Post by wolverfrog49 on Oct 19, 2009 14:08:00 GMT 1
Hello there, I'm Wolverfrog, and this is my first ever Mass Effect fan fiction. I usually write Halo. Sorry if all the details aren't canonical, I'm still learning about the Universe. Anyway, this is set during the time where the Alliance first encounters the Turians in the brief First Contact War. I may also merge it into early days of the humans on the Citadel. Please review.
Prologue
The Alliance SSV Waterloo cut through the dark fabrics of space, like a needle through cotton. The ship was named after the famous historical battle waged with Napoleon Bonaparte by the Seventh Coalition back in 1815. Most Alliance ships were named after such events in human history.
As Captain Duvall thought back to his history lessons back in school, decades before any of this had even happened, he couldn't help but allow himself a small smirk at how ignorant humanity had been back at Waterloo. Muskets, swords, fighting over a country on one planet. The whole idea had a kind of innocent brutality about it, that trait so frequent in humanity.
Of course, even ten years ago, humans hadn't changed much from 1815. They still waged war amongst each other, were still confined to one planet, bar the small Lunar colony, and were ignorant of the fact that, on the planet next door to Earth lay technology that would change their lives forever.
All changed in 2148. An exploration team discovered what some were now heralding as the greatest find of all human history. Duvall was unconvinced, there were many other great inventions which, had they not of existed, would have never led humanity to the technology resting underneath Mars.
It was still amazing, no doubt. Humanity had stumbled across technology left behind by a race far more powerful and wise than their own. This race was dubbed "the Protheans." Overnight, humanity transformed. They discovered Faster than light travel, and were finally able to explore the solar system. Religions were thrown into turmoil; some collapsed, whilst others attempted to work the discovery into their beliefs. Millions who had been dedicated believers for their lives turned atheist overnight. But a short time, the eighteen greatest nations of Earth had bonded together in a huge pact known as "The Human Systems Alliance." A space faring fleet began to be constructed.
Yet that was but one discovery. Only a year later, scientists at Pluto, which had been elevated back to it's status as a full planet back in 2050, discovered something which was possibly even greater than the original Prothean technology cache. What had long been thought to be a moon of Pluto, Charon, was in fact a colossal piece of Prothean technology, frozen. It was known as a Mass Relay, referenced to in the cache found on Mars. And whilst the scientists were unable to replicate this fascinating technology, they had been able to activate it.
But for a while, no one was willing to use this technology. Probes sent through were lost, although that was expected. Still, people were afraid the Relay would send you in the middle of the sun, or something similar.
Eventually, after a huge appeal by the Alliance, one man, Rear Admiral Jon Grissom, had led an expedition through the relay. The returned as heroes, and the door to the greater galaxy was finally opened to humanity. Teams such as the one Captain Thomas Duvall was ferrying now were created, Relay response teams, trained to excavate and activate any discovered relays.
Duvall had to admit, he wasn't pleased that his ship was acting like a common transport. It was one of the fastest ships in the entire Alliance fleet god-dammit! Still, had he not been chosen to ferry these response teams, he would only be sitting around on his ass, perhaps dealing with the occasional pirate or rebel.
And, the Captain had to admit, seeing the relays get activated was a captivating sight. This would be his third. He didn't go through them, that was for separate exploration teams. But to him, seeing the dark matter spark across the relay was enough. Beautiful.
Alongside the Waterloo were two other vessels, two smaller frigates and two cargo ships. Apparently for protection. Duvall had left when his superior had told him that; the few pirates there were in the galaxy were no where near powerful enough to man an assault on his ship. And the Captain believed that if there had once been aliens in the galaxy, then they were long extinct. Humanity was alone.
"Hey Captain, when we gonna get to work? We ain't all happy to sit our asses on a ship." the head of the Relay Response team asked Duvall, walking behind him. The Captain scowled, all the relay response teams had terrible attitudes. They thought themselves incredibly important. Which they were, really. Still, Duvall wasn't about to let this rude man know that.
"As soon as we determine the strength of the radiation outside Lieutenant Dexter." Duvall spat out, annoyed. The Captain didn't even both to turn around.
"Well they'd better hurry up." the Lieutenant grumbled, and footsteps told the Captain that Dexter had left. Thank God.
In reality, Duvet had no idea what was taking so long. The radiation checks must have been completed by now. The Captain of the Waterloo decided to find out. He hailed the Commander aboard one of the other frigates, the Trafalgar.
"What is it Captain?" the Commander of the other ship asked over the intercom, irritation clearly present in his voice. Duvall frowned, something was definitely up.
"Lieutenant Dexter was wondering what was taking so long." the Captain replied nervously. Commander Richard Hale of the Trafalgar had always seemed a little too shady for his liking. The rumour was that he was affiliated with Cerebus, the Alliance Intelligence agency.
"What did you tell him?" Commander Hale snapped back, with a hint of nervousness.
"That we're still checking for radiation. But that's not really it, is it sir?" the Captain blurted out, unable to stop himself. He could hear the man on the other end wince.
"Are you alone, Captain?" Hale questioned, his voice a harsh whisper. Duvall blinked, and looked around where he sat. He was alone.
"Aye sir." the Captain replied, his voice also subconsciously a whisper. There was a thoughtful hum from the Commander.
"Then I won't lie to you. The truth, Captain, is that one hour ago one of our surveillance probes nearby was destroyed. The blast that incinerated it was not Alliance." Commander Hale told Duvall, who gasped.
"Was it...alien?" the Captain breathed, hardly daring himself to speak. There was an ambiguous grunt from Halo.
"Perhaps. Needless to say, we're delaying the activation until we understand what is happening. Twenty more ships are on the way, just in case. They'll be here in six hours."
"Is there anything I can do sir?" Duvall asked nervously, twiddling his thumbs together.
"No Captain, just keep your crew under control. It was probably just some anomaly that destroyed the--" the Commander was cut off in his reassurance by a whirring siren on his ship, which beeped for a full three seconds. Hale swore aggressively.
"Sir?" Duvall questioned, holding his breath.
"We've just lost another probe Captain. Much closer to us. And the probe managed to take a still of it's destroyer. I'm patching the image through to you now. Don't let anyone see it." Hale replied, nervous, which in turn heightened the extreme anxiety Duvall was already feeling. A few seconds later, an image appeared on the Captain of the Waterloo's laptop.
Duvall gasped. The picture showed a ship. Not an Alliance ship, far from it. The image had clearly been taken but a few milliseconds before the probe had been destroyed, a beam of light had been fired from the alien ship at the probe.
"Damn it." the Captain breathed, shaking his head in denial. Aliens. Real, living aliens. "Are they Prothean sir?"
"Hell if I know. We're pulling out Captain, no Relay is worth this risk. Prepare you ship for--" the Commander was in the middle of ordering Duvall when he suddenly broke off. The Captain's mouth went dry. "Dammit! They're here already!"
Heart beating a million times a second, Duvall rushed to the port side observation window of his office aboard the Waterloo. What he saw made him cry out in fear. Ten ships, lined up on the horizon.
"Captain, your ship is furthest away! Take a lifeboat, warn the Alliance! That's an order!" Commander Hale instructed Duvall, who couldn't move for a second, still watching the small alien fleet in the distance. Suddenly, the charged up their weapons, and fired upon Commander Hale's frigate. The ship exploded, and the intercom on Duvall's desk screeched with static. Hale was dead.
The explosion snapped Duvall out of his trance. Abandoning the mission, abandoning his crew, abandoning everyone, he climbed into the personal lifeboat in his office, and jettisoned it. The small ship broke off from the Waterloo, floating rapidly away and Duvall immediately dimmed the systems within. He would wait for the aliens to leave before moving towards the Mass Relay.
As the fleet destroyed the small convoy of ships, including, finally, the Waterloo and everyone on it, Duvall kept repeating the same phrase over and over in his head.
'I'm not a coward, I'm a survivor.'
Prologue
The Alliance SSV Waterloo cut through the dark fabrics of space, like a needle through cotton. The ship was named after the famous historical battle waged with Napoleon Bonaparte by the Seventh Coalition back in 1815. Most Alliance ships were named after such events in human history.
As Captain Duvall thought back to his history lessons back in school, decades before any of this had even happened, he couldn't help but allow himself a small smirk at how ignorant humanity had been back at Waterloo. Muskets, swords, fighting over a country on one planet. The whole idea had a kind of innocent brutality about it, that trait so frequent in humanity.
Of course, even ten years ago, humans hadn't changed much from 1815. They still waged war amongst each other, were still confined to one planet, bar the small Lunar colony, and were ignorant of the fact that, on the planet next door to Earth lay technology that would change their lives forever.
All changed in 2148. An exploration team discovered what some were now heralding as the greatest find of all human history. Duvall was unconvinced, there were many other great inventions which, had they not of existed, would have never led humanity to the technology resting underneath Mars.
It was still amazing, no doubt. Humanity had stumbled across technology left behind by a race far more powerful and wise than their own. This race was dubbed "the Protheans." Overnight, humanity transformed. They discovered Faster than light travel, and were finally able to explore the solar system. Religions were thrown into turmoil; some collapsed, whilst others attempted to work the discovery into their beliefs. Millions who had been dedicated believers for their lives turned atheist overnight. But a short time, the eighteen greatest nations of Earth had bonded together in a huge pact known as "The Human Systems Alliance." A space faring fleet began to be constructed.
Yet that was but one discovery. Only a year later, scientists at Pluto, which had been elevated back to it's status as a full planet back in 2050, discovered something which was possibly even greater than the original Prothean technology cache. What had long been thought to be a moon of Pluto, Charon, was in fact a colossal piece of Prothean technology, frozen. It was known as a Mass Relay, referenced to in the cache found on Mars. And whilst the scientists were unable to replicate this fascinating technology, they had been able to activate it.
But for a while, no one was willing to use this technology. Probes sent through were lost, although that was expected. Still, people were afraid the Relay would send you in the middle of the sun, or something similar.
Eventually, after a huge appeal by the Alliance, one man, Rear Admiral Jon Grissom, had led an expedition through the relay. The returned as heroes, and the door to the greater galaxy was finally opened to humanity. Teams such as the one Captain Thomas Duvall was ferrying now were created, Relay response teams, trained to excavate and activate any discovered relays.
Duvall had to admit, he wasn't pleased that his ship was acting like a common transport. It was one of the fastest ships in the entire Alliance fleet god-dammit! Still, had he not been chosen to ferry these response teams, he would only be sitting around on his ass, perhaps dealing with the occasional pirate or rebel.
And, the Captain had to admit, seeing the relays get activated was a captivating sight. This would be his third. He didn't go through them, that was for separate exploration teams. But to him, seeing the dark matter spark across the relay was enough. Beautiful.
Alongside the Waterloo were two other vessels, two smaller frigates and two cargo ships. Apparently for protection. Duvall had left when his superior had told him that; the few pirates there were in the galaxy were no where near powerful enough to man an assault on his ship. And the Captain believed that if there had once been aliens in the galaxy, then they were long extinct. Humanity was alone.
"Hey Captain, when we gonna get to work? We ain't all happy to sit our asses on a ship." the head of the Relay Response team asked Duvall, walking behind him. The Captain scowled, all the relay response teams had terrible attitudes. They thought themselves incredibly important. Which they were, really. Still, Duvall wasn't about to let this rude man know that.
"As soon as we determine the strength of the radiation outside Lieutenant Dexter." Duvall spat out, annoyed. The Captain didn't even both to turn around.
"Well they'd better hurry up." the Lieutenant grumbled, and footsteps told the Captain that Dexter had left. Thank God.
In reality, Duvet had no idea what was taking so long. The radiation checks must have been completed by now. The Captain of the Waterloo decided to find out. He hailed the Commander aboard one of the other frigates, the Trafalgar.
"What is it Captain?" the Commander of the other ship asked over the intercom, irritation clearly present in his voice. Duvall frowned, something was definitely up.
"Lieutenant Dexter was wondering what was taking so long." the Captain replied nervously. Commander Richard Hale of the Trafalgar had always seemed a little too shady for his liking. The rumour was that he was affiliated with Cerebus, the Alliance Intelligence agency.
"What did you tell him?" Commander Hale snapped back, with a hint of nervousness.
"That we're still checking for radiation. But that's not really it, is it sir?" the Captain blurted out, unable to stop himself. He could hear the man on the other end wince.
"Are you alone, Captain?" Hale questioned, his voice a harsh whisper. Duvall blinked, and looked around where he sat. He was alone.
"Aye sir." the Captain replied, his voice also subconsciously a whisper. There was a thoughtful hum from the Commander.
"Then I won't lie to you. The truth, Captain, is that one hour ago one of our surveillance probes nearby was destroyed. The blast that incinerated it was not Alliance." Commander Hale told Duvall, who gasped.
"Was it...alien?" the Captain breathed, hardly daring himself to speak. There was an ambiguous grunt from Halo.
"Perhaps. Needless to say, we're delaying the activation until we understand what is happening. Twenty more ships are on the way, just in case. They'll be here in six hours."
"Is there anything I can do sir?" Duvall asked nervously, twiddling his thumbs together.
"No Captain, just keep your crew under control. It was probably just some anomaly that destroyed the--" the Commander was cut off in his reassurance by a whirring siren on his ship, which beeped for a full three seconds. Hale swore aggressively.
"Sir?" Duvall questioned, holding his breath.
"We've just lost another probe Captain. Much closer to us. And the probe managed to take a still of it's destroyer. I'm patching the image through to you now. Don't let anyone see it." Hale replied, nervous, which in turn heightened the extreme anxiety Duvall was already feeling. A few seconds later, an image appeared on the Captain of the Waterloo's laptop.
Duvall gasped. The picture showed a ship. Not an Alliance ship, far from it. The image had clearly been taken but a few milliseconds before the probe had been destroyed, a beam of light had been fired from the alien ship at the probe.
"Damn it." the Captain breathed, shaking his head in denial. Aliens. Real, living aliens. "Are they Prothean sir?"
"Hell if I know. We're pulling out Captain, no Relay is worth this risk. Prepare you ship for--" the Commander was in the middle of ordering Duvall when he suddenly broke off. The Captain's mouth went dry. "Dammit! They're here already!"
Heart beating a million times a second, Duvall rushed to the port side observation window of his office aboard the Waterloo. What he saw made him cry out in fear. Ten ships, lined up on the horizon.
"Captain, your ship is furthest away! Take a lifeboat, warn the Alliance! That's an order!" Commander Hale instructed Duvall, who couldn't move for a second, still watching the small alien fleet in the distance. Suddenly, the charged up their weapons, and fired upon Commander Hale's frigate. The ship exploded, and the intercom on Duvall's desk screeched with static. Hale was dead.
The explosion snapped Duvall out of his trance. Abandoning the mission, abandoning his crew, abandoning everyone, he climbed into the personal lifeboat in his office, and jettisoned it. The small ship broke off from the Waterloo, floating rapidly away and Duvall immediately dimmed the systems within. He would wait for the aliens to leave before moving towards the Mass Relay.
As the fleet destroyed the small convoy of ships, including, finally, the Waterloo and everyone on it, Duvall kept repeating the same phrase over and over in his head.
'I'm not a coward, I'm a survivor.'