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Murphy's Law

Every time Fox looked back on the day that would so drastically and pugnaciously transform his life, he felt amusement. Sure, it was more a satirical form of hilarity, then say, a knock knock joke, but it still forced a wry chuckle out of him every now and then. People in similar situations always told him how different their day had felt before it took such an unexpected turn, that they had some inherent precognition, a gut feeling one could call it, that warned them fecal matter was inevitably screaming on a collision course to the nearest rotor operated cooling device.

Fox supposed that was where his diverged abruptly from the norm. For him, it was just like any other morning aboard their newly christened stealth cruiser. He woke up at 5:00 AM sharp, as he always did, showered, as he always did, trimmed his fur, as he always did, and sucked down the same, plain, tasteless cuisine that the Mess Sergeant swore up and down was not soylent green yet he still held his suspicions of.

Then, upon completion of the usual morning ritual, he set forth to strike out the next task on his a.m. to-do-list list, pestering the ship's pilot. Admittedly, it was nothing more than a guilty pleasure that didn't really serve any purpose, but he just found it so damn hard to quit. After all, the poor bird couldn't really go anywhere.

Stepping out of the elevator that had carried him up from the crew deck to the CIC, Fox gave one last, brief glance at his hardsuit, ensuring that it was up to snuff and perfectly presentable as fitting a soldier of his station. He had already checked a hundred times from the moment he exited his sleep pod till now, but it couldn't hurt to be extra careful, especially with a council specter on board.

Fox had never liked specters, wandering the galaxy with the ability to decide who lives and who dies, unmonitored and unhindered by citadel law, it was no wonder he didn't really trust them. The vulpine respected their position, certainly, but that didn't mean he had to like them.

Sneaky bastards, the lot of them.

He had yet to hear a story involving a specter, or at least one of the rare times a report was unclassified, where the end tally body count was below double digits.

Fox looked up from his armor and scanned the CIC, searching for any sign of the council's secret agent, eventually recognizing the high collared armor that was unique to turian design. A small frown ceased the vulpine's muzzle upon seeing the specter standing inside the cockpit.

However, before he made his way over, Fox turned to speak with Pressley, who had zeroed in on him the moment he exited the elevator. The wolfhound was a tad ill-tempered and somewhat xenophobic, but that was all but expected given his family background. Most career navy dogs with family ties dating back to The First Contact War, inherited some measure of alien distrust.

Discard that xenophobia, and he was actually an alright guy, if a little neurotic at times.

"Morning, Pressley."

"Good morning, Commander." The canine stiffened, throwing up a terse salute as he knocked his boots together.

If the dog tried any harder he'd probably burst a blood vessel.

Fox withheld the eye roll he felt brewing and instead returned the salute, albeit offhandedly. Pressley was career navy, through and through, and the vulpine was certain blue blood ran through his veins.

Leaving Pressley to his work, he continued towards the cockpit. The Great Fox was on approach with the relay, and he didn't want to miss watching the jump. No matter how many times he saw it, it would always be as breathtaking and awe inspiring as the first. Nothing quite beat it, like staring down the barrel of a cannon as it fired... just pure awesome in its rawest form.

Eager as he was to see it, and keep an eye on the specter, the vulpine slowed down to take in the sights of the bridge as he often found himself doing, emerald irises roving the vast array of duty consoles and haptic interfaces as he slipped through the crew's hectic rhythm, each individual moving in orchestrated concert, like blood cells in the veins of a beating heart.

He smiled at the sight.

This was why he joined the navy, not just because of his parents, but the feeling off connectivity he felt as part of a well-oiled and fine-tuned machine. They were Lylat's best and brightest, and together they would keep their people safe.

Musing aside, he still arrived at the front of the bridge in time to watch as the cruiser swerved in on its final approach, lining up with the ancient forerunner station like a minnow saddling up to a whale. He only allowed a brief look in the specter's direction to acknowledge the turian before returning his full attention to the swirling eddies of sapphire brilliance that engulfed their relatively miniscule vessel and swept up the length of the colossal relic of a bygone age.

Then without warning, the ship leapt forward as the glowing blue luminesce reached a crescendo, propelling them forwards at a near incalculable velocity. And then... just like that, they were in the Exodus star cluster.

I'll never get used to that.

Near instantaneous space travel, one thing that he could say about it... it's damn convenient.

The show concluded, Fox shifted his attention to the pilot, watching silently as he performed the post-flight inspection, feathered digits roaming the holographic keyboard with practiced ease.

"Thrusters... check."

" Navigation... check."

"Internal emission sink, engaged."

"All systems online, drift... just under 1500k."

Fox was almost surprised when the specter decided to speak.

"1500 is good. Your captain will be pleased." With those parting words, the turian walked away, having seen what he needed it seemed.

Not seconds after he left, the pilot grumbled.

"I hate that guy."

At that, the avian's copilot, a grey furred dog with a short muzzle, turned to eye him oddly. "Nihlus gave you a compliment... so you hate him?"

The bird scoffed. "Remembering to zip up your jumpsuit after going to the bathroom, that's good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead, so that's incredible. Sides, specters are trouble. I don't like having him onboard. Call me paranoid."

"You're paranoid. The council funded this project, the have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment."

"Yeah, that's the official story, only an idiot believes the official story."

A smirk still lingering on his face as he watched the show, Fox finally decided to offer his own input on the situation as he leaned against an empty duty station.

"They don't send specters on shakedown runs." While not nearly as much a conspiracy theorist as his feathered friend, he did tend to agree with his statement.

"So there's more going on than the Captain's letting on." The bird concluded.

Before they could delve deeper into why the council would bother sending one of their best agents along for the ride, they were interrupted as the radio flickered into life.

"Joker, status report."

Fox would know that voice anywhere, It was Captain Hare, a good friend of his family and the de facto boss of the Great Fox.

"Just cleared the relay Captain, stealth systems engaged and everything looks solid."

"Good, find a comms buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime."

"Aye, Aye Captain. Better brace yourself. I think Nihlus is heading your way."

There was a brief pause, so quick Fox hardly picked up on it.

"He's already here, Lieutenant."

The canine smirked as he watched the bird wince and shake his head.

"Tell Commander Mccloud to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing."

"You... get that commander?" The bird slowly turned to look over his shoulder.

"What... the part where you embarrassed the Captain? Yeah, I got that part." Fox answered with a smug grin, his eyes alight with amusement.

Joker rolled his own. "Don't blame me. The Captain's always in a bad mood."

"Only when he's talking to you, Joker." The smiling canine co-pilot interjected.

With a chuckle, Fox left the two to their own devices and hurried down to the comms room. If the Captain was already upset, the last thing he wanted to do was be late.

He arrived in record time, stepping inside only a minute after he received the message. Expecting to see the Captain, he was surprised to find Nihlus the only one there. He watched the turian warily as the bird-like alien slowly strode towards him, each step measured and collected as he studied the vulpine with predatory eyes.

Fox was not an expert on interpreting turian facial expressions, but he was good at reading eyes, no matter the species. Nihlus was up to something, and he didn't like that one bit.

"Commander, I was hoping you'd get here first, it'll give us a chance to talk."

"The Captain said he would meet me here." Fox answered, hoping to buy time till he arrived.

"He's on his way." The turian assured him.

The vulpine watched hesitantly as the alien slowly circled around him. He felt as if he was being judged... evaluated. But he couldn't tell what for, and that made the vulpine very uneasy.

"I'm interested in this world were going to, Eden Prime. I've heard it's quite beautiful."

"I've never been there."

"But you know of it." The turian countered swiftly, pausing in his encirclement to stare at the vulpine meaningfully. "It's become something of a symbol to your people, hasn't it? Proof that Lylat can not only establish colonies across the galaxy, but also protect them." The specter turned away from him. "But how safe is it really?"

"Do you know something?' Fox demanded, taking a purposeful step forward. He didn't favor the turians tone. It sounded a little too threatening for his liking.

"Your people are still newcomers, Mccloud." The turian specter answered vaguely as he turned around to face him, leaving the tod's question unanswered. "The galaxy can be a dangerous place. Is the Alliance truly ready for this?"

Fox was going to ask exactly just what this was, when he heard the comms room doors' open, and watched with a barely concealed sigh of relief as the Captain arrived, walking down the short path to the center of the room.

Captain Hare was a close friend of his father's. Not only that, but a personal one as well. Though in his early forties, the rabbit had yet to lose his vigor and was renowned across the fleet for his service record. Whatever this double entendre fueled interrogation was, Fox felt more at ease with his presence.

"I think it's time we told the Commander what's really going on." The rabbit decided with a meaningful glance in the vulpine's direction.

Not entirely certain where this conversation was going, Fox elected to remain quite for the moment and pay attention.

"This mission is far more than a simple shakedown run." The specter informed him, though Fox had already suspected this for a long time.

"I figured there was something you weren't telling us." He turned to the Captain.

"We're making a covert pickup on Eden Prime. That's why we needed the stealth systems operational."

"There must be a reason you didn't tell me about this, Sir." While there were military regulations, he knew that Peppy was not fond of keeping secrets from his crew.

"This comes down from the top, Commander, information on a strictly need-to-know basis." Hare moved away from Fox, clasping his paws firmly behind his back. "A research team on Eden Prime unearthed some kind of artifact during excavation." The Captain's path had him stop right beside Nihlus.

"It was forerunner."

This was a surprise to Fox. "I thought the forerunners vanished 50,000 years ago?" Everyone knew about them, an ancient, highly advanced alien race, that had once existed long ago.

This time it was Nihlus who spoke up, a resonant severity in his voice. "Their legacy still remains, the mass relays, the citadel, our ship drives, it's all based on forerunner technology."

"This is big, Fox." Peppy's expression was deathly serious, and the fact the Captain used his first name made it seem all that more grave. "The last time Lylat made a discovery like this, it jumped our technology forward 200 years. But Eden Prime doesn't have the facilities to handle something like this. We need to bring the artifact back to the citadel for proper study."

"Obviously this goes beyond mere Lylatian interest, Commander." Nihlus cut in. "This discovery could affect every species in council space."

"Are we expecting trouble?" Fox didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling about this. From experience he knew that big things tended to go paw-in-paw with big problems.

"I'm always expecting trouble." Nihlus stepped forward, the vulpine watching carefully as he approached.

"There's more Fox, Nihlus isn't just here for the artifact. He's also here to evaluate you."

Evaluate?

Fox turned to regard the rabbit, a sickly sense of unease growing within him. "What's going on, Captain?"

Peppy stepped forward. "The Alliance has been pushing for this a long time. Lylat wants a larger role in shaping interstellar policy. We want more say with the Citadel Council. The specters represent the council's power and authority. If they accept a Lylatian into their ranks, it shows how far the Alliance has come."

Oh, I have a bad feeling about this.

"You held off an enemy assault during the blitz single handed."

Fox frowned as Nihlus dredged up a memory that was not one he liked to reminisce on, and the vulpine forced it down before his brain could unhelpfully bring it all back in vivid detail.

Nihlus continued on uninterrupted.

"You showed not only courage but incredible skill. That's why I put your name forward as candidate for the specters."

This was confusion enough for Fox to temporarily dismiss his unwanted memories. "Why would a turian want a lylatian in the specters?"

"Not all turians resent lylatians. Some of us see the potential of your people. We see what you have to offer to the rest of the galaxy, and to the specters. We are an elite group. It's rare to find an individual with the skills we seek. I don't care that you're lylatian Mccloud, only that you can do the job."

If this were not so important, Fox already knew what his answer would be. But this was big, bigger than himself and his personal feelings. This would be the opening Lylat needed to really be a part of the interstellar community, to be known as a serious player in the galactic game. This was so much more than merely joining the specters, and with that, how else could he answer then, "What do I need to do?"

Satisfied with his response, the turian nodded. "I need to see your skills for myself, Commander. Eden Prime will be the first of several missions together."

'You'll be in charge of the ground team." Peppy began to fill him in on the specifics. "Secure the artifact and get it on the ship ASAP. Nihlus will accompany you to observe the mission."

"Why is this artifact so important?" Fox had a general sense of its significance, but this still seemed like overkill for such a simple operation.

"All advanced galactic civilization is based on forerunner technology, even yours." Nihlus replied.

"If we hadn't discovered those forerunner ruins back on Titania, we'd still be stuck on Corneria. That was just a small data cache. Who knows what we could learn from this artifact. What if it's a weapons archive? We can't let it fall into the wrong paws."

"Like who?" Last Fox checked, there weren't that many hostile factions.

"The Attican Traverse isn't the most stable sector of citadel space. There are plenty raider and criminal groups active in the region. They might think a forerunner artifact is worth the risk of attacking an Alliance ship. Plus, Eden Prime is right on the border of the Terminus Systems."

"The Attican Traverse is under the citadel's protection. If the Terminus attacks, it's an act of war." Fox knew that though the citadel was not an aggressive government, they would defend themselves. And the citadel fleet was the most powerful navy in the known galaxy. It would be fool hardy for the terminus to instigate a conflict with them.

Nihlus was quick to dissuade him of that notion.

"Technically, yes. But some species in the terminus might be willing to start a war over this."

"The last thing the council wants is to get dragged into a major conflict with the Terminus Systems. We have to keep this low key."

Fox was curious. If a war could be initiated, simply because of the uncovering of a forerunner artifact, how important could this all be?

He turned to Peppy. Perhaps the hare would know more. "What do you know about the forerunners?"

"Just what they taught us in school. They were a technologically advanced species that ruled the galaxy 50,000 years ago. Then they vanished. Nobody knows how or why, but I've heard plenty of theories. But everyone agrees. Galactic civilization wouldn't exist without them."

"Their citadel is the very heart of galactic society, and without their mass relays, interstellar travel would be impossible. We all owe the forerunners a great debt."

Basically, as Fox understood what Nihlus and Peppy were telling him, they needed forerunner tech, and it would not be good if the badies got their mitts on it instead. Alright, that was simple enough. Fundamentally, this was the same song and dance he was used to. Get the object before the bad guys did. That's all he needed to know.

"Just give the word, Captain." If there was a job, he'd see it done.

Peppy nodded. "We should be nearing Eden Pr-"

"Captain, we have a problem." The familiar voice of Joker was a surprise as it suddenly filled the comm room.

Ah, Murphy's Law... just in time. Fox withheld what he knew would be a discourteous chuckle.

"What's wrong, Joker?" Peppy prompted.

"Transmission from Eden Prime, Sir, You'd better see this."

"Bring it up on screen."

The three occupants off the comms room turned in unison as the holo-screen flared into life.

The first thing Fox noticed was a sound he was hard pressed to forget, the reverberant chatter of an M7 lancer, the standard issue marine assault rifle of the CDF, and in that moment... he knew everything they had just discussed was about to spin on its head.

The transmission was obviously from a soldier's helmet cam, Fox had seen more than enough helmet footage to be able to tell. From the looks of it, the owner of the helmet cam and their squad was embroiled in a heated firefight. The first thing he saw was a feline in a Phoenix Arms hardsuit, easily recognizable by the garish bleached white color and pink highlights, though the ferocious grimace on the feline's muzzle and the dangerous setting sharply clashed against the color palette.

The cat rushed towards the camera and called out a warning, shoving the other soldier to the dirt before layering a heavy barrage towards what must have been the enemy's position. Moments after the camera became blurry as the firefight intensified. Fox strained his ears, hoping he could identify what kind of weapon the enemy was using, but it was unlike unlike any weapon he had ever heard fired, a deep thrum that almost sounded electronic. Once the video eventually cleared an alliance marine kneeled down and looked into the recording device.

"We're under attack, taking heavy casualties. I repeat, heavy casualties. We can't...." An explosion muffled his next few words. "Evac... They came out of nowhere, we need-" The soldier was cut off as a round took him in the back, dropping the unfortunate male to the dirt and eliciting a sharp grimace from Fox as he watched on, helpless to do anything.

Yet his angered frown subsided as he stared in mute silence as the camera panned upwards to a strange sight. It was hard to describe what he saw. It had to be a ship. That was the only way what he saw could be possible, but it was not of any class or design that he had ever seen before, looking like some leviathan that had risen from the depths of some alien world. Just the sight of it filled him with an unwilling fear, as if there was a darkness clinging to his soul.

Before he could wonder on the strange sensation, there was a crescendo of violence as the transmission suddenly cut out. Bottom of Form

Joker's voice returned soon after.

"Everything just cuts off after that, no comms traffic at all. It just goes dead, there's nothing."

The comm room was silent for a few moments before Peppy finally spoke.

"Reverse it and hold at 38.5."

The replay wound back until it froze on a still image of the strange ship.

Seeing it once more immediately brought back the uneasy feeling Fox felt before, and he had to force himself from turning away.

"Status report."

Fox admired Peppy's stoicism, the rabbit visibly unaffected by whatever sensation that had plagued him.

"Seventeen minutes out, no Alliance ships in the area."

"Take us in, Joker, fast and quiet. This mission just got a lot more complicated."

"A small strike team can move quickly without drawing attention. It's our best chance to secure the artifact." Fox couldn't see it, but he knew the Nihlus was agitated. This mission was important, even critical, and now an unknown variable had thrown a wrench in the works of a very delicate plan.

"Suit up and meet us in the cargo hold."

The turian was already leaving the room as Peppy turned to Fox.

"Tell Grey and Jenkins to suit up, Commander. You're going in."

Fox saluted the captain before following out of the room. At the door, he glanced back, getting one last look at the strange ship. That thing was bad feelings personified, and for the first time in a long while, he was nervous about a mission, one increasingly prominent thought reiterating itself in his thoughts.

I have a bad feeling about this.

_ _

*****

_ _

"Your team's the muscle in this operation, Commander. Go in heavy and head straight for the dig site."

Fox watched Peppy through the HUD of his tactical visor, splitting his attention between the Captain's speech and performing one last check up on the electronics in his suit. Jenkins' and Bill's life signs were coming in smooth and steady, and his barriers were at full capacity. Comms were clear and his weapons were primed, in other words he was ready and eager to start this mission. Time was a factor so the sooner they started, the better.

"What about survivors, Captain?" Bill wondered. The canine was always a bleeding heart, and Fox knew what his priorities would be, regardless of the mission parameters

"Helping survivors is a secondary objective. The artifact is your top priority."

Fox glanced to Bill, noticing the dissatisfied expression put up by the dog as Joker queued the first drop point.

'Nihlus, you're coming with us?" Jenkins asked.

Fox liked Jenkins. He was a good kid, as innocent as a school boy with a heart of gold. A little too eager for combat though, Fox would have to keep an eye on him, make sure he didn't do anything too rash and get himself killed.

"I move faster on my own." The turian answered, already moving to the open ramp.

Honestly, Fox wasn't all that surprised. The specter was probably better off without them. He could more than handle himself anyways.

"Nihlus will scout ahead. He'll feed you status reports throughout the mission. Otherwise, I want radio silence."

'Don't worry Captain, we've got his back."

Peppy nodded. "Mission's yours now, Commander. Good luck."

Peppy turned away to head back to the CIC as Fox signaled for his team to move towards the ramp. He would have preferred to take at least one more soldier for the operation, but Bill and Jenkins were the only ones he had previous experience with. And if there was one thing Fox learned in his military career, it was that bringing people you didn't know on a mission was nothing more than a tactical liability.

"Ready?" He looked to his two squadmates as the Great Fox hovered to a stop just above the drop zone. They were far from the artifact's last known location, but this was the closest Joker could get them without exposing their ship to ground fire.

"We'll follow your lead, Sir." Bill answered as both canines prepared to jump.

"Good, then let's get this done." Before the last word left Fox's mouth, the vulpine tensed and dove backwards in an effortlessly controlled freefall off the exit ramp, landing moments later with nimble precision as his boots casually kissed the soil.

Following after him and distinctly lacking the tod's elegance, Bill and Jenkins hit the dirt at a stumble, recovering quickly as they jogged after the already departing Commander.

"You've got to tell me how you do that." Bill grumbled as he fell in step beside Fox, the canine's eyes cautiously scanning their surroundings as he spoke.

"I already told ya, lots of yoga." Fox replied with a grin.

"Yep, and I still don't believe you. I've never even seen you take any classes, or even do any of the positions."

"You think I'd do it on the ship?" Fox looked to the dog askance.

Thinking it over, the canine shrugged. "Suppose not."

Eyeing past Bill, Fox watched Jenkins as the marine approached one of the floating creatures scattered about the field they were passing through.

"Don't worry about them, marine. They're completely docile."

The dog turned to Fox, allowing the vulpine to see the young soldier's innocent grin. "I know Mister Mccloud, Sir. I just wanted to get a closer peep at em. Never seen a gasbag back home, just lots of farm animals."

"Honestly, they're not much to look at, just living balloons." Bill replied indifferently, nudging away a curious floating animal with the barrel of his lancer.

"All right, rally up." Fox noticed that his team was starting to spread a little thin. "Don't forget the mission brief. We need to get to that artifact before the enemy does."

Reminded of what was at stake, Bill and Jenkins quickly rejoined Fox as the vulpine led them down the path to a ridge with a high incline. Not seeing any hostiles, but knowing that could change at a moment's notice, Fox signaled with his paw and his comrades took cover in the outcropping of rocks scattered about the cliff's footpath. They advanced slowly up the road, searching for targets.

In the distance, they could see the billowing stacks of smoke rising from the colony, the charcoal black columns grimly reminding them off the seriousness of the situation.

"Jenkins, stay in formation." Fox called out to the overly eager marine as he started to wander out of position.

Fox was saddened to see the state of the colony that had once been a beacon of progress to their people. He knew that after this incident, faith in the Alliance's defense force would plummet and colonial stocks would take a steep nosedive as investors hurried to salvage their assets. He could only hope that whatever this forerunner artifact was, that it would be worth the catastrophe that sprung up in the wake of its discovery.

"Damnit Jenkins, if you don't stay in position I'll send you back to the Great Fox and have the Captain deal with you." Fox growled in irritation as the youthful marine once more began to stray.

'Right, sorry sir." The canine turned to hurriedly rejoin the group.

A faint hum drew the party to a halt as their eyes turned to the source of the strange noise. Then, without warning, a handful of low flying objects zipped into sight at the top of the inclined path. Too fast to see, the team couldn't get a good look at what they could be.

Then... they opened fire.

Fox watched in shock as a flurry of blue bolts erupted from the weapon mounts underneath the small machines, the mass accelerated munitions finding their mark in the unfortunate marine who was found out of cover. Jenkins jerked violently with the likeness of a marionette puppet as his body was perforated by a storm of pellets, each the size of a grain of sand.

The vulpine threw himself behind a boulder as the hail of lethal ammunition trailed its way towards him, the hovering killing machines unrelenting as they continued to unleash their fatal payload.

"BILL!"

At the sound of his shout, one of the machines was abruptly enveloped in a cobalt sphere of energy, arresting its attack and considerably reducing the volume of fire directed at Fox. The vulpine pulled himself out of cover, sighted the paralyzed machine, and sent a volley of lancer fire into its chassis, riddling the drone full of tiny holes. His barrier waned under the retaliatory barrage, but absorbed the handful of bullets directed at him as he ducked behind the boulder once more, the smoking husk of the machine he destroyed being the last thing he saw as it crashed to the ground.

Another one of the machines met its end shortly after, brought down by an accurate burst of fire from Bill.

The final drone, perhaps trying hoping to relay information back to its owner, abruptly turned about and raced down the way it had come.

A single shot rang out and a new hole appeared in the flying robot's side. Whatever that round hit cut the power to the drone's means of propulsion. Now, with its engine disabled, the machine tumbled out of the sky, splitting in half as it smashed against a rock.

Fox rose up from behind the boulder, rifle barrel smoking, as he scanned the sky in search of any more of these killer machines. Seeing that the area was clear for the moment, he raced to the prone form of Jenkins, where Bill was already kneeling and checking the canine's life signs, a pointless effort, as most of the canine's blood was currently outside of his body.

Fox's HUD already told him what he needed to know, but some small sliver of the tod hoped that it was wrong, that he had not just lost one of his teammates minutes after the start of the mission.

"Sorry Fox... he's gone." Bill took his finger away from the fallen marine's throat and turned to him with a deep set frown, gesturing to one of the broken machines as he stood up. "Whatever these things are, they ripped right through his shields, never stood a chance."

Fox forced down the growl he felt rising in his chest and wiped away the approaching tide of emotions. There was neither time nor place for regret, not with what was at stake. Though he despised it, they had to press on, if for no other reason than to give meaning to Jenkins' death and ensure that he did not waste his life. There were other people that he could still save.

"We'll see that he receives a proper service after the mission. But I need you to stay focused, Bill." Fox didn't want his friend to suffer the same fate because he was distracted.

"Aye, aye, Sir!" The canine nodded grimly.

Fox gave one last parting look at the fallen marine before pushing on, praying that Jenkins would be the only death in his squad on this mission.

They reached the top of the trail only a few moments later, and seeing that it was clear, they started off in the direction of the artifact, its last location zeroed in on their HUD's nav system. It was only a short trek away from their current position, and they should be on it in a few minutes.

All remained quiet till they were about halfway to the dig site. That was when Fox heard the unforgettable thunder of an M7 lancer, followed by the strange electronic warble he had come to recognize as the enemy's weapons.

Realizing that there were still survivors, Fox's and Bill's pace quickened as the hurried to the location of the firefight, hoping they would arrive in time to save them.

Fox was the first to get eyes on the situation, Bill only seconds behind him as they arrived at the crest of the small hill. Below them, he could make out a lone marine, taking refuge behind a particularly large boulder. He was startled to recognize the soldier, her pink and white armor near impossible to forget. Fox was even more startled that he recognized her attackers, the pearlescent blue, bipedal machines laying down an unforgiving barrage of fire as they closed in on her position.

But there was no time to worry about that.

"Bill."

"Already on it, Sir." The canine was enveloped in a blue aura as he made a fist with his paw and pulled sharply.

At the bottom of the hill one of the robots was cloaked in a similar glow and began to rise. The machine flailed its arms wildly as it tried to correct its sudden and unexpected loss of balance, but Bill's biotic attack negated the unit's gravity, leaving it helpless as it floated in the air.

With this same tactic, Fox finished off the robot. The machine's barrier failed just as the vulpine's rifle overheated, the last round to exit the barrel smashing through its optics. The final machine was brought down by the combined fire of both Bill and the other marine, dropping the robot in a hail of gunfire.

Leaving his rifle to cool, Fox slung it on his back and turned to the female marine who acknowledged him with a salute, despite her current condition. The feline's armor was worn down and encrusted with mud and blood that didn't belong to her. No doubt as she was the only soldier within sight, she had lost most, if not all the members of her unit. And yet she still carried herself with strength. She was a tough one, of that he was certain.

"Gunnery Chief Miyu Lynx of the 212, you the one in charge here, Sir?"

Fox didn't see any visible injuries on her, but he wasn't sure she was unharmed. "Are you wounded, Lynx?"

"Just some scrapes and bruises... the others weren't so lucky." She replied with a sharp toothed grimace. "We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get out a distress call, but they cut off our communications. I've been fighting for my life ever since." The cat trudged over to one of the fallen machined and delivered a swift kick into its side. "What are the Geth doing here, Sir?"

"They haven't been seen outside the Veil in over 200 years." Bill ran his omni tool over one of the downed machines, and frowned when his scan proved unsuccessful. "Its data's been wiped, probably some kind of defensive protocol."

"They have to be after the artifact. The dig site is close, just over that rise. It might still be there if we hurry up."

Whatever happened, they had to retrieve the artifact before the Geth stole it. They'd work faster with another team member and he had no intention of leaving her to fend for herself.

"We could use your help, Lynx."

The feline growled an affirmative. "Aye, Sir. It's time for payback."

"Good, then let's move out."

*****

When they arrived at the dig site, his team soon learned the artifact had been moved. Miyu hypothesized that the researchers must have transferred it to the camp after the attack. And so hoping that their objective would be there, Fox and his squad dashed to the encampment.

At the top of the hill they were welcomed by a grisly sight, unlike anything Fox or the others had ever seen before, it becoming readily apparent that they had been too late to save the researchers.

Even during the Blitz, Fox had never seen something so cruel as what the geth had done to the colonists. The bloodied stakes of half a dozen strange machines were clustered together at the edge of the small campsite. Upon each of the barbaric devices, a corpse was impaled through the chest and it appeared as if those vicious machines had an even more insidious purpose.

The cadavers had been vandalized by whatever foreign technology the geth possessed. Invasive tubes and wires, fed alien electronics throughout their desiccated flesh, siphoning any valuable minerals for an insidious purpose, unknown to all but the geth.

Revulsion was primary amongst the horrified sensations felt by Fox and his team. This surpassed desecration of the dead; this was a perversion against nature. There was nothing left of those people. They were just... husks. And their horror only ascended to new heights as it appeared the geth were not done with the violated corpses of the unfortunate researchers.

The towering spikes slowly descended, lowering the cadavers to the earth... and that was when they started moving.

"Oh God, they're still alive!" Bill cried out in horror as they watched the mutilated corpses peel off the impaling spikes and stumble towards them, stricken numb by the horrific manner of change with which the machined had transformed their people.

"What did the geth do to them?" Miyu demanded with an enraged growl, though even she took an involuntary step back as the corrupted bodies of individuals she once knew shambled towards them.

Fox shouldered his lancer and discarded his reservations as sighted his first target. "I don't know, but what I do know is that they are beyond saving." Squeezing the trigger of his rifle, the vulpine targeted the closest moving corpse... what he had subconsciously designated as a husk, and slammed a half a dozen mass accelerated rounds into its disfigured chest cavity. He didn't know what gender the poor creature had once been, or even what species of lylatian it may have once resembled, but he tried his best not to dwell on that as he focused on doing his duty. There may yet be others he could still save.

It was a few moments before his companions had the nerve to follow in his footsteps, though their reluctance changed quickly as the zombified researchers flailed towards them, howling in a maddened charge.

The first of the monsters to rush forwards was also the first to earn its final death, flown backwards after becoming the unlucky recipient of a bioticly charged throw. The husk smashed wetly into the wall of a nearby building with a sickening thwack as whatever was left of its bones crushed into powder against the unforgiving steel_._

Miyu was the next to end the tortured existence of one of the weaponized corpses. Despite her reluctance, she carried out the grim task with unenthusiastic efficiency, a small burst from her lancer sufficient enough in vacating the contents of its skull.

Fox only hesitated for a brief moment before he dropped his next target, sickened by the sight of the mindless corpse's fall to the dirt in a pool of strangely luminescent liquid.

The shambling creatures proved to be little challenge, the rest cut down with relative ease not long after the first. The vulpine suspected their purpose was to act as more of a hindrance on enemy combatants then as a genuine threat.

As the last of the husks dropped to the ground, they looked for any signs of the forerunner artifact. In their efforts they stumbled upon the first bit of good news they had yet to come across. There were a few survivors huddled in one of the locked hab buildings, though their mental state was questionable at best, they were helpful enough to pinpoint the location of the artifact, which had been moved from the dig site to the nearby starport.

Fox left the surviving researchers with an unnecessary warning to stay indoors before ordering his team to move on. When they reached the hill overseeing the entrance to the port, Fox picked up on a distant sound, a solitary gunshot. But before he could focus on that they were once more set upon by the geth, though this time the hostile machines were augmented with more of their zombified monstrosities.

However, with Bill's Biotics and Miyu's commendable soldiery, they were able to make swift work of the attacking units, pressing forwards to the port's cargo station, where their penchant for bad luck returned in full force.

*****

"So... who's the turian?" Miyu wondered as she approached the alien's motionless body, the feline turning to the now stone faced vulpine Commander.

"That's Nihlus." Fox answered impassively, wondering why everything was going wrong that day. First Jenkins was killed, then the geth repurposed their dead to create an army of techno zombies, the artifact was yet to be recovered, and now a council specter had been killed.

This was why he hated Mondays.

"He's a council specter." Bill answered unhelpfully.

"Wait, movement!" Miyu called out, signaling towards one of the crates resting at the very back of the dock.

"Wait, don't shoot. I'm not a machine." A terrified voice called out, moments before the shivering form of a reptilian dockworker rose into eyesight.

Bill stepped forwards to interrogate the reptile and police him for weapons. Meanwhile, Fox leaned down to Nihlus' corpse, hoping he might find a clue as to what had managed to kill a council specter. As troublesome as the Geth were, they would hardly be much of a threat for an experienced operative like Nihlus

His investigation was brief, the answer becoming apparent almost instantly. Someone, or something, had put a hole through the back of the turian's head, close enough that his barriers didn't activate. And seeing as how Fox had a feeling not even the geth could get a drop on a veteran council agent, something else had to have gone down.

"Commander, I think you might want to hear what this guy is saying." Miyu called him away from his inspection and Fox reluctantly made his way over.

"Right, now tell him what you told me." Bill prompted the shifty looking dockworker with a nudge from his rifle, which proved to be more than enough to open the flood gates.

"I saw what happened to that turian, the other one, he shot him!" The reptile glanced around uneasily, wringing his hands as he scanned his surroundings.

"Other one?"

"Yeah, your friend, I think he called him Saren. After that your friend started to relax, let his guard down. And Saren killed him, shot him right in the back. I'm just lucky he didn't see me behind the crates. After that, he jumped on the cargo train, probably headed to the artifact."

Fox didn't know why, but the name was familiar to him... and a turian, leading the geth in an attack on a lylatian colony? He had no idea what this all meant, but he knew they didn't have time to worry about it.

"Come on, we need to get to the artifact!" Already certain that the dockworker would keep his head down, Fox urged his team onwards to the artifact.

More geth were waiting for them deeper inside the starport, though through sheer desperation and skill, they were able to put down the force guarding the train station.

Fox knew they were negative on time, and that Saren might very well already have the artifact, but he kept pushing his team onwards anyways. They couldn't afford to give up... so they fought, through hordes of geth units, from the smaller drones to the towering assault platforms, always just barely managing to curb the battle in their favor with a steady combination of biotic power and old fashioned brute strength.

Halfway through the firefight, Bill's omni-tool detected a faint trace of nuclear energy, Fox soon realizing that the geth had placed demo charges in the starport. This forced him to slow their advance as they had to find each bomb and defuse it if there was any hope of Eden Prime to remain as a lylatian colony by the end of this.

With Bill's expertise in bomb defusal, the threat had been averted, but they lost valuable time that they would not be able to regain and the canine was exhausted after heavy use of his biotics. That left Miyu and Fox to lead the spearhead deeper into the port, where they finally reached the artifacts last known position. A final small team of husks and a pair of geth units stood in their way but were quickly shut down by an overly aggressive feline and a suitably pissed off fox.

A quick investigation of the area later, revealed no existence of the turian, the alien either having fled from their approach or perhaps already finding what he needed, departed. Whatever the case, they did find it... the forerunner artifact.

Fox wasn't sure what to make of it, wondering if perhaps it was not what they were looking for. He had seen pictures and heard stories about these mystic relics left behind by their predecessors, and the technological, groundbreaking marvels they contained, yet nothing prepared him for what lay before his eyes.

For one, it did not match any of the photos, nor did it look like what had been described to him before. This was... different. Strangely ovular and composed of a fascinating, virtually luminescent material, its appearance more closely resembled a container of some design, or perhaps a sarcophagus.

Whatever it was, at least they had found it. The vulpine stood to the side and prepared to call The Great Fox in for pickup, just happy that Jenkins' sacrifice, and that made by the people of Eden Prime, would not be wasted.

Keeping the call brief, he finished up within moments and turned back to his team, where he watched uneasily as Miyu approached the forerunner artifact. Just as he opened his muzzle to order her to back away, she placed her paw on the relic... and all hell broke loose.

Fox was nearly thrown to the ground as a shockwave blasted out from an origin point Fox realized was the newly activated forerunner artifact. Bill was thrown across the small yard, hurtling through the air until he landed roughly in the corner.

Though, the pulse seemed to have a different effect on Miyu.

Rather than pushed away, the feline was pulled closer to the artifact, now kneeling beside the relic with both paws planted firmly upon it as the device was absorbed in a bright light so intense, Fox could not directly look at it.

Yet the vulpine forced himself to stand, fighting to close the gap with the stricken cat. He wasn't sure what was happening, but he would not let another member of his team come to harm. With sheer force of will, Fox clawed the fifteen steps it took till he was standing just behind the feline, and not wasting even a fraction of a second, he firmly clamped his grip on her shoulders and tore her away from the artifact, utilizing every ounce of strength in his body to throw her as far away as he could.

Moments after her grip was lost on the relic, it pulsed again, with double the force and Fox now found himself stuck in the same position as the girl he just rescued, forced to prostrate before the ancient device. No matter how hard he fought, he couldn't stop his paws from reaching out to hold the forerunner artifact. And soon his awareness began to fade as a blinding light forced him into unconsciousness.

*****

After what seemed like an eternity the pressure in the air slowly dissipated, until Bill was finally able to stand on his own two legs. Fighting off a migraine even more intensive then an episode from his L2 implants, the canine immediately turned to the artifact where a concerned feline attempted to wake up their comatose Commander.

"I shouldn't have done that, I shouldn't have touched it." Miyu mewled as she unsuccessfully tried to wake up the passed out vulpine.

Yet Bill himself relaxed upon seeing that Fox was still breathing, and was merely asleep.

"It's alright Miyu, he'll be okay. We just have to get him back to the ship." He patted the cat on the shoulder and moved lower to lift his squad leader in an over-the-shoulder carry.

Taking a moment to compose herself, Miyu nodded and after inhaling deeply, motioned towards the artifact. "What do we do about that?"

Bill was about to suggest leaving the damned thing where it was when he choked on the words.

The artifact, it was... alive?

Once dormant but no longer, the object of forerunner design radiated with a nigh blinding light, previously hidden sigils of resplendent gold now burning with a blazing brilliance so bright he could scarcely gaze upon it. As illiterate as Bill was in the language of a long dead species, the radiant iconography was captivating nonetheless, unlike anything he had ever seen before.

Bill had no idea what the hell that was about, but he did know one thing.

"Well... I suppose we'll just have to take that with us."