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I don't own mass effect or any of its characters although Lynn Weston is my own character as well as several side characters. I hope you enjoy
"So much for a shakedown run." Monica turned nervously to her squad-mates, Lynn could tell she was nervous. The corporal read her team as she would any card player they all had tells and Monica's was showing.
Carlton Tucks stopped his pacing momentarily "Shakedown run my ass, something's going on here and we're being kept out of the loop." Lynn mentally agreed with him, there were too many little inconsistencies that added up into this neat little coincidence. "What's going on anyway, why aren't we groundside already?"
"Cool it soldier, we follow orders. Anderson says suit up and wait, we suit up and wait." She didn't like the idea of being kept in the dark anymore than Tucks did, but that didn't mean she had to show it.
"What if the captain told you to kiss a Krogan?" Tucks challenged half-serious.
"Then I ask him which cheek. So sit your ass down before I take your ass down."Lynn bit her lip; she was just as strung out as her team. There were so many little details about the situation she didn't like, most of them involved certain individuals on board. There were too many people who were too important to be involved with a simple test run. One she could believe, two might even make sense, but the number of noteworthy individuals aboard was too suspicious. This was definitely not a standard mission. Then there was also that spectre, the turian Nihlus. Not to mention the fact that one of the most peaceful and unassuming human colonies was now under attack by an unknown enemy. The brass had to have some ulterior motive, she'd bet credits on it.
Tucks sat on one of the cargo containers but it was clear the man couldn't keep still. "If you need to know what's going on that badly maybe you should've taken a job with communications." Carlton shot Monica a glare; she answered it with a knowing smile. "Hey isn't Sophie up in the CIC? If you worked there you wouldn't need an excuse to be up there giving her puppy eyes."
The man turned beet red and was about to reply when Lynn cut him off. "Negulesco, Tucks, Shut it. This isn't high school." The quarrelling marines both looked down guiltily, as their corporal grumbled to herself, "I'd hate to have to live through that hell twice"
The silence stretched out, and the tension hung in the air like a fog. Tucks kept bouncing his leg, fidgeting looking towards the lift expectantly. Negulesco kept checking and rechecking her thermal clips, making sure they were all in place, for the twentieth time. Lynn stayed dead quiet, absently analyzing her comrades. It wasn't like she intentionally meant to inspect them but old habits die hard, and despite getting to know these people over the past few weeks, she now observed them and quietly scrutinized them.
Both marines were relatively green, at least by the Normandy's current crew standards, but they were by no means FNGs*. Both had been part of taking down a rather large red sand smuggling operation. Their efforts got them both commendation, and they seemed to know each other pretty well; a dynamic Lynn hoped would help out in a firefight.
When her com-link buzzed Lynn nearly hit the roof. "Corporal Weston, do you copy?"
"I read you captain what's the order?" three sets of eyes focused on her omni-tool as if it had just caught fire.
"We're touching down; I want your team to escort the ground team to the Normandy. Be alert there may still be hostiles."
"aye aye sir."
Getting up and moving seemed to give the squad an outlet for the stress they had built up while waiting in the cargo hold. That relief was short lived; they were barely off the Normandy when Lynn called a halt. There was something moving towards them and it didn't look good.
"Normandy this Ground-2 we need a medical team down here now." The commander was slung between two marines one who definitely wasn't part of the Normandy crew. The newcomer was a woman clad in the pink and white Phoenix armour. Lynn cringed there were other ways to be girly and not stand out, like a krogan at a tea party. "Tucks keep an eye for hostiles, Negulesco you're with me."
The three looked liked they'd seen better days, it was clear that the commander was unconscious the way his feet dragged between the other two marines. Lynn approached them then without a word slipped herself between the lieutenant and the commander taking the weight of the unconscious man onto her shoulders, Private Negulesco did the same relieving the pink clad marine "We'll take it from here sir the med team is on their way, though I have a feeling the captain will want a report."
Alenko sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I'm sure he will corporal, I'm sure he will"
The med team was ready and waiting, as the small band of soldiers approached the ship. Lynn and Monica handed the commander off to Dr. Chakwas and her med team. As they entered the ship Monica quietly voiced the question neither Lynn, nor Tucks dared ask. "Lieutenant Alenko sir, where is Corporal Jenkins?" The lieutenant turned to look at the private and simply shook his head. Lynn felt her muscles tense and her insides go numb.
Corporal Weston stared icily at the dead landscape, the pinnacle of human audacity and enterprise was destroyed. Eden prime was no longer the achievement it had once been. Paradise had crumbled under the ruthless mechanical foot of the geth.
She still couldn't wrap her head around it all. Jenkins hadn't been the only casualty, the turian spectre Nihlus was also killed in action, and according to all accounts by another spectre. Lynn had always attributed Spectres to fairy tales akin to the old 007 spy classics she used to read; a small piece of fact exaggerated and expanded on by creative writers. She didn't like the idea that the vids may have been more accurate than she thought.
Anderson had sent her and her team to retrieve the bodies, and possibly detain the witness Powell. It was a grim business, but she wasn't going to refuse the captain's orders. Besides Jenkins deserved better; she'd been through basic with the man and they served together for several years, they had been good friends. His infallible enthusiasm had gotten them into trouble once or twice but his unyielding optimism had seen them through it. His absence would leave a gaping hole in her life, being one of the few happy constants she'd had since joining the military. She wasn't the only one who had been hit hard by the news of his death. Lynn had almost recommended that Monica remain shipside for the detail, but when she saw the hardened resolve in the Negulesco's eyes she reconsidered.
They had come across the turian at the spaceport, exactly as Williams and Alenko had said. Even dead he looked intimidating, the blue alien blood enhancing his unnerving visage. As they lifted him on to the gurney Lynn suspected that most of his weight could be attributed to the substantial number of weapons on his person... or turian or whatever the term was. Whoever had killed this guy was good, you don't wear that many weapons if you don't know how to use them, and most sane beings wouldn't mess with someone adept enough to do so.
Weston sent tucks back to the Normandy with the body, hoping that he might run into their witness on his way. She motioned to Negulesco and they both continued through the devastated Eden. It would take some time for the colony to heal and rebuild, but there would always be a scar nothing could ever change that. The atrocities the geth had committed reshaped the landscape, and the abominations they created ensured that it could never go back to the way it had been.
Eventually the pair neared the commander's drop site and the fallen corporal came into view. Weston waited for Monica letting her teammate approach the body first. Lynn could tell as they got closer how hard the woman was trying to keep herself together. Despite her deteriorating self control she continued her pilgrimage towards the corpse. It wasn't until she was standing over the late Richard. L Jenkins that Monica finally broke down and fell to her knees sobbing.
Lynn hadn't been aware of the full extent of Richard and Monica's relationship, and she frankly preferred it that way. The less she knew the better, but she had known more than most which was probably why she offered her hand and drew Monica off the ground and into a hug. Monica whimpered burying her face into the corporal's shoulder, Lynn stood there and tried to give her what little comfort she could.
So much for a shakedown run
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*FNG stands for "Freaken new guy"