The Deep Dark

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"I have seen the dark universe yawning
Where the black planets roll without aim,
Where they roll in their horror unheeded,
Without knowledge, or lustre, or name."
H.P. Lovecraft

December 19th, 2187

Lt. Commander Susan Rizzi: Executive Officer, Normandy SR-2

The port observatory doors slid open and Susan stepped through. General Vakarian, drink in his hand, was staring out the window, apparently lost in thought. He chuckled to himself, looked down into his glass, and swished the contents about before he drank it down.

"She let me win," he mumbled.

"Sir?" said Susan.

"Sorry, Commander," said the General. "I was... lost in a memory."

"Care to elaborate?" asked Susan.

Vakarian laughed. "Everything on this damn ship runs on Earth time. All the logs give Earth dates. Cerberus saw to that when they built it, and the Alliance never thought to change it. It's taken awhile, but I'm adjusting to it, especially since I've been going through Shepard's old personal logs. She made notes every morning and evening. Liara passed a copy of them on to me for some reason. I didn't touch them for a while, but, ah, well, I don't have to explain the tedium of this trip to you, Rizzi. Anything to pass the time, right?"

Susan snorted. "I'm envious of you, General. I wish I had old logs to go through."

Vakarian sighed. "It's been bad, hasn't it?"

"The situation isn't good," said Susan. "I'm surprised Aznir Company hasn't managed to chew through the Normandy's hull. They're on edge. Krogan aren't meant for small places for too long. They need to get out. All of us could use some solid ground, a little sky above us—even the old spacers. Yesterday, Joker told me he was bored with porn."

Vakarian shook his head. "Well, now I'm officially worried."

Susan laughed at the dry joke. She'd learned to always laugh at the jokes of superior officers, but with Vakarian it wasn't a chore at all. The Turian had a great sense of humor, and an even better sense of timing. He was also personable enough to allow his officers to do a little digging here and there on personal matters if the situation called for it. She read his commentary as just such an opportunity, and she took it.

"About those logs, what sparked the memory you were lost in?" she asked.

The General clicked his omni-tool and a woman's voice spoke. Susan recognized it as Commander Shepard almost immediately. She had watched all the interview vids a dozen times over.

"December nineteen, zero eight hundred. I didn't sleep well again last night. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever be able to get a good night's sleep again. Well, no sense in crying about it. I've got a list of things to do today. . Got a note from Miranda—going to have to track her down. Looking forward to seeing her, but she sounded desperate. I hope I can help. After that more meetings—endless meetings.

Some C-Sec officer named Noles has been buzzing me—something about illegal Batarian diplomatic codes. Today, of all days, I would rather not have to deal with anything involving Batarians. It's my brother's birthday today, or would have been. He would have been thirty years old today—fucking Batarians. Ah, there I go again, the old me coming out. One step forward, two steps back.

On the bright side, there's two highlights on my schedule. I've got Ash back on the Normandy, damn that feels good. Best of all, I have a playdate with Garrus. I wonder what he has lined up. Guessing that we don't have enough time to get good and drunk today, a damn shame, still looking forward to just hanging out, taking some time. I get so little of it these days.

Thinking about my brother again; when we were kids, Turians were still thought of as alien invaders, the enemy. We used to pretend to be soldiers in the First Contact war, my brother, sisters, and I, and the other kids. Johnny always wanted to play the Turian. We used to tease him about it. Everyone else feared or hated Turians, but my brother? He was fascinated by them. He learned everything about their culture, and knew all their weapons and ships.

I can't help but wonder what it would have been like to introduce him to Garrus. The strangest thing is, I think Garrus is more like Johnny than anyone else I've ever met in my life. What was it that dad used to say? The universe taketh away, the universe giveth. My brother is gone, but I have a best friend who is just like him, except he's an actual Turian instead of a human pretending to be one. It's the little things that keep me going, keep me believing.

One final note—still trying to work out the proper way to propose marriage to an Asari, but I can't do an extranet search without EDI finding out. It's not a good time to bring this to Ereba, and no way in hell do I want to ask Aria or Tevos. Dammit, I wish Samara were here."

Garrus silenced the omni-tool, sighing deeply. "Spirits, I miss her—more and more every day that passes. It feels like there's a hole in me, Rizzi, a hole that I'll never be able to fill again. I suppose it's going to take some time before it finally goes away."

It was a rare moment of candor, even for an officer as personable as Vakarian. It also hit home for her. Susan decided to drop her walls for once.

"It won't ever go away," said Susan. "Not when it's someone who made your world brighter. I lost my father as a teenager. It was especially difficult considering my circumstances."

"You've touched on this before," said the General. "But you never told me how he died."

"Killed in an armed robbery," said Susan.

Vakarian was intrigued. "He was a law officer?"

Susan shook her head. "No, a criminal."

The General shifted his stance uncomfortably.

"We were poor," explained Susan. "My mother was exposed to element zero when I was in the womb, heavy dosage. It eventually killed her. I didn't fare much better—cancer of the brain. The standard medical procedures didn't offer much hope, so my father broke rules to get the credits for advanced treatments. He became a criminal. At first it was schemes, long cons, but as I got older the treatments became more expensive and his crimes became more serious.

He never targeted the poor, or what he considered good people, but that made it more dangerous. He stole from red sand dealers, from money launderers, and eventually attracted the attention of a crime boss. They set him up. I was sick again, and he needed a big score. He walked into a trap. It wasn't a good death. They made it last, even recorded it on vid and circulated it on the dark corners of the extranet as a warning.

It was such a gruesome death that it attracted the attention of a high ranking police officer who learned about my plight and discovered I was a strong biotic. He passed the info along to his friend, an Alliance Admiral named Marco Silva. My father died thinking he failed me, but he didn't. His actions are the reason I'm still alive. The Alliance took over my medical care, and here I am."

"Spirits, Rizzi, that's a hell of a story," said General Vakarian.

"I keep him close, honor him with my life," she said. "Always get the job done, even if the work is dirty. That's what he used to tell me."

"An interesting philosophy," said Vakarian. "Very human, I suppose."

"Turian military doctrine isn't that different," observed Susan. "You don't question orders, you do what you're told."

Vakarian nodded. "Yes, though, truth be told I've never been a particularly good Turian. I have a habit of questioning orders."

Susan had come to that understanding only a few weeks into the mission. Perhaps that's why Hackett had assigned her to the Normandy, to ensure that Vakarian fulfilled his orders, as unpalatable as they might be. She hoped that the Turian could uphold his end of the bargain. She wouldn't like it if she had to put him down, and it wouldn't be easy either.

Susan put the thought aside. "Sir, not to change the subject, but why did you ask me here?"

"Ah, business at hand," said Vakarian. "Have you noticed that we are off course?"

"Yes, Sir," said Susan. "Nearly a hundred light years off course by my last calculation. I assume we are avoiding the S'eryan Star Cluster?"

"No, we are not avoiding, we diverted to the Kesh Star Cluster," explained the General.

Susan remembered the name. "Didn't that have something to do with the Krogan Rebellions?"

Vakarian nodded. "Yes, but long before the Rebellions there were old rumors, stories that the Kesh Star Cluster contained a Mass Relay. A team of Salarians went in search of it once and never came back. For some time it was nearly as much of an enigma as the Omega Relay, but when the Rachni War broke out, all notions of looking for new relays were abandoned."

"A reasonable decision," said Susan.

Vakarian continued. "During the height of the war, the Krogan were pressing us back on all fronts. Intelligence came in that they were looking for the Kesh Relay. They sent a significant scout fleet out into deep space to find it. At the time we didn't have the resources to spare, so we dispatched just a few ships ourselves, hoping that we could reach the relay before them. Thing is, none of those ships reported back, neither ours, nor the Krogan fleet.

In the wake of the Genophage and the end of the war, they were all but forgotten. A few ships set out to that area of space from time to time, but none ever returned. Ships go missing all over the galaxy, so no priority was ever given to Kesh in particular. So, I bet you are wondering why we are out here?"

"Yes, Sir," said Susan. "It doesn't seem important considering our primary mission."

The General agreed. "True, but when we were fueling a few days ago something extraordinary happened. You were bunked down at the time, but our com expert picked up an old signal."

"From the lost Krogan ships?" asked Susan.

"No," said Vakarian. "Something older than that. In the early days of Asari space exploration, there were twenty-eight matriarchs that went out into deep space, a sort of pilgrimage if you will. They were obsessed with obtaining ultimate knowledge. Only six of the matriarchs ever returned. Of the other twenty-two, only the ship and remains of Matriarch Dilinaga were found, until now."

Susan was intrigued. "A beacon of some sort?"

"Yes," said General Vakarian. "It's an old radio signal, so we're lucky we picked it up at all, but Specialist Sachs is damn near as capable as Traynor. He was scanning the last system we were refueling at and he picked up some background noise. He ran it through the ships VI. An inverse square calculation with a gamma filter logarithm determined the signal strength and origin. It was a three hundred thousand watt signal, just over four hundred seventy-three light years distance.

Sachs matched it to an Asari ship named the Andan-Taril'shar, which was a deep space explorer commanded by Matriarch Amosa. It was pure luck, really, that we picked up the signal. We're near the origin system now, but it's no longer broadcasting. It probably hasn't been for several centuries."

"So we caught the tail end of its broadcast wave, lucky us. Still, Sir, why have we gone off course for this? These are not our orders," said Susan.

"It's only x minus fifty-four and z minus ninety-six off our travel path—just under four days. As a Council Spectre, I'm allowed a total a deviation of ten standard days for anything I feel is important, and I'm required by interstellar law to divert to any category one coordinates within the same range," explained Vakarian.

"I imagine the Council considers lost matriarchs category one," said Susan.

"Exactly," said the General.

"How is Wrex handling this?" asked Susan.

General Vakarian snorted. "Much better than I expected. He was damn near enthusiastic. He's hoping that finding this Asari ship will help solve the mystery of the missing Krogan fleet as well, or at least give us a clue. In his best case scenario, he finds a lost Krogan colony."

"One that would never have been exposed to the Genophage," said Susan. "There could be billions of hostile Krogan in this cluster."

The General shook his head. "Unlikely, we would have seen something by now, or picked up a signal. The only thing that Sachs has discovered is a series of frequencies at the hydrogen line, perhaps some primitive society searching for life out there for the past few centuries."

"Well, they couldn't have picked a worse time to broadcast," said Susan. "If it was an alien race, the Reapers would have picked up that signal and determined they were advanced enough to harvest."

Vakarian sighed. "You're a morbid person, Rizzi, but you're probably right. In fact, it's my suspicion that there's a Reaper stronghold out here, something similar to the Collector Base we found at the center of the galaxy. It's the most likely explanation for all the missing ships."

"The thought had occurred to me, but if there is a relay, then they would have been hit by the Destruction Virus as well," said Susan. "If there isn't a relay, then we could have a Reaper stronghold that survived the war. That is not a good thing."

"Which means, it could start all over again," said the General. "Another reason we should investigate. Have your team ready by 0600, Rizzi. I've already informed Lieutenant Sallikus of the same. Wrex has put Aznir Company on standby as well. We'll draw lots for priority designations.

"Yes, Sir," said Rizzi. "Finally, some action."

"Spirits, this is nothing to be enthused about, Commander," said Vakarian.

"Sorry, Sir, anything at all to break this monotony, even a stranded Reaper," said Susan.

"Dismissed," said the General.

Susan made her exit. Just before the door closed, she thought she heard Vakarian curse at her under his breath.

_______________________________________

The eezo core on the Kodiak shuttle throbbed with a familiar resonance as it slipped ever closer to their destination. Susan was looking over the deck plans of the ancient Asari vessel while her team worked out their nervous energy on each other. Lieutenant Ito, who had proven herself to be a competent if not inspired shuttle pilot, was at the helm. They were running in stealth as a mere precaution. Judging from the early scans, the Andan-Taril'shar's eezo core and fusion reactor had been offline for centuries.

Most peculiar though, at least in Susan's mind, was the complete lack of eezo readings. The ship's core might have been ejected into space following an accident, still, there should be some traces of it in the star system. There were six planets in the uncharted system. The crew of the Normandy—Human, Turian, and Krogan, were arguing over what to name the star and the planets. Susan had a notion that the Krogan would win out, especially if Aznir Company confirmed that the abandoned structures on the second planet were indeed Krogan in origin.

"Did you see the look on his face? Sallikus was pissed," said Biggs.

"Can't blame him," said Farrell. "An Asari ship, lost for thousands of years, and humans, not Turians, will be the first to step foot on it."

"I'm just glad that Wurn and the rest of the Krogan are going planet-side. They need to let off some steam man, they were getting freaky as hell. I thought one of their warriors was going to eat Snow White yesterday," said Biggs.

"Can you blame them?" wondered Farrell. "I mean, look at her, she's so tasty!"

Baclanova shot Farrell a faux angry glance. "Zhatknis blyat!"

"Sorry, Snow White," said Farrell. "My translator is set to filter out harsh language, and I don't know Russian."

"Flag, Tank, that's enough," said Lieutenant James. "You've had months to pick on the rook, no more. Time to get serious. This is our first real mission as a team. We need each other's backs in there. You've all seen the old vids, ancient derelict alien ship, squad of marines, and two of us in red gear."

"Shit, redshirts! Flag and Snow White are totally fucked," said Chun.

"Vat is red shirt?" asked Baclanova.

Susan had yet to figure out if Baclanova's Russian accent was authentically thick, or the Lance Corporal was just laying it on for an extra sexy effect. One thing was for certain, she knew how to play the boys as well as Maggie Chun, the other woman in her squad. She'd been working them for months. She was even getting to Lieutenant James. Susan was keeping an eye on the situation. No lines had been crossed yet, but she didn't like Baclanova's game.

Biggs bit into the Russian woman's question with zeal. "You know, lasers on stun, beam me up Spock! It's that Star Wars shit, late nineteenth century science fiction."

Chun started laughing. "You don't know shit, Tank. Star Wars was twentieth century, not nineteenth. There was no science fiction in the nineteenth century. Also, it's phasers, not lasers."

"What the fuck is a phaser?" asked Biggs.

Lieutenant James shook his head. "Who knows, and Chief, you're wrong. There actually was science-fiction in the nineteenth century. Ever heard of H.G. Wells or Jules Verne?"

"And you say I don't know shit, Wind," said Biggs. "Even I know about Verne. Twenty thousand fucking leagues man—giant squids and shit!"

Farrell laughed. "I saw some giant squids on an Asari dancer one time, they were huuuuuge!"

Chun ignored Farrell's joke and went after Biggs. "You bèndàn, how am I supposed to know every old white man from the west? Have you ever heard of Zheng Wenguang?"

"Who the hell is that?" asked Biggs.

"My point exactly, smart ass," said Chun.

The shuttle gave a slight bump, indicating that they had aligned with the old airlock. Lieutenant Ito waved back at Susan.

"I can't get a seal, so I'll have to hold position with docking thrusters. You'll need to move fast. This big old Asari bitch is really spinning, and you never know what it might hit out here. There's meteors everywhere and it's already beat to hell. I'd rather not get kicked by the thing."

"Ok, team, enough with the bullshit," said Susan. "Button up, coms on, double time through the hatch on my mark. And guys, be careful. We've got breaches everywhere, don't fall out."

A serious mood took over the team as soon as the last word came out of Susan's mouth. They went in by the numbers. Soon, all six of them were on the Asari ship.

"In the belly of the whale, Ito," said Susan.

The com crackled. "Ok, Commander, bugging out. I'll be on standby just a few clicks off."

James took point. He lit up his shotgun torch, illuminating the passageway ahead. He gave a signal and the rest of the team turned their torches on as well. James moved forward, Chun followed close behind. Their mag boots were silent as they picked their way through the debris-strewn airlock. Soon, they stood in an old corridor than ran forward and aft along the starboard side of the ship.

"Ok," said Susan. "Sticking to the plan. Flag and Snow White are with me. We'll make our way to the bridge and the Captain's Quarters to grab the data. Striker, take Wind and Tank, find Engineering and the Cargo Bays. Watch for breaches, keep your armor clean of debris, and watch for floating reactor coolant. You get a gob of that shit on you, we'll have to peel your armor off and float you in a decon pod for a week. Also, as we get to our destinations, the rotation will create gravity. Try not to fall on your asses,

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