Chapter 4
Into the Void
An alarm sounded out, cutting through Shepard's much-needed sleep. For a moment he groped blindly, trying to find the bedside clock.
"Commander," came EDI's voice.
"Wah?" he grunted.
"Commander, we have an alert."
"Alert for what-"
Shepard sat bolt upright, suddenly remembering the events of the previous day.
"Tali," he said, shaking the sleeping form beside him, "Tali wake up."
"Hmm," she grumbled, silvery eyes opening, "What is it?"
"The Lutece scanner has been activated," explained EDI, "Moriarty's forces are carrying out an attack."
"Inform the rest of the team EDI," said Shepard pulling on a clean t-shirt and trousers, "I want everyone in the CIC in five minutes."
"Of course Commander," the AI replied.
•
It took a little longer than five minutes, but eventually the whole team had gathered in the CIC, looking expectantly at Shepard, now dressed in combat armour.
"Alright EDI," he said once Booker had arrived, rubbing sleep from his eyes, "What information do we have?"
The multiverse map appeared above the CIC's holographic projector, this time one of the sections flashing red.
"We picked up a signal from here about ten minutes ago," stated EDI, "Coordinates have already been worked out by the Lutece scanner and are ready to use."
"Okay Miss Elizabeth," said Shepard, "You think you can do this?"
The young woman stepped forward, playing nervously with the cuff of her dress.
"I think so," she said, examining the number counters on the device, "But I'll need to be in the cockpit in order to open the tear properly."
"There's plenty of room up there, as long as Joker doesn't mind sharing," replied Shepard.
"Hey, I'm always happy to share with a beautiful woman," the pilot replied.
Elizabeth blushed.
"Just keep your hands to yourself," Booker remarked with a scowl.
"Hey, hey, I'm just joking."
"See that you are."
"I'm not a child Mr. Dewitt," said Elizabeth, flashing him an annoyed look.
"I'm still in charge of keeping you safe," he countered.
"If we're done with the drama," said Inspector Lestrade, "I think we'd best get moving before Moriarty's done picking his new target clean."
"Right," said Shepard, "Elizabeth, you take up position in the cockpit. Booker, you might as well stick with her."
"Ah, come on Shepard," grumbled Joker, "You don't have to land me in it like that."
"You just get the ship ready, and radio Captain Sullivan that we're about to fly."
He turned his attention to the rest of the crew.
"Get your gear together. I don't know how long it'll take us to reach the target zone, but we need to be ready when we do."
The team obeyed the order and returned to the crew quarters for their weapons, aside from the Doctor, who never carried a gun on principle.
The engines rumbled into life and the Normandy slowly rose from its berth. Out on the runway, almost every Flying Legion mechanic stopped what they were doing, watching in amazement as the sleek, predator like form rose almost silently into the air.
"Good luck all of you," came Captain Sullivan's voice over the radio, "We'll have a hot meal waiting when you get back."
"Let's hope the food isn't a museum piece too," Joker grinned.
"I heard that," crackled Sullivan's voice.
Once it had risen about a hundred metres above the airfield, the Normandy's engines were powered up and it flew forward.
"Alright Elizabeth," said Joker, keeping the ship flying straight and level as it passed over a landscape of farm fields, "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be," she replied.
Picturing the coordinates in her head, Elizabeth put her hands together before slowly spreading them apart. There was a spark of blue ahead of the ship, and an enormous tear appeared in the sky.
"Here we go," Joker announced.
He boosted the ship's engines and flew through the portal.
There was a blinding flash of whiteness and for a few seconds it seemed as if they were flying through an empty void.
Shepard was about to ask what was happening, when another tear appeared in front of them, and the Normandy came out into the inky black vastness of space.
"We did it!" he said with a feeling of triumph, "We did it!"
"Glad you have so much faith in inter-universe travel," quipped Joker, "I thought we were just gonna get turned into spaghetti or something."
"If your done joking around," stated Booker, looking annoyed, "Perhaps you can tell us where we are?"
"Alright, alright Mr. Serious, let's see what the navvy computer has to say."
He pressed a few buttons and a display appeared in front of him. It showed a few planets circling a large star, one with a pulsing red marker next to it. Getting a visual, the display changed to show a large yellow and brown planet.
"What are we looking for?" said Elizabeth, looking on in puzzlement, "Something on that planet?"
"No," answered Shepard, "A gas giant like that doesn't have a solid surface. EDI, are our scans picking up anything?"
The transparent blue sphere appeared next to him.
"My scans have picked up a space station orbiting the gas giant Commander," EDI replied, "Though at this distance it's impossible for me to say more."
"How long before we're in visual range?"
"One hour and ten minutes."
"Very well," said Shepard, pressing a button for the ship wide address system. "All team members meet back in the CIC in thirty minutes."
Leaving the bridge, Shepard went to the armoury to pick out his weapons. By the time he returned to the CIC, The Doctor, along with Sarah and Sergeant Benton, were already there, the latter of which was loading brass cased bullets into a box magazine. His weapon, a sub-machine gun of the latter half of the 20th century, lay nearby.
"You sure you want to go into battle with that?" Shepard asked, looking at the antiquated gun.
"I've carried the Sterling through more battles than I can count," Benton retorted, loading the now full magazine into the gun, "It hasn't let me down yet."
Sherlock, Watson and Lestrade entered a few minutes later, each of them armed with much more modern electric pistols. Last to arrive was Xena, armed with a sword and a circular bladed weapon, while her friend Gabrielle carried a wooden staff.
"Outdated guns and swords? I hope the Luteces knew what they were doing when they pulled us all together," Shepard thought to himself.
"Commander," announced EDI, "We have a visual on our target."
"Alright, put it on the CIC display," he ordered.
An image appeared above the holographic display. Silhouetted against the yellowish haze of the gas giant was a space station, made up of three towers. As it came into focus, they began to make out bridges connecting the towers, along with countless radar dishes and struts.
"What are we looking at EDI?" asked Garrus, leaning in to get a better view.
"This is a space station," the AI answered, "From it's communications beacon, I have determined that it is of human origin and called Sevastopol.
"That doesn't look like any human space station I've ever seen," Tali remarked.
"It's design is very different to those from our universe Miss Vas Normandy," EDI replied, "But we must remember we are no longer in our universe."
"Still, you'd think the design wouldn't change much. This station looks almost primitive."
"From my scans, I must conclude that you are correct. The technology used in this space station is much less advanced than even first generation Systems Alliance craft."
"So we've got an outdated space station as our first target," remarked Inspector Lestrade, "What on earth would Moriarty need with this place?"
"What indeed," said Sherlock, stroking his chin.
"Resources perhaps?" suggested Watson, "I would guess that the station is used to mine resources from the nearby planet."
"Doubtful my dear Watson. You are most likely correct that the station is used for mining, but if Moriarty needed raw resources, he would go directly to the source and extract them with his own equipment."
"Then what could he want with the station?"
"What indeed? I have no doubt we shall find the answers on board."
"EDI, what else can you tell us about this station?" asked Shepard.
"Unfortunately, I can say no more at this time," she replied, "My long range scans are being blocked by the station's security, as is my ability to access its internal systems."
For the first time, Shepard felt a pang of worry. EDI was perhaps the most advanced artificial intelligence ever built. What could possibly be powerful enough to block her?
"Are you able to bypass it's security systems?" he asked.
EDI was quiet for a few seconds, an eternity for a computer.
"I believe so Commander," she said eventually, "But only with a hard connection when the Normandy is docked."
"Are you sure that's safe? If this station's computers are able to block you at range, they could do serious damage to your systems if directly connected."
"I have concluded that risk is minimal Commander. The Sevastopol's computer systems are much simpler than my own. This makes a wireless connection easy to block, but a direct connection should counter the problem."
"Well, if you are sure, but be careful, we'd hate to lose you."
"Thank you Commander."
The Normandy flew on through the silent void. The gas giant became larger and larger, until it took up the whole cockpit window. Eyes wide, Elizabeth watched it in fascination. During her imprisonment by Comstock, she had read countless books about the solar system and its planets, but never dreamed of seeing it like this. Indeed, from what Commander Shepard had said, this was far beyond their own system.
"You mind not damaging the seat Miss?" the pilot remarked, giving her a sideways smile.
"What?" Elizabeth began, before realising that her hands were clutching the seat in a death grip.
"Sorry Mr. Moreau," she said, releasing the chair.
"Ah, call me Joker, everyone else does."
"Umm, okay… Joker, it's just, this is amazing."
"That it is, well, until it tries to kill you."
"Kill you?"
"Space is dangerous, and when you're a pilot on a warship, it comes with the territory."
"At least you're loaded for bear," Booker remarked, leaning on the nearby bulkhead.
He was acting casual, but Elizabeth got the feeling her saviour was no less awed by the sight of space than she was.
Back in the CIC, Shepard looked over the scans of the space station. The Sevastopol's complex and almost random design made it frustratingly difficult to study, but as the Normandy got closer, they began to pick out more details.
The main docking bays were far too small for the Normandy, but there were airlocks located on the station's towers they should be able to link up with. As he studied further however, Shepard noticed that there was damage all over the structure. Great holes had been torn across one of the towers, and several of the radar dishes had been knocked over or blown up, their remains twisting in the vacuum.
"It looks like Moriarty's forces hit this place hard," he remarked, watching as parts of the tower broke free and spiralled toward the gas giant.
"If I may Commander, I do not believe this is the work of Moriarty," said EDI.
"What do you mean?"
"While my scans of Sevastopol station are still limited, I can detect no weapons systems of any kind. Moriarty's forces would not have needed to deploy so much firepower, and it would have been disadvantageous for them to do so. The damage to the station also appears to be around two to three weeks old, Moriarty's forces cannot have been here more than ten hours."
"But if it wasn't Moriarty, who was it?" asked Gabrielle, who was also studying the pictures closely.
"Something much more dangerous than him," Xena remarked darkly.
After another hour, the silhouette of Sevastopol began to fill up the view in the cockpit window. Up close, it looked less like a space station, and more like someone had built a series of latter 20th century tower blocks in space, all joined together with thick cables and walkways. Caught in the unbreaking light of the star, the shadows cast across its many uneven surfaces were heavy, giving the whole structure a foreboding feeling.
"You think it's a rule in this universe that they have to make their space stations look as creepy as possible?" said Joker.
"The design has some advantages Jeff," stated EDI, "It allows for far greater ease of modification and upgrading than our own spacecraft."
"You say that, but I think I prefer a non-creepy spaceship EDI."
Slowing the ship, Joker pulled up alongside one of the towers and pointed a searchlight at it. The beam travelled over the surface until it halted on a hexagon-shaped hatchway.
"That's our way inside," remarked Shepard.
"Bringing us in," Joker said.
Slowing the Normandy to a complete stop, Joker lined up the nose of the ship with the hatchway and began extending the connecting tunnel.
"Pressurisation should be done within a few minutes Commander," said the pilot.
"Great work Joker," Shepard replied.
He walked down to the CIC where the rest of the team were waiting.
"Commander," came EDI's voice, "I have gained access to the Sevastopol's systems."
"What can you tell us?"
A wire-framed model of the space station appeared above the CIC's holographic table.
"My scans have revealed that Sevastopol station is undergoing decommission at this time. There is no more than a minimal crew, and many systems have been disconnected."
"Any clue on why Moriarty's forces are here?" asked Sherlock.
"There is nothing in the station's memory files," EDI answered, "But security systems show Cybermen in these areas."
Two points on one of the station's towers were lit up, one slightly above the other.
"What are we looking at?" asked Shepard.
"The Cybermen have their forces focused in Sevastopol's central computer and power plant. Those must be their targets."
"Then it looks like we're going to have to split up into two teams."
Shepard looked at the assembled group. He could lead one of the teams, no problem, but who here could he trust to lead the second?"
"Shepard?" said the Doctor, his tone much more serious than before, "Might I suggest that Sergeant Benton command one of the teams?"
Shepard looked at the soldier, who snapped to attention.
"Are you ready for this task Sergeant? We'll be facing the unknown."
"I've faced Cybermen before Commander," Benton replied, "I know it won't be easy, but it has to be done."
Shepard sensed he was going to like this soldier.
"Alright then, here's the plan" he said. "I'll lead a team consisting of myself, Tali and Garrus, along with Sherlock, Watson and Lestrade, and hit the power plant. Benton, you lead the Doctor, Miss Smith, Xena and Gabrielle, and deal with the forces around the computer core."
"Yes sir," Benton answered.
"What about me?" asked Booker, looking a little left out.
Shepard looked DeWitt up and down. He guessed the man could hold his own in a fight, but not much else.
"I want you and Miss Elizabeth to stay with the ship. I know it's a letdown, but we don't know what we'll be facing in that station, and I need the Normandy well-defended.
Booker cocked his shotgun.
"I think I can do that for you."
"Good."
Satisfied, Shepard turned to address the two teams.
"You have your orders, now let's move out."