#altverse || the sky is falling down ( dragon age | shepard )

[anderwhohn]

@lovepurposed (Francis) || not-so-random starter.

The Council quarantine beacons had been ancient, at least by human standards, and given the cryptic message they broadcast, it's a wonder there wasn't more traffic through this sector of space, particularly with the seeming lack of Council-funded patrols by the human Alliance or the turian Hierarchy.

So naturally, the criminal she had been ordered to drag in - preferably alive - had fled into the sector and made an approach run on the quarantined garden world. With little other choice, she put Garrus in charge of the Normandy while she went down to the shuttle bay to gear up and continue pursuit of the asshole they'd been chasing across half the galaxy.

None of the uncharted worlds she's been to in the past could have ever prepared her for what she found as she piloted the shuttle through the atmosphere, her hands stilling on the holographic controls as she triple-checks the readings and pulls up a visual from the exterior cameras.

She had been joking about 'here there be dragons', and yet... she can't think of anything else to call the massive creature flying through the air, uncomfortably close to her own flight path's trajectory. Sometimes, she really has to wonder if the universe just waits for her to get cocky before biting her in the ass, desperately keying in a new course to avoid the creature as it proved not only to be a beast of legend unlike anything she'd ever seen before, but also capable of spitting out electricity, which didn't take long at all to short out the Kodiak's systems.

"Shit!" she shouts, her hands flying to the straps for the flight harness, securing herself to the seat before looking helplessly at the darkened, unresponsive console as gravity takes hold of the shuttle, sending it into a nauseating spin towards the surface below. Unable to even open a comm to warn the Normandy of her imminent crash, she does the only thing she can under the circumstances and braces for impact as the shuttle rushes towards the ground, the heat from the atmospheric entry making it nearly unbearable as she closes her eyes and waits...

If ever there was a moment to be grateful for her hardsuit, it's when she's tossed around even in the safety harness upon impact, groaning when the shuttle finally skids to a stop. At least it didn't tear itself in half, so there is at least some hope that she can at least repair it enough to restore the comms system. For now, though, she has to figure out where the hell she is, and if her target's ship had met a similar fate.

Stumbling out of the shuttle, she scans the readings displayed on her helmet's HUD - a nitrogen-oxygen based atmosphere, if a little thicker than she's used to, suitable for humans and most other galactic species. So at least she doesn't have to worry about her air running out, which is a relief, considering the state of the shuttle. It's going to take days, at the very least...

Her thoughts are interrupted, however, when an inhuman shriek is heard from behind her, and she barely has time to comprehend what's happening before she finds herself under attack by beings she's never seen before - horror clenching her gut as she realises they look like husks, but seemingly wholly organic, lacking any discernible synthetic components.

As the small party of the creatures move closer to her, trying to corral her against the shuttle, she snarls as she activates her omniblade, the electrified holographic blade cutting effortlessly through the one making a grab for her as her other hand is enveloped in an aura of dark energy that she directs towards the cluster still approaching, ripping them to shreds where they stand.

"What the fuck?!" Staggering back, she pauses only long enough to scramble up on top of the shuttle for a better vantage point, looking for a sign of any more of those creatures, even as she sets her omnitool to scan them to try to figure out just what the hell they were.

It's only then, as she's standing on the remains of her shuttle, that she notices a more... normal, if oddly dressed, group standing nearby, openly gawking at her. Frowning, she closes off her omnitool as she allows her biotics to fade once more before pulling off her helmet, emerald green eyes studying the group warily.

"Hello? My name is Commander Isabela Shepard, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance," she starts in Galactic Standard, but noting the confused look she receives, she sighs, trying again by going through the human languages that she speaks, only to be met with much of the same, though there seems to be less confusion when she mutters to herself in exasperation about the nightmare of First Contact in her own native Creole.

"My translator's not fried, at least," she sighs, keeping an eye on the group even as she talks to herself, hoping her tech will be able to make sense of the words that they're saying to her and each other soon. Her gaze flicks briefly toward the remains of the creatures that she first encountered when one of them gestures toward them then at her in what appears to be an animated argument, frowning as she tries to gain some sense of what's actually going on.

"This would all be a lot easier if you could understand me," she notes wryly, easing herself down to sit on the roof of the shuttle while watching them still, concerned that if she were to do much more than that, they might just try to make use of what appears to be swords and other such outdated weaponry. If they haven't attacked her yet, she's hoping she can avoid it all together. "Councillor Sparatus is going to just love this. First Contact with what appears to be a multispecies non-spacefaring cooperative culture, and I'm the one right in the middle of it..."

#lovepurposed #lovepurposed ( francis devereaux ) #dreams of elsewhere ( ic ) #engineering death ( isabela shepard ) #altverse || the sky is falling down ( dragon age | shepard ) #francis || lovepurposed ( shepard ) #against insurmountable odds ( closed starter ) #//i apologise in advance for the communication issues #//different planet different languages xD #//you can resolve it quickly though #//pretty sure the vi would figure it out fairly quick #//given she has top-of-the-line equipment #//handwavy it to where the translations kick in partway through her speaking even #//her omnitool would start broadcasting the translation through its speaker #//so bound to cause confusion/fear/etc for that (magic? demons?) #//but she'll also pick up trade quickly enough herself #//once she hears enough of it to learn it