Nar was taking an interest in the human vocabulary. Still, there were some things that couldn't be properly described with a simple, "by the Father." In those cases, even Xar found the human tongue most helpful.
"So, what do we do for a couple of…" Nar was interrupted as the airlock doors cycled then revealed the interior of the tube. "...hours?"
They shared a glance, slightly suspicious at the perfect timing, before walking through airlock. Though he knew he shouldn't worry, Xar laid a hand over the hilt of his blade, just in case.
They reached the other side in good time and now before the outer airlock of The Fallen Destiny. It was locked.
"So how long do you want to bet for this one?" Nar questioned, leaning against the door.
"Give or take an hour, maybe." Xar replied, standing straight and tall at attention, in stark contrast to his friend beside him. As time passed his mind wandered, touching subjects like home, family… his father. He closed his eyes as he remembered that last conversation… and his last words. They were forever engrained in his mind. Nothing would ever make him forget. They were what had kept him going all this it was the first time he had felt… fulfilled.
"Please stop thinking." Nar's impatient voice cut through his thoughts like a knife. "You're like a statue when you do that. It makes me nervous."
He grinned beneath his face-mask. Very few things, in normal circumstances anyway, could make Nar nervous. He could be in the presence of an furious raving emperor who screamed for his blood and not even blink. I was hilarious to think that one of the only things that made him nervous was seeing his friend space out.
Friend. That was something he hadn't called someone in a long time. The last true friend he had was in the academy. He tore his mind away, that subject was almost as touchy as his father. Something he didn't ever want to remember.
Then he had found Nar. Possibly one of the most-wanted pranksters of four fleets. How they had first found each other was… something he would kill for to keep secret.
"Do you remember how we first met?" Nar asked suddenly, causing Xar to curse quietly. Did Nar read minds or something, or was he just that readable?
"No."
"Do you want me to enlighten you?"
"No."
"You were in the officers pool…"
"Shut up." Xar growled. It was bad enough Nar teased him about it, but if Brightness or any other AI was listening, and even worse recording it, he would never hear the end of it.
"Someone put a robotic Narcanus night shark in the pool…"
"Shut up!"
"You were screaming at me to kill it, promising you'd be my best friend if I did."
"I said shut up!" Xar almost shouted. All the while trying to hide his embarrassment.
"I think there's still copies of the footage floating around somewhere."
"Shut… wait, what?"
Their argument was cut short as the airlock doors began to open. Instantly, they snapped to attention as the final lock released, revealing the figure on the other side. Admiral Yalr'Strata of clan Darcul.
Xar sucked in his breath as the Admiral met them with a salute. Despite having known the admiral for a long time, his appearance was still unsettling. The admiral was black. It wasn't racist, after the unification of their clans body color had stopped to matter, but a black body was still something rare. The primary color of the Darcul was white and very rarely was a child born with a different color than its parents. But sometimes genes would throw a curveball and a child would end up a color completely off the known spectrum. Yalr was one of those cases, but he wasn't ashamed, in fact he was proud of his rare color. But it wasn't his color that made Xar uneasy.
For their glowing eyepieces, a Charybdis would usually pick the same color as their body. But Yalr had chosen to completely forgo the eyepieces entirely, relying on his real eyes covered by a simple glass visor. Except for his eyes were a blood red. And to see those red orbs glaring from underneath the glass could make anyone in his presence nervous. Not to mention his CCGH MK.9 was painted with with a strange combination of red and black, a privilege of his rack.
"Captain Karoth." He greeted warmly. "I was pleased to hear that one of our finest survived."
"Thank you, Admiral." Xar answered, trying hard to keep eye contact.
"And who is… oh you." The Admirals eyes narrowed as he glared at Nar, undoubtedly remembering the wax incident.
"Once again, I sincerely apologise, Admiral." Nar replied, all traces of joking gone. "I would like to request a temporary transfer to Intelligence core 43."
Xar blinked. A transfer? He came all this way for a transfer?
"Ah yes." The Admiral paused, considering his request. "But I see nothing authorizing this request from your captain, crewman."
"I give him permission." Xar said quickly, drawing a grateful look from his friend.
"Very well, welcome aboard crewman Kallus."
Nar saluted, then went to walk by the Admiral. As he passed, Yalr grabbed his shoulder.
"Your pranks might have been good moral in the past, but now too much is at stake." The Admiral growled in his ear. "I will not tolerate any mischief on your part. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Admiral."
"Swear it."
Nar turned to face him and bowed. "Admiral Strata, I give you my word of honor that until this situation is resolved I will not cause trouble of any kind."
Apparently satisfied, Yalr released him and Nar scurried away.
"Relax, Karoth." The order took Xar off guard. Yalr turned to face him when he remained at attention. "I said relax, Karoth. I never knew you were one to disobey orders."
Confused, Xar loosened his stance. The Admiral sighed then turned to his guards. "Leave us."
Behind him, Xar saw the two Devastators of the Admirals personal guard. Their ornate horned head pieces glared down on him and they held their plasma halberds in a ready position.
"Sir." One of them rumbled. "Protocol dictates that…"
"I am perfectly capable of defending myself, Commander." Yalr interrupted. "We were going to the meeting anyway, meet me there."
They looked ready to argue, but a glare from the Admiral sent them on their way.
"You would not believe how protective they are over me." Yalr said, once the guards had disappeared down the corridor. "It's embarrassing actually."
"Its just standard procedure, Admiral." Xar replied uncertainly.
"Oh I'm sure you'll regret those words when you're an admiral like me." Yalr chuckled, then grew serious again.
"Did you come here to regroup with us or is there a safe haven." He asked, his eyes boring into Xar.
"A haven. The colony ship, Horizon survived. We've been there for months before the Empathy arrived."
"Thank the Father." Yalr sighed in relief. "Now that we have solid evidence we can leave. We thought the message we sent out had failed. I would like to thank you personally for saving our skins."
"Respectfully, Admiral, it doesn't look like you needed saving, only coordinates."
"Yes we do. The fresh food supplies were beginning to run short, and you know how terrible military rations are. I didn't want to run the risk of being discovered to go fishing, even when we're this deep."
"Well, you're safe from the ration possibility, Admiral. Horizon has been fully established for almost three hundred years. I'm sure its cuisine will appeal to you."
"Really?"
"It appealed to me."
"Like that's saying something." Yalr laughed, motioning for Xar to follow him. "Come on, there's still the meeting you need to worry about. I heard Paluna making up a speech about you and… something about a boat. Care to elaborate?"
"Captains pride, sir." Xar smiled as he remembered the chip hidden in his arm. Paluna wouldn't know what hit him.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Damn power transfers." Nar swore as he was forced to climb down another impossibly long ladder down to the AI cores. Why couldn't they at least keep power to the elevators?
He was relieved when his feet finally hit the bottom. He was in a long arching hallway, doors placed at regular intervals led into The Fallen Destiny's many AI cores. Luckily the ladder had dropped him off near his destination.
After a minute of walking he stood before his destination. The door before him was just as he remembered it from all those years ago.
He reached for the holographic screen, intending to enter his security clearance, then thought better of it. They could be quite temperamental when interrupted. Instead, he knocked. Or pounded whichever way you look at it.
The echoing notes carried in air and or a moment Nar thought no one had heard him. Then a dull crash came from inside, followed by a good deal of cursing.
"Who is it!" A voice shouted from the other side after a while.
"You've honestly forgot about me that quickly?" He shouted back.
There was silence. Nar backed away, afraid that he had knocked on the wrong door. Then the door opened and his was tackled to the ground by a yellow blur.
"Brother!" The voice shouted excitedly in his ear. He blinked, clearing the stars from his eyes before staring up at his assailant.
It was his sister, Meul. Her eyes were bright with excitement as she began rambling about what had happened over the past few years.
"...and then everything was shaking and… oh, I thought you dead!" Thank the Father she had come out alive.
"Yes Meul, I'm fine. Now please get off." He groaned. For such a young sibling she weighed as much as a Devastator. Or maybe it was all her harness. Her main body was small, ; not because of Genock syndrome, she was just naturally small. The same couldn't be said about her harness. It was a full sized Civilian Technician, almost two sizes too big for her. But the modified chest section made it fit quite snugly. But even with the full sized harness she was still a few inches short of being the taller one.
She complied, rolling off him and offering a hand. He took it was hauled to his feet with surprising strength.
"Everyone told me you were dead for sure." She whispered, as if not willing to believe it, staring up at him with her bright yellow eyes.
"Well, I'm back. Here to stay, hopefully." Nar said, patting his sisters head in a comforting gesture. Then looked over her shoulder into the AI core. "Where is everyone else?"
"Main Engineering." She replied. "The Admiral requested everyone on standby in case of trouble."
"Everyone?" Nar asked, stepping around his sister and entered the core. The large circular room was just as he remembered. The main processing unit occupied the center of the chamber, pulsing dimly. The AI, Kallus, must be in hibernation, again because of the power transfers. Looking up at the cores towering form, he saw dozens of hammocks strung about through the various power couplings. He hoped they hadn't removed his already, he had only been gone for about three million years. But Meul was right, the place was deserted.
"Yeah. I still don't see what could go wrong though."
"Oh, a lot of things." Nar replied. "The engines might not start, leaving us stranded on this alien planet. Or they could shoot us down when we try to leave."
"You mean… there's an alien fleet waiting for us upstairs? Cool! I can't wait till we kick their asses all the way to dark space!"
Nar could only laugh at his sisters eagerness. She was young, only fifteen years old, and had never truly seen the bloodiness of war outside of the vids. He almost called himself a hypocrite, then remembered fighting through the Black Depths, and the husks. They made him shiver just thinking about it. But did that make him a veteran? He'd have to ask Xar about that when they got back to Horizon.
"But I imagine you must have kicked them hard enough in the Black Depths. Now they're running scared, terrified of our might!"
Yeah, something like that. Minus the Black Depths part.
"After we drive them out of the system we can finally set a course for…" She paused, the terrible truth dawning on her. She turned to Nar with eyes so sad that it nearly broke his heart.
"We don't have a home anymore, do we?" She asked sadly, her voice so quiet he barely heard her.
He sighed, feeling the same sorrow. Their home was gone, nothing would ever change that. But now, they had a new one, just over the horizon.
"No. We do." He said firmly. Taking a seat on a low hanging hammock and gestured for her to join him. "We might have lost our true home. But the Father has given us a new place to call our
own."
"Really?" She asked softly, sitting down beside him. "He would do that for us?"
"Yeah. He would. We're his people, and nothing will ever change that."
She hugged him, and he could see a single tear seep out from under her face plate. He would have to remind her to clean it up so it wouldn't rust. Slightly hesitant, he hugged her back, feeling awkward of talking of the Father like that.
Over the years people had developed their own way of honoring or acknowledging the Father. Parents usually described the Father as omnipotent being, to say he is always with you to comfort their children on bad days. But in the academy they were slowly broken out of that way of thinking, though some still believed that he was god. Instead they studied him for what he was, a living being, not a god as they were first taught. As they grew older most began to accept this way of thinking, and still honored the Father for giving them a second chance, but the way they honored him varied between the clans. For a Mechona such as himself, he thought of the Father as a brilliant engineer, capable of unimaginable builds and constructs. And so to honor him everyone in his clan strived to be the best engineers they could be. When he and Xar had talked about the subject, Nar had been surprised to discover that the Halkava had a different way of thinking. The Halkava saw the Father as a powerful warrior and tactician, ruthless when roused but merciful and honorable when calm.
Meul hadn't gone through the academy before their exodus and so was still stuck on the omnipotent way of thinking. For a moment he envied her. To believe that someone out there truly cared about him was a wonderful thought. But no, it was only him and her. Their parents were dead, but they still had the rest of their family around them, and that was something not many could say.
"Everyone prepare for liftoff." His thoughts were interrupted as the voice of the Admiral filtered from the intercom.
"Well, come on." Said Nar, unwrapping himself from his sister's embrace. "Time to leave."
She nodded as more tears slipped down her face as they walked to the wall of the AI core. Embedded in the walls were dozens of chairs with restraining belts meant for rough rides like this one.
He strapped her in, watching worriedly as another tear leaked from her face.
"Hey." He shook her shoulder. She looked up at him. "Everything thing will be alright. You still got me after all."
"I just miss them." She said softly.
"So do I." He was about to say something else when the entire ship shook. They were lifting off.
Mentally berating himself for being slow he hurriedly strapped himself into the chair next to her. He had just finished the final check when he felt the ship begin to rise.
'Here we go.' he thought to himself as the G-forces pushed him down. Why did they have to shut off the dampeners?
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!" Yesia roared. The Turian on screen stared at her impassively, his mandibles twitching. The bastard actually believed he was justified in attacking the aliens, all because of misinterpreted message. "WE WERE ON THE VERGE OF UNDERSTANDING THEM AND YOU RUINED IT!"
The Turian didn't even flinch. "To me their purposes was perfectly obvious." He said. "The aliens extended to return to their fleet and conquer Thessia."
"And you attacked them?" Yeais growled. "For all we knew they could have been peaceful. All they wanted was to reunite with their people and leave in peace. Now they are almost certain to attack."
"Which is why reinforcements are on their way." The Turian answered calmly. "If there are only fifteen as the message suggested then this incursion will easily put down."
"But…"
"We have the Council backing us on this, Captain. If you have a problem you take it up with them."
The transmission cut out, leaving Yesia fuming. They had been so close. Then the Turians had to come and ruin it.
She stared out onto the growing fleet, slightly impressed that the Turians had managed to gather this many ships on such short notice. Hundreds of frigates and cruisers, plus dozens of dreadnoughts even the Destiny's Ascension was called out. This wouldn't be a battle, it would be massacre. Fifteen alien ships versus the might of the Citadel Fleet, they didn't stand a chance.
She should call the Council. Maybe there was still a chance to resolve this peacefully. Maybe…
"Ma'am!" A voice shattered her thoughts. "We're picking up… something."
"What do you mean, something." Yesia snapped. She really needed to calm down. Getting angry at her crew wouldn't help.
"We're picking a cluster of signals coming up the Black Abyss, fifteen actually."
Of course, the Black Abyss. The biggest mystery in Asari history was finally solved, it was made by aliens, but not the Protheans as people originally thought. They had discovered the giant hole ages ago, but they could gleam nothing from its darkness. Nothing they had ever sent down had ever come back, even sonar didn't work down there. Even the Salarians couldn't find out
anything about. Until now it seemed, the tomb of an alien fleet. Goddess.
She looked at the readouts on her omni-tool. Something was wrong. A ship the size as before couldn't possibly have a signal this large. But then again they never did specify how big their ships were. Her eyes widened as the outline coming up the hole grew larger, nearly filling up the entire diameter of the Black Abyss.
"Goddess help us." She whispered as the ship continued to rise.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Down below on Thessia's surface an Asari child rested her chin on the railing and stared out into the ocean beyond. Her father stood beside her, worriedly talking with a security officer. They had both seen the alien ship fall into the water. But while the child was filled with excitement, her father was fearful. Whatever was going on wasn't going to end well, and she didn't want to be anywhere around here when it happened.
"Daddy, look!" The child screamed suddenly, pointing out to the ocean. "It's coming back!"
The two older ones only had a moment of panic before the vessel broke the surface of the water. It was massive, ten times the size of the first one. The child stared up in wonder as its engines burned bright, propelling it into the sky. Around her, she could hear people running away, pointing out towards the incoming tidal wave caused by the leaving ship.
But the child didn't move. She was transfixed as another vessel came up, following the first into the sky.
She could hear her father screaming for her to run, but she couldn't stop staring. Then a shadow fell upon her as the tidal wave drew near. But still she was transfixed, this time in fear.
Then she felt a something pull her back and she was flying through the air. She was caught by familiar arms of her father, the glow of biotic energy fading away as she rushed into a nearby building. The door shut behind them just as the tidal wave roared past.
Instantly the child found herself face to face with her father. Her face was a mixture of anger, panic and relief.
"Shepard T'soni, never do that again!" Aethyta scolded, tears leaking from her eyes. Then hugged her fiercely, sobbing into her shoulder.
For a moment, Shepard was dazed. Why was father acting like this? It was usually her mother, Benezia who worried over her like this.
Shepard hugged back, trying to comfort her father. But her mind never left the ships. She would never forget them. Never.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
The fleet of Breaking Justice powered up through the atmosphere, shields primed and engines straining, but no weapons. The Admiral had made it perfectly clear; no one was to attack, not even if fired upon. They needed allies. And maybe by not attacking back, they could show their good intentions.
The Turians however had no such reservations. They floated in space, waiting for their targets to appear.
With a final push, The Fallen Destiny broke through the atmosphere, the rest of its brothers following behind. Instantly the Turians locked on, charging their weapons and firing.
Shields flared as the rounds stopped dead, doing nothing to the Fallen. But the Turians continued to fire non-stop, determined to destroy them. But nothing they had could even put a dent in the dreadnoughts shields.
As soon as the Fallen was safely clear of the planet, it activated its wormhole generator. The Turians were forced to watch as, one by one, their prey escaped through the glowing portal.
Grinding their teeth as the portal closed behind the last frigate to pass.
And they had barely made a scratch.
Somewhere else in the galaxy, the same portal opened above a planet. The bright green and blue orb seemed to glow with joy was its lost children emerged from nowhere.
Then a transmission rang out throughout the fleet.
"This is the colony, Horizon. Welcome home."
A/N
Hello once again and thank you for reading. I'm sorry if this wasn't the first contact you were expecting, but it just isn't time for the Charybdis and the Citadel races to meet in peace. That comes later.
And yes, Commander Shepard will be an Asari for this fanfic. Please don't kill me!
Also I would like to thank .35 for beta reading this chapter and I would recommend taking a peek at his story. Really original. Kills Kaidan before Virmire. And Garrus... I think. I don't know, there's still more to come.
But now back to the humans and their oncoming downfall.