Mass Effect: Ascension Chapter 01 (Patreon)

Kasumi knew for a fact she was the best thief in the galaxy. Shepard would not have recruited her if that wasn’t the case. She had sneaked her way through the most heavily guarded vaults in the galaxy, bypassed the most sophisticated security systems, and taken from some of the most egotistical criminals and not-so-innocent rich folks in all of Citadel space.

But she had to admit delving into an ancient alien ruin was a new one for her.

As she slid down through the slope of a long-collapsed wall and landed with a small skip to her step, of course, she had to make a quip. “I just need a whip and two pistols.”

“I did suggest you arm yourself better.” The voice of her ‘employer’ rang in her communicator. “Though I’m not sure melee weaponry has included whips among its arsenal these days.”

Kasumi rolled her eyes as she kept walking, taking a good look at the architecture of this place. The ceiling had to be around twenty to thirty feet tall, covered in alien hieroglyphs. “It’s a joke, Li”

“Ah, another reference that goes over my head,” Liara said in realization. “Has anyone told you you are too fond of ancient Earth media?”

“The latest Tomb Raider came out last year!”

“And my compliments to the franchise for being over a hundred and fifty years old, clearly a testament to its popularity.” The asari said in a tone that bordered dangerously close to sarcasm. “But we have a mission. How’s your progress?”

“Lot of dust, lot of old alien stuff.” She muttered as she tried to make out the figure on an old, worn-out wall. Time had not been kind to this place. “They were no prothean, that’s for sure”

“Non-protean alien findings are no less important.” The archeologist insisted. “Especially if we want to find more assets to use against the Reapers.”

The grim reminder of the ancient death machines made Kasumi frown. The knowledge that they were on a timetable to fight against those things made her skin crawl with an existential crisis. Shepard’s actions at the Bahak System had bought them time… but they didn’t know how long.

Now their best hope for saving the galaxy was under lockdown in the Alliance, instead of actually letting her do her job of saving the galaxy.

Kasumi wished she could walk away from it all. She didn’t want to relieve the nightmares of the Collector base… but she owed it to Shepard to do her part.

Hence, her work with Liara. The Shadow Broker was leaving no stone unturned. Not only was she using her vast influence as the Shadow Broker to subtly force people to start collaborating and move along with new projects (having blackmail on the entire galaxy bought you a lot in life), she was also looking for any leads on ancient technology that could give them an edge against the Reapers. Particularly if it wasn’t based on the Reaper’s design for mass effect and mass relay tech.

Her contacts and deep space probes had led her to this planet, Telavor 4. A planet that technically was fitting for most sapient lifeforms in the galaxy, suitable for colonization. If not for the fact that the planet was covered in dense jungles and filled with all manner of dangerous predators. The cost of taming the planet simply did not make colonization efforts worth it.

Whatever species lived here once, they had to have been tough.

Regardless, Liara’s assets had found an ancient alien ruin of unknown origin, with traces of an active energy source picked up by her sensors. With Kasumi on hand, she sent the master thief to explore and retrieve whatever lay waiting inside the ruins.

As she stepped over the collapsed pillars in between statues of aliens who looked mostly humanoid, if not for a few head ridges and limb structure a touch too long for the standard human, asari, and batarian type, Kasumi walked toward the deepest parts of the great hall, where she stopped upon spotting something standing between the pillars and statues. “Wow”

In the middle of a circular mosaic floor, cornered by two imposing statues of alien warriors holding long spears, was an obelisk. At least two meters tall, covered in the same hieroglyphs as the rest of the ruins. Kasumi could still make out the detail of the mosaic underneath, that of the alien shrouded in what looked to be blue flames.

She activated the holographic display inside her hood to take readings of the artifact and found faint eezo signatures surging through it. “Hey Li, think I found what you were looking for.”

“Let me take a look,” Liara said, and Kasumi opened her channel so asari could take a look through her own optics. “Interesting. There is concentrated eezo there, and some sort of background radiation energy I can’t quite make out.”

“Is it dangerous?” Kasumi asked as she took a tentative step forward. Could it be like a sort of prothean beacon? Something that stores vast amounts of information?

“It appears to be mostly inert. I’ll need to study it closer.” Liara replied.

“So was it worth the trip?”

“Without a cipher for the language, it’ll take some time to figure out its function. If it has any.” Kasumi doubted a monument would emanate eezo and radiation just because. “I’ll send a few droids to secure and transport it. Thank you, Kasumi. Your work here is done.”

The black-hooded thief merely stepped closer, brows furrowing under the darkness of her hood as she looked closer at the obelisk. Her instincts, born from a long career, told her there was more than met the eye. This thing… there was something about it that just piqued her interest…

She reached out with a gloved hand and softly touched its surface.

“Wait”

Just what was this thing…?

“I’m picking up an energy spike coming from it. Kasumi, what’s happening?”

“I…” Something was wrong. She needed to let go, but found it difficult to pull back her arm. “I don’t know.” She let out a ragged breath.

“The energy levels keep rising! Kasumi, you need to get out of there!”

The hieroglyphs light up in sequence from top to bottom, the corners of the totem filled with blue light all the way to the tip. The thing seemed to emanate a sort of frequency that assaulted Kasumi’s ears and made her body tremble. Tendrils of energy erupted from the obelisk, coursing over its form in repeated arcs.

Kasumi gasped as the energy surged through, emanating from the object with a pulse that slipped through her ballistic leather and seeped into her skin.

Energy. Power. Her body felt like it was being struck by a thunderbolt.

“Kasumi!”

At the peak of its power, Kasumi felt the darkness consume her.

End of the preview