Morning Routine
Author Notes: Hi here other fanfic I have written for Mass Effect. Arthur Broughton is a C-Sec Special Response Officer. Much like SWAT he deals with bombs, hostages, and heavily armed criminals. As with any Officer the Job takes it toll on him. Let's look at his Morning Routine.
Sit back, get yourself some Cheese (Be sure that it tastes of Despair... Dragon Age II or III anyone) and Wine (If your old enough to drink that is) and enjoy.
This is for Aria's Afterlife February Competition! A Moment of Silence.
An Explosion rocked the hall, Our Turian Captain Tron yelled orders. It was hard hearing him over the shooting but there was one and only one mission at this point, hold off the geth from getting into the council chambers.
Other teams were securing the council, escorting them to the Destiny Ascension. Fighting off the geth was not an easy task, none of us had fought them. They pushed through C-Sec easy, but when they met us, we gave them pause.
We were not anyone, we are the Special Response unit of C-Sec. The specters are the right hand of the council, and we are the unofficial left hand as are inside joke went.
The special response unit are officers who deal with hostage situations, bombs, and heavily armed criminals. The geth employed two of the tactics we dealt with, and taking prisoners was not one of them.
As the fighting continued are numbers kept falling fast, it was like the geth came in a back door. And to top things off Saren Arterius, Rogue Spectre was leading them. This was unconfirmed but the most likely case.
Our best and most accurate source of information was, Avina, the Citadel VI. It told us, a warrant has been issued for his arrest, like that was going to happen any time soon. The other information it provided us were the locations of geth troops, fires and zones that had no power.
A flash came over are omni-tools, it was a short message. "Council safe on Destiny Ascension." A smile crossed my face. Though it quickly faded when a geth hopper decloaked and sniped. As soon as I saw someone drop, the next moment a door opened up it looked to be Saren.
Then I felt something grab me. It was the captain, he pushed me into a room before saying SYOTS (See you on the other side). The door shut and an explosion went off. "NO!" I cried slamming my fist on the door, 'Buzz'.
I woke up panting. My alarm clock went off buzzing in the background, I slammed the clock, tuning it off. Good thing it was just a holo clock, else there be pieces everywhere. How are ancestors dealt with them was a mystery to me.
I got up and went into the bathroom. I needed to focus on something else. I turned on the cold water, watching as it ran down. The clear water gushed out, I cupped my hands and let the water fill them. It overflowed, I felt its coolness, taking in the sensation. Still I could not get away from the dream… nightmare, an old wound.
Finally I splashed the water onto my face, I repeated this twice. I looked at the cool beads of water as they ran down my face, I felt each one, dripping. I continued listening to the water, the white noise pulled me back into the present. Where the living are, and the dead rest.
A moment later I turned off the water, and then I toweled off my face taking in the new laundry smell, got to enjoy the little things while they last.
Exiting the bathroom I put on a T-shirt and sweatpants. I made my way to the kitchen, opening up the refrigerator freezer door. I located the Egg muffins.
They had bacon, sausage, three different cheeses, that tasted of despair or at least that is what it said on the box, and of course eggs on a muffin. I placed four of them into the reheater. I took out a coffee cup with number one Dad on the side.
Placing the cup in the coffee maker, I pressed a button and out poured black coffee. It's aroma filled the air. I turned on the TV, ANN was on. They were the only good source of news during this war.
Diana Allers was a great news correspondent, she is the Asari stripper of news. Everyone enjoyed watching her. Even before she started broadcasting from the Normandy SR-2, which most considered to be fighting on the front lines.
Her interviews of the Normandy crew were the biggest talks at the water cooler. The Normandy was an inspiration to everyone, more then that, The Normandy showed what working together achieved.
C-Sec is a multi-raced law enforcement on the citadel, but rarely does one look at us and gain the same sense of togetherness. The Ironic thing is the citadel is of alien origin, and the Normandy is a Human Alliance ship.
When one looks at those aboard the Normandy, though humans may be the majority it would seem the aliens aboard play the major roles. They were the ones who had saved us time and again starting with the SR-1
The non-humans aboard were, Turians, Krogans, Salarians, an Asari, Recently the Quarians came aboard, none of these were as shocking as the two types of AIs, The Normandy AI EDI, and the Geth Unit Legion.
And one would think the surprise would end there no, we the galaxy found out there was a living breathing Prothean that was kept secret till after the Cerberus Coup.
The Coup… Good Friends you ate and sat with,then turning stabbing you in the back. Shooting brothers in arms at point blank range, ending your friends life, how… shaking my head to forget that pain.
As I shook my head I heard the beeping of the coffee maker, and the reheater. They brought me back to the present. I took my coffee and food then sat down. Diana Allers was going over reports from earth.
Though some may call it biased, most were intrigued by the reports. She was the only one getting accurate reports from the horse's mouth, former human councilor, Admiral David Anderson via QEC. Also people were able to see what was becoming of worlds that were falling to the Reapers.
Sitting there listening to the report. The news was grim as always. The report still gave hope. Stories of the resistance movement had given that hope. Also knowing that the one leading them, Shepard's mentor.
He believed in Shepard, in the Reapers, had listened to and read every report Shepard had given. It felt good knowing the leader of the movement on earth was informed. As I finished my food and drink, Allers was finishing the last bit of news from Earth.
I placed the plate and coffee cup in the dish washer, then headed back to the bathroom. I disrobed, I brushed my teeth, then went into the shower. I finished all in under a half an hour. Alliance training sticks to one like glue.
Staying in shape, and being trained by the best is hard to just let that go. I walked into my bedroom as I toweled off. Standing in front of my closet I took out my Standard C-Sec BDUs. Then started putting on my Armor.
As I was taking out the pieces that made up my armor I glanced at all the news articles, they displayed stories of C-Sec, and Special Response. There was a large stack of newspapers, and an old sidearm, that I did not get retrofitted. I put on the sidearm, never knew when old tech may come in handy.
I went to pick up my helmet on the top shelf. A paper on top fell out, as I picked it up, I looked over at my favorite article. "C-Sec Officer, Arthur Broughton, Heads C-Sec's Special Response Division. Day to day he deals with hostage-taking, bomb threats, and heavily armed criminals.
Though he may be far from home he finds time to visit his family on earth. My Dad is number one in my book, he spends his days saving and helping people he does not know. He provides for me and mom, I may get lonely with out him but I know this is his way of showing his love."
Putting back the newspaper on the stack, I closed the closet. Before this war happened I kept my armor at HQ. We only put it on if there was a call, now and with the recent coup, It enforced my recommendation for wearing it to work.
C-Sec and all it's Divisions were being over taxed, around any corner a shooting could start. Better to be prepared, heavy weapons and arms still remained at C-Sec, only a sidearm were allowed to be carried. I made my way to my door locking up the place and set the alarm.
Walking down the street I saw a newsstand, I went there everyday. It was ran by a volus and a Salarian. I walked up to them as I always did. I brought two newspapers from them. They had been the only ones that I knew of printing old fashioned hardcopies.
Before I left I saw the volus trying to get my attention, I looked at him and he spoke, "Want to buy an emergency kit?". He asked me this everyday, ever since the war started. I say, 'no thank you' and walk away, but today why not. "Yes" I said, he then handed me one.
I left the newsstand stand, a few minutes later I was at C-Sec. I placed one paper in my locker, I had a stack of them here too. I took out a data disk and played the message on it. It had become a morning routine.
"Hi dad, good news, well great news, I don't know which one to say first. 'She had a great big smile on her face.'
I'll leave you in suspense while I update you on current events. My best friend Kim was asked to be married by her boyfriend of three years.
He asked in the middle of class at UCLA, and if you forgot what that is, University of California, Los Angeles. Also I got a new hair cut, I'm trying my hair short now hope you like it. 'She said showing off her new hair due.'
Ok ok now over with the boring stuff. I'm going to meet with Emily Wong! She's my favorite Journalist. I loved her story on the citadel corruption and organized crime. She even interviewed Shepard after The Battle of the Citadel. 'After she said that her face got more serious.'
I know you may not make it back to earth in time for my meet and greet, but I hope your here to send me off to the University of Milgrom's Rossberg School of Journalism. I'm going to miss earth and mom, I hope she does not get to lonely without me. 'tears started coming down her eyes'
The good side of things are that I will be a hop, skip, and a jump away from you. 'Her smiled returned as she wiped away the tears.'
Well I'll be signing off, I know you don't like long messages, 'I wish this message was longer I thought.' And tell the guys there at work to stop eavesdropping on your vid mail, bye dad I love you, see you soon." 'I love you too'
The message ended, I could not stop the tears from rolling down my face. I wiped them away. All I wanted to do was take the next ship out of here to earth. Go and find my wife and daughter. I could not do that, I could not abandon the people on the citadel, that needed my help.
To save them from themselves, from scared people who ran around shooting, and the regular armed criminals. Building up my courage I turned off the data disk, slammed my locker closed and began to yell, "All right all right all right, lets get started!" As I walked out of the locker room to get my team ready for the day.
Author Notes: Thanks for reading. inspiration for this story I got from the TV Show Flashpoint.