Chapter 1: Strings
SSV Normandy SR2 (reconstructed)
November 24th 2189
Christmas Eve, almost four years after destruction of the Reapers
"Just drink it Garrus" Urdnot Grunt snapped at the turian.
"You told me it could poison me" Garrus Vakarian snapped back as Grunt cracked his fingers and readjusted his armor plating.
"Well then hurry up and poison yourself already." His krogan squad mate growled "Or I'll drink it myself."
"You'd poison your captain" Garrus asked.
The two soldiers sat at the SSV Normandy's lounge, bickering over a glass of Krogan liquor. There had been many changes to the Normandy as of late. In the absence of the former commanding officer, Garrus had been promoted to captain the Normandy in his stead. Along with the positional changes, modifications had been made to the ship after its reconstruction. The Normandy Lounge was the newest and previously most requested section of the rebuilt frigate. A large circular bar sat in the middle of the large room. Large bottles of Asari, Turian, Krogan, and Human liquors, wines, and spirits lined the shelves and were scattered across the bar. The lounge was designed to provide comfort for all of the species on board. Large, hefty chairs with stiff cushions for krogans like Grunt. Tall chairs with less smooth wood for the tough skin of turians like Garrus, as well as booths with comfortable cushions for the asari and humans aboard.
"Careful, Grunt" Jeff 'Joker' Moreau told his krogan friend. "You don't want him to start beating you…"
"…With the stick up my ass" Garrus rolled his eyes "You realize that joke has lost its value, right?"
"It's better than all the material you got." Joker said as he swallowed down a glass of beer.
"Shouldn't you be flying the ship, Joker?" Grunt asked, agitated that his good time of messing with Garrus was interrupted.
"EDI's got it" he said, "She can operate autopilot and be here at the same time." Joker wrapped his arm around his robotic companion.
"Due to my faster reaction time and accessibility to the Normandy's cannons and shield technology, I can pilot the ship 13 percent more efficiently than Joker." The AI gloated and smirked a synthetic smile.
"Is there anything in your programming that involves modesty?" a new voice asked as a new person entered the conversation.
"Actually, Dr. T'Soni" EDI started "Perhaps you could inform me as to how it works."
Liara grabbed a bottle of an asari spirit and opened it, pouring the green liquid into the glass in front of her. "Can we for once talk about something that doesn't involve a mission or weapons or the ship?"
"What else is there to talk about?" Grunt asked aggravated.
"Yeah" Garrus said "I never thought I'd say it, but Grunt is right." The krogan next to him growled. "This party is a distraction, there's a reason this ship is in space right now and not in an Alliance museum."
"Oh please" Liara said "The SSV Mississippi is the only Alliance frigate that can actually outpace the Normandy. Oh damn it now I'm doing it now."
"Hey hey hey, Liara" Joker stopped and set down his drink. "There is not one ship in the galaxy that can outpace the Normandy on her worst day." He said "and there is no way I'm letting my baby ever be put in a museum."
"I agree with Joker" Garrus said "This ship is still the best of the best."
Liara let out a small chuckle "You're only saying that because the Turians helped design it."
"We helped with plenty of other things on this ship too" Garrus said.
"Oh yeah" Liara asked "Like what?"
"Ugh…" Garrus stammered "Calibrations"
The group erupted in laughter as James Vega, Dr. Karin Chakwas and Samantha Traynor entered the lounge. Joker poured several shots as the rest of the Normandy's crew piled in. "Is this everyone?" he looked around and set the shots down on a tray. "No, we're missing somebody." Joker walked past James as he flexed a muscle for the growing crowd. "Hey EDI" Joker addressed the AI.
"Joker?" she turned away from Liara and Dr. Chakwas.
"Can you run a scan of the ship, we're missing our XO"
"Of course" the process took less than three seconds. "Our Executive Officer is on the CIC"
"Ok, I'll go up there and inform the XO of the Christmas party brewing."
Joker walked up the small staircase slowly. Garrus chose to join him up to the CIC in the elevator, using this as the chance to escape from the Urdnot clansman still trying to poison him. Joker and Garrus entered the elevator.
"She doesn't seem right" Joker said to Garrus as they rode the elevator up to the CIC.
"What?" Garrus asked, obviously slightly buzzed. "Who?"
"The woman we're going to get you idiot." Joker chuckled "You're second in command."
"Right" he said "Right, I remember now" he hiccupped as they exited the elevator and entered the CIC.
Miranda Lawson was standing at the galaxy map platform, sweeping her hand across the holographic surface that displayed the stars and planets of the Milky Way. She was wearing the same outfit she always did, the same tight white suit that hung to her perfectly. "Joker, Garrus" she didn't turn to them as she shuffled through the map.
Joker leaned against a console to take the pressure off his brittle legs. "I still remember when you were calling me 'Mr. Moreau'"
"I was a little more formal back then." She said as she highlighted a planet on the map. "What do you think about Minos Wasteland?"
"Not sure" Garrus said "Could be, probably not."
"Dirada then, that was my second choice for the next mission."
Joker exhaled softly "Look, Miranda, there's a big Christmas party going on in the lounge right now." He scratched at his beard "Maybe you should come downstairs and have a cocktail or something."
"I'm working Joker" she said sternly as she typed on the laptop beside her, propped up on another desk.
Garrus crossed his arms "Miranda, take the night off."
"Do turians even celebrate Christmas?" Miranda asked as she turned, her hair whipped around as she faced the Palaven born soldier.
"It's a purely human tradition," Garrus said "But, nonetheless, an excuse to take some time off."
"It seems like I'm the only one on this ship focused right now." She turned back towards the holographic display "The rest of you can drink your silly little drinks and open your silly little presents, while I look for the REAL Commander of the Normandy."
"Garrus is a great captain, Miranda" Joker said as he stepped off the control panel. "It's almost been four years…"
Miranda turned around again. "I knew it" she said as she pushed a finger into the pilot's chest. "I knew you people would eventually give up!"
"Nobody is giving up Miranda" Garrus said "All Joker was saying is that you need to calm down, take it slow, and relax before you drive yourself crazy."
"You wanna see crazy" Miranda snapped at the turian. The former Cerberus officer looked as if she was about to let loose on Garrus with a biotic attack. Joker grabbed the back of her arm. Miranda's intense glare wavered slightly, and a small teardrop ran down her cheek. She fell onto the floor and sobbed. Garrus knelt down next to her and held a hand on her shoulder. "I know how much you love him. Wherever he is, we know he's alive. He disappeared after the Crucible."The turian said as they sat there.
"I know you don't think so" Garrus said "But I miss him too."
Four years ago
"How long do you think you can hold out Commander?" a small distant voice said.
The Spectre thought before responding "As long as I need to."
"They won't let you rest for very long" the voice said "They're going to break you eventually, like they've broken all the others"
"I won't let them" He said as he ran a hand through his hair, the large metal chains rattled as he did so. "I'm unbreakable." There was a foul smell in the air, it smelled like rotting flesh.
The salarian to his right, chained up in the same manner he was, the same salarian he had been talking to for the past few hours. The alien chuckled "That's what everyone who comes through here says."
"How long has it been?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm sure word has reached about the Crucible by now." Shepard struggled for breath in the damp stone chamber. "How long has it been since Earth, hours, months, years?"
"It's been a week, Commander. Just over seven days." Shepard could barely see the salarian shrug his shoulders. "Nowhere near as long as your last excursion"
"I'm just glad I haven't been out for another two years."
"I've been here for seven months. Or at least I think it's been seven months. It could be seven years for all I know" he rubbed his own bald head. "Hard to tell when you don't see sunlight pass."
"What is it like out there?" Shepard asked hesitantly.
"You're a Spectre Shepard." He said "Nothing you haven't already seen. Then again, I've seen that asshole up there pull out a lot of tricks."
"Tell me more about this general."
"He's a turian, his name's Kryatt" the salarian said "I don't know his first name. He treats fighting like a drug, he gets high on it. He had rich parents and they left everything to him when they died. So he bought a small planet and had enough left to buy this godforsaken place where…"
The salarian was interrupted by the sound of a loud clattering. "SHEPARD" a loud voice screamed. A door screeched open and light streamed into the room. The contents of the room were revealed. Shepard squinted at the figure in the doorway. A huge krogan, clad in armor was standing in the door, casting a large shadow over Shepard. The commander looked into the other corner, where a rotting body sat. It was another human, obviously dead. It was missing a leg, the torn off limb was taken from below the knee. Dried blood stained the stone floor.
"SHEPARD!" The Krogan screamed at him again. "Time to meet the General."
Shepard was picked up and dragged outside, blindfolded and not allowed to walk himself. He couldn't tell what direction left or right was, he was too tired to think and his head pulsed with confusion. The opaque bag over his head kept him from noticing his surroundings.
He could hear the opening of a door, the telltale beep he had heard so many times. The commander was seated down in a chair, he felt around, it was wooden. He could feel a gun pressed against the back of his head. "You try anything, and my shotgun takes your head off."
"Yeah yeah" he said, more confidently than he should have. The Krogan grunted loudly and a sharp pain rang out through Shepard's head. The chair tipped over and the commander fell. The Krogan had hit him over the head with the shotgun barrel. He was put back in the chair and finally, the bag came off.
Shepard was treated with a sight of a turian. The only turian this could be, the General. "Commander Shepard" he said, "Systems Alliance veteran, Council Spectre. You are quite the famous soldier."
"Where am I?" Shepard asked
"My arena" the turian said as he swirled a glass of wine in his hand. "I own the planet. It's a small one, to be sure, but still a planet."
"What do you want from me?"
"You are a great soldier to be sure" the General said "But are you a warrior?"
"Why am I here?"
"I'm going to capitalize on you. You may have noticed the salarian in the cell with you. He was a decorated soldier from the STG" he took a sip from his glass of wine. "Now, he is nothing more than a puppet. You're a decorated soldier. I haven't decided what I'm going to do to you specifically."
"An arena?" Shepard asked "Your making me fight in an arena. When my crew finds me, you are going to a cell on the Citadel for war crimes, then executed."
"I was told you were very overconfident"
"By whom?" Shepard asked.
"Doesn't matter now" the General said "You're my puppet, and I hold all the strings."