A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….
STAR WARS
THE LOST PILGRIM
EPISODE I
A NEW GALAXY
Tragedy! The evil CHANCELLOR PALPETINE has overthrown the GALACTIC REPUBLIC and reformed it into the EMPIRE! While JEDI MASTERS OBI-WAN KENOBI and YODA attempt to restore order, AHSOKA TANO flees from Clone Troopers enacting Order 66.
Having been discovered on the planet THABESKA, Ahsoka is forced to traverse through unstable space in a desperate attempt to avoid destruction. The dangers of this area are many but it is her only hope.
With the JEDI ORDER no more and the galaxy firmly under the heels of a tyrant, hope for peace in the galaxy is all but lost. Little does Ahsoka know that her actions may yet bring hope to another galaxy on the precipice of its own destruction….
Ahsoka Tano grunted as her Aurek-class tactical strikefighter shook from the impact of laser fire. Numerous alarms went off, alerting her of various damaged systems, but she tuned the noise out. Growling, Ahsoka began evasive maneuvers and spun away, avoiding yet more blaster fire from the pursuing clone Z-95 Headhunters.
Acting under the guidance of the Force, Ahsoka killed her aft engines and activated her forward maneuvering thrusters on full. Aiding the thrusters with the Force, Ahsoka flipped her ship and fired off several bursts of laser fire, watching in grim satisfaction as one of the Headhunters erupted in an explosion. She then reactivated her aft engines to bring herself to a relative halt, using a combination of maneuvering thrusters and the Force to just barely avoid crashing into the other Headhunter.
Once at speed again, Ahsoka quickly considered her options. While there was only one Headhunter left of the original group of five, she knew that more were on the way. Taking out the last one would be easy enough but her deflector shields were nearly down and taking any more damage without the presence of an astromech could potentially take her life support or other vital systems offline. That left jumping to hyperspace where she couldn't be tracked but that posed its own issues. Her hyperdrive, while still operable, had been damaged in the scuffle. That alone would make jumping to hyperspace risky but then you added in the fact that she was in an unstable region of space and that was a recipe for absolute disaster.
The Force screamed at her and Ahsoka instinctively let it take control as her ship spun away from laser fire coming from her stern. A quick glance at her barely-functioning short-ranged scanners revealed that five more ships had just dropped out of hyperspace not too far from her current position. Even though it was a horrible idea and she could practically hear the Force begging her not to do it, Ahsoka was left with no choice in the matter. Without even bothering to input coordinates, Ahsoka jumped to lightspeed.
OoOoOoO
Commander Johnathan Shepard fought back a tired sigh as he made his way toward the Normandy's medical bay. It hadn't even been a week since he had been made humanity's first member of the Council's Special Tactics and Reconnaissance division and he was already starting to wonder if his career was going to be the strangest in the galaxy. What he had hoped to be a simple mission to the Artemis Tau cluster to locate Dr. Liara T'soni instead resulted in his team receiving a distress signal from a group of Systems Alliance marines and fighting off a Thresher Maw. As if a trapped distress beacon wasn't enough, they had soon after detected an anomaly in space only to discover a craft that didn't appear in any known database.
Reaching the medical bay, Shepard returned the salute of the marine on guard before stepping inside. The craft hadn't been devoid of life and its sole occupant proved to be an even greater mystery than the craft itself. Laying on one of the medical beds with an IV connected to her arm was an alien woman (at least, Shepard assumed the alien to be a woman given her breasts but you could never truly tell with aliens). She had orange skin and looked more or less humanoid aside from the white… thing with blue lines and long tails on her head that Shepard had first thought was some sort of headdress but turned out to very much be a part of her biology. The white pigmentation on her face was also interesting but he didn't know if it was biological or just face paint.
"Commander," the room's other occupant, Dr. Karen Chakwas, said in lue of a greeting.
"Dr. Chakwas," Shepard replied with a nod. "How's our new guest?"
"She's fine, as far as I can tell. There were no external injuries and medical scans revealed no internal ones, either. She's currently in what I can only assume to be some sort of healing coma. Her brain wave patterns right now bear similarities to quarians after suffering significant head trauma."
As Chakwas was speaking, Shepard had taken a few more steps inside before leaning against one of the unoccupied beds and crossing his arms. "Any ideas as to what she is?"
"None whatsoever. My medical scans didn't turn up anything particularly useful in that regard. What I do know is that her physiology is markedly similar to both humans and quarians. There are a few key differences, obviously, but there are enough similarities for me to tell a few things and for me to feel comfortable enough to set her up on IV saline.
"While she has no signs of injury, I detected signs of extreme stress, fatigue, and what may be slight malnourishment. Beyond that, there were also a number of unknown bacteria in her system but nothing that seemed harmful even to us. Her blood report was also clean but she possesses unusually high levels of mitochondria."
"Mitochondria… That's the powerhouse of the cell, right? So, you're telling me that she has a lot of energy?" Shepard asked.
"Possibly. The levels she displays are higher than even star athletes or krogans. The only one I have on file that comes even close is Miss Tali'Zorah."
"Well, I guess that's just another mystery to solve. Having another person as energetic as Tali on board will certainly be an interesting experience. Any idea when she'll wake up?"
"Sorry but no. I have her vitals closely monitored, though. I should know when she starts waking up."
"Good. Contact me when she does or if anything comes up."
"Yes, sir, Commander."
Leaving the medical bay, Shepard made his way to the elevator. The painfully slow contraption gave him plenty of time to mull over the current state of affairs and try to reach a conclusion. New sentient life hadn't been discovered in the galaxy since the turians first discovered a human vessel nearly twenty-four years ago. Hopefully, this instance of first contact wouldn't turn out as badly as that one had. Regardless, this was definitely something he should report to both the Council and Alliance brass once their initial investigation was complete.
The elevator door eventually slid open to reveal a very interesting sight. Ever since Shepard first set foot aboard the Normandy, he'd had to deal with complaints and needless worry about aliens. As he started to gather a crew during the initial stages of the hunt for Saren, those worries only grew. Then there were the headaches with trying to sort out all of the racial tension and biases. Garrus Vakarian thinking that Tali'Zorah nar Rayya was just another thief or vagabond. Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams keeping a cold distance from Garrus and probably worried that he'll turn on them. Literally everybody thinking that Urdnot Wrex was just another dumb krogan. It was a bit of a nightmare, really, but Shepard could tell that these people were the best and he always prided himself on his judgment of character.
As such, seeing not only all of them but several other members of the regular crew amicably talking to each other was like a breath of fresh air. Most of them were gathered a respectful distance away from the alien craft that they brought in and was now taking up most of the cargo hold. It seemed that curiosity was powerful enough to overcome even the deepest prejudices. With any luck, they'd remember this small moment and it'd help ease tensions a lot faster.
As for the ship in question, it was a very interesting craft. Having spent basically his entire childhood living aboard ships, Shepard privately considered himself fairly well versed on the subject (albeit, nowhere near as well versed as Tali and likely most other quarians) and yet this was a very curious one. Given its small size and the fact that the cockpit only had room for one person, it was obviously a fighter craft of some kind but, beyond that, it was a complete mystery.
The craft had a very sleek design, almost like that of a dart or one of those birdies they used in badminton. It was mostly steel gray in color but there was a long strip on the fore that ran from the cockpit to the nose and was painted a deep red with similar strips on the tips of what Shepard could only assume were the wings and where the wings joined with the ship. As for the wings themselves, they were almost completely parallel to the hull of the ship, fanning out a bit wider than a straight line from the hull, and had what appeared to be some sort of cannon attached to the tip of each wing. The cockpit itself was an elliptical dome made of what looked to be some sort of black glass and was positioned at the very back of the hull between the wings. Given the fact that it had wings at all, Shepard could only assume that it was designed to also be capable of flight in atmosphere.
The hiss of the elevator door opening immediately caught the attention of two of the people in the cargo bay; the fact that they noticed it at all over the din being a not inconsiderable feat. Wrex simply gave a nod from where he was standing by the gear lockers before returning his attention to the ship while Garrus, who had been leaning against the front of the Mako, also nodded while saying "Commander" in greeting.
It seemed that the turian's greeting was loud enough to catch the attention of a few more people as they briefly turned their attention to him and gave their own greetings. Shepard simply nodded to them as he made his way to the side of the ship where a certain quarian girl was half-buried in the thing's innards and mumbling to herself.
"Tali," Shepard said to get her attention. Tali squeaked in surprise and banged her head against something as she jumped and pulled herself out. "Are you okay?" he asked, faint traces of amusement slipping through his concern as the quarian muttered several curses while rubbing at the back of her veiled head with one of her three-fingered hands.
"Oh, Shepard! Y-Yes, I'm fine," she said, her voice modulator giving her accented speech a very interesting reverb. Behind him, Shepard could hear some muted chortles but he ignored them.
"Good. Tell me about the ship," he said as he nodded towards it.
Almost immediately, Tali's hands found each other at her waist as she started bouncing on her toes in what Shepard was beginning to think was a gesture of excitement. "This thing is amazing! I've never seen anything like it before and it doesn't match anything on our records!"
"Something I'm hearing a lot of today. Have you been able to figure anything out?"
"Some things, yes, but not quite as much as I'd like." Tali turned to face the ship, gesturing to each part as she spoke about it, "The entire ship is constructed from some sort of titanium alloy— we're not sure what the other component is— and the canopy is also made from some sort of steel despite being completely transparent. The underside of the hull has a slot for what I can only assume is some sort of torpedo launcher— although the ship doesn't have any— and mounted on the wings are laser cannons!"
"Laser cannons?" Garrus interjected as he started to examine the objects in question a bit more closely. "But laser-based weaponry was deemed too energy consuming and costly to be effective."
It was then that Tali seemed to notice everyone staring at her, her silvery eyes going wide behind her smokey visor that hid the rest of her face. Seeing the signs of stage fright, Shepard spoke up to draw her attention back to him. "Have you managed to get anything from the computer system?"
Tali's attention snapped back to him and he heard her take a deep breath before continuing, "Oh, u-um, y-yes, we have. The user interface is written in a language that's not in our universal translators but everything is still in binary so we've been able to decipher some of that. The ship is equipped with some sort of long-range transmitter as well as some sort of shield generator. There are also several other systems that we haven't been able to fully decipher yet and others still have been damaged. You can see the scorch marks all along the hull where the ship sustained laser fire."
"This thing can actually take laser fire? Even some frigates have trouble with it."
"Oh, absolutely. While we don't know its full strength yet, it's safe to say that the metal this ship is made from would be impervious to the mass accelerator cannons found on most fighters. And that's not even taking into consideration its shielding."
"This thing keeps getting more and more impressive. Get the computer working on translating the text. Maybe we can figure out more if we can actually read the UI."
"Already on it," Tali replied as she held up her left arm to show off the glowing orange holographic array that was her omnitool.
Shepard smiled at her, "Good work. Will it be able to translate audio once it's done?"
Tali shook her head, "Not right away but it will be able to once it gets some samples."
"Good. Keep me updated and disseminate the translation program once it's finished to everyone. Hopefully, it'll be finished by the time our guest wakes up. Speaking of, what about those strange devices we found on her? Have you been able to figure anything out about those?"
If Tali had looked excited when talking about the ship before, she looked positively ecstatic now. "Come look! It'd be better if I showed you!"
Interest piqued, Shepard followed Tali over to the desk beside the weapons lockers where Ashley usually worked, several other people moving as well to get a better view. On the desk were the two metal cylinders that the alien had on her when they found her. Tali carefully picked one of them up and held the indented end away from everyone before pressing a switch on it. There was a sharp snap-hiss of energy as the item came to life.
Shepard's, and damn near everyone else's, jaw nearly hit the floor at what happened. "It's a laser sword‽" he said as he looked at the rounded beam of white energy that sprang into existence from the device.
Tali shook her head, her voice carrying tones of amusement as she answered, "No, not a laser sword; a plasma sword. This is a limited beam of pure plasma contained by a powerful electromagnetic field."
Shepard instinctively took a half-step back at that, "Wait a minute, if that thing's pure plasma, why am I not feeling any heat from it? Better yet, how are we not all now on fire?"
"I… honestly have no idea," Tali said somewhat sheepishly, which absolutely didn't help matters.
"How is something that small even able to generate that much power?"
"I… don't know that, either," Tali said as she ducked her head in embarrassment before thumbing the switch again, the blade disappearing into the hilt with a sharp whine.
Shepard slowly shook his head to get his thoughts back under control before saying, "Well, keep me updated if you find anything else. As for the rest of you," he turned to face the crew, "I want everyone at their posts and ready for anything. It's only a matter of time before we find Dr. T'soni." There were several salutes before everyone started to shuffle off, Tali going back to the hole she had crawled out of.
As he made his way back to the elevator, Shepard could only shake his head as a rueful smile spread across his face. This day was getting weirder by the minute and he hadn't even spoken to the alien yet.
OoOoOoO
Consciousness returned slowly to Ahsoka. It was as though her mind was covered in a dense fog, blanketing her senses. Almost instinctively, she let herself sink back into the Force. While she had done it before to place herself into a Force coma to protect herself from the stresses of that peculiar hyperspace jump, this time she pushed outward with it instead of inward. She felt the presence of another being very close by with another a bit farther away. She pushed further outward and felt several more both above and below but they were all in a relatively small space and she felt nothing beyond a certain point. Given both that and the fact that she was lying down, it was safe to assume that she was on a ship of some kind. What really piqued her interest, though, was how heavily the Force swirled around the entire vessel. It reminded her painfully of being in the presence of one of the Jedi Masters but it didn't seem to be focused on any being in particular. She felt hope well up in her chest at the thought that she might be on a Jedi ship, a ship of survivors of the Jedi Purge, but she immediately tempered that hope. The Force could swirl heavily for many reasons.
Using her connection to the Force, Ahsoka willed her mind to clear and her senses to return. She could hear the being that was close to her moving about and the sound of a nearby door sliding open. She then heard an elderly feminine voice speak in a language she didn't know and then a deep male voice responding in kind. She had never been terribly good at this particular ability but she forced herself to ignore the alien words and instead try to feel the intention behind them. If they wanted to be understood, the Force could translate for her.
Slowly opening her eyes, Ahsoka groaned as she gingerly sat up and took in the room. She appeared to be in what she could only guess was some kind of medical bay but the design was an unfamiliar one. She had been laying on a bed in roughly the room's center and she noticed that she was hooked up to an IV. For a moment, she was tempted to rip it out but she sensed no hostility from either of the room's occupants and her senses were now unclouded so she let the impulse pass.
As for the other two occupants, the closest one was a human female who seemed to be on the older side. She had dark gray hair and sharp features but both her appearance and what Ahsoka was sensing from her gave her the impression that the woman was one of motherly sternness rather than strictly clinical practice. The ship's doctor, perhaps. The other was a human man who appeared to be around the same age as Master Anakin. He had a very strong physique and had close-cut dark brown hair with a faint scar running along his sharp jaw and the air about him was one of authority. Both were wearing peculiar uniforms of gray and black with an orange patch on one shoulder that was emblazoned with characters that Ahsoka couldn't read.
The male took a few steps closer to Ahsoka and that's when she noticed the holster on his right hip that held what she could only assume was some sort of blaster. On instinct, her hand brushed her own hip and she had to fight down a surge of panic when she found her lightsaber to be missing. She still wasn't sensing any hostility but she'd be in trouble if that changed.
The man then spoke to her directly in that strange language. She still couldn't understand it but she was getting the feeling of introduction and questioning.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand you. Do you understand Galactic Basic?" Ahsoka asked after the man had stopped speaking. She watched in fascination as the man brought up his left arm as an orange hologram sprung to life around it. He seemed to press some buttons on it before speaking again. She still couldn't fully understand him but she was starting to make out some words. He seemed to be making some sort of request.
"I don't know if you can understand me but I'm starting to understand you a bit. Can you keep talking? I should be able to figure it out in a bit." The man looked puzzled at this but nodded. He started talking again and Ahsoka closed her eyes before letting herself sink once more into the Force. She reached out to the man and willed him to be understood. It was apparent that he was explaining something— who he was, where they were— and, after a long moment, there was finally a breakthrough.
"— that's when we found your ship. We brought you on board and have been monitoring your condition since," the man finished saying.
Ahsoka smiled as she opened her eyes. She had never been particularly good at that skill and hadn't really needed it all that much during the Clone Wars but she was thankful for Master Yoda and the other teachers at the Academy drilling that basic skill into her when she was but a youngling.
"I see. Thanks for that. I'm Ahsoka Tano. Can you tell me where I am again?" she asked.
"You can understand me now?" the man asked with a bit of surprise.
"Yup. Sure can," she answered with a nod.
"Good. Guess I'll start over. I'm Commander Johnathan Shepard of the Systems Alliance. You're aboard my ship, the SR-1 Normandy. We were in the Artemis Tau cluster when our scanners picked up an anomaly. When we went to investigate, we found you and your ship adrift in space. We brought you on board and got you medical treatment. Our scans say that you're perfectly fine so there's nothing to worry about."
"Systems Alliance?" Ahsoka parroted with a tilt of her head. "Haven't heard of them before. Are they a new part of the Empire or something?" She did her best to keep her tone casual. If this 'Systems Alliance' was indeed a part of the Empire, she'd have to be extremely careful if she wanted to have any hope of getting out alive.
"Empire?" It was Shepard's turn to be confused. "There hasn't been an empire in the galaxy for tens of thousands of years."
A look of worry crossed Ahsoka's face as she asked, "Um, this may sound like a stupid question but what year is it?"
Shepard looked even more confused as he answered, "It's 2183 CE by Earth's reckoning. Why do you ask?"
The worry started to grow into fear. "Earth? I've never heard of that planet. Can you tell me what the year is according to Coruscant?"
Shepard gave a confused look to the woman who just shrugged before turning back to Ahsoka and answering, "Can't say I've ever heard of Coruscant, either. What cluster is it in?"
The fear started to grow into anger. "Okay, look, this isn't funny. Coruscant. It's in the Coruscant system. Whole planet is one big city. It was the heart of the Galactic Republic for at least 10,000 years. No one's not heard of Coruscant."
Shepard gave Ahsoka a cautious look as he answered in a slow, calming voice, "I'm sorry but I haven't. I haven't heard of any 'Galactic Republic', either. Most of the galaxy has been under the control of the Citadel Council for the last two thousand years."
The anger started to grow— Ahsoka caught herself and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and releasing her emotions to the Force. "There is no emotion, there is peace," she said under her breath, too quiet for the others to hear.
"I seem to be… very far from home," Ahsoka said aloud after a moment.
"Well, if you tell us where your home is, maybe we can help you get back there," Shepard offered.
"I… honestly don't know if you can…"
"Then how about you tell us how you got here and we can work from there."
Ahsoka thought it over for a moment before nodding. "I was hiding on a planet called Thabeska when some clone troopers found me. While fleeing from them, I was forced to go into an area of unstable space. Despite the risk, I was forced to activate my ship's hyperdrive in order to get away. I honestly don't know what happened next. I just remember being in a lot of pain for a hyperspace jump and then I blacked out."
"Okay…" Shepard said slowly as he took a seat on the bed next to Ahsoka's. "There was a lot there I didn't quite understand. Why don't we trade information and see if we can find a common point of interest?"
Ahsoka shifted in her bed until her legs were dangling off the side and she was facing Shepard. "Alright then. What do you want to know?"
OoOoOoO
It was nearly two hours later when Shepard stepped out of the med bay. Once the door closed behind him, he had to take a moment to steady himself, letting out a long breath as he rested his hand against his forehead. His head was positively swimming after that conversation. It wasn't as bad as when he had touched the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime but it was damn close. The information that Ahsoka had revealed was simply staggering.
A civil war that spanned the entire galaxy? An army of clones? Ships capable of speeds comparable to Mass Relays at any moment? Then there was this Jedi Order business and the whole thing about the Force. That might have been the most unbelievable thing but Ahsoka levitating a nearby datapad to her was reasonable enough proof. While Shepard was capable of much the same thing thanks to his biotics, that level of fine manipulation was beyond even an Asari matriarch. Then there was the fact that there had been no telltale blue glow of mass effect fields that a biotic produced and the fact that Dr. Chakwas' scans hadn't revealed any sort of implant of any nature. Not even a universal translator.
Speaking of which, the fact that Ahsoka didn't have a universal translator (or even know what one was, although she could guess based solely on the name) and yet still managed to understand them perfectly was also good proof. At her prompting, he even turned his universal translator off and was surprised when he could still understand her as though she were speaking English.
Still, even with all of the information they exchanged, there was one thing that was the undeniable truth: Ahsoka Tano was not from the Milky Way. This had been further proven when Shepard brought up a galaxy map and Ahsoka hadn't been able to recognize anything. That left them with two possible conclusions: Ahsoka either was from the Milky Way but at some point far into either the future or the past or she was from a completely different galaxy. Both possibilities were completely absurd but, as a great detective once said, once you've eliminated the probable, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
Of course, there was also the possibility that Ahsoka was completely insane but she didn't seem insane and she had plenty of evidence to back up a lot of her
claims.
After that disheartening conclusion, Shepard had agreed to leave Ahsoka alone to her thoughts for a moment with Dr. Chakwas staying behind to give her a complete physical and get a better understanding of her biology. She had agreed to meet him down in the cargo bay to examine her ship when she was ready.
Making his way back down to the cargo hold, Shepard was surprised to find the place mostly empty. Wrex was in his usual corner cleaning his gear while Ashley was on the computer console on the opposite side working on something. The only other person present was Tali who was sitting on the floor leaning against the Mako and eating nutrient paste from a sterile tube. While he had seen her eating a couple of times before, it still somewhat fascinated him. It honestly looked more like she was drinking rather than eating.
Actually hearing him approach this time, Tali looked up at him before quickly standing up. "Oh! Shepard!" Her voice was slightly muffled as she talked through a full mouth before swallowing and saying more clearly, "What can I do for you?"
"Just checking up on things. Decided to finally take a break, huh?" he asked, gesturing to the half-eaten tube in her hand.
"More like forced, really. I hadn't eaten anything in over ten hours and Adams practically forced this into my hands when he came in here and saw me still working."
"Good on him. Your dedication is appreciated but you need to take care of yourself, too. If Chakwas finds out that one of the crew isn't eating properly, she'll have a fit," Shepard said with a bit of a chuckle.
"I know. Adams said much the same thing. But it's just so exciting! The Normandy was the most interesting ship I had ever seen before but, honestly, this craft is even more interesting! Um… No offense, Shepard."
Shepard chuckled again, "None taken. Alien tech is always exciting, even more so when you don't understand any of it. As advanced as the Normandy is, everything on it was based on preexisting theories. That thing is something else entirely."
"I can't thank you enough for letting me come along with you, Shepard. I didn't even dream that anything like this would have happened to me before."
"No need to thank me. If anything, I'm the one who should be thanking you. Without the evidence you provided, I doubt I would have been able to convince the Council of Saren's betrayal. You're a valuable member of this crew."
"Am I really?" Tali asked a bit hesitantly. "I know I must be causing a lot of friction among the rest of the crew. A lot of them don't seem to trust me much and I've seen some of them pat themselves down when I accidentally bump into them."
Shepard actually scowled at that for a moment before saying in a tightly controlled voice, "Don't worry about them. They'll get over it." He then smiled before continuing, "And you absolutely are. You should have heard Adams when I talked to him in the mess shortly after you joined. The guy was practically singing your praises. You have the Normandy running with greater efficiency than even he thought possible. He was even worried that you'd take his job before long."
Hearing this, Tali quickly raised her hands as panic crept into her voice, "Oh, I would never—"
"Relax, Tali," Shepard cut her off with a reassuring smile. "He was just joking. Still, Adams is a man with high standards. Him praising you like that is no small thing.
"So, have you found anything else out yet?" Shepard asked, giving a nod toward the fighter craft.
"I have. Now that we can actually read the UI, learning about it has been much easier. The ship's computer is reporting major damage to several systems including something called a hyperdrive. I'm not entirely sure what that is but I can only assume that it's some sort of engine. Its main method of propulsion are ion thrusters located in the aft. Those are perfectly functional and the ship is still spaceworthy despite the damage."
"Well, it should be about to get even easier to learn about it. Our new friend is awake and will be down once Chakwas is finished giving her a once over." At that statement, Shepard turned around at the sound of the elevator opening to see Ahsoka step out of it with a guard escort. "Speak of the devil."
"Shepard," Ahsoka said in greeting as she approached. The marine escorting her gave the commander a quick salute before leaving.
"Ahsoka, this is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, one of the ground team and also a part of engineering. Tali, this is Ahsoka Tano, our new friend."
"It's nice to meet you," Tali said with a nod. Ahsoka frowned at her and tilted her head which caused Tali to immediately stiffen up.
"Don't worry, she just can't understand you yet. Just keep talking and she'll pick it up. You said that the ship is still spaceworthy?" Shepard said quickly to head off any potential misunderstanding.
Tali quickly relaxed her posture. "Oh, um, yes, it is. Most of the damage to the hull is superficial and the major systems are still within operational norms, according to the computer. Whatever the hull is made out of, it's an incredibly sturdy material and the most vital systems are incredibly well protected via several layers of redundant metal."
"The ship's made from a titanium-chromium alloy. I only took some glancing fire from ship-mounted laser cannons and it'll take a lot more than that to shoot this thing down."
"Oh! You can understand me now?"
"Uh huh."
"That must be an incredibly efficient universal translator you have! What sort of program are you running for it?"
"Oh, I'm not using one. I can use the Force to understand you."
"The Force?" Tali asked with a tilt of her head.
"It's a long story. She can tell you more about it later," Shepard interjected. Turning to Ahsoka, he continued, "I don't know how much of that you got but most of your ship's systems are fine. Only your communications and hyperdrive are down."
"I was afraid of that," Ahsoka said with a frown as she walked over to the cockpit. She pressed a button on the side to raise the canopy before making an impressive standing leap into the cockpit and activating the ship's systems. After a few moments, she said, "The motivator's completely shot. It was damaged in the fight and that last jump fried it."
"Can you repair it?" Shepard asked.
"In theory, sure. The damaged parts are easy enough to replace. In practice, probably not. I don't think any of the metals you guys have access to could withstand the strain of jumping to hyperspace. I could probably get the comms working again, though."
"Hyperspace?" Tali asked, growing more confused by the moment.
"Long story short, it's a separate dimension that allows for FTL travel nearly on par with Mass Relays," Shepard supplied.
"That just leaves me with more questions."
Shepard chuckled, "Trust me, you're going to have a lot more by the end of this."
"Commander, we've just entered the Konossus system. I'm picking up geth activity near the planet Therum. We're also detecting signs of prothean ruins there," Joker said over the comms.
"Copy that. Activate the stealth systems and get us close. Alert the ground team to meet me in the comm room in ten minutes," Shepard replied.
"Aye aye, Commander."
"What was that about?" Ahsoka asked as she alighted from the cockpit.
"Our mission. We were trying to locate Dr. Liara T'soni when we found you."
"And she's on Therum being attacked by droids?"
"Sounds like it."
"Let me come with you. I want to help out."
"I appreciate the offer but there's no need. You're a guest, not a member of the crew."
Ahsoka shook her head, "You saved me and are letting me stay on your ship. It's the least I can do to repay you. Besides, if someone's in danger, I can't just stand by and do nothing. I have to help."
Shepard considered the strange girl for a long moment, measuring the resolve in her features and remembering what she had said before about having fought in a war. Eventually, he nodded, "Very well. If you're that determined then I won't turn down a helping hand. Your unique abilities could prove useful. Welcome to the crew."
Ahsoka smiled, "Thanks, Shepard. I won't let you down."
"If you need armor, we have some that might fit you."
"Jedi don't usually wear much armor, if any. It restricts our movement and can sometimes hamper our access to the Force. All I need are my lightsabers. Speaking of, where are they?"
"Lightsabers? Oh, you mean those plasma swords? Tali?"
"They're on the other side of your ship by the computer console Williams is at," Tali provided.
"Even if you don't wear armor, I'm not going to let a member of my crew touch ground without at least kinetic barriers. Come with me. Tali, you go on ahead to the comm room."
"Right away, Shepard."
As Tali left, Shepard made his way to where Ashley was getting her gear ready with Ahsoka in tow. "Ahsoka, this is Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, another member of the ground team. Williams, this is Ahsoka Tano. She'll be joining us from here on out."
Ashley snapped off a salute to her superior officer before saying, "Pleasure to meet you. Um… I don't mean to be rude or anything but what in the world are you?"
"I'm a togruta. I'm from… someplace far, far away," Ahsoka replied with a bit of a hesitant smile. She then spotted her lightsabers on the nearby desk and immediately made for them. Ashley tensed for a moment but relaxed a bit once Shepard waved her down.
Once in her hands, Ahsoka gave her lightsabers a once over before igniting them, a pleased smile forming as the blades of plasma sprang into life. "Oh, good. They still work," she said as she gave them an experimental flourish before turning them off and clipping one to each hip.
"I still think it's crazy to go into battle without a gun but I'll trust your experience for now. Williams, get Ahsoka kitted out with a kinetic barrier and an omnitool and then lead her to the comm room," Shepard ordered.
"Aye aye, Skipper," Ashley replied with a salute.
OoOoOoO
A few minutes later, Ahsoka found herself sitting in one of the chairs in a large circular room that reminded her painfully of the council chambers in the Jedi Temple. Seated in the other chairs were the other members of Shepard's ground team. Shepard had just finished going over introductions and Ahsoka was starting to get a faint headache from having to translate so many languages. Even the third human in the room, Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, spoke a different language from Shepard and Ashley which confused the hell out of her. The omnitool she now had did have translation programs for all of them but it worked by interfacing with a cranial implant which, naturally, Ahsoka lacked. She was steadily getting better at understanding them through the Force, though, so she was able to pick up on each new language faster than the last.
"The geth beat us to our objective," Shepard began once introductions were finished. Unlike the others, he was standing at the back of the room near what looked to be holographic projectors. With a command from his omnitool, the projectors sprang to life to reveal a map of part of the planet's surface. "The entrance to the ruins is too hot to land there so we'll be landing here several klicks out. We'll use the Mako to push through the geth forces and then make our way into the ruins on foot. If we're lucky, Dr. T'soni is still alive. Our objective is simple: Extract Dr. T'soni.
"All of us will be going planet-side. Once we reach the entrance; Tali, Garrus, and Ahsoka will be going with me to extract Dr. T'soni. The rest of you will hold the entrance and prevent any geth forces from flanking us. Garrus, I'll want you on the Mako's turret. Take out any geth you see with extreme prejudice."
"No problem, Commander," Garrus replied with a lazy salute.
"This will be our first major assignment together. For most of us, this will also be our first time fighting together. I don't want anyone going off on their own. We're all we've got out there and the geth don't take prisoners. Stick together and follow orders. Alenko, you'll be in charge of the squad holding the entrance."
"Aye aye, Commander."
"We'll arrive at Therum in twenty minutes. I want everyone geared up and ready to go five minutes before then. Dismissed!"
A/N: A few notes before we continue on. This Shepard has the Spacer background, the War Hero psychological profile, and is a Vanguard.
With that basic housekeeping out of the way, this is a story I've had in the chamber for quite some time now. I had intended to finish writing it- covering the events of the first game- before posting the first chapter but eh. Today is Star Wars Day so I figured I'd give my readers a little treat. I have plans for the entire trilogy with a couple of in-between stories since the camera isn't glued to Shepard and I'm not restricted by things like budget or good game design. Over all, the events of the trilogy are going to remain unchanged since, let's face it, there's absolutely nothing that Ahsoka could do to stop the Reapers from coming and doing their thing. That being said, she can and will affect how the characters change and grow which should lead to a fair number of interesting changes. This story is about the characters, not the plot.
As for update schedule, I already have the next few chapters complete so I'll probably post one a week. After that, they'll go up when they're finished just like every other fanfic out there.
Lastly, for anyone here who's following me due to Remnants of Fate, don't worry about it. Volume 3 is near completion.