Zenna groaned softly into her hands as she read the reports of the battles happening all across the galaxy. Things seemed to be going bad to worse. The Batarians were effectively, going extinct. Both due to the fact that they faced the brunt of the attack and the fact that no one, other than the criminal underworld, wanted to help them due to their slavery practices. The same almost applied to the Korgan, at least they had sympathizers and were trying to help the least aggressive clans.
As for the Quarrians, no one had heard from them. Even Tali hadn't sent her any e-mails during her time in the brig. The Asari was holding them off well and there had been few attacks in the Salarian sectors. But the writing was on the wall. Shit was happening and it was happening fast, in space terms. She signed as she leaned back and stared at the celling curing whatever is out there.
An alarm on her terminal sounded and she looked to her screen before opening it. It was marked classified and for her eyes only. With a moan, she opened it and began to read. It took her longer than normal to read it. But by the end, she paused and pulled herself back. After a moment of thinking she hit the com.
"Joker set course for Eden Prime, highest priority," she said.
"Understood commander, any reason for the change?" he asked.
"Classified, but it seems that we had more to look for on Eden Prime than the beacon," she said not taking her eyes off of the screen. "Back to where it all started,"
OOOOO
Zenna with Garrus and Liara looked down at the green, lush and vibrant as she remembered it. It was good to know that the world rebuilt since Seran was there. As Cortez flew near the location; Garrus opened the door allowing the three to jump out. Both Liara and Garrus landed on their feet but Shepard landed on her feet but almost immediately slipped. She slowly got up and moved next to the other two.
"Owww," she moaned as she got up. "Ok, let's before Cerberus gets here,"
The two nodded and made their way to the pre-fab units. As they did the three saw towers in the distance. The make of them made it very clear that they were made by the Protheans. The architecture and tech, while similar, was still alien.
"No survivors, come on, we have to make it to the dig site," Liara said as they pressed on.
"Say Liara did you happen to come across any dinosaurs in your digs?" Garrus asked.
"No, you see I used to be an Archaeologist while studying dinosaurs is palaeontology and... Oh you were making a joke right?" Liara said realising what Garrus was trying to do.
"Yeah, a bad one." He admitted with a shrug while Zenna just shook her head.
No one was around but they kept their guard up, Cerberus had been wanting to expand their operations. They could be up to anything at this point. They had to remain on guard, and if Cerberus wanted this artefact, that only meant it was bad news. They soon saw the objective; Liara ran up to the console while Zenna and Garrus took cover behind some crates.
"Make it quick," Zenna said as Liara activated the lift and console. But as she read the info on it, her eyes widened as the realisation at what they had found.
"That can't be right..." she said making the other two come up next to her.
"What?" Garrus asked as a platform came up with a crate on it.
"According to this it isn't a Prothean artefact... it's a Prothean." she exclaimed.
"As in a still alive Prothean?" Garrus asked in shock.
"It's hard to believe but yes,"
"Given all we've been through this is what you doubt?" Zenna asked with a smile.
Garrus opened his mouth then close it. Falling silent, he couldn't find a good enough retaught.
"I can't get it open; it needs some kind of code to unlock." Liara said.
"Can't we just open it?" Garrus asked.
"No that will kill the Prothean, we need a command code and some Prothean signal to open it." Liara said.
The minotaur nodded. "Let's look around, they were digging we could find something." Zenna said.
The two nodded in agreement, weapons raised they them moved off to important looking pre-fab units to the right. As they did Liara looked at her omni-tool at the downloaded info. If the dig team had found some info, they should have some kind of record for it. As they turned a corner gunfire made then scatter into cover. Two snipers and four troopers were held up on the roofs of the pre-fab units. Two engineers suddenly appeared next to the troopers and deployed their turrets making the three more suppressed.
Shepard and Garrus kept popping up and firing but failed to kill any due to the amount of fire they were getting. Seeing an opening, Liara moved behind the troopers then threw a grenade behind them. The grenade exploded killing the troopers allowing the two to take out the turrets. The snipers still had them pined however, after getting covering fire from Zenna, Garrus repositioned himself to get a better shot at them before taking the, down.
Liara looked at her omni-tool and pointed at a pre-fab unit. The two got the picture and entered the building. As they entered, they saw several Alliance marines on chairs with a table filled with credit chits and a telly screen on the game. The three just stared at the scene.
"Watching the game when they were killed," Zenna shaking her head.
"They'll pay for this." Liara growled.
"More of that, and you'll sound like a nekomata," the minotaur said with a light shove.
The three then walked into what looked like a lab, Zenna then saw in the back was the mainframe. Indicating it out to the other two who nodded in response. They walked onto a small room to see a console with a shard on it. She reached out to pick it up before everything went black.
OOOOO
Four Prothean soldiers were holding off a collector attack with particle weapons. Each one moved back slowly as they held off the collectors. On of them was hit making the lead grit his teeth and use his biotics on an oncoming group of collectors sending them into a wall. He then sent a blast at a larger group making them fall. Before turning to his comrade.
"Victory seal the bulkhead." the lead yelled as he grabbed his comrade.
"Acknowledged." a green VI said as the bulkhead began to close.
The collectors began running towards them making the others fire their beam weapons on the oncoming assault as the lead dragged his comrade behind the bulk head as it closed. The leader then led on the bulkhead for a moment as another soldier checked on his comrade. The leader then looked onwards into the bunker seeing fires and not much else. He knew what was happening.
"How many have we lost?" he asked.
"Reaper forces have destroyed approximately 300,000 lifepods." The VI said.
The lead opened one of the pods only to see a chard black soldier.
"A third of our people." he said as he moved up and placed his hand on the body's shoulder.
He bowed his head in respect before the VI appeared next to him.
"Alert, north-side bulkhead cannot be sealed hostile's detected." the VI said.
"Then all forces to the north." the leader declared picking up his weapon and moved with the remainder of his troops.
OOOOO
Vision returned to Zenna as she blinked away the images before looking at the screen before her then at the shard.
"What was that?" Garrus asked.
"That was the Prothean vid of their Reaper war." Zenna said not taking her eyes off the shard while Liara's eyes widened.
"You saw it?" the asari asked.
"Yeah, it must be because of the cypher. Come on I got the code; we need to find the signal." The Commander said as she put the shard away. "Come on, there should more sites,"
The three made their way out into the court yard with no sign of Cerberus. Liara looked at her omni-tool and pointed left to a set of stairs. The two nodded and they moved up the stairs into another lab but no sign for a mainframe. The opposite end of the fab unit was open so they made their way out.
A pre-fab unit on stilts was on the other side but only had a ladder for entrance. With nothing else to go on the three climbed up the ladder and dropped down a hole into the unit weapons up. No one could be seen. Liara tapped Zenna's shoulder and pointed to a small room in the back it was the mainframe room. But aside from the console Zenna found a strange looking weapon. Picking it up it looked like a collector particle weapon but less organic looking. She handed it to Liara who needed more fire power than she or Garrus.
A voice or something caught the minotaur's attention as she looked to the screen her vision going blank once again.
OOOOO
Two Protheans walked into another section of the bunker complex they were in.
"I never thought our empire would fall." one of them said.
"It won't." the other one said stopping and looking at the other one. "We will sleep here until the Reapers return to dark space. Then we will rise, a million strong."
"For the empire." the others declared
The leader nodded. "For the empire, get to your stasis pod." he ordered.
The other nodded and ran off while the other turned and walked in the opposite direction.
"Victory, broadcast the readiness signal to all life pods." he said as the VI appeared.
"And the refugees that have yet to reach the bunker?" the VI asked as they stopped.
The leader looked to the side before answering.
"Their sacrifice will be honoured in the coming empire." The leader said, regret clearly in his voice.
"So be it." the VI nodded.
Just then an explosion sounded and several collectors came running the leader drew his weapon ready for battle.
OOOOO
Zenna groaned as she blinked away the images. After a quick shake of the head, she turned to the others.
"The Prothans were trying to save as many as possible in bunker complexes but Reaper forces breached this particular one." she said.
"Anything useful?" Liara asked.
"No, nothing." the minotaur said. "At least, nothing of note. Come on, there should be more,"
Liara nodded as the thee made their way back outside only to be met with laser-fire making Garrus move closer to the pod. Cerberus soldiers emerged from cover and began to fire on their position, supressing them. A the three exited the building Zenna threw a turret onto a wall where it opened up and began to fire and the white armoured Cerberus forces.
Garrus found a good spot to snipe from as more Cerberus troops kept coming. Liara decided to make use of her new weapon and used the rifle in bursts trying to take out some of the Cerberus troopers. They maybe elite but they couldn't stand too much fire.
The cover Zenna was using was destroyed by Cerberus grenade. She dived to the side using her heightened agility, she three of them quickly before diving into cover again as they focused fire on her. Moving quickly, she avoided most of the fire before throwing a grenade at them taking them out. Liara and Garrus then left cover and finished off the stragglers. With no more Cerbrus troops in the area the three then made their way to the pod.
Liara got down to one knee and opened it. The cover came off showing a red armoured, blue skinned Prothean.
"Goddess..." Liara exclaimed looking at the 50,000 year alien.
The frost quickly vanished from its body but still no signs of life.
"It may take him some time to fully regain consciousness," Liara suggested.
The Prothean then began to stir his four eyes blinking. Soon they fully opened and he saw Zenna, Garrus and Liara. Baring his teeth, he glowed green and blasted them away and got out of the pod.
"Be care He's confused." Liara yelled as she got up while the Prothean tried to get away stumbled a few times before taking in the landscape with horror in his eyes.
The others got up and slowly approached him.
"Remember it's been 50'000 years for us but for him it's only been..." Liara said as Shepard placed her hand on the Prothean's shoulder.
OOOOO
"... a few minutes." the leader said turning to face the green VI.
"No the bunker is falling. There is no other option." the VI said.
"There are pods online! Those soldiers are still alive!" the leader yelled.
"Their sacrifice will be honoured in the coming empire." the leader turned away from the VI in understanding. "Preparing the neutron bombardment. Get to your lifepod now."
The leader turned to the VI his lip twitching before running to an open pod and lay in it. The pod closed and retracted into the wall.
"Neutron bombardment underway." the VI announced.
The sounds of explosions and vibrations of the bombardment shook the pod. Soon it stopped and the sound of the building braking sounded.
"The bunker is secure, Commander Javik" the VI announced.
"What is left of it. A few hundred people." He said in a sad tone. "How am I to rebuild an empire from that?"
"Further adjustments maybe necessary. The neutron purge compromised the facility." The VI said
That did not sound good. "Clarify."
The VI answered after a moment. "Sensors are damaged. Automated reactivation is not an option. You will remain in stasis a new culture discovers this bunker. This may lead to a power shortage."
"Do not shut off more pods! I need the few that are left!" Javik yelled.
"Power needs will be triaged appropriately. You will be the voice of our people." The VI said in a sober tone
The commander's eyes flared with anger. "I will be more than that."
OOOOO
The connection between 'Javik' and Zenna broke. The Prothean fell on all fours.
"How many others?" he asked in perfect English.
"Just you." Shepard said.
The Prothean gave a deep breath as he moved to his knees.
"You can understand me?" she asked in slight surprise.
"Yes," he nodded. "I have read your physiology, your nervous system. Enough to understand your language."
Zenna frowned at that. "So, you were reading me while I was seeing..."
"Our last moments. Our failure." Javik said standing.
"Your people did everything they could." Zenna said moving round. "They never gave up. And I could use that commitment now."
Just then Cortez came on over the comm.
"Commander whatever you did got Cerberus pissed. They're coming in fast." He said as Javik then turned to see a Turrian and Asari walking towards them.
"Asari. Human. Turrian. I'm surrounded by primitives." he said unsurprised.
"Ok people Cerberus is planning to bombard this area. Time to go." Zenna said.