The Renegades
Part 1: Respite
Flight
"EDI, how are the repairs coming along on the starboard thrusters?" Joker questioned, as he frantically read over the damage reports lighting up the pilot interface in front of him. His fingers danced across the keyboard as he stabilized life support, rerouted damaged or destroyed electrical routes, and calibrated the fluctuating stealth systems. Working desperately to keep the ship from being grounded forever, thoughts of disbelief began to plague the pilot's mind.
How in the hell is this ship still in one piece.
Statistically, the Normandy SR-2 shouldn't even be functioning, even the more advanced ships in galaxy would be nothing more than a smoking wreck right now.
Guess that's why you're the MOST advanced warship in the galaxy, aren't you girl.
Somehow this amazing ship had made it through an uncharted Omega Four Relay. A journey full of asteroid fields, and defense drones automated with Reaper technology; it wasn't anything short of dumb luck that brought him to this point.
Go me.
So there he was, alone, and desperately trying to save a sinking ship. Well, with the help of EDI, speaking of which.
"EDI? You there?" Joker asked, a little worried that maybe the AI Core got damaged as well.
"I am here, Jeff, but I cannot afford to put processing power into communication with you. At the moment I'm tasked to capacity by fixing the ship and assisting the ground team in their mission."
"Well thanks for letting me know EDI, I guess I'll just sit here...alone...with nobody to talk to as hundreds of Prothean, zombie, beetle things try to find me, so they can 'collect' me…or whatever it is Collectors do to people."
There was no reply from the ship's resident AI, and Joker sighed as he moved from one repair to the next. He was now truly feeling the effects of solitude, effects that grew larger as the minutes began to pass, minutes that felt like hours.
"…EDI, please just talk to me. All you gotta do is say my name, or a word…anything," he pleads, taking a look over at the post where EDI's avatar used to be.
"Not even a joke?"
There was still no response. Looking back upon his current task, Joker found his slight desperation turning into anger. With every repair Joker made to the ship, another brand new one just took it's place. As another damage report to the thermal exhaust ports flashed across his screen, Joker could only take off his cap and throw it in frustration. Realizing that he was losing it, Joker relaxed his shoulders and leaned back in his chair. In doing so, he let out a breathe of air he didn't know he was holding.
Come on Jeff, every second you waste means another second you can't leave this goddamn base.
He took in a deep breathe of air as he eyed the glowing screen in front of him.
How Shepard deals with this stress day in and day out, I'll never know.
He exhaled and got back to work, but only to be interrupted by a new glowing message on his screen.
You have one new message…from Edi?
His brow rose at the odd occurrence and he opened the message.
Jeff, be ready, Shepard found the rest of the crew that was kidnapped by the Collectors, he's sending them over with Ms. Goto.
"Fuck yes!" Joker exclaimed as he pumped his fists into the air. He read the message over once again just to make sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him, and he instantly felt a huge wave of relief flow over him.
"Alright, Jeff, everyone's counting on you to get the baby patched up so we can get home, time to get back to work," he said aloud to himself as his fingers proceeded to fly across the screen in front of him.
Almost an hour had passed before Joker had received any word from anyone. He was almost grateful for it too. If he could talk to someone right now, he probably wouldn't have been able to help EDI repair nearly 60% of the ship. Well, the 60% of the ship that could actually be repaired, there was still nothing the two could do about the massive holes in the hull left by the Oculi. However, the amount of time that passed left Joker worried. He still had no idea what was happening out there.
"If you guys are all dead I swear to god, I'll kill every Collector on this damn station," Joker said to himself. The sound of a voice, even if it was his own, calmed him down a bit.
Then there was a slight thump, and his heart nearly stopped. His fingers froze in place and his breathing quickened. He looked on screen and brought up the report on the external sensors, he grimaced when he realized they were still not functioning.
"EDI, a little help here?"
His plead was met with no response.
With a gulp, he slowly turned in his chair until he faced the decontamination chamber. He got out of his chair and grabbed a leftover Avenger Assault rifle the ground team had left for him to use. "Just in case," were the exact words Shepard said.
He got out of his chair, and slowly entered the decontamination chamber. He braced his rifle, and shuffled his way over to door exiting to the Collector Base. Now he could hear multiple thumps, and they were only getting louder.
"It's Kasumi and the rest of the crew, just open the door," he whispered to himself.
"And what if it's Husks? Or worse, Scions?" he asked himself. The thumping only got louder, causing the pilot to pause and compose himself.
"Here goes nothing."
Taking a deep breath, he walked forward and opened the door, revealing the one thing he didn't want to see right now.
Five husks stood outside the door. They were all lined up; two even had their backs to the ship. The one's who were facing the ship stood in place, simply watching the door slide away until it was fully open. Once they had lost their interest in the sliding mechanism, three pairs of eyes shifted their blank gaze to the man in front of them. The husks hollow faces and glowing eyes staring directly into Joker's, the pilot found himself frozen to the spot and fumbling with the rifle in his hands. The husks charged.
Joker screamed, and pushed down on the trigger.
He didn't aim, rather, he pointed the gun in a general direction. Fortunately, as if it were a miracle, the two closest husks dropped to the ground, their corpses littered with holes. This didn't stop Joker though, his finger refusing to let go of the trigger. The third husk kept charging, even as a couple bullets managed to tear a hole the size of a coconut in its chest. It wasn't until its dead hands were merely inches from Joker's neck, when it finally dropped to the ground. Joker let off the trigger as he stumbled back to dodge the husk's synthetic blood and guts.
His breathing was heavy, and he looked up just in time to see the other two husks slowly turn around. Their indoctrinated minds slowly began to comprehend what was going on.
Joker let out a roar and unleashed with his Avenger once more, taking the remaining husks down in seconds.
Holy shit that was close.
Joker looked down at the Avenger in his hands.
Guess it really becomes a suicide mission when you need me to shoot a gun.
With a chuckle, he took one more look at the dead husks before shifting his gaze to the dark entrance of the Collector base. Surprisingly, his eyes caught a flicker of movement in the darkness, causing him to bring his Avenger to bear. Popping the exhausted thermal clip, he looked through the scope, hoping to get a better view of what was out there. He saw another flicker, followed by a third, and then he heard the footsteps; whatever it was, it was running right towards the ship.
He readied his aim and took a deep breath.
Out of the darkness popped two people, two people that he was very happy to see. However, the moment quickly turned bittersweet.
Is that it?
Dropping the rifle to his side, he waved the duo over.
In the lead was Kasumi, and following her was Dr. Chakwas, both women sported signs of exhaustion. Kasumi had a smile plastered on her face, while Dr. Chakwas' eyes widened as she saw the condition of the Normandy.
"Joker, my god! You have no idea how glad I am to see you right now," said Kasumi as she reached the entrance to the Normandy. Joker simply smiled at the duo as they climbed onto the ship.
"Me too, for a second there I thought you might've had been turned into these guys," said Joker, making a disgusted face and pointing to the husks sprawled out across the decontamination chamber.
"My god Jeff! You aren't hurt are you," said Dr. Chakwas, her brow creased in concern.
"Relax Mom," he said with sarcasm. "I'm fine, my bones won't break from shooting a gun."
"Oh please, I know your bones better than anyone, Mr. Moreau. Your lucky you didn't shatter your rib cage from the recoil," replied the doctor with a huff.
"What can I say, maybe Mordin's medicine is working on me."
Dr. Chakwas only rolled her eyes.
"All right enough bickering you two, lets get these husks off the ship. Don't want them rising from the dead…again," said Kasumi.
A nervous look flashed across her face at the thought of "zombie" husks, as the thief reached down to pick up the nearest corpse. Dr. Chakwas helped Kasumi carry it off the ship while Joker dragged the second body out. All three of them grabbed the last corpse in the decontamination chamber and threw it outside. After that, the trio stepped inside and closed the door, initiating the decontamination process. Nobody said a word, and the silence was strange to say the least. At that moment, Joker decided to ask the question that had been nagging at him ever since the two women showed up.
"If you ladies don't mind me asking, wheres the rest of the crew?"
Kasumi gave Joker a sad look before turning to the doctor behind them. Joker turned around to see a very pale Dr. Chakwas, the doctor opened her mouth,but only to let out a chocked sob. Tears then began to pour down her face.
Oh god.
"Joker, I-" Kasumi began.
He interrupted her. "It's fine, Kasumi, I understand."
He turned to Dr. Chakwas and reached out to embrace her. She slowly buried her head on his shoulder, tears still coming down.
"It's alright, Doc, just let it out."
The decontamination process finished and the trio entered the ship.
"Doc, go to the Med-bay and lie down, Kasumi and I can handle the repairs from here."
"…No…no it's ok," muttered Dr. Chakwas.
She let go of Joker and began to fiercely wipe the tears from her face.
"...I'm fine, I'm not a military doctor for nothing, and I can help just tell me what needs to be done."
Joker gave her an urging look, but sighed when he realized she wasn't going to budge.
"Alright…let's see if all that time spent with Adams back on the SR-1 can be put to good use."
The doctor laughs, her sleeves continuing to dry her tears away.
Turning his attention to the cockpit, Joker limped over to his seat, and read over the remaining damage reports.
"Alright Doc, the fusion plant is shut down right now, and something isn't letting us switch to auxiliary power. I need you to go down to engineering and manually engage the H-fuel cells. Just access the engineering console, go to fuel, and your smart enough to figure it out from there."
Dr. Chakwas nodded and made her way for the elevator.
Joker watched over her from the pilot seat until the elevator doors closed behind her.
"Any jobs for me, Joker?" asked Kasumi.
"Yeah, you can start on giving me the rundown on what the hell is happening down there with the ground team, and then I got a whole butt-load of jobs for you."
"Wait, you don't know?"
"No, between fixing the ship, battling Collector firewalls, and communicating with the ground team, EDI's maxed out to the point where she can't even talk to me outside of text messages. Why don't you fill me in a little?"
"Right, well up to where I left, the mission was going great. The team hadn't suffered any casualties or bad injuries, and we were still armed to our teeth with weapons too. I tell you, Shepard came up big with these Spectre class weapons, these things have infinite ammo and never overheat!"
As if to emphasize her point she drew out her custom HWASMG and spun it around her finger.
"Yeah that's great, what about the crew?" Joker asked impatiently as he began working on repairs again.
"Yes sorry, the crew was-," she paused, "-we were simply too late to save them."
Joker's heart dropped, his hands fell from the screen in front of him to his lap. His shoulder's slouched and his head dropped.
"Oh."
"…Yeah," Kasumi whispered behind him.
We all knew not everyone was going to make it.
"Jeff, Kasumi!" an oddly excited, synthesized voice rang through the cockpit.
"EDI! Your back!" Joker exclaimed, as he noticed the familiar blue avatar of the ship's A.I pop up to his left.
"Yes, I've completed 80% of priority repairs to the Normandy. With Dr. Chakwas engaging the H-fuel Cells, I'm no longer tasked to capacity and we should be able to fly again."
"That a girl, EDI!" said Joker as Kasumi cheered in the background.
"Thank you Jeff."
"How's the rest of the squad, EDI," asked Kasumi as she walked over next to the pilot seat.
"No casualties so far, they are currently split into two teams. Shepard is bringing Mr. Krios and Operative Lawson with him to arm the charge that will destroy the base. Meanwhile, the second team is being lead by Mr. Vakarian, and is tasked with preventing any Collectors from pursuing Shepard's team."
How Shepard does it…I'll never know.
"That's great EDI, Kasumi and I'll take over repairs from here, you focus on helping the ground team."
"Acknowledged," said EDI, echoing a familiar robot as her blue avatar disappeared from sight
Joker turned to Kasumi, and acknowledged Dr. Chakwas walking up behind her, having finished her job down in engineering.
"Well ladies, lets get crackin'."
About 30 minutes passed since the last time Joker, Kasumi, and Dr. Chakwas had heard any word from EDI.
The three of us were able to finish fixing up the SR-2; the repairs should at least last long enough until we reach a secure docking bay.
Joker chuckled at the thought.
This entire mission is going much better than expected. It's almost too good to be true.
Currently the pilot, thief, and doctor were all in the cockpit. Joker sat in the pilot's seat tapping the arm of his chair. Every now and then he looked over to where EDI's avatar used to be, hoping it would pop up with good news. Behind him, Chakwas nervously paced back and forth, while Kasumi rapidly bit away at what remained of her nails. The waiting was becoming unbearable.
"Ugh, where are they!" groaned Kasumi.
"I know, it shouldn't take Shepard that long to arm a bomb. He armed that nuke on Virmire within seconds," replied Chakwas.
"I'm sure it'll be any minute now. Shepard will call in on the comms saying 'Joker, sorry I'm late, I just got into a fist fight with a Praetorian and-"
"Joker do you read me," whatever Joker was about to say was forgotten as he heard the commander's voice radiate from the comms.
"Commander, I read you loud and clear. What's the situation?"
"Oh it's a fucking party down here. Sorry I kept you in the dark for the mission, I needed EDI working overtime. Anyways, I'm sending Garrus's team back over to you guys, so prepare the engines, I'm about to blow this base sky high."
"Roger that. You better be on this ship before that bomb goes off though."
"Of course, Shepard out."
Joker twirled around in his pilot chair, a massive grin on his face.
"Well Doc, another galaxy saved…I think we're getting a little old for this," Joker laughed.
"Oh, this is great! I can't believe we're actually pulling this off!" said Kasumi excitedly.
"No offense Kasumi, I remember back when I saved my first galaxy. It's a great feeling and all, but saving it a second time? Whole new level."
"Easy Joker, considering our luck, we don't want to jinx it," Dr. Chakwas cautioned, but a smile was creeping onto her face.
"Yeah! and just FYI, saving the galaxy is pretty cool, but you haven't lived yet until you've stolen from your first trillionaire," said Kasumi playfully.
"Oh! You'll have to teach me how to do that some time. I could fit a lesson in tomorrow right between lunch, and fighting billion year old machines who want nothing more to see me and my brittle bones ground up into a paste."
Kasumi laughs, and Joker turned to the pilot interface, beginning preparations for takeoff.
At that moment EDI's avatar popped up.
"Dr. Chakwas, Garrus's team will be here in ten minutes. Prepare some medical supplies, Zaeed and Jacob have both suffered critical injuries."
…Jinxed it.
10 minutes later, Garrus's team had arrived, and the quiet atmosphere on the Normandy quickly vanished as the decontamination process finished, giving way to one of the most chaotic sights Joker had ever seen.
"OH MY GOD, JUST FUCKING KNOCK ME OUT!" screamed Zaeed, as Garrus's team barreled through the doorway.
Grunt came in first, a monstrous grin on his face even with the sizeable chunk of metal sticking out of his side. In one hand, he carried one of the crew's M-920 Cains, the other being clumsily attached to his back. In Grunt's other hand, was Zaeed. The smaller human was unceremoniously slung under the Krogan's arm. Both bodies were covered in all shades of blood. Following the "colorful" duo was a frantic and limping Mordin, who was scanning Zaeed with his omni-tool.
"Apologies, Massani, all out of medi-gel, would require sufficient quantities to create necessary serum."
"GRUNT, YOU BIG BASTARD, PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN!"
Grunt nonchalantly dropped Zaeed to the ground, much to the protest of the hardened mercenary who proceeded to let out a roar of pain. Zaeed then lifted a finger at the massive krogan.
"Knock me out!" he exclaimed, a slur of weakness entering his voice.
At that, Grunt's grin grew even bigger as he proceeded to knock out Zaeed the only way he knew how, much to the dismay of Dr. Chakwas and Mordin. Both doctors proceeded to yell at the young Krogan for punching a man who just suffered a massive slash across the back from a Scion's claw.
Garrus was the next to enter the ship; his weapons were holstered as he struggled to carry the petite Jack. Behind him was a limping Morinth who appeared to be nursing a wound to the thigh.
"Damn it Jack, why did you decide now of all times to wear Colossus X armor. Any armor set in the galaxy, and you pick the heaviest light armor around," said Garrus as he struggled to keep his grip.
"Fine…put me down…I'm fucking fine anyways…just gimme some fucking food," groaned Jack.
"Yeah, right. Your going to the med-bay first girl, you overloaded your amp pretty-"
Garrus was cut off as Jack proceeded to wriggle her way out of his grasp, and land face first on the floor.
"Oh Jackie. I warned you about using Reave to much, but did you listen? No," taunted Morinth as she reached down to help the convict off the ground, only to have Jack push the asari's hand away.
"Fuck you…slut," the convict muttered weakly from the floor. She groaned again before dragging herself to the nearest of the empty seats lining the hallway of the CIC. Her eyes fluttered shut at that moment, either falling asleep or becoming unconscious.
"Why does everybody call me that?" asked Morinth an annoyed expression on her face.
"Cause you are one," said Grunt, as he effortlessly pulled the piece of metal out of his side. The grin on Grunt's face infinitely growing bigger as Morinth got in his face and started to angrily barrage him with reasons why it wasn't her fault she "bonded" with a lot of people.
Bringing up the rear was Legion, Tali, and Jacob. The latter was unconscious and being carried by Legion. As the geth unit moved Jacob to one of the CIC chairs, Tali frantically kept her omni-tool hovered over the motionless soldier. Kasumi moved over to help Legion set him down, but she hesitated, and a hand shot up to her mouth in horror.
"Dr. Chakwas, we need medi-gel now!" urged Tali, as she waved the doctor over from the unconscious Zaeed.
When Legion set Jacob down in one of the chairs, Joker saw what all the commotion was about and nearly threw up. Jacob's Cerberus Assault armor had been destroyed beyond recognition. The parts of the armor covering the chest, and stomach were gone. Joker's skin blanched as he saw severe third degree burns all across Jacob's torso. The pilot could even see a couple ribs beginning to show.
Dr. Chakwas ran over to the wounded soldier, and Joker could see her eyes widen as she realized the extent of Jacob's injuries. However, the experienced doctor quickly composed herself and began applying medi-gel to the exposed torso.
"Garrus, we've got to get Zaeed and Jacob down to the med bay!" she ordered as she continued to pour gratuitous amounts of medi-gel all over Jacob's wounds.
"Alright people you heard the lady, we got to get our injured downstairs! Grunt grab Zaeed, Legion grab Jacob. If you have an injury? Go with them. If you can still shoot a gun, your up here on standby for Shepard's team!" as Garrus barked out his orders, people began to comply. Grunt once again hurled Zaeed under his arm, and headed for the elevator, Morinth followed, still flustered by the blood drenched Krogan. Legion followed with Jacob in both arms. Meanwhile, Jack groaned in annoyance as she slowly got up from her seat, joining the walking wounded to the elevator. Eventually, the only people left in the CIC was Garrus, Tali, and Kasumi.
"I hope this thing is ready to fly Joker," said Garrus as he walked over to the co-pilot chair.
Wow.
Joker couldn't believe it. Despite the odds, there they were. More than half the ground team had made it back to the ship, and aside from a few critical injuries, people looked good.
Joker looked over to the Turian easing his way into the co-pilot seat.
"You know, even if you do have a huge stick up your ass…your alright Garrus."
Garrus's mandibles clicked in surprise at the statement, drawing a few giggles from Kasumi and Tali behind them.
"...Joker-,"
Garrus's statement was cutoff as he saw EDI pop in to view.
"Jeff, I've lost contact with Shepard's team, they armed the charge, but they aren't responding to my calls."
Fuck.
Joker turned to his pilot interface and brought up Shepard's comm. channel.
"Shepard, do you copy?"
No response
"I repeat! Shepard, do you copy?"
Still no response. Garrus slammed his fist on the arm of his chair, and stood up. The Turian unhinging his HMWSR from his back as he walked over to the exit.
"Tali, Kasumi, we're going back out there. We're not leaving without Shepard," the two women nodded and the group headed for the door. Fortunately, right before they entered the decontamination chamber a lone voice came from the ships communication channels.
"...I'm here Joker, did Garrus's team make it?"
Joker sighed with relief. Garrus, Kasumi, and Tali jogged up beside him.
"We're all here Shepard, just waiting on you!" said the Turian.
"Great-," then there was a groan, "Thane get over here and help me get this thing off Miranda, my arm's all busted up."
There was a huff of air, and a clatter as something heavy was dropped to the ground.
"Wakey, wakey princess we got to leave the base now," Shepard's taunt was followed with an annoyed murmur that Joker couldn't quite make out.
"Yeah, I figured the thought of Jack would get the adrenaline flowing. Now get up, we're leaving this hellhole…All right Joker! We're on our way!" Shepard's voice faded away.
"Jeff," EDI spoke up. "Shepard's team is unable to reach this LZ, so I'm directing them to a different location, we're going to need to move the ship."
With a nod, Joker's fingers sped across the pilot interface, and the Normandy shuddered as the engines activated.
"Garrus, I got things from here, go get anybody who can hold a gun. This pick up may be a little tough."
"Already on it Joker," came Tali's voice from behind the galaxy map. Joker turned just in time to see the elevator doors close behind her.
"Well…that was fast," said Joker with a shrug, returning to his current task.
"You sure she'll hold together Joker?" asked Kasumi.
Then almost like a reply from the ship itself, the Normandy slowly began to move. Joker slowly adjusted the settings on the thrusters and the SR-2 continued to rise higher and higher into space.
"Oh, she'll hold," said Joker, smiling as the most advanced warship in the galaxy left the artificial atmosphere of the Collector Base. Then, bringing up the route EDI made for him, Joker brought the SR-2 to the new landing zone.
My baby's back!
Not a minute had passed from landing down on the new LZ, when the entire base started to come apart. EDI informed the crew that Shepard had planted a charge to not actually blow up the base, but simply send out a pulse to fry every living thing on board. Unfortunately, a few minutes later Harbinger must of caught on to the plan. The Collectors, realizing it couldn't stop the pulse, decided they would blow up the base, rather than give it to Shepard. Making it so that the entire team and the Normandy had roughly two minutes to make it back to the mass relay.
So here they were, the seven of them. Grunt, Morinth, Legion, Tali, Kasumi, Garrus, and himself, together, and laying down a wall of covering fire for the sprinting forms of Miranda, Thane, and Shepard. Miranda was in front, having a significant lead on the two men, with Thane quickly gaining on her. Shepard brought up the rear, turning every now and then to take a few pot shots with his pistol at chasing Collectors.
"Joker get back inside, and get ready to get out us out of this damn base, we got it from here!" said Garrus, as he popped a hole into another Collector's head.
Joker didn't need to be told twice as Miranda made it to the entrance of the Normandy.
Joker noticed her face was badly bruised and one of her eyes was swollen, her white Cerberus armor was also in bad condition as a whole chunk of the left shoulder pad was torn off. Burns had turned large spots of the armor black, showing that she had a few close encounters with Harbinger. Joker didn't have time to care though. He tossed the Cerberus operative his rifle.
"Cover them!" he yelled, and Miranda nodded.
He quickly shuffled back inside to the cockpit. Bringing up the pilot interface, he plotted out the course to the Omega Four Relay.
"EDI, how much time?" almost having to shout due to the roar of gunfire and explosions coming from outside.
"45 Seconds, Jeff."
Fuck.
"Take over the ship from here EDI. As soon as Shepard gets on here, and that door closes we're out of here!"
"Acknowledged."
Joker headed back to the ship's entrance, and peeked his head around the corner. He saw that Thane had made it on board too, and the assassin was already sniping the Collectors shooting at Shepard.
Speaking of which, Shepard was taking his goddamn time.
"SHEPARD! WE HAVE 30 SECONDS BEFORE THIS BASE BLOWS UP! NOW GET YOUR ASS INTO GEAR!" Joker roared behind the wall of commandos in front of him. Fortunately, Shepard seemed to hear him, and the commander dropped the pistol he was using as he accelerated to a full on sprint.
Anybody watching the man now could tell that he wasn't an average human. Originally, Sentinels are trained to wear light armor so that it doesn't get in the way of movements required for biotics, or hamper their dexterity required for quick hacking. However, Shepard never needed that light armor, his dexterity was just that damn good. Standing at 6 feet and 4 inches, and nearly as wide as a Krogan, Shepard was as big as humans can get. His armor was the massive N7 Defender Armor that usually only trained Human N7 Soldiers wore to battle for extra protection. As he neared the Normandy, his huge form came more into view, and the red glow from his synthetic eyes shined from behind his N7 helmet. Shepard's tech armor was engaged, as well as his biotic barrier, both acting as a bullet sponge for any shots the Collectors could land on him.
"He's going to make it!" said Tali with excitement.
Then it happened, an unusual groan echoed throughout the base and the ship, and Joker shifted his gaze up to the source of the noise.
Oh no.
A massive platform from above came crashing down and destroyed the make shift bridge leading to the Normandy. The gap between the ship and the ground was now at least 20 feet. To large for a human to jump it…but then again, Shepard wasn't a normal human.
With a roar, the sprinting man began to glow blue as he flung his arms to his sides.
"…Is he going to do a biotic charge…right at us?" asked Morinth as she lowered her rifle in fear.
Garrus lowered his rifle as well.
"Everyone fall back inside!" barked Garrus, and instantly the eight commandos burst for the CIC. Joker quickly got out of the way as the frantic ground team scurried to the door. Unfortunately, in there haste, Morinth got tripped, causing her to stumble in front of the entrance. This caused a domino effect as the deadliest killers in the galaxy began falling over each other, one after another.
Oh the irony…
Joker was snapped out of the moment when behind the mass of bodies he saw a blue blur, causing him to start a very fast limp to the pilot seat.
"12," said EDI.
"MOVE!" roared Grunt as he tried to regain his balance on top of everyone.
"TRY CLIMBING OVER ME KROGAN AND I WILL SHOOT YOUR BLOODY QUAD OFF!" yelled Miranda.
"11."
"GET OFF OF ME! GARRUS!" shouted Tali, trying to get her leg free from under the lanky Turian.
"I CAN'T MOVE WITH MIRANDA'S FAT ASS ON TOP OF ME!"
"10."
"LEGION! MY ARM!" cried Kasumi.
"REQUESTING ASSISTANCE!"
"9."
"WHOEVER'S HAND IS ON MY AZURE? MOVE IT! NOW!"
"Siha, grant me forgiveness…"
The group remained yelling at each other as they continued to make fools of themselves. Despite all their efforts, the group just couldn't get composed, their time ran out.
"INCOMING," yelled Shepard as his charging biotic form plowed into the group like a battering ram. All eight of them, Grunt's massive form included, went plowing across the ground to the opposite wall.
"Get us out of here Joker!" exclaimed Shepard from his spot on top of the groaning bodies.
Yes!
"5"
"Yeah I got the gist of it EDI. Everybody hold on!" shouted Joker as he climbed into the pilot seat, his hands already flying across the keyboard.
With seconds left, the Normandy took off, already speeding away towards the Mass Relay.
Joker's smiled as a bright red glow appeared behind him, growing brighter until fading to nothingness.
Engaging FTL.
With that, the Normandy vanished from the galactic core.
One hour later
"So…are we badasses…or are we fucking badasses?" cheered Jack from her bed in the med bay. She was sitting up, an IV was hooked up to her arm, and a neural dampener was placed on her amp to prevent her from accidently using her biotics.
"Yeah…big guddamn heroes girl. Just look at the massive crowds of people welcoming us home. I can even hear them cheering from the guddamn Citadel," said Zaeed sarcastically. The tough bounty hunter was lying belly down, and his entire torso was wrapped in bandages.
"…Who pissed in your cereal Gramps?" replied the convict with a sneer.
"A fucking Scion did…I'm just saying it how it is, nobody knows we just ripped the Collectors a new one."
True enough, all that effort, and for what? Nobody even knows we just saved there asses again.
When the ship had returned from the Omega Four Relay, nothing changed. There were no Alliance ships lined up to congratulate them on a mission accomplished. There wasn't even a ship welcoming them home. Everything was the same; it was like the mission didn't even happen.
"I couldn't agree more Zaeed…we don't even get shiny medals!" said Joker from his seat on a nearby crate of medical supplies.
Currently the entire team was assembled in the med bay, tending to their wounds. The armor was off, the guns were put in the armory, and a few members even showered and changed into more casual wear. Here they were, just trying to enjoy a moment together and recuperate. From his crate, Joker observed the people around him.
Jack was wolfing down rations from her bed. Chakwas had assured her that she had simply maxed out her biotics and needed food to regenerate. She may have a migraine for a week or two, much to the dismay of everyone else.
She's already pissed off 24/7. Now she's gonna be pissed off, and nursing a migraine!
Zaeed had been stabilized, the cut he suffered from the Scion's claws was deep, but it was easily fixed with medi-gel. Also, a clever gel that Mordin created helped speed up scar tissue formation, eliminating the need for stitches. The bounty hunter was currently brooding on top his bed.
He's just mad he let something as big as a Scion get the jump on him.
Looking over to the other side of the room, he saw Morinth applying medi-gel to the bullet wound in her thigh. Everyone had run out of the life-saving stuff during the mission so she had to deal with that hole the entire time Garrus's team was running from the Collectors. Joker found himself helplessly staring at the regal Asari. Even with her wound, Morinth decided to shower and change first. Her current attire consisted of nothing more than a long sleeve black shirt and matching panties. He watched her begin to slowly wrap the wound up, before he shook his head and averted his gaze.
Careful Jeff, you know what she is.
Garrus, and Thane had suffered a few bullet wounds as well; the two of them were applying medi-gel and bandages where they were needed. Tali had suffered multiple suit ruptures so she was currently drowning herself in anti-biotics. She even used the decontamination chamber a few minutes ago so that she could address a particularly bad rupture without increasing her chances of getting an infection.
I hope she's all right.
Surprisingly, she was currently using her omni-tool to fix a hole that had pierced Legion's auxiliary power cells. The geth unit in question stood patiently as his "creator" patched up the area his auto repair couldn't fix.
There's something you don't see everyday. Shepard really worked the issues out between those two.
Looking over to the sole unconscious member of the team, Jacob, Joker found himself worrying.
I guess that's what happens when you let Harbinger get close.
From what Joker had heard, the possessed Collector had somehow gotten behind the group, and Jacob was the only one to notice. In an effort to protect the rest of the group, Jacob charged the Collector husk. His effort got him brutally beat down, and severely burned by the flaming cybernetics underneath the Collector's shell. Jacob was already knocked out by the time the rest of the team knew he was down.
Dr. Chakwas, Miranda, and Mordin were still working away on the ex-Corsair.
"Come on Zaeed, you know how it is in when it comes to black-ops, there isn't any glory in it, but you take pride in knowing what you accomplished."
Joker shifted his gaze to the leader of this motley crew, and only shook his head in disbelief.
How do you go through a mission like that and come out with only a fractured ulna?
"I don't remember a single mission where I didn't get a little recognition Shepard. Considering this was a little bit more than your run of the mill mission, a little thanks doesn't fucking hurt," grumbled Zaeed.
"At least your getting paid Gramps, I still can't believe I signed up for this for free," complained Jack.
"Your were on an exploding ship girl, you didn't have a choice. 'Sides mission like this was good for you-," Zaeed sniffed, "-builds character."
Jack gave the older man a blank stare.
"I'm being lectured by a merc on character. Now I've fucking heard everything."
Zaeed shrugged as a few chuckles spread throughout the room
"Well back when we took down Saren we got a nice pretty plaque thanking us for saving the galaxy. That was part of an official council mission, so it may be a little much to ask them for a little recognition this time around " replied Garrus as he wrapped his left arm in bandages.
Shepard's face turned into a look of alarm as a thought sprang into his mind.
"Oh god…I need to debrief with those Council idiots," said Shepard as he brought his palms up to his face. This drew a few chuckles from the veterans of Shepard's team, these people knowing all to well what that meant.
An eerie silence then fell over the crew, the only sounds that could be heard was Jack's loud chewing, and the beeping of the life support for Jacob.
"It's so empty now," said Miranda solemnly. She was looking out onto the mess hall.
Everybody knew what she meant, and a somber attitude fell over everyone. Eye's shifted to floor, and shoulders tensed up. Joker noticed Thane close his eyes and mutter a quick prayer.
"I'll miss Gabby and Ken," said Tali as she paused in repairing Legion.
"…Creator Zorah... we are able to complete repairs," said Legion, his optical lens looking down onto the shorter Quarian.
Huh maybe the robot's finally understanding sympathy.
"No…it's alright Legion...I'll finish," Tali replied, and her omni-tool fired up again.
"…The chef made proper food for a krant the likes of us," said Grunt, a hint of respect on his deep voice.
"That's because his cooking was the only kind of food you've had Grunt," chuckled Joker, drawing a growl from Grunt.
"I concur with Grunt, Chef Gardener was an exceptional cook," said Thane from his meditating position on the floor.
Joker looked at the two of them as if they had grown two heads. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided to drop it. Another voice joined the conversation
"Then why didn't you come sooner?" said Dr. Chakwas from over at Jacob's bed. Her voice held no emotion, but her single question caught the attention of the entire team as the doctor walked over to her desk.
We weren't ready.
"Oh, Jacob's condition is stable now. He'll need more extensive care once we arrive at the Citadel," the doctor quickly said as she began typing away a new medical report. Nobody had answered her question yet.
"Mission parameters required more preparation-," started Mordin from his position near Jacob's bed. However he was cut off by a much deeper voice.
"Mordin," said Shepard as he glanced over to the Salarian. Their leader's strong expression was enough to get the message across to the intelligent scientist. Mordin nodded and found his way over to the medi-gel stores, beginning to tend his own wounds.
Shepard turned his attention to the human doctor of the crew.
"…We weren't ready, without making a stop at the Citadel not all of us would be standing here now Doc… the mission…had to come first…I'm sorry."
"…I'd expect nothing less…we all knew what happened on Torfan," Chakwas scoffed, but quickly tensed as she realized what she just said. She turned to face Shepard.
The atmosphere in the med-bay quickly got tense as everyone shifted their attention to the commander.
Whoa…low blow.
Shepard was emotionless, his tall figure stood rooted to the ground, and his stone-like expression masked his true feelings. Even without the Defender Armor on, Shepard's form was still an intimidating presence.
"Shepard I'm sorry, I didn't-," Chakwas began, but the commander cut her off.
"No, I understand, the deaths today are on my hands. Just like the deaths of my men back on that moon…" His expression faltered for a second, "You have every right to be mad at me Doc, I'm sorry," said Shepard, the faint red glow emitting from behind his blue eyes growing a little brighter.
"No Shepard, I didn't mean to blame you, I just…had to watch them as they died, I know you did the best you could, you saved my life…thank you," with that the doctor turned to her desk and she looked out onto the mess hall.
The silence returned, this time it was awkward.
Shepard readjusted the brace on his left arm before leaning against nearest wall. Joker could see that the mention of Torfan brought up some bitter memories.
Well, now what.
"EDI how much longer to the Citadel?" asked Joker.
"Approximately 32 hours galactic time, Jeff. Also pheromone levels in the med-bay signal extremely high levels of stress. I would recommend that everyone get some sleep," replied the synthetic voice.
Nobody moved, and the silence returned.
Joker looked around the room. Garrus was sitting on one of the beds to the right, his eyes distant, lost in his own thoughts. He was still wearing a blue, Turian body sleeve. It was a thick, soft, wetsuit-like layer that went underneath the actual armor. Garrus had his sleeve zipped down to his waste, giving his torso air to breath. Mordin, his wounds already patched up, sported his usual doctor uniform. The scientist was behind the Turian at Jacob's bed, his eyes reading over some data his omni-tool showed him. Miranda, after realizing that there wasn't anything more to do to help Jacob's condition, had strolled over to lean on Chakwas's desk. The black tank top and athletic shorts she was wearing were the same ones she wore under her armor and body sleeve for the mission, as a result both articles were drenched in sweat.
On the other side of the room, Jack sat with her legs crossed on top of her bed, still munching away on rations. She wore a plain white tee with the same baggy, black cargo pants she wore when the team busted her out of prison. Tali had finished fixing up Legion and found herself a spot on the bed Garrus was sitting on. Legion had remained standing, looking around the room and simply observing the organics in front of it. Thane was sitting down on the ground to the left of the robot, his body was relaxed and his eyes were closed in meditation.
Then finally in the back of the room, leaning against the wall was the odd trio of Grunt, Morinth, and Kasumi. The latter of which was slowly pointing her hand towards the other two, gaining a questioning look from the Asari and Krogan. Seeing that she had got their attention, the thief activated her omni-tool and brought it too her face.
"I will direct this personally," Kasumi's altered voice rang through out the med-bay and nearly caused everyone to jump. Everyone could only gape at the thief as she reached over and poked Grunt in the shoulder.
"I know you feel this."
Joker burst out laughing at Kasumi's perfect imitation of Harbinger's voice. The thief then placed her hand on to Morinth's head.
"Assuming direct control."
At that, the crew could no longer keep it in, and the med-bay erupted into laughter.
Good times.
Let me know what you think with a review.
So after many scrapped ideas I present to you my first at Mass Effect fanfiction. This story is set in an AU where everything post-suicide mission goes differently. This was originally inspired by that thing Bioware calls an ending, but I figured that since I always had a gripe with the ME2 dlc (I really felt Lotsb was a huge cop-out, I mean taking down the entire Shadow broker network in a matter of hours? Come on Bioware) so I figured I should make an attempt at expressing my own ideas on what Bioware 'should've done'.
P.S for those wondering, Joker isn't the main character. I'll be switching the POV to a different character for every chapter.