Backup

"KORRA! LISTEN TO ME! THESE PEOPLE AREN'T A THREAT, IF YOU DON'T STOP THIS NOW YOU ARE GOING TO KILL HIM!"

Mako did his best to dissuade the enraged Avatar from doing something she could very soon come to regret, as killing Commander Shepard wasn't something that would benefit anyone.

Three hours earlier.

Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy SR-1 had just finished their assignment on the colony world of Feros and were busy debriefing as they were on their way to Noveria, where Liara's mother was spotted."Crew dismissed. Joker patch the Council through they'll want to hear about this." Shepard asked his pilot while bracing himself for the Council and their usual...antics.

"Line open Commander."

"Commander. Exogeni should have told us about the Thorian, it would have your job a lot easier." the Asari councilor offered with a slight hint of remorse.

"What they were doing was absolutely unethical and put the colonists at as much risk as the colony. They had to be stopped."

"Still...it is a shame it had to be killed, I wonder what a proper study could've yielded." the Salarain councilor continued showing the salarain trademark of often valuing research over lives.

"Sorry councilor, but you didn't see what I saw. Whatever it was...it's better of dead. Trust me."

"At least the colony is stil standing. This situation could've ended drastically worse if you hadn't intervened Commander." the Turian councilor said in a rare case of complimenting the Commander.

"Thank you? Councilor." the Commander had no idea what say, the Turian councilor always gave him the most grief out of any of them

"Now we are to believe that you will be investigating Noveria next Commander, is that correct ?" The Asari councilor questioned.

"Yes councilor, with our intelligence gained from the Cipher on Feros and Becon on Eden Prime, Matriarch Benezia is the only loose end Saren has left. We get her, we get Saren." Shepard stated while slamming his fist into his palm.

"We won't waste any more of your time then Commander. Good luck and remember, we are all counting on you Commander. "the Asari councilor said before the communication cut out.

Joker then perked up through the ship's intercom "Uhmm Commander I just got a priority one message personally addressed to you from Admiral Hackket."

"Put him through Joker."

The comm unit let out a single buzz before the Admiral spoke.

"Commander it's good to hear from you. I understand you are busy hunting Saren, but something recently came up at the Mars archive. We'd like you to investigate."

"The Mars archive sir ? I thought the only thing there was the old Prothean beacon ?"

"Turns out we were wrong Commander, a recent dig unearthed two supposed stasis pods..." Hackket let's out an long sigh before the sentence "they appear to be of Prothean origin. Commander go meet with our head researcher there, Dr. Dimartino and let me know what you find. Hackket out."

The line rung dead with silence until Joker spoke up "So Mars it is, huh Commander ? You think this time we'll finally find E.T. ?"

"Hard to say Joker. Get us there and you can be the first to shake it's hand. Let me know when we arrive, I'm going to get some sleep."

"Aye-aye Commander. I'll play ocean noises for you aswell."

Approximately 50,000 years ago

Mako stood in silence as he watched the celebration around him, victory over Kuvira had been achived and it was an occasion for joy, but he couldn't shake a feeling that the enitre ordeal was a bit preemtive, something inside him kept repeating "It's all over" after his near death experience in the Colossus. He leaned on a nearby railing with one arm and looked out at the new spirit world portal and let out sigh.

"How's the arm ?" the famaliar voice of Korra asked him. He had gotten so lost in his own thoughts that he completely missed her approaching him and her Avatar sighed and snapped her fingers infront of his face, he gave a surprised jolt and turned to face her "Sorry...I was...admiring the view, not everyday you see a new enterance to the spirit world. Did you want something ?" he asked while sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"Just wanted to ask how you're holding up ?"

"My arm could be better," he gave a small chuckle "but overall I'd say I'm just glad to put this whole Kuvira business behind us"

She leaned next to him on the railing "Tell me about it. Look I just wanted to say after everything that's happened...the words thank you don't feel enough for what you did." Korra answered her friend

"Don't mention it, it's what friends are for." Mako gave her a smirk before looking back to the Spirit portal.

Korra smiled at his response and also turned her attention back to the portal.

That same unnerving feeling crawled back up as he remained silent "Korra, can I ask you something ?"

Silence.

"Korra ?Everything ok ?" Mako turned around to see Korra completely frozen. She seemed pale almost like she was on the verge of death, her deep blue eyes seemed completely souless as they stared into the portal. He turned around only to observe everyone was the same, lifeless, souless, motionless...all mindlessly gazing at the portal. He turned back to the Avatar who was now silently mumbling a phrase over and over, every time she finished it another of the crowds voices joined in and the portal began pulsating a darker shade of red.

It was the end times personified.

The skies grew black and the sound of Hell broke loose as giant creatures of metal descended from the sky, and that same horrible sound came again as red beams of death came out of the monsters. He couldn't believe his eyes, everyone was powerless to do anything, he could only watch as his whole world crumbled. There was nothing left but the void.

But from what seemed to be beyond the void he started hearing normal voices again

"We're reading a pluse doctor. There's still brain activity, good lord! He's alive,That's astonishing!"

Present day.

The Normandy had finally reached the red planet.

"Three minutes out from the facility, anybody whose joining the Commander. Report to the cargo hold." the intercomm rang throughout the frigate.

"No need Joker. It's all hands on deck for this one, we have no idea what could be in that pod. And I sure as hell won't let whatever it could be have the chance to try anything that could endanger anybody." Shepard responded while he and the crew were busy putting on their armour and readying their weapons.

"Roger that Commander. We're about to touch down."

The ship landed and was switly met by an Alliance security crew with Dr. Dimartino himself infront as if he was leading them. "Commander it's a honor to finally meet you, although I wish it were under less stressful circumstances. Has Admiral Hackket informed of our discovery yet ?"

"That he has Doctor. But I'd prefer if you told me inside the facility, my expert would like to ensure the artifact is truly Prothean."

The group then proceeded to venture inside the compound, which looked like a human beehive of scientists buzzing up and down.

Talks of all manner of scientific banter could be heard and swiftly cut short as their attention was grabbed by the small army passing then to the designated "ice-hot" room, no doubt a pun made relating to the two frozen bodies found in the Martian heat.

"This way Commander. In the decon room." the timid man ushered the crew into a nearby safety room. "Your timing is undoubtedly perfect, recent scans showed signs of brain activity so we were just about to crack them open." he announced from behind the safety glass while the team was beind decontaminated.

They had barely entered the room containing the pods when Liara already started inspecting and scanning them like a mad-asari, "Amazing! The simplesty and complexity of these pods are truly remarkable! They must be Prothean, I wish I could've studied these myself." Liara could barely contain her excitement, one could've sworn she was on another realm for the enitre ordeal, almost hopping up and down like a child getting a birthday gift as she gleefully inspected the pods. It was understandable for someone who had spent the better part of her life studying them. And now these pods represent the possibility of not just one...but two living Protheans!

"You can oggle at whatever's in there after we open it Liara..." Shepard ordered "Doc. Open it up. Squad! Cover it's perimeter, I don't want to give what's in there a chance to do any kind of damage."

A few mechanical arms began cutting the sides of the pod open, it was only a minute or so, but for the Normandy crew it felt like an eternity as they all kept their weapons trained on the slowly opening pod. The tension could bet cut with an knife as the pod finally opened they all moved in, their weapons practically breathing down the throat of whatever was in there.

"What the hell ? I'm...I'm seeing things right ? That isn't what I think it actually is, is it ?" Ashley's words mirrored everyone's thought at that very moment, there wasn't a Prothean in the pod, there wasn't even an alien, it was a human male.

There was maybe a minute or two before before the man started coughing and properly waking up, "DOCTOR, GET A MEDIC! WHATEVER IT IS, IT'S ALIVE!" the Commander ordered the bewildered scientist who was currently a mix between utter shock, awe, and intriuge, "I SAID GET A MEDIC NOW! LOOK AT IT LATER!" as Shepard's words set in, he realized he could be the death of the discovery of a lifetime and started running to the medical wing.

"So, What now ? I was hoping to shoot a Prothean, and all I get is some scrawny kid." Wrex's dissapointment was apparent, but only second to Garrus and Kaiden's effort holding Liara back with from contaminating a fifty thousend year old body. "Look on the bright side Wrex, you'll be the first Krogan to discover a new species and not immediatly start a war with it." Tali chuckled at the Krogan's annoyance.

"Everyone focus! It's eyes are opening!" Ashely shouted, immediatly drawing everyone's attention back to the specimen.

Mako's eyes slowy widened and adjusted to the strange new world he was about to be exposed to, hnfortunately to his detriment the first thing he properly saw...was Wrex.

"AHHHHH! WHAT DEMON IS THAT?!" he was going insane and immediatly threw himself out of the stasis pod. However fifty thousend years without moving one's body leads to quite the severe case of muslce atrophy which Mako found out the hard way as beyond his inital burst of adrenaline he just experienced his body quickly gave out and he fell to the floor unable to move.

Acting as quick as she can Liara pulled him into a biotic singularity, leaving him floating in the air. But unkown to them he had one crucial trick up his sleeve and as he was floating around aimlessly he pulled from every facet and bit of energy he could and released a massive horizontal sweep of fire knocking everyone back and clearly communicating to the crew that whatever they just woke up, is about to change a lot of rules about humankind and biotics as they know.