The large group of mechs slowly closed in on their selected targets. Their weapons and targeting systems coming online within a matter of seconds, loading their cannons with rounds ready to blow whatever stood in their way into space dust. Garrus was beginning to sweat a little. He looked down at his hip. The Ace of Spades was still with him, though he feared it would not be enough against such powerful war machines. He looked over at his Guardian companion. The young girl didn't seem too worried as she cracked her knuckles.
"Guess we're still not outta this just yet, aren't we!" Ur said with stoic enthusiasm.
"Don't suppose you have any more ticks up your sleeve, kid?"
Ur snickered beneath her ghoulish helmet.
"Just you watch!"
The young Guardian stepped forwards. The mechs readied their cannons for imminent combat. As Ur walked towards the mechanical monstrosities, the ground around her frosted over with each step. Her hand rang along the side of the hold's main console and was almost completely frozen over. Garrus suddenly felt a chill come over him and noticed that some parts of his armor were sticking to each other from frost.
Ur stopped just short of the mechs' melee reach. The large machine in front of her staring her dead in the eye. Neither one of them moving so much as an inch.
Until the first move was made.
"NEUTRALIZING TARGET."
The YMIR Mech swung its arm at Ur with force great enough to snap an oak tree. The Hunter lept backwards into the air. Icy energy gathered in each of her hands. It spread and took shape in seconds, morphing into two crystal scythes
"From the Light comes the Darkness!"
*SILENCE AND SQUALL.*
She tossed both scythes at once; the icy blades hit the mech dead on and something amazing happened. Upon shattering, a blinding blue light engulfed the entire cargo hold. The light quickly faded and was replaced by a slicing blizzard. Freezing winds that could chill a krogan to the bone and freeze over lava instantly. The mechs across the deck were already beginning to freeze over as ice quickly built up across their surfaces and their internal mechanics locked up from the sheer cold of the winds. Ur herself seemed unaffected by the freezing, razor-sharp winds tearing through the cargo hold.
Garrus had to grab hold of the elevator doors so he wouldn't get swept up by the mighty arctic gust. As if a normal storm spontaneously appearing in the Normandy wasn't bad enough, it had to be a SNOWSTORM?! Turians hate the cold! He made that very clear back on Norveria! Except there was something off about this storm. Something unnatural about it. And also… familiar.
"Bare witness to the power you see before you."
A jolt surged through Garrus' body. A voice had suddenly invaded his hearing. He knew that voice. It toyed with him in his dreams. Looking around, Garrus tried to find the source but found nothing. It must have been coming from inside his mind, like in his dreams.
"This is Stasis, one of the many gifts of the Darkness. The power to bring those who resist you to heel. To lull them into the chilling embrace of the black slumber."
Those damned whispers. That disturbingly distorted voice. Every word sent shivers down his spine. His heart would skip a beat. It was scary enough when he heard it in his dreams. But now, when he was awake. It was like he was being haunted.
"Engrave this into your memory. You will experience power such as this soon enough, my Archangel."
The voice then vanished. Garrus felt his body shake in fear. He looked down and noticed that Royal was staring up at him with a concerned look in his eyes. He swallowed back a hard gulp and sighed.
Just what in the world was happening to him?
…
Blaring sirens echoed across the combat deck. All across the walls, lights flashed. Looking into the digital display in front of her, Miranda was working desperately to find out just what was causing the Normandy's alarm systems to go out of control like this so suddenly. She swiped through panel after panel on the display, eventually finding the root of the problem. It was a temperature change alert, originating from the lower areas.
"Joker, we've got massive temperature reductions in the cargo hold!" She said, keeping her cool despite the screaming alarms.
"Do we have a hull breach?" Asked Joker as he assumed that it was caused by vacuum exposure.
"No. Hull integrity is green across the board. The temperature down in the lower decks is just dropping like flies."
The climate in the lower decks is just spontaneously plummeting? Seriously?! Joker removed his hat and ruffled his hair in frustration. He was getting so sick and tired of this absurdity. Not a few moments ago, he was warm and cozy in bed, dreaming of flying beyond the reaches of the galaxy when he got a call from Liara telling him to get dressed and prepare the Normandy without alerting the rest of the ship's crew. Once again, shore leave was ruined by mercenaries who hate them.
"Damnit, this is driving me crazy! It's times like this I wish EDI were still around to help!"
"I'll get eyes on the cargo bay, see what I can see." Miranda replied as she attempted to activate the camera systems in the lower decks.
"Please, before it starts hailing in my ship!"
"…Uh, it's a little late for that."
Joker's face took on a blank expression. He slowly turned his head to Lawson, looking at her dead in the eyes.
"No…"
Honestly, Miranda wasn't even sure how she could explain it to him.
…
Eventually, the blizzard rampaging through the deck faded. All across the room, every single object was encased in an icy prison of Stasis crystal. The mechs that stood before the group were totally frozen over, rendered unable to function due to their stiff appendages and damaged internal hardware. They eventually powered down; the lights in their head going dark. Ur put her hands on her hips and smirked. She found pride in her work.
"And that's all she wrote. Itn't it?"
With the cargo hold now safe to enter, Garrus and Royal finally walked out of the elevator. The turian was in total shock from witnessing Ur's unbelievable power. Everything around them was frozen solid. As he took a step forward, Garrus slipped on the ice and landed on his rear. Ur, seeing this blooper, laughed out loud.
"Ya good, lad?" She asked humorously.
"Turians hate the cold. Did I mention that?" Garrus responded irritably.
He pulled himself back up into his feet, holding onto Royal for support. The tiger had no problem traversing the slippery surface thanks to his large claws gripping into the ice.
"Well, what's done is done." Ur said. Putting a finger to the side of her head, her comms activated. "Shinazu, the job's finished. Get us out of here."
After a few seconds of waiting, Ur and Garrus noticed a strange light appear in front of them. The light continuously expanded until it formed what looked like a gateway. On the other side of it was the exact pocket dimension that resided within the Radiant Accipiter, complete with Jane and the rest of Fireteam November waiting for them.
"Time to get movin'."
…
A fiery explosion lit up the dark reaches of space. Cortez's Kodiak soared out from the blast at full speed, covered top to bottom in burn marks and one of its thrusters trashed. Inside the shuttle, Liara sat painfully in the corner of the transport with a severe burn on her left side. It looked like she was doused with boiling water.
Javik was in the process of applying medi-gel onto the affected areas of the burn, hoping to minimize the damage. The gel making contact with the seared flesh really stung. Liara winced from the pain.
"How's she holding up?" Cortez asked the prothean.
"Her burns are severe. Liara needs more aid than just medi-gel." Javik responded.
He was right. Not only that, the shuttle was in bad condition. The Doc had inflicted serious damage with that last attack. Cortez had no idea just how powerful that maniac really was and it nearly cost not only his life, but his squad mates as well. They needed to retreat before things got worse.
"Damn..! Joker, it's Steve! We're falling back to the Normandy! Things are just too hot out here, and Liara's pretty beat up!" Cortez said into his comms.
"Roger that."
The Kodiak zoomed away. Above the Sovereign Order, The Doc stood by watching his foes retreat to their vessel. The black flames around him receded until they had extinguished completely. Doc brushed off his sleeves, then disappeared in a shimmer back into the gilded ship.
Once the Warlock had returned to the ship's interior, he walked up to the cockpit where Zomon was fastened. The large Exo not bothering to turn around, too focused on flying.
"They're running. Good work, Doc." Zomon congratulated his teammate.
"Let's just hope Ur and that Garrus fellow made it back to the other ship." Replied The Doc.
The comm systems came online. Jane appeared on screen. "They did it, you guys. These guys are dead in the water. Let's head home!"
Zomon nodded. With the flip of a few switches, the thruster systems powered up and the ship propelled forward. Soon they had caught up to Crow's own jumpship and both proceeded to fly away.
Both ships flying away from the Normandy at top speeds. The larger ships gave pursuit, but Joner found that his enemies were actually outpacing them. He tried to engaged the Raiden Launcher again and blast them, but Garrus' tampering was still in effect, leaving him unable to do anything except look at that stupid dancing cat.
"UGH! That damned bird is gonna pay for this. Can't access the guns at all!" Joker groaned angrily.
"We're back, Joker. Jesus, the cargo looks like the South Pole."
"Thanks for the heads up, Steve." Jeff couldn't fight with his systems totally screwy, but that didn't mean he couldn't chase them. He discarded the weapons menu and focused the thrusters. "Engaging drive core. Jumping to FTL speeds now."
And with the touch of a button..!
…
ahem* I said, and with the touch of a button..!
…
…
…
Nonthin'…
"What gives? Why can't we jump?"
"Joker…"
Tali's voice was heard through the ship's comms. She sounded exhausted and in pain.
"The drive core had been tampered with… Probably what that kid was doing down here… We can't jump to FTL until I fix the problem…"
"How long is that gonna take?" Joker questioned.
"With the encryption that girl's little drone installed into the software, and the time I need to patch up my suit… a while…"
Why was he not surprised? Joker released an angry and overstressed scream. There was nothing more he wanted right now than to just strangle that turian right now. No. Worse. Stuff his face with human food and watch him blow up like a balloon, then pop him with a pin!
"If you'll excuse me, I need to get to the medbay and drown myself in antibiotics… You know, so I don't die…"
No weapons. Can't jump to FTL. These people even managed to defeat the Normandy. This just added onto the crew's wonders as to just who or what these people were.
…
From within the Accipiter, Crow was hard at work maintaining his connection to the ship. The co stand blasts from the Normandy made it difficult for him to concentrate on telling it where to go. Now that it was no longer a problem, linking his mind to the vessel was easy. And bedside them was Zomon's ship keeping pace.
"I don't think I'll ever get over the idea of controlling a ship with your mind... I gotta ask Crow if he'd let me calibrate this sucker." Said Garrus, a tad jealous.
The rest of the fireteam finally take the time to breathe. Garrus had sat down on the floor with Jane and Edith standing over him to his right. Whiskey was sitting at well and also fidgeting with his Last Word, twirling the gun in his fingers. Shinazu was congratulating and thanking Ur for her excellent work while he was also ruffling Royal's fur; the tiger purring happily as a result. In the air was a digital display of the interior of the other ship, showing Zomon and The Doc's faces. While Amanda was standing by Crow as he was busy piloting in her place now.
The whole team was finally together.
Garrus however was not in the celebratory mood as he rubbed his tired eyes. He felt as though he had just committed murder against his closest friends. Never in all his years did he ever imagine that he would attack his own ship. Garrus knew for a fact that he was never a good turian, but now he felt like the worst turian in the galaxy. Jane finally sat down with him.
"You okay, Vakarian?" She asked genuinely.
"I know you want to talk about it, but I don't."
She could sense the discomfort in his tone. Garrus had just cut ties with the last of his friends, attacked his own ship… All for her. A small part of Jane felt guilty for asking him to do this. An armored hand was placed on the turian's shoulder. Jane looked at Garrus with sympathetic eyes.
"Would it help if I told you that you saved all our lives?"
Garrus looked away. "Not really…"
Edith flew underneath his chin, pushing up against it hard to tilt his head upwards. The Ghost flew in front of his view. "Don't be so blue, Blue. We owe you a lot."
"More than ya know, mate." Ur added.
Royal slowly walked towards the depressed turian. The feline nuzzled his head up against Garrus' side while purring. It caused him to crack a wholesome smile and Garrus gives his thanks by petting Royal's head.
"I have to be honest, you people are… quite something." He admitted.
"This ain't even half a' what these fellas can do." Amanda states.
He had a feeling as much. Garrus still wasn't even sure who these people were. All he did know was that Shepard trusted them. "So am I finally going to get a proper introduction as to who you people are, or what?"
"Actually, I think WE deserve some info first. Mainly for you, Jane." Said The Doc through the monitor.
Jane looked up at the screen. The Doc removed his helmet, exposing his true face. He didn't look happy.
"Mind telling us why you decided to kidnap somebody on what is supposed to be an unsanctioned rescue operation for a wayward Guardian?"
Unsanctioned? Did Garrus hear right?
"Garrus isn't a prisoner. He came on his own accord. We wouldn't have been able to get out of this mess if it weren't for him." She stated defensively.
"Yeah, show some gratitude!" Agreed Edith.
Doc shrugged apathetically and tilted his hat down over his face. It was clear he was not in agreement with this.
"You know that Zavala won't be too happy about this. In fact, he'll murder us regardless."
"Not wrong 'bout that." Amanda said.
Zavala… Garrus had heard that name before. Crow mentioned it, if he recalled, when they were recalling their old war stories. Their leader. And he doesn't know that they came to the Citadel? So this is an unauthorized rescue mission led by Jane herself… Sounded like Shepard.
"Hold on a sec, gang." Whiskey stood up off the floor. There was a look of surprise on his metal face. "You guys disobeyed Vanguard authority and came out here for me?"
Now Jane stood up. She approached the cowboy and comfortingly placed her hand on his shoulder. "We're a team, Whiskey. Always have been, always will be. We don't abandon our own."
Whiskey smiled sadly. They were willing to risk everything for him. Who was he kidding? They were always willing to risk it all for each other. Guardians watch over Guardians after all.
"But you're still in deep shit for what happened back in that Citadel place."
And there goes the smile.
"Jane, we're getting within range." Said Crow, still trying to maintain his concentration.
Garrus tilted his head in curiosity. In rage of what? Perhaps a mobile command center? Or maybe the Mass Relay so they could jump out of here? He hadn't gotten a proper explanation as to where Shepard has been for so long. Everything she said was so cryptic. Oh please tell him that Shepard wasn't working for another group like Cerberus again.
"Can you load up a visual?" Asked Jane.
A digital display was brought up before them. What Garrus saw on screen made his blood run ice cold. On the screen, a large, glowing blue tear in the fabric of space itself, as if some higher force had cut into the universe with a divine blade. There were multiple glowing objects floating around it in a circle. Alliance warning pilons. That meant it wasn't safe to approach.
That Anomaly had been in this section of Sol ever since the Crucible was activated and wiped out the Reapers. Scientists believed that it was created by the constant releases of Crucible energy that were generated by the Mass Relays, which in turn tore open a cosmic rift in space. Any ship that has flown into The Anomaly were never heard from again, so the Alliance banned all explorations.
And they were heading straight for it!
"That's… That's The Anomaly! The Alliance declared it a 'No Fly Zone'! Why are we flying towards it, Shepard?!" Vakarian questioned, his anxiety level increasing.
"Because that's how we got here, Garrus."
Wait. WHAT?! Has she finally lost her mind?! Jane turned back to Garrus with a cocky smirk.
"You wanted your answers, Garrus. Get ready. You're gonna understand everything."
How can she explain things to him when they're all crushed into nothingness?! Garrus said he would follow Shepard into hell, but he didn't think he would be doing it literally! The turian's breathing became labored from panic. Back on the Normandy, Joker and Miranda were watching in terror at the jumpships' planned destination.
"Oh my god, what the hell are they doing?!" Exclaimed Lawson.
"No. No. You guys, don't! Shepard, are you nuts?!"
They didn't divert course. The ships were dead set on The Anomaly. "Shepard! SHEPARD!" Garrus was in full on panic mode. Whatever happened to "We can disobey suicidal orders"?!
"I DON'T WANNA DIIIIIIIIIIE!"
A flash of light consumed them.
…
"Please Garru…don't wanna die! I want…th you! …see you…everyone else a… Please…get me! …Garrus..!"
"Unfortunately, that's all the audio I could recover from that thing on your arm." Edith said disappointingly.
Jane sat back on the couch, lowering her left arm and disabling her Omni-Tool. Edith flew down into her Guardian's lap with the light of her optic dimming out of sadness. The Ghost wished she could have done more.
"I wonder who 'Garrus' is…" Jane muttered curiously.
"Whoever he is, the guy must have meant a lot to you if he was the last name you called for before you died." Cayde assumed, laying back into the couch comfortably. "Maybe we should pay Rahool a visit when we can. He's the best cryptarch in the city, and might be able to help."
After their stroll through the streets of The Last City, Jane and Cayde had returned to the Exo's apartment. After their tour, Jane noticed that her Omni-Tool, though she had no recollection as to what the device was, powered back on and started playing an audio log of Jane. Though it was highly corrupted and most of the words were muffled over by static noise. Edith did her best to try and restore it, but she was unfamiliar with the device's technology and could only save what she could.
"I'm really sorry, Jane." The Ghost said apologetically.
Jane however smiled warmly. She slipped her hand underneath the tiny robot and gently brought her up to her face.
"You did all you could. That means more than you know."
The kind words spoken from her Guardian perked up Edith's spirit. She chirped happily and flew closer to her face, nuzzling her cheek. Jane couldn't help but giggle at the sheer cuteness of the action. It also caused Cayde to crack a smile.
"So what happens now?" Jane asked her laidback robot companion.
Cayde sat back up. He gently brushed off his clothes and pulled his hood back over his head.
"Now we take you to Zavala to get processed. He's who you report to, being a Titan and all."
Hearing that word, 'Titan', made Jane look down at her hip. She noticed the tattered mark tied to her and looked at it with intrigue.
"Is that the kind of Guardian I am?" She asked.
Cayde nodded his head. "Yep. There are three different classes of Guardian, each with their own characteristics and abilities."
He pointed one finger at Jane. "We have Titans, like you, who specialize in heavy infantry, assault tactics, endurance, and defense. Sort of like jocks."
A thumb outstretched to a picture on the wall. It was of Cayde and a woman in a purple cloak. "Warlocks, who focus on more technical abilities and elemental manipulation. The nerds."
Then Cayde pointed to himself with a proud smile. "And the best of them all. The Hunters, a.k.a. the cool kids. We're fast, cunning, ruthless, and have got style for miles and miles!" As he spoke, Cayde pulled out his hand cannon and twirled it around in his hand.
Jane let out a humored snort and covered her mouth to stop from bursting into laughter. The size of the ego 6 had on him was so enormous that it was funny.
"Uh huh. And do most girls fall for that line?"
Cayde froze up; gun falling from his grip onto the floor. Thankfully, it wasn't loaded.
"No comment."
Afterwards, both Guardians left the apartment and proceeded to their next destination. They walked side by side one another down the wrecked and rubble-littered hallways, stopping right before a thick sliding door. An elevator. Cayde pushed the call button to summon the shaft and the doors opened up after a few moments. They stepped inside and the doors closed quickly after.
As the elevator descended from the higher floors, Jane glanced over at Cayde, who was humming some sort of song quietly. It sounded like 'Sabotage' by the Beastie Boys. Funny how she can remember a hip-hop song, yet can't recall anything about her past. It was unsettling. Jane felt like a stranger in her own skin, living a life not her own. Who was she? Where did she come from? Did she have a family? Are they looking for her? So many questions and no answers to them. It weighed down on her spirit.
Cayde, noticing Jane's unease, patted her shoulder and gave her a comforting smile. "I know this is tough for you, but you have my word that it gets better. I promise."
His words were sincere, heartfelt, speaking from experience. Jane found comfort in them. Her hand slowly rose up to her shoulder, covering Cayde's own.
…
And this concludes the Mass Effect side of the story… for now. Now we can finally get to our favorite whack job superhuman otherwise known as the Vanguard! I'm SOOOOO looking forward to introducing the Normandy Crew to the members of the Coalition. Honestly, could you imagine what would happen if Wrex met Shaxx! So much violence..!
Also, I forgot to mention this before. I hope you noticed that Ur was using a Crossbow against Tali and Grunt last chapter. I'm one of the lucky SOBs that got access to Destiny Rising's closed alpha, and it is so much fun!
I can't wait until the full game comes out and I aqiure Cayde and Shaxx! I'd main them all the time.
Anyways, till next time! And here's my new Bluesky account! Follow me there for regular updates and further content!
https/bsky.app/profile/redgrave21.bsky.social