Survivors

A Mass Effect Fanfiction

"Commander."

The voice of the officer of the watch pulled Commander Mornis out of his perusal of the daily reports. Spirits, how he hated paperwork, but it seemed to be his life now. What was the saying? 'The more things changed, the more they stayed the same'? Yes, that was it. He smiled slightly. Humans. He looked up at his XO and nodded. The Command and Control Center for the small frigate was laid out in typical fashion. The commander's post oversaw all the various aspects of the CiC. It made it...interesting sometimes trying to get to the helm, but hey, it was traditional and it worked. Most of the time. He did not banish his smile as he looked to his XO but he did moderate it.

"Yes?" He inquired calmly.

"We have something, sir." The XO, a solemn female named Krisal did not smile. Then again, she rarely did these days. He understood. Oh, he understood. FAR too many of his crew had lost family during the war. Ten years simply wasn't enough time to put it behind them. Even with everything that had happened, even with what Shepard had done, it just wasn't going to go away quickly. "Tracking reports picked it up and..." She did not -barely- snarl. "Our...colleague...scanned it and reported life signs."

"XO, I don't like it any more than you do." The commander of the frigate Wings of Xenabia said quietly. "But we do need the help." She nodded slowly.

"I know, sir." She said softly as he stepped down from the command dais and came to her side to look over what she had. "It just..." She shook her head.

"It goes against the grain." Commander Mornis said with a nod. "I know. The last time I saw one of them, I was stationed on the Duty of Primarch Vidos." He sighed. "He was a good ship, but the firestorm at Sol was way too much for any hope. One solid blast from a capital class tore us to pieces. At least most of the crew got off. Then to be picked up by Geth of all things. That was a shock." He said with a sigh.

"Yeah." Krisal nodded. "I was on the Raptor's Claw. We took a lot of damage, but the ship survived until Hackett ordered us to break off. I..." She shook her head. "I will do my duty, sir."

"That is all I can ask, XO." The commander said mildly. "What did we get?"

"Looks like debris from a ship, or... No." Krisal said slowly. "Arcturus Station was near here."

The ship and her 'escort' had been slowly sweeping through the Arcturus system on their grim task. A sad task, but one that any military worth anything put a LOT of effort into. Recovery of personnel, living or otherwise. But after so long, the Search and Rescue frigate was more used as a Search and Recovery ship. They were used to it. They didn't like it, but they understood it. Every Turian aboard had volunteered for the job.

"Yeah." Commander Mornis said with a scowl. "They never had a chance."

That was putting it very mildly. Arcturus Station had been the Human Alliance's main base of operations in the quadrant. It had housed their government and been the focal point of the military. That had made it a prime target when the Reapers had arrived. While most of the Reaper forces in the area had shot through the system on the way to savage Earth, some had stayed behind to engage the fleets. The human admiral in charge had made a sound move, however heartbreaking. He had sacrificed one fleet so that two others could escape. Hard facts ruled in wartime. But that meant there was a lot of debris in the area. And unrecovered bodies. The humans were still stretched too thin, so the Turian Hierarchy had extended assistance. After all the humans, particularly Shepard, had done, it was the least they could do. They crew understood. But then Obligatha had shown up.

"What does it say?" Commander Mornis asked in a clam voice that he hoped totally hid his anger at their 'escort'.

"It says the readings are faint and...strange." Krisal said with a puzzled look at the sensors. "I doubt we would have picked this up at all. It's tiny, moving and..." She paused in shock. "It's a lifepod! It's intact!"

"It's been ten years. XO." The commander said to quell the excitement that quickly pervaded the CiC. "But you say life signs?" He inquired. The XO nodded and he thought for a moment before coming to a decision. "Helm!" He called. "Plot to intercept. Medical, stand by. Have the docs ready for anything." A chorus of acknowledgments followed his commands as the Pride of Xenobia moved onto a new course. Then everything stopped as the com lit up. Only one entity used that channel. He sighed and hit the acknowledge key himself. "Yes?" he asked quietly.

"There is something very odd about that life pod, commander Mornis." The soft voice that came from the com was all wrong. One did not expect a Reaper -a capital class Reaper at that- to have a female voice. Or to sound worried. "It feels...wrong. We will maintain observation, but be very wary."

"Understood Obligatha." Commander Mornis said quietly.

"It has no feel of Indoctrination." Obligatha sounded confused. "Nor anything else we have encountered. But it does feel... familiar."

"Familiar how?" Commander Mornis asked.

"We do not know." Obligatha said softly. "We are communicating with the others, asking. None of the others we have queried as of yet have any idea. Just be careful, Commander."

"We will." Commander Mornis said with a nod and the com channel went dark again. He shook his head. "Now THAT is one for the record books." He said with a tight grin. "A worried Reaper telling us to be careful?" A strained laugh swept the bridge and the tension went down a little.

"I don't know, sir..." Krisal said with a grimace. "Anything that can worry one of them..."

"Point taken, XO." Commander Mornis said quietly. "Battle Ready." The XO nodded and hit the controls that started alert sirens sounding through the ship. What would have been called 'General Quarters' on a human ship had the small frigate's crew racing for their battle stations. Once he was sure they were all in place -and he knew the senior NCO would have anyone's fringes for dessert if they were not- he hit the intercom. "Crew of the Pride of Xenobia. We have detected life signs from a pod. But our escort is worried. Anything that can worry a Reaper is worrying in and of itself. We are going to go get that pod. But be ready. For anything. We will do our duty. May the Spirits watch over us all."