The Barracuda: Allegiances
Chapter 1: Stowaway
Burning flesh, screaming, How could you do this to us? I own you.
Charlie thrashed in her fitful sleep.
Children crying, Momma? Momma? Screech, screech, the gunfire is never-ending.
Her body tossed again, nearly throwing herself from the cot.
Green eyes, ringed red, How could you do this to us? Don't doubt my love, Charlie.
She rolled and hit the floor, waking with a start. She reached for her pistol but grasped air. "Shit," she grumbled to herself. She was in a C-Sec cell, riding out a 48-hour sentence for pulling a gun on a man in the midst of a crowded Presidium.
That man looked just like him.
She sat heavily on the cot, gazing across the tiny room to look at herself in the broken mirror above the sink. Her dark red hair was cropped close to her head, just long enough for her to slick back, but now it laid soft and loose. Her eyes, normally as blue as the Earthen sky, were dark and bloodshot. She shouldn't have let that hanar talk her into doing mindfish. She couldn't even remember how long ago that had been.
She stood and slightly limped to the door to peer through the slot. There was a turian standing guard, but all was quiet. She sat on the cot again with a sigh and rolled her shorts up on her left leg. She was surprised to see the wound on the inside of her thigh had been properly bandaged and didn't hurt quite as bad as it had before…whenever before was.
The door slid open and Charlie's head snapped up to see two turian C-Sec officers, one of them the guard on her door. The other stood in the threshold holding a data pad.
"Evans, Charlie? Disorderly conduct." He turned the data pad and held it out to her. "Sign and you're released."
She knew the drill well enough. She used her finger to sign her name and handed the device back to the turian. He stepped out of the way and said, "Do try to keep out of trouble this time, Miss Evans. You can retrieve your belongings at the end of the hall."
Fifteen minutes later and she stood on the Presidium outside C-Sec in her old, but sturdy, silver light armor, a ratty black duffle bag slung over her shoulders and her helmet held at her side. She looked around, momentarily at a loss for what to do first, and then decided to seek out an extranet terminal to check her messages and get caught up on recent news. It had only been two days so she doubted much had really happened, but it was something to do. She walked around until she found one on the upper level outside the embassies. She dropped her stuff at her feet and accessed it.
At best she had been hoping for news of mercenary activities, so she could plan her next course of action accordingly. What she had not expected was the barrage of articles clogging up her feed about a Geth attack on the colony of Eden Prime (Whoa, what are Geth doing so close to Citadel space?) and an announcement of the appointment of the first human Spectre. She pulled up the accompanying pictures and name, and her jaw dropped open. It was none other than—
"Piper fucking Shepard." A grin that could only be classified as insane split her face. After scanning multiple articles for information, she shut off the terminal, snatched up her bag of belongings, and marched toward the elevator that would take her to the docks.
Charlie had done some crazy things before, including stowing away aboard starships, but none of those ships had been the Normandy. This ship was young but already legendary, which meant it would be heavily guarded; she was the Alliance's pride and joy.
As expected, entrances to that docking bay were manned and sealed for Alliance access only. Charlie walked by casually, stopping to view the ship through the observation windows. A few Citadel citizens and military folk milled around, a couple stopping to admire the ship as well. Luckily wearing armor didn't draw much attention on the docks.
"She's a beauty, isn't she?"
Charlie turned to see a man in an Alliance uniform coming to stand near her. He walked as though his legs pained him, and she wondered if he had been injured. He seemed ready to topple over at any minute.
"Yeah, she's real impressive," she replied nonchalantly. "People all over the Citadel have been talking about her." It was a lie, but one hard to disprove. Besides, she had been in a cell for two days, as far as she knew they were talking about the ship's presence.
"You should feel her as she powers up for FTL." He hummed pleasantly, closing his eyes.
Charlie cocked one eyebrow. "You're part of her crew?"
"I'm not just any crewman," he said, a bit dramatically she thought. "I'm the pilot."
Charlie snorted and began to laugh. "Yeah, sure. And I'm Sha'ira the Consort."
She turned and started walking away. The "pilot" waited a few beats and then called, "Can I make an appointment?" She ignored him.
She continued to walk until she came across an empty docking bay. It was dark inside and the door was locked. She pulled up her Omni-tool, tapped a few keys, and then waved her hand over the control panel. There was a beep and then the door slid open with a hiss. With a quick glance around first, she slipped inside and closed the doors behind her.
The next hour's worth of work was relatively boring for Charlie, who usually wasn't for sneaking in but blasting through. That method would get her caught before she ever got to Shepard though, so she worked diligently to remove a panel in the hanger to gain access to the next one, and kept repeating this until she reached the other side of the Normandy's bay. She disabled the alarms before removing the wall tile, then dropped soundlessly into the dock.
Getting onto the ship was going to be a lot trickier. It was suspended with clamps, the only way inside being the ramp to the portside door, which was guarded, of course. So Charlie focused on the clamps. For this, she had to go back into the wall.
The innards of the Citadel was almost as expansive as the rest, with a dizzying system of catwalks and ladders so various repairs and upgrades could be performed. That also meant she had to worry about running into Keepers, even if all they did to her was give her the creeps.
She attempted to be quiet when she reached the catwalk that ran along the bay's ceiling to the clamp controls, but with the many other noises surrounding the ship it wasn't very imperative; what was, however, was not being spotted. She crouched low, making herself as small as possible. Watching the soldiers pacing the deck, she slowly started to half-crawl, half-crabwalk her way to the control platform. When she reached the base of the clamp that held the far side of the ship, she took a deep breath, activated her tactical cloak, and climbed up onto the clamp's arm.
Every instinct in her screamed to climb slowly, to take her time so she wouldn't fall and become paste against the Normandy's hull, but her tactical cloak would only hold for a few minutes so she had to hurry.
When she stepped onto the hull she took a moment to breathe before moving toward the stern. Finding a way in near the drive core was risky, but she was confident she could do it.
And she did, but right as the core powered up. The Normandy was leaving the station with Charlie still inside the ventilation. If she didn't get out she would be barbequed. Already the steel beneath her hands and knees was growing hot.
"Ah, shit!" She scrambled forward as quickly as possible, her armor bumping so loudly against the inside of the shaft she knew someone would hear her. She couldn't worry about that. Right now she had to—
With a yelp, Charlie reached a grate and it popped open, sending her scrambling through the hole and directly on top of someone below.
"What the hell?!" A man off to the side yelled, and then again, "Commander, get down here. We've got a stowaway!"
Charlie scrambled to her feet to retreat, but got caught in her surprise when she realized she had fallen on a quarian. She had never seen one before and had always wanted to meet one.
But this was not the time to admire the alien. Two crewmen grabbed and pinned Charlie's arms and she snarled, snapping her teeth at them like a wild animal.
"Let me go!" she demanded. "You motherfuckers, let me go!" She continued to thrash and fight, slowly dragging the two men who held her across the floor as they fought to hold her back.
All at once there as a pop inside her head and then a warping sound. The two men were tossed across the room and into the far wall, where they slid down onto their heads. She snarled at them so hard it was like a roar, but inside her heart was working harder than the ship's core beside her.
"…Charlie?"
Hearing her name spoken by that voice worked like a switch. The anger and adrenaline was sucked away in an instant. She twisted her head around to see none other than the first human Spectre herself.
The crazy grin from before came back as Charlie turned to fully face the Alliance commander. She wiped sweat from her brow and stood straight, pulling off a mocking salute in the process.
"Piper Shepard." Her smirk showed teeth. "I've been lookin' for you."
Author's Note: The Mass Effect trilogy is perhaps my favorite video game series ever, and that's saying something because it had to beat out Legend of Zelda. I got the idea for this story the other night, and while I don't normally write canon AUs, I just fell so in love with Charlie and her story that I can't resist. There will be three stories for three games, all following Charlie Evans and Piper Shepard. I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I enjoy writing it!
KrisPilar and I started out stories pretty much at the same time, and they're both canon AUs. If you've liked mine, you should definitely check out her story! The first is titled "Unexpected Paths: A New Life." Please read and review, and have a great day!