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Echoes of Death	By : straha86 Category: +S through Z > Starcraft Views: 3260 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I profit from the Starcraft or Borderlands universe.

Chapter List
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Dash'r stood silently in the control room of the small ship that had been granted to him by the remnants of the Protoss military. The unique controls provided by a direct mental link up made flying the ship almost effortless for maneuvers as simple as landing the ship in the cargo bay of a larger ship. The Wings of Liberty was still in the process of being refitted with a new stealth system, reverse engineered, according to Michael, from his own peoples technology. He was amazed that humans were able to reproduce the technology on any meaningful level, as it would have taken thousands of years more technological and evolutionary development for them to truly match the Protoss if left alone to develop naturally. There ability to adapt was miraculous. Even on a biological level, they had artificially recreated psionic potential hundreds of years ago. The only race he knew that had ever succeeded in recreating that ability in a lab was the Xel'Naga, when they took the small insects on a desolate planet and warped them into what became the zerg. Even now,the zerg with their massive ability to organically evolve had to absorb another race to gain access to psionics.
The psionic beginnings of humans was still almost entirely dormant in humans that had never undergone genetic reconstruction, only resulting in receptivity to mental connections, as his lover Michael had demonstrated. The man would never develop any further abilities, yet his ability to manipulate mental connections that others formed was a skill he had not known any but masters of mental control to achieve, and yet he had a seemingly natural talent for it.
He remembered the first time he encountered the man, in the skies over Fairfield. He had not, in reality, been responding to the distress signal, but had been chasing down a sensor ghost. The Xel'Naga pathways, he would later learn. The presence of a zerg infested ship had startled him, and he was indeed going to simply destroy the small shuttle that Michael had been on when the Bunker Hill's explosion had crippled both their ships.
He was extremely lucky, both because he would be dead multiple times over, as well as because the humans frank curiosity and raw ability had enthralled him. So similar to his old love, that if he took stock in reincarnation, he would have thought Michael to be her, in human form brought back to him by a higher power.
His only reservation about Michael was their respective ages. Dash'r would live for hundreds of more years, Michael, at the most optimistic estimate, would be dead for hundreds of years when he finally passed on. He would once again be alone in the universe, with only the memories of past loves to warm him.
He shook himself from his morbid thoughts, and instead of focusing on the distant future, he focused on the now. The small ship was nearing the Wings of Liberty, and the computers had already located the docking bay he was to land in. He had received a small amount of information about the ship, a packet of information to help orient new crew members even if he was not formally a part of the crew. Named in honor of a human reporter, it was new, and by human terms, powerful. It differed from the traditional battle cruiser roll used by humans in the past, in that instead of using the more powerful power plants, again developed by studying the Protoss, for larger weapons, they had increased the interior docking capabilities. It had the same rough armament, but carried more secondary craft.
The ship touched down, the sensors reporting the bay around it was empty, and he wondered if they had simply not filled the cavernous hold yet, or if it had been cleared specifically for their use. He followed the mental connection he had with Michael, highlighting the humans presence like a beacon, he would always be aware of him until the day they died, and he felt amused at the frustration that he was feeling. He had left Michael attempting to gain more information from the robot, a Claptrap as it called itself, and from the feelings pouring off of his lover, he doubted that he was succeeding.
He stood in the doorway leading to their small supply room. He was still wrapped in shadows, and as distracted as Michael was, he doubted that he had been noticed. The human was cursing vibrantly, and the robot was cowering in a corner of the room. Several stacks of supplies, spare parts or food, had been toppled. He admired the form of the human. His was a telepathic race, and the first elements of attraction were mental. The very basics of another mind were plain for all to read, and was the closest analogue to physical attraction his people felt for some time when beginning to court. Most humans had bland, mundane mental auras, as they had no developed psionic abilities, or had been driven to near insanity by the training turning them into ghosts, and would never have been found suitable by his race. Michael, with the first stirrings of telepathy developing naturally in his kind, was potentially unique among his people.
Michael stilled, Dash'r could see and feel him attempting to calm himself. The man became aware of his close proximity, and turned to face him with a degree of accuracy that defined his abilities.
"Dash'r, can I please just shoot the thing and hack it's memory cores?"
Amusement flooded him, and he allowed himself to become visible again as he walked towards his lover. In the corner of the room, the machine began whimpering and crying out to it's maker upon hearing the threat.
"That will no longer be necessary, we have arrived on the ship, and can simply talk to the AI itself now."
A grin blossomed on Michael's face, "Great, does that mean I can just shoot it and forget it's memory core?"
When Dash'r laughed and embraced the human, allowing the echoes of each others minds resonate, the robot took advantage of Michael's distraction and sped out of the room, lightly grazing several walls in it's mad dash to freedom.
Michael scowled, but did not chase after it. He simply allowed himself to relax into the mental embrace.
"Come, we have docked with Raynor's ship," Dash's said, "And we must gain more information about the AI, and what it's nature is."
Michael nodded. "You find the AI, you said it had psionic access, even if it's a human built machine," he waited for Dash'r to agree, before continuing, "I'll talk to Lilith, see what she knows. Pandora had some crazy stuff, and she was at the center of it."
They parted, after exiting their ship, each heading off to separate parts of the ship, seeking answers about the mysterious AI that had brought the refugees here. Michael had to ask several of the technicians that were scurrying about the ship, installing the various bits of the new stealth systems, or conducting maintenance. He was eventually directed to one of the observation decks, ordinarily such weaknesses in the hull were avoided on military craft, but advances in shield technology that was just being developed by humans had allowed the inclusion of several scattered on the fringes of the ship, away from the more sensitive systems. She was resting, staring off into space. The low orbit of the ship provided a panoramic that was breath taking.
He took note of a series of scars on the base of Lilith’s neck. They looked similar to some that he had seen on the locals, either from re-socialization procedures, or the dampeners used on ghosts. Her past had been a mystery on Pandora, showing up with no memories, only her vast combat skills.
He coughed, trying to draw her attention without startling her too much. She turned, but said nothing.
"You know," he said, trying to get the conversation started, as they still weren't on the best of terms, "The locals have a procedure that they do on telepaths and criminals, both of which seem to describe you, that leaves scars like the ones you have. You should see if the ships doc can confirm it."
She looked startled, her past had been a mystery to her for years now, and yet, the abilities she possessed that set her apart on Pandora were almost common out here. "That would explain a lot, thanks, Mike."
Memories of Pandora drifted through his mind, and he wondered how to broach the subject to her. She had not liked the people who had lived on the planet, but if he remembered, she had traveled with a small group, none of which he had seen on board or heard anything about. He settled on blunt, figuring that she would see right through his attempts at subtlety.
"What can you tell me about the AI, I need to know everything."
She looked at him questioningly, she had not told anyone yet about it's history, and everyone had seemed more concerned with what it said then where it came from
"It was actually talking to me when you were around, giving me hints, it guided all of us, pretending to be an angel. There's actually a bit of local folklore on it, going back to the first survey. Says to me that she's part of something old, maybe a left over from the aliens that lived there, cuz there's a ton of ruins, some of them still had working tech."
It took some time to absorb the information. He had not been on Pandora long enough before he took the assignment to the badlands. There had been rumors, superstitions and the like surrounding areas of the world. All them shared key traits and he would have likely run down a couple of them if he had stayed.
"I don't really know much else about her, except that she did help us out, she helped us lock the thing back up, lot of good that did us. All she asked was that on our way out, we pick up a satellite. It stored a good chunk of her mind, even if it's not her original form."
"She's in a human satellite?"
"She was everywhere, in every computer. I think that's just the one that had enough storage space to fit her in."
It made sense, in a way. He knew the Protoss had some pretty impressive artificial intelligences, and the images he had seen of Pandora, some of the ruins that Lilith had recorded, were clearly Xel'Naga, and it would be understandable if they, the gods of both the Protoss and the zerg, had been able to do the same. It wasn't a big stretch to imagine it commandeering the comparatively simple human systems for it's own use, and if it had been part of the prison she had described, the computer could simply be using it's knowledge to fulfill it's function.
"Thanks, Lilith," he said, his mind still churning through the knew information. "You should visit the med-bay, if your scars are what I think, then it might be reversible."
"Thanks, Michael, and you should trust her. We all did, and she saved who she could."
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Echoes of Death