Chapter 1: The Beginning of it all

The Tale begins

The tension in the air was palatable. We had been sitting in the room in full gear for nearly an hour after getting a message that the team was needed. Just me: Commander Jason Kael, and the other two members of the squad

“This is ridiculous! We get called on a top priority and they have us wait here for an hour? Something isn’t right here.” Lieutenant Ronald Biggs, our assault troop with one of the most fitting last names, was the only one of us to speak since our arrival.

“Calm down Biggs. We will get a mission in the end and we all know that what we do is some of the most important work in the alliance.” Gunnery Chief Meagan Graves was our tech expert and always, as in this case, spoke with caution and reason. Though in the wake of Biggs’ voice, her own seemed meek.

“Something still seems off though” He grumbled though his bulk made it seem just as audible as normal speech.

I took another look around as I had through most of the hour; the room was burned into my memory. Ronald stood a small way to the front and right of me, his 6 foot 6 bulk made the area around him noticeably darker, though his military cut hair still shined gold, identical in color to his armor but completely natural. Graves leaned onto the wall adjacent to me with her dark purple armor gleaming in the light; matching her pure black hair, long and flowing, and smooth angled face, giving her a definite “femme fatale” look. And me standing along a wall in my coal-black armor, a stark contrast to the light brown hair I had upon my head

            I had just finished my look around and was about to settle into a trance the door opened, revealing behind it a man in admiral uniform who I immediately recognized as Admiral Steven Hackett.

            “Sir!” we all saluted in unison

            “At ease, squad. We can save the formalities for later.” His voice was lower and spoke of much more experience than I had expected

            “Well we are here now, point us at the target and you can bet it’ll be hit with all the precision and force the N7 special task force can muster” I spoke dutifully but in my heart I felt a pride for the squad I had been a part of. We were brought together a few years prior as the best Special Forces we had, a squad who can pull off things that a full force or the alliance couldn’t, we handled most covert ops and special missions the alliance had. We were the only group, and we had lost some people over time but we were some of the best and when something special needed to be handled, we were called in.

            “We expect nothing less, I would have been here earlier but it was deemed that this information must be personally passed on. Absolutely need to know basis. Understand?” He was speaking with a cold disposition but as anyone in the Alliance knew, leadership had to be stern.

            “We understand sir. None of this will go beyond us.” A grumble could just barely be heard under Biggs’ breath as I finished speaking. I could only hope that Hackett hadn’t heard.

            “Good. Now, we discovered a derelict ship on the border of the terminus systems, just inside our territory. However this isn’t a standard ship but a Geth vessel, massive in size and power. But no sign of activity from within, it seems completely abandoned but we cannot be too careful. We are sending your squad in to secure the ship and destroy any chance of it becoming active again. Am I clear?”

            “Of course, get us our transport and we will leave immediately. “  Binah stood from her corner and Ronald was tapping his feet in anticipation.

            “It’s already here, docking bay 3. Dismissed.”

 

            We took our steps to the door behind us and moved towards the docking bay with all the speed we could muster. It wasn’t long before we came into view of our transport, the SSV Metaurus, a small frigate designed for speed rather than power. The second we entered the airlock, the familiar hum of a mass effect drive flowed through the ship and into our boots; clearly some features for comfort were removed for more speed.

            “Commander me and Biggs are gonna get ready near the bottom, might be a while but at least we will be ready” she spoke to me while Biggs headed in another direction.

            “Understood chief, just don’t get too comfortable”
            “Never do sir, never do.”

We shared a laugh and she was on her way to the lower levels, I decided I would learn more of the pilot I was entrusting my life to, even though brass trusted their pilots without reserve, I was always more cautious. I walked up behind the man at the helm and he let off a salute.

            “Sir, Flight Lieutenant Alexis Dawn, enjoying the ship so far?” The woman was loose with the regulations, seat back at an angle, scarlet hair smooth but out of standard style, but all the while she was focused.

            “She seems like a good ship, a little unsteady, but good.”

            “Oh you better believe she is, fastest ship in the Alliance, Tantalus drive core, a kind that hasn’t been used since the Normandy…..though from what I hear the Normandy was still faster” her voice dropped a bit quieter towards the end of his speech; sadness, something we all felt after losing Commander Shepherd and his ship a year ago, he was hailed as a hero, even if most people didn’t believe his warnings, or at least, didn’t act on them. He must have detected my thoughts to say what he said next

            “Did you know him? I don’t mean to pry but it just seems that… y’know” She seemed sincere in her question.

            “I did know him; he was my commanding officer and we were in N7 training together. He was a good man” Emotion clogged my chest as I spoke those last words

            “Yeah…He was. Anyway we still got another 10 minutes or so before we get to the ship, might as well explore our cozy little bird.”

Without another word I left the cockpit and explored for what seemed like ages, the ship wasn’t advanced or particularly old but most of the rooms were cramped down to ridiculous levels, even to the point where I had to avoid hitting my head on the ceiling of the crew quarters. Just as I started moving towards the elevator to see the core, the intercom rang out

“Squad we are about to enter the target zone, better get ready.”

Just as the announcement finished I saw Ronald and Meagan come out of the elevator.

“Looks like its time to move; lets get to the airlock and see what we are going into.” They both nodded in agreement and we started walking up.

            Seeing the dreadnought in front of us was paralyzing. It was at least a mile and a half long, pure and flawless metal in its construction, leaving it without blemish or flaw along the hull. A massive beautiful hulk.

“Am I the only one wondering how the hell they built this thing?! To create something so large without any sign of it until now seems unreal.” Ronald’s voice seemed nervous at the sight of it.

“No, you aren’t, but it doesn’t change the fact that our mission is to secure this thing so that others can see what we can learn.” Again, she spoke with absolute cold reason.

“My question is why did they even build something this massive? What’s the purpose? Why spend all these resources? It doesn’t make sense…”

“Does it matter sir? In the end we are here for one purpose, like I said, we are just here to clear it out”

I pondered her reasoning and everything about the ship as we moved out the airlock, out helmets sealed, suits powered, and weapons ready. We began to make our way into the metal behemoth. A quiet few words were spoken over the intercom

“Good luck guys”, from Ms. Dawn, and that was the last sound before the air depressurized, and all went silent.

Author's Note

Feedback on the dialogue is desired and this along with all chapters may be subject to editing