Chapter 11
...
"You know, I was thinking... What if our ship classifications aren't able to be applied to the Protheans? What if a three kilometer vessel we consider a dreadnought is considered a light frigate by their standards? Makes this discovery pale quite a bit, right?"
Hanala glanced over to Martus'Xen, who was deep in contemplation. Though he was an asshole as Joachim dismissed him, he was not without some truth. The Prothean ship really could have been small in comparison. They could have ruled the galaxy with a relatively small but powerful fleet for all they knew.
Turning away, she watched as Hoch stared out ahead of them, his focus was solely on driving. He was clearly not impressed with the situation he was now in. He was officially over his head. Though to be fair so was she really. A year ago she had no intentions on doing this; a month ago she had no intentions on making this journey. But since she was here now and had willing support by the humans, why not?
Thinking about it in hindsight, Hanala really should have been more open about things related to the Protheans, about herself, about her race. Joachim had been nothing short of a perfect gentleman to her. He respected her, but treated her no differently because of her status as a daughter of an admiral. Whether it was deliberate, ignorant or good manners it felt good that she had that chance to prove herself to him.
"So let me get this straight," Joachim decided to summarize. "An ancient, powerful race which controlled the galaxy over fifty thousand years old vanished suddenly. There is no trace of the race other then the bits and pieces they left behind. Since then the technology you have uncovered has been reverse engineered and utilized by space fairing races such as yours. This allows you to travel between stars using a vast gateway system, including one of these gates at the edge of my solar system."
Hanala nodded as she took in his terse words, it must have sounded insane to him. It would to her had the roles been reversed.
"Over ten years ago, Admiral Jalina'Calis vas Kareon was on a surveying operation, when she and her crew intercepted a message sent twice the speed of light," she explained as Joachim turned as Martus directed where Hoch should head next... "Slow, by all standards. She was over 3400 light years from Earth at the time. Since the relay had not been activated she jumped to the nearest relay, then travelled conventionally using faster-than-light travel. It took her three years, and once she activated the relay, she continued searching your system until she found that there was untouched life here on the planet that was transmitting the message."
Joachim snorted to himself.
"I suppose you don't have the contents of the message," he sardonically asked of her. Hanala shook her head and turned away. She glanced over and saw that Joachim as looking at her. He had furious eyes, directly solely for her.
"Why are you looking at like that?" she carefully asked of him.
Joachim did not answer her as he came to a stop at the sand dune. He turned the truck off and leaned backwards into his seat, his hands digging into his pocket for a cigarette. His face was contorted into a scowl as he stared ahead, his cigarette now lit and being inhaled.
Hanala turned off her omni-tool and straightened out her uniform. She turned back to Martus who seemed to be smirking, as though he exactly what this temper of Joachim's was about.
"How could you deceive me like that?" he demanded from her, his eyes burning into hers.
Hanala glared defiantly up to the human.
"You'll have to forgive me," Was Hanala's sudden sarcasm rolling through her words. "The discovery was classified as top secret. There are maybe under a hundred quarians that know what is buried here."
The tension between the Joachim and her was far too much for Martus'Xen, who huffed and activated his Omni-Tool to track the probe once again.
"I'll leave you two at it..." he grumbled to the two of them as he walked away. "I would not want to spoil your first contact romance..."
Martus left the two of them and went to track down the exact position of the buried mining survey probe, leaving Hanala furiously flushed at his observation of something so obvious. Joachim on the other hand, remained stoic. His eyes never left her. Hanala sighed and stepped closer, her hands winging as the height of the human become very obvious and quite intimidating to her.
"Besides, I told you from the very beginning that there were things I could speak about and there were things I could not speak about," she gently reminded him, trying her best to keep him from getting any more upset. "Well... this falls into the category of things that could get me exiled for speaking about."
"Fine, whatever…" Joachim snapped unmoved by her soft phrasing. "But you still used me to get you here."
Hanala rolled her eyes. He sounded like a whining asari.
"Again, you'll have to forgive me for my transgression, Hoch," Hanala nearly growled to the man who now served as an object of both fascination and annoyance. "I might be more advanced then you, technology wise but I'm still capable of having pride, ambition - base feelings that will never vanish no matter how much technology is in my power. I wanted to see this site first, I wanted to lay stake on it and throw my species centuries ahead the bosh'tet's who stand against us!"
Hanala paused and took in a long deep inhale. She was ranting now. Ranting wasn't a good sign... She was just so annoyed by him, though in her own opinion, she had no right to be. She had been deceiving him since they first met while he appeared to be nothing short of genuine.
"I'm only quarian. I make mistakes," she mumbled near mutinously.
The anger burning in Joachim seemed to vanish like hers had. He too seemed upset with himself for calling her out.
"So you'll take this risk… even at the cost of Galas?" he spoke again, this time more in control.
Hanala's blood ran cold as she remembered who died hours ago, which she buried and tried to forget for the sake of herself and the mission. A feeling of guilt Joachim reminded she should have for her arrogance by standing on this arid desert, while Galas remained a pile of cindering ashes and bits of charred bone.
"Yes, at the cost of Galas..." she finally breathed demurely, her pride vanishing before Joachim's very eyes. "I don't want anyone to die for this secret, but the reward far outweighs the risk. This ship is worth more than all of our lives. This technological jump is our descendants' future."
Hoch rumbled a laugh under his breath as he shook his head.
"Unbelievable."
Hanala turned her head up to Joachim, her sharp teeth bared as she got up into Joachim's face.
"Says a man apart of an organization that has confiscated my weapons, my ship and the bodies of my crew for their own scientific studies!" she listed off, her voice again losing its patience with him as she poked his chest. "You'll be getting the glory of making first contact with my people, well this is my glory. Finding something that could be used get back Ran..."
Hanala trailed off.
Rannoch.
She had said way too much and now she would pay for it. Joachim wasn't an idiot; he knew when someone was holding something back so obvious. His eyes narrowed at her, making the captain extremely uncomfortable with the position she let herself get into.
"Get back what, Hanala?" Joachim carefully asked his voice between an order and a request.
Well... she would tell him. He earned the truth. Hanala rubbed the back of her neck, her head shaking.
"There is seventeen million quarians, Joachim… maybe another million scattered across the civilized galaxy. We primarily survive on our fleet and only on our fleet... nowhere else. No colony worlds, no Homeworld…" Hanala admitted, the low number troubling her greatly. Hanala looked down to her feet and swallowed the lump growing in her throat as the facts felt like a stab in the stomach. Quarians still lived in a state of denial about their race. Confessing how crippled her species was felt like she had condemned her race all over again.
Finally she looked up to Joachim's disbelieving eyes.
"We're homeless, Hoch..." she dolefully stated.
Those two words hung over them ominously. Hanala nearly lost her control. She furiously blinked the water in her eyes away and smiled ruefully to the silently staring man standing so close to her.
"I lied again to you, Joachim. I have not seen Rannoch first hand…" She spoke, unperturbed by confessing the truth. "We've been exiled from Rannoch for nearly fifty years. Those we could not rescue were systematically exterminated. There were billions of us. Maybe one percent of our species survives today."
The confession made the human pale. He seemed to struggle to grasp what he was hearing.
"By who?" he demanded to know.
Hanala grimly shook her head.
"By what," she corrected him, her voice bitter as they recalled the horror her people created. "We were exiled by machines known as the geth. Originally they were our creation. They decided that they were being subjugated and thus, was worth the lives of seven billion quarians on Rannoch alone, two billion in our colonies."
The information hit Joachim with a force Hanala did not expect. He looked shocked at first, then like he was going to be physically ill at the statement. She felt the guilt return as she wiped her eyes. She was first generation ship born and she hadn't quite comprehended what was lost in the exterminations. Hoch glanced up, the attempt at comprehending the devastating loss replaced with resolve.
"I thought there were other races you were aware of," Joachim questioned her, his words suspicious. "Could they not have helped?"
Hanala glanced up to him, drying her eyes and shaking her head as though Joachim was asking a childish question.
"Yes, they could have if they wanted to, perhaps saved billions even," she informed him as she stepped slightly closer to him. "The thing is, we've been cast out of the galactic community for the sins of the few. Artificial machine intelligence – that is a sapient non-natural man created intelligence – was strictly banned by the Citadel organization we were a part of. We were kicked out of this union and left to die off."
She allowed a silence to permeate between them as Hoch digested the knowledge. All things considered he seemed to be catching on quickly.
"The Admirals of the past who led our fleet had decided continuing the war against these machines. Each attack on the geth has grown more desperate... and each time the Geth has thrown us back with casualties we just can't replace," Hanala spoke up to the human. "It seems that since I was a little girl there has been a shift in policy..."
"Us," Hoch guessed, his eyes narrowed at her. "You want us to help you fight your war."
Hanala nodded, her hands reaching out to take Joachim's. She watched them with mild fascination as they somehow worked out a way to mesh almost perfectly.
"Partly… see... this mission to Earth isn't here just for the ship discovery or to barter an alliance with your race... What we need most of all is a home," Hanala carefully admitted. "Every world that has our compatibility is either under geth control or the turians have a controlling interest in the world and have threatened us with a war we can't win. So instead we want to settle here... we can build artificial environments to grow our food here and other places in your solar system. Right now we just want to blend in and settle amongst your race…"
Hanala shrugged half-heartedly, saying, "Then… perhaps one day soon we will have enough strength to take Rannoch back."
Joachim continued to stare at her. There was a growing discontent the longer he had listened to her.
"But you're going to need us, right?" he confirmed, his voice was unnaturally low.
Hanala nodded her head gravely.
"That is the official policy, yes."
They fell silent as they walked. She glanced over to Joachim who seemed to have been thinking over what she had been speaking of. Feeling like she gave too much information at one time, she stepped closer to him, her hand touching his. Joachim glanced to the gesture; a ghost of a smile escaped him.
"And yours? Is throwing my race into your war what you want too?" Joachim asked, he seemed somewhat disgruntled at finding out that quarians wanted humans for this reason.
To wage war on their behalf, even Hanala found it disgusting now that she spent time amongst this people. They may have been warlike, but it was not a permanent state like the krogan. She could see it in Joachim's eyes as she watched him fight for the first time.
"We aren't monsters," she sighed "The Admiralty Board may want to use you, but we cannot simply force your race as our foot soldiers, no matter how much we may need you or how technologically advance. We are trying to earn a home here. We should not force a war you have no personal stake in."
Hoch did not answer her. It was obvious he didn't like anything about what he had learned. She could not blame him, he had his own war. The idea of fighting another one was too much to expect of him.
"You wouldn't have to fight it, of course… I think the idea is that we focus on building a life here for several generations," Hanala pressed on hoping that was enough to ease his discontent.
It wasn't.
"Oh, I don't have to fight... you just want my potential grandchildren in the future to fight and die in some far off corner of the galaxy?" Joachim snapped back at her. "Oh yes, Captain… that's just what I fucking want to hear."
Hoch walked away from her, leaving Hanala to heat up at the sarcastic response. She did not understand why she felt this shame growing in her, but she felt it.
"Firing Probe!" Martus called out aloud, ending the embarrassing sensation in the captain. In an instant, blue flames from the laser attached to the probe erupted from the side of the sand dune at a low angle, firing off into the blue sky as it burned a hole through thousands of tonnes of rock, dirt and sand, all the way down to the Prothean vessel.
...
...
"FIRE!"
The explosion of a massive round fired meters from him, forced Paul Fuhrmann to open his eyes and hiss in an agony he never felt before. It was like being hung over but there was no end in sight for his pain. He glanced down and found himself wrapped tightly in what looked like pounds of white linen bandages, blood soaked by wounds that was slowly closing but still life threatening.
He tried to remember what he did... killed a commando with a knife, with Molotov cocktails, with the turret mounted MG-34... Jesus... he was a madman.
"Where am I?" He mumbled groggily, his head rolled to one side as he looked to the radio operator.
The radio operator turned around, his face severely scarred, but nonetheless, broke into a wide smile at Fuhrmann's reawakening.
"Welcome back to the land of the living Fuhrmann." Scarface spoke to him, still with a large grin. "I would shake your hand but you need to stay still. You saved all our asses yesterday."
"FIRE!"
The main gun of the Tiger exploded yet again.
"Ignore the fire," Scarface spoke to the wincing Unteroffizier. "Reister decided that he wanted to pay the British back by stalking a column of supply trucks and tanks heading to the Tripoli."
Had Paul's senses worked properly, he could have made out the screams of the British and their desperate return of fire in every direction. The engines were off. What Fuhrmann didn't know was that it was now night time that Reister parked his Tiger on the highest hilltop he could find. Unfortunately for the British below them, Johann Reister had turned his Tiger into a .88 round firing sniper rifle and was making them pay for everything they had endured at the hands of the SAS.
"Herr Hoch?" he groggily demanded, realizing now of the absence of the rest of the team.
"Hoch and the aliens are heading to their mining operation," Scarface spoke again reassuringly as he took off his cap and ran his hand through his thinning dark hair. "As soon as we're done here we'll be heading their way."
A memory came back to him. The sudden explosion of chaos, of the SAS raid, the overwhelming gunfire, Galas'Yoad being hit... Fuhrmann looked up.
"Galas?"
The name of the quarian brought a silence to the tank crew. Reister turned away from the gunner and turned back towards Fuhrmann, his expression grimly blank.
"Galas is dead, boy," Reister stated solemnly. "Such is the way of war. Well, he won't be forgotten..." he added and gestured to the gunner who was wearing Galas' goggles. "Thanks to him, we're tank hunting at night."
The Tiger's main gun fired again. Fuhrmann ignored it as he reeled in shock.
One of the quarians was dead. He had expected to feel pretty damn good about it. They had after all killed three of his friends one cold night in Russia. That elation however was not happening. Fuhrmann just felt empty, as empty as he felt when his friends were killed. It was a very strange feeling to have for something that wasn't human. Perhaps the shared combat experience had inadvertanly created a which at least he felt. He would never know how Galas felt.
"Scratch number fifteen, column decimated!" the gunner announced, pulling the goggles off his eyes and turning back to his Commander s though seeking approval.
Reister suddenly snorted.
"Did I say anything about relenting? Reload with high explosives and find a target. Infantry in groups are next," Reister commanded sternly. "Maybe Rommel's tankers are a bunch of lenient; do nothing pussies against the English, but we sure as hell aren't!"
He paused and glanced at Fuhrmann.
"Still good work…" Reister said to him, clasping the young soldier on his shoulder. "I would break out our scotch for celebration but someone decided he would use the bottles to torch pasty, scrawny English assholes to a cinder."
Fuhrmann groaned as the tank crew laughed.
...
...
Though the sun was setting and the mining laser turned off hours ago, the three of them had to wait until the tunnel, burnt so hot that it was turned into glass cooled down and fully hardened. It was a temporary tunnel according to Martus; it would survive a few days without supports. Not that it made Hoch feel any better about going down in that tunnel.
In the meantime, Joachim made himself a fire of a couple of the wooden crates and situated himself behind the jeep for a few hours of rest as he contemplated the honesty Hanala displayed; about their race being homeless, about the geth extermination, about the aliens abandoning the quarians to such a fate. It was hard to believe that advanced races could be so vindictive.
Still, by the way Hanala berated herself as 'only quarian'. Well it was very... human of her. Perhaps she was right, there were saints, sinners and assholes regardless of technological achievement. It was somewhat discomforting to think that - aliens with a grudge and weapons to wipe humanity out should they choose to. Here he thought advancement equated enlightenment. His eyes were closed by he could here footsteps come around the jeep. The movement stopped over him. He could feel a single finger touch against his Adam's apple, the sensation of faint breathing ticked against his nose.
"Joachim?"
Joachim opened one of his eyes and found Hanala's kneeing over him. Her cool handing now pushed upwards and touching his cheek, scraping against the roughness of his face, unshaven since he landed in Italy which felt like months ago.
"I wanted you to take this," Hanala murmured, her hand opening to reveal a small circular electronic device, donning what looked like an arm brace of some sort.
Joachim assumed this was the same device that Hanala wore... an Omni-Tool.
"It was Galas'," she explained as she carefully wrapped it around the humans arm. "You don't understand Khellish, nor do we have a time to convert it into your written language, but if you press this button you'll have a light amplification device. We'll be heading into the ship soon... might just need it. "
The device flashed to life, illuminating Hanala face with a bright light that had it been him, he probably would have shielded his eyes. It did not bother Hanala however, who simply pressed the activation button again, killing both the light and the blue haze wrapped around his herself off her knees. Hanala sat down properly next to him, her hands shyly wandering over him with a daring that still surprised him and reminded just how unreal this was.
He reached up, his hand grabbing her forearm which earned a sudden and surprising gasp as the woman collapsed on top of him. Hanala sighed, her face planting into his chest as she carefully relaxed into him. His hand moved through her hair. It felt different than what he expected. It was much more. It was much rougher then ordinary human hair. The two of them remained silent as they stared out into the desert horizon. The cool breeze rolled over them, flickering the small fire he had made.
He wasn't sure why he was doing this the alien woman. She obviously didn't see him as an equal - why would she? They were fundamentally different people, and there was no way that this would work out the second her people arrived. Even if it did survive that first test, they weren't compatible. They didn't share the same faith, they certainly didn't agree politically. They couldn't very well eat the same food or drink the same water!
All of this... all of this was completely absurd, so why was he stretching this quasi-connection out into something more?
Thankfully Hanala remained silent. She had closed her eyes to catch some sleep. He had to give credit to her time management. Grabbing the jacket he had pulled off, he wrapped it around the woman leaning against him and exhaled unsteadily.
While Hoch sat there propped against the Jeep with the alien curled up against him, a strange unfamiliar feeling crept up in him. He hadn't felt this way about a woman in years. Not since joining the Party. He had plenty of women since then, but none of them meant anything to him. They were distractions from the stress of service - in both peace and war time. Since the war started he stopped planning for a future and instead lived from day to day. Living like that and having someone at home waiting for him was not what he wanted to subject someone he cared about to. He didn't want to turn into the sort of man his father did.
So with that in mine, why had this deceptive, manipulative alien woman managed to awaken that deeply buried desire to settle down?
Absurd all of this was absurd.
...
...
Orbit over Mars
"Admirals, we got a transmission from the Devoas crew!"
"This is Lieutenant Martus'Xen vas Devoas, sending this signal out on behalf of Captain Hanala'Jarva vas Devoas. We have made contact with the National Socialists, repeat; we have made contact with the National Socialists. We're currently located in a region of Earth known as Libya. GPS coordinates will be encrypted as standard operating procedures but considering we're the only people on this rock capable of this messaging..."
Admiral Halid'Zorah closed the message and turned back to the father in question; whose hands were covering his face.
"They're at the main crash site… Alaan did you?"
"I told her, yes, I had to. It is standard procedure for anyone keeping a listening post over the planet," Alaan admitted unbothered by the stares of Vaerhit. "The ships surveyor and the Captain are the only ones aware of the discovery. That's how it has always operated."
Next to the father, Admiral Utala'Falan rubbed her forehead as she pondered this latest development.
"Then it appears your daughter has decided on performing the expedition on her own accord, then," she pointed out, her voice stern as it was directed to the Father of the offender. "Had this been anyone other than Hanala I would probably filing treason charges for this breach in security."
"She made contact with the humans..." Admiral Calis mused.
The rest of the admirals ceased their bickering and turned to the senior member of the board. She sat there, slumped slightly into her seat, her weathered hands tapped together as she looked up and noticed that her few words captured their curious attention.
"Whether she had permission by us or not, Hanala has made first contact with humans and they've allowed her freedom to operate on her own free will," Jalina explained herself, her tone full of good humour as she added. "We will not judge until we too join your daughter and find out what has happened."
Deciding against pointing out that the humans could have been coercing his daughter into acting so rashly. Glancing to Admiral Zorah, who had enough good sense not to be enthusiastic as Jalina, Alaan nodded and turned to Captain Daer'Haleos.
"Captain, I need a team of Marines to land ground side with us."
Captain Haleos snapped out a salute and marched out of the gathering room to relay the orders to the ground forces she had on the ship.
Before anything could be said, the door slid open again, surprising Alaan and the rest of the admirals occupying the room. Standing in the doorway was Galina'Jarva, mostly dressed in her environmental suit, her hands clutching her helmet as she stared down Alaan with a determination of a mother demanding to get her child home safe with or without the aid of anyone.
"I'm coming too," she simply demanded, stepping into the room and joining the rest of the occupants.
The Admirals shared a look with each other at Alaan's.
"No, Galina, I'm sorry," Alaan tried to dismiss her, only to get shut down.
"She's our child!" she reminded her husband her voice hissing as she paid no mind to snickering of Admiral Vaerhit and the careful inspection made by Halid'Zorah.
Galina especially paid no mind to her husband's protesting.
"Hanala's in the middle of top secret expedition," Alaan gently tried to persuade his wife. "I cannot allow you to accompany us. When I find her, I'll bring her back to you."
Galina narrowed her eyes. She glanced to each of the occupants of the room briefly before leaning into Alaan's ear. Her hands now gloved dug into his with more pressure than he ever expected from her. So hard he half expected to start bleeding everywhere.
"If you don't allow my company, I will make your life a hell that only sweet death will relieve you from," she whispered dangerously into his ear. She paid no mind to the suddenly very worried expression overriding his discipline. She pulled back from her husband and crossed her arms, defiant once more in his and the rest of the admiralty's presence.
"So, yes, Admirals… I'm going as well," she reiterated as though it was no longer up for debate.
Galina'Jarva pulled on her helmet and left the briefing room, leaving Alaan rubbing his neck and trying to fight the blush on his face left by a wife that was now broodingly overprotective of her missing child. He turned to the Admirals and took in each of their reactions. Vaerhit's disapproval, Zorah's confusion, Falan's amusement and Calis' motherly pride in her youngest daughter, her only surviving child.
Alaan huffed, his hand pressing against his face.
"Well you heard our unofficial sixth admiral, she's coming." Alaan sighed like a husband defeated.
...
...
Joachim rarely had fears. He had seen too much combat to be scared of a great many things. But if he had one fear which emerged in the past day, it was his fear of this glass tunnel collapsing on him.
Though Hanala and Martus assured him that the plasma heated the sand and dirt enough to make this tunnel supported by super strong glass, it still didn't bring comfort to him in the slightest. Man wasn't meant to be underground this deep without any sort of support beams, he figured. He did not voice that opinion, however. The last thing he needed were a couple of quarians rolling their eyes at the primitive's childish fears.
"Is this ship intact?" Joachim asked to distract his nerves as he tried to ignore the groaning from the tunnel. Hanala turned back and smiled just for him.
"No, the forward sections seem to be on the continent of North America," she explained to him. "The engines somewhere in the Soviet Union, the majority if the ship crashed here though, but there are small pieces scattered across the planet."
Joachim nodded and felt Hanala's hand touch his, grabbing it firmly and squeezing it. She seemed very aware of his nervous behavior. Ahead of the two of them, Martus'Xen stopped moving and turned back to his commander and the human.
"Look, there's the probe," he spoke, flashing the omni-tool light onto it as he added. "It looks like we broke into a cave... mind the gap..."
Together, Hanala and Hoch jumped down the small pit and landed by the mining device, their flashlights spinning and their rifles roamed around as though the room was filled with hostiles before turning back to the humming probe. The probe was surprisingly small for the hole it managed to burrow. A machine half the size of a Kübelwagen burnt a hole big enough to have Reister drive his tank into. Martus fell to his knees and waved his omni-tool over it. The center of the probe opened and Martus pulled out a long, cylindrical device. He waved his omni-tool over it; it came to life, shining brightly enough to illuminate the entire cave.
"A cave?" he spoke up, musing as he looked around.
Hanala shook her head, looking utterly amazed.
"Look at the pillars built, Joachim!" Hanala gestured to what he assumed was simply rock extending high to the roof. "It's not a cave… it's manmade. It seems like some sort of ritual grounds dedicated to the Prothean ship... This is so amazing!"
It didn't seem so amazing to him. It seemed kind of… wrong. Joachim tightened the grip on his rifle stock as he slowly glanced around the chamber they had stumbled across. There were tatters of rags covering the walls, tapestries of some sort. The cave floor was littered with urns and skeletons left untouched for hundreds... no, more likely thousands of years. It seemed to him some of the dead had rusted swords at their sides.
Martus laughed slightly at what the Captain had said.
"It's not surprising we would find this alter shrine dedicated to this wreckage. Technology will always seem like magic to an unevolved mind," Martus spoke as he inspected the nearest skeletal remains. He paused and for good measure, added. "No Hoch that wasn't directed to you."
Joachim scowled darkly at what the navigator had snarled. Still chuckling, Martus paid no mind and stood up, looking around at the walls.
"Look at this..." Hanala spoke, breaking the tension. "They sealed the entrance."
Sharing a glare at one another, Martus and Joachim moved to where Hanala was standing and staring at the section of the cave. Sure enough there was a large block looking suspicious out of place. Between the cracks between the stone was a gleam of almost still polished metal.
"Well," Joachim spoke to the two of them. "Are the two of you capable of upper body strength? Or does the primitive have to do the work?"
Martus rolled his eyes, Hanala merely smiled, her eyes traveling over his body before breaking her concentration and turning to the stone blocking their path into the ship. Together the three of them grabbed the side of the heavy rock and with all their might pulled as though they were the Hebrew slaves of the Egyptians. The rock gave way as Joachim and Hanala still held their grips while Martus' slipped off. Groaning Martus pushed the back side of the rock, his back pressed against the door of the Prothean ship.
At least it was until the door creaked open and a thin skeleton clattered collapsed right on top of Martus'Xen.
"Get it off me!" Martus shrieked like a high pitched little girl.
He threw the body off himself and scattered away on the cave floor, wiping himself as though it would clean himself of the corpse. Joachim stepped away and knelled down next to the skeleton, his eyes wide as he examined what remained of the skeletonized human sprawled on the sandy stone floor.
"Joachim?" Hanala questioned, her voice nearly chirping.
Joachim paid no mind to Hanala's concerned whispers. His focus was solely held on the skeleton, clad in almost perfect Roman forged scale armor. It was scraped up and scarred, but it looked as though it was used only a day prior. In the the skeleton's hand clutched his Gladius as though he was ready to do battle beyond the grave. Emitting a small huff, he looked up to see Martus and Hanala staring at him curiously.
"He... he's was a Roman soldier... I mean… I think he was a Roman soldier anyways…" Joachim whispered just loud enough for the others to hear. "You poor bastard... dying trapped behind stone..."
Though he may have been amazed and wondering why in the hell was one of ancient mankind's most efficient and deadliest warrior was doing trapped inside of this ship, the quarian lacked the same excitement as he had. For them, the real mystery was the vessel this poor soul was trapped inside of for a millennia or so. He glanced at the back of the stone barricade they moved and noticed the faint scratch marks and the burn marks littering it.
"Come on, let's go." Hanala nearly commanded, her hand pulling Joachim back up away from the skeleton.
Straightening the skeleton out as though he had been his comrade, Joachim stood, giving the long since fallen warrior one last look. He sighed and together, Hanala, Martus and himself all shared a determined look between one another and together, the three of them marched into the Prothean ship.
...
...
2530 QSY (1930 AD Earth standard year)
Deep Space
"Admiral, I think you should check this out."
Admiral Jalina'Calis vas Kareon glanced up from her supply allocation reports made by the Conclave and up to the communications officer. He could not quite place his name. Haan... or Raan... Yes, it was Raan. She simply smiled invitingly to the young man to explain.
"It's a message we encountered, well not so much as received as we found it drifting through space," Raan explained as he taped the message to life. "It's not any race we know of."
There was nothing but static at first, then sound of primitive war cries, the sound of metal hitting metal and flesh echoed through the room. Every quarian that heard the battle went dead silent as they took in the cries of a battle thousands of light years away, from thousands of years ago. Suddenly a lone alien voice filled with commanding presence called out in between the clinging of swords and ripping of rifle fire.
"TENE FORMATIONEM FRATRES, NOS MISIT MONSTRA AD SEPULCHRA! TENE FORMATIONEM FRATRES, NOS MISIT MONSTRA AD SEPULCHRA! TENE FORMATIONEM FRATRES, NOS MISIT MONSTRA AD SEPULCHRA! TENE FORMATIONEM FRATRES! NOS MISIT MONSTRA AD SEPUL-"
A blood curling scream erupted from the owner of the voice, then nothing, leaving the bridge command of the Kareon and Admiral Calis with a sudden shiver down their collective spines as they listened to the alien die and the transmission cease. Staring at the audio transmitter for a second or two longer, Jalina turned back to her bridge crew.
"Urla, do you have fixed origin of the transmission source?" Admiral Calis requested, her voice breaking the silence instilled by the unnerving screams.
"Working it now."
Jalina nodded to Raan and stood up; deciding she needed to get out of the room to calm her nerves and speak to the others about this find they had stumbled onto. This was both fantastic and frightening to her. Perhaps if this race still existed, this would be the perfect people for Captain Halid'Zorah's plan.
"Once you have a location, organize a flight path." The Admiral ordered as she turned back whilst still standing in the doorway. "I'm going to confer with the rest of the Admiralty Board. Needless to say, this is classified."
Admiral Jalina'Calis vas Kareon departed, unable to believe her good luck; unable to know what horrors those screams tried to protect their world from.
...
...
"Keep the lights together. It looks like we're near a command center of some kind."
Though well intentioned, Hanala's order was next to useless. It felt as though they had been walking miles their omni-tool flashlights were almost next to useless in this environment. It was light the ship wanted to be dark. It seemed to steal the light and not accept illumination in return, leaving the three of them stumbling in a darkness that only offered.
If discovering a corpse of a legionnaire at the door wasn't ominous enough, what design they could make out was that much more unnerving. It looked as though Satan designed it. For a race touted by all these spacefaring species as the fathers of their interstellar travel, the Protheans were beyond creepy in how they designed their vessels. Everything was angular and uncomfortable…
"Weren't the command decks broken off in the crash?" Joachim asked aloud, more to himself then being genuinely curious. "You did point out there were other red zones holding bits of this ship."
A scoffing huff came from next to him.
"It's safe to assume that no self-respecting shipbuilder would dream of placing their command deck in the most vulnerable area of the ship. Command decks are buried it deep inside for added safety," Martus grumbled to the ignorant human. "Only morons would choose sightseeing over protection."
Before Joachim could hit the Lieutenant with his rifle, a shriek emitted from Hanala, breaking the fight between the two men; she had tripped over something blocking her path. Joachim fell to her side and collected her into his arms, Hanala's arms wrapped around his neck. Through the light emitted by the omni-tools, he could make out the terrified expression on her face. Martus turned from his captain and shone a light on the obstruction. The quarian winced as he took it in, as did Joachim and Hanala.
"Keelah, it's a body... I think…" Martus observed his expression grim.
Joachim stared at it faintly, his face contorted into horror. It looked human... but it was wrong, extremely wrong. It was thin, coated in a mass of wires and machinery. It stared blankly up at them, still clad in bits and pieces of roman armor. Martus leaned down, running his fingers over the strange wiring.
"They're augmented with cybernetics... to the point of it ceasing being human at all," Martus spoke up. Hoch could only stare at the body. He had no idea what 'cybernetics' was.
Watching as Martus' omni-tool waved over the body, both taking pictures and medical scans of the husk of what was once a human being, Joachim did all that he could to ignore the shiver running down his spine now. He tried to ignore the terribly paranoid feeling that was overwhelming his senses now. This place was wrong. It was so fucking wrong.
"Come on, we're nearly there," Hanala spoke again, standing up with Joachim's help.
They would pay this warning no heed. They were nearly there. They continued on in silence, stepping blindly through the dark. Suddenly, Hanala yelped as her omni-tool erupted into static. She turned back to the two men, her eyes filled with an immeasurable excitement.
"The signal we received a decade ago, it's still sending!" Hanala whispered as she quickened the pace. Martus and Joachim shared a look and followed after her, she was much too excited for her own good. They climbed a small staircase and bumped into Hanala who was shining her light on the electronics in the room they were now in.
"Hanala?" Joachim questioned the curious acting woman. Hanala didn't reply at first, she seemed almost transfixed by the setup.
"Strange..." she finally marveled aloud to him. "This section of the ship design doesn't correspond with the rest ship. It looks like it was installed long after it was buil-"
The sound of vomit hitting the ground forced Hanala and Joachim's attention to the third member of the group. Martus was knelled over on the metal floor, staring into the pile of vomit, his chest heaving. He looked as though he was shaking with a stress they did not see before in him.
"Lieutenant... Martus, are you alright?" Hanala spoke, her hand touching against the fallen man. Martus batted her hand away and stood unsteadily back up. He looked awful, like he had become violently ill in a matter of moments
"Yeah... just feeling queasy… I'll be... I'll be..." the Navigator admitted in a low moan and trailed off into a blank expression. His eyes glanced around the dark, not minding the lights on him. "I think... something's watching us."
They watched Martus's head twist around the room wildly until finally Joachim felt the exact same as Martus. He hadn't thrown up but he felt as though something was indeed watching them. A strange, splitting headache erupted in his skull and a dizzying double vision overtook him. He blinked furiously and turned to Hanala. Hanala's hand rubbed her skull. The headache grew as a ringing in Hoch's ears grew louder. It was not dissimilar to that of being caught in a protracted artilalry shelling.
As quickly as ringing started, it stopped. From out of nowhere the room was filled with a blood red light, the sudden illumination startling all three of them. The entire vessel lit up in spite of this wreck being down here for a millennia.
"Altering linguistic frequency for direct vocal communication with current organic cycle candidates," a voice spoke before vanishing again. "Unindoctrinated intruders detected on the bridge deck."
Joachim was officially frightened now. What the hell was that?
"It's an intelligence!" Hanala marveled, her mouth opened wide in surprise as she answered Joachim's unspoken question. "Well, it's not quite an Artificial Intelligence... It's like a Brain stem... it keeps basic functions alive."
Joachim frowned at the remark as he glanced around the dark.
"But how… aren't the engines in Russia?"
"Internal power source is maintained by geothermal energy," the intelligence answered for the quarian "We lay and wait for our rescue with infinite patience, but now our solitude has been shattered. The tomb seal broken and disturbed by insects whom wandered in to steal from something infinitely beyond your scope of understanding."
A holographic avatar flickered briefly before the three of them. It was that of what Joachim assumed to be the ship. His mouth dropped open in a sudden, biting fear. The first time he felt fear like this since his father administered his biweekly corporal punishment upon him. If that was the ship then the only thing he could say was that it looked like the face of Lovecrafian nightmare.
Hanala was undeterred. He could see the excitement etched onto her face. How could he blame her? She had made contact with Prothean intelligence. Before she could find words, the red, blinking avatar vanished before their eyes, but in its places, the ships internal lights came to life.
"Who are you?" Hanala called out to the room at large, looking for the avatar that vanished. "What do you wait for? We are friends, we seek only to learn!"
Though Hanala was clearly drunk off the opportunity presented to her to advance her race, Martus and Joachim weren't. They peered around their lightened parameter. Surrounding them were hundreds of Roman skeletons, a virtual field of dead. Most of them covered in the ominous blue toned cybernetics, most still clad in decaying Roman legion armor. The cybernetics started to glow vividly.
Martus exhaled slowly... whatever this was, it was not good.
"Please, what do you wait for!?" Hanala repeated, her voice nearly begging an answer now from the machine. Joachim reached over and grabbed the quarian woman, forcing her eyes to fall on the virtual field of fallen Romans scattered around them.
The machine answered; first with a low pitched whine, then with rumbling words.
"Our return."
Before Hanala could ask any more questions, The Dreadnought shook and emitted a sudden and deafening roar as though it was Hell itself trying to shred a hole out of the Earth. The three of them stumbled to the floor of the ship. All of them now officially panicked. They did not notice the electrical charge flying through the vessel, they did not notice as the ship powered up.
They did not notice that one by one, the long dead and heavily modified Roman Legionaries stood up from their graves.