So this is the first chapter to the second part of this fanfic I'm writing. The first part was rated T, but I felt I wanted to get into the uglier sides of the mass effect universe so I couldn't keep the rating. If you've already gone through 'Improvisation can take you a long way', then welcome! I hope you enjoy this part of Nicolas' journey! If not, then I recommend you go check it out. I quite liked writing it, so maybe you'll like reading it!
Everything in this fanfic is owned by Bioware. No copyright infringement intended.
A harsh beeping woke Nicolas from a deep sleep. He grunted as he looked around to find the source of the beeping as his eyes struggled to focus. His hand moved his bed sheets aside to reveal his omnitool, glowing orange.
"Huh?" He groggily picked it up and activated the holographic display. There was an incoming call from a withheld number, "Who calls at three in the morning?"
He stalled for a moment before putting the omnitool back under the sheets and answering the vid-call, "This is Baker."
A familiar voice came, muffled under the bedsheets, "Oh, honey, did I wake you up?"
Nicolas pulled the omnitool out to see Jane's face. Her hair was tied back in a not, and ice was melting off her armour, "Not at all, babe," he lied, rubbing his eyes, "How's your day been?"
"It's been uneventful, as usual. We dropped down on a planet to look for geth, as usual. Didn't find anything-"
"As usual," Nicolas chuckled, "God, the council really wants to cover up the Reaper threat, huh?"
"Yeah, but don't worry. I'll find something they won't be able to deny soon enough. Did you receive my present?"
Nicolas looked over the edge of his bed at a plastic crate with candy from all the levo races. He'd received a chocolate bar from the automated dispensing mechanism and munched on it while he watched a vid, "I did! The Thessian chocolate was super good, even if it glows blue in the dark. Was it really necessary to install that once a day thing? Anyways, I have something for you when you get back, since you didn't give me a mailing address this time."
Shepard laughed, Nicolas couldn't help but smile at the beauty in the vid-screen, "It was the only way to keep you from eating them all at once! I'd give you a mailing address, but you know the planets we visit are classified. I can tell you, however, that this particular one is frozen."
"I could tell from your armour," He wanted to say he missed her, if only he hadn't said that every single call they'd made. He feared she might be getting bored of their routine… maybe we can take a little vacation when she gets back, he thought to himself.
"Hey," Shepard's voice went low like a whisper, how she usually did when she wanted to say something cute, "I'll be back next week, so I won't have to miss you for too long."
He smiled and got close to the camera, making himself appear nosy and goofy, "Best piece of news I've received in ages, babe," Nicolas sighed when Jane smiled, her nose wrkinling around the bridge as she did.
"I'd better let you get back to sleep. I've got a report to write. Have you gotten in touch with Garrus?"
"I'm actually meeting up with him tomorrow," Nicolas shifted around on his bed, propping himself up on his elbow, "He's been going on and on about Liara."
"Oh that girl won't shut up about 'big bird', that's what you called him, right?"
"Am I the only one who sees turians like birds?"
"I think you just might be the only one," Shepard teased, "Now go to sleep, or you'll be like a zombie tomorrow."
"Alright, Jane," Nicolas exhaled through his nose before laying down again, "Good night."
"Good night."
…
Shepard closed the vid-call. She massaged the bridge of her nose before leaving her private quarters for the medbay. Karin was sitting at her desk, going through the mission reports of the ground team.
"That Sanchez boy didn't take to the cold too well." Shepard said as she walked in, to open conversation.
"Yes, he's been having a bit of space-sickness, as we call it. His service history is made up of almost only planetside missions," Karin knew that wasn't why Shepard was there, though. She'd been through each of the ground squad's service history several times, making sure to choose good people.
Shepard sat down on the edge of one of the medbay beds before talking, "I just spoke to Nicolas. He received the care package."
"Ah, good. As long as he eats one a day, he should be alright."
Shepard had a worried frown on her face, "That was the last of it, right doctor?"
Chakwas nodded, "Yes. After this week, there should be no withdrawal symptoms."
Before Jane could say anything else, Joker spoke over the comms, "Commander, we have a possible geth vessel on our scanners… they don't match any known signatures… hold on, it's not the geth, BRACE FOR EVASIVE MANEUVERS!"
The ship lurched to the side before an explosion shook the hull. Shepard remembered her helmet being in her quarters and stood to run. She looked at Chakwas and shouted, "To the escape pods, Karin! Now!"
Joker's voice crackled through Shepard's emergency channel, Kinetic barriers down.
Another explosion made the kinetic dampers deactivate momentarily and Jane fell as if in free-fall towards the port side of the hull.
Multiple hull breaches.
When the dampers reactivated, she touched the floor too fast and rolled into a table in the mess hall, banging her head on a corner. She touched her glove to her forehead and it came back red before she felt the trickle of blood going down the side of her brow.
Weapons offline.
Wasting no time, she scrambled into her quarters, finding her helmet and dashing back out to the end of the cryo-pod corridor, where the black box and the distress beacon were.
Somebody get that fire out!
She knew the Normandy was doomed if the unidentified vessel had caused this much damage in so little time, so they needed every single piece of data on the attack.
Liara ran along the mess hall as the Normandy swung sideways, nearly making her lose her footing. She found the commander at the end of the deck and ran for her, "Shepard!" she shouted through her suit's speakers.
Jane kept a level voice, her N7 training kicking in, "Distress beacon is ready for launch." She needed to keep her crew in control and focused.
"Will the alliance get here in time?" Liara's tone sounded hopeless.
The Normandy shook again, and Jane turned to hold the asari before she fell over. She caught a glimpse of the scared eyes through the visor and knew she needed to be optimistic, "The Alliance won't abandon us, we just need to hold on. Have you helped everyone get to the escape shuttles?"
"Ashley, Chakwas and most of the crew are in position. I think Joker's still in the cockpit, he won't abandon ship." Liara started to jog down the corridor and stopped when she saw Shepard wasn't following.
Jane cursed under her breath, they couldn't lose the Alliance's best pilot. Her omnitool pinged when the black box download was complete. Stalking over to Liara, she put her hand on the asari's back and nudged her to follow as they jogged to the mess hall, "I don't want to lose anyone, Liara. Make sure everyone is ready for evac. I'll take care of Joker."
Liara stood near the medbay doors as she watched Jane climb into the service tunnel that lead to the cockpit, "Commander…"
Shepard exhaled through her nose. Nobody was getting out if she didn't hurry. She turned around and hoped her eyes could be seen through the visor, "Liara, go. Now," she made sure to add as much finality she could to her tone, and surely enough, Liara turned to leave for the medbay escape shuttle. Joker's voice crackled over the emergency channel once more.
Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is SSV Normandy!
Shepard climbed through the service tunnel, avoiding electrified cables and jagged surfaces of the hull that had punctured through the tunnel walls. A containment barrier glowed purple halfway through. Going through it, Jane felt her organs go weightless within her and the noises of explosions go silent as she entered the vacuum of space.
We've suffered heavy damage form an unknown enemy!
Shepard crawled out of the tunnel to see the platform where she used to stand on to look at the Galaxy map. Bubbles of electronics coolant liquid floated around the hull, and she looked up to see the frozen planet Alchera creating an ominous, sterile white glow on everything that faced it.
Come on, baby. Hold together, hold together!
She walked towards the cockpit, careful not to bump into anything sharp or hot. A dismembered torso floated by. Sparing a moment to look at it while it passed, she saw the Navigation Officer badge on the chest. Pressly.
The Normandy was running on one engine while the other three kicked into action for seconds at a time. The mass effect output of the eezo core was virtually zero. Joker was surprised the ship was still holding itself in one piece, so it would be blasphemy to just leave it. He suddenly heard footsteps behind him but he payed little attention.
"Come on, Joker! We have to leave the Normandy!" Shepard's voice came through her suit speakers as she tried turning the pilot's chair around.
Joker had prepared for someone interrupting his piloting, so he had blocked the swivelling mechanism. He wanted to bat off Jane's arm, but he knew he'd break his hands doing so, "No, I won't abandon ship! I can still save her!"
Jane was losing her temper, they had lost too many by that point already. With a quick motion, she kicked the manual locking mechanism under the chair and swivelled it around, "You are the best pilot in the Alliance. I will not lose you for trying to protect a ship that's already lost," she stole a glance at the HUD before snapping, "You don't even have two functioning engines!"
Joker gave a quick look over the holo-panels as he grumbled, "Alright. Help me up," at that moment, a warning blared above the radar screen, "oh no. They're coming in for another attack!"
It all happened so fast… a yellow beam of energy shot through the neck of the Normandy. Jane grabbed Joker by the arm, feeling a crack through his skin as the pilot screamed. Ignoring the broken bone, she pulled him up and helped him hobble to the escape pod nearby. Just as Joker had gotten in, the yellow beam cut through emergency power cables and the kinetic barriers keeping the air in the cockpit shut off. Jane was pulled out into the Normandy's neck by the vacuum that formed and her eyes caught sight of the escape pod manual override button. Immediately, she realized she would never reach the pod in time, so she gathered all her willpower and pushed the button.
An explosion slammed her into a wall, dazing her, then another rocketed her into space. Her consciousness bubbled back as she looked around, trying to find an unoccupied escape pod. A hundred meters away, the Normandy finally exploded as the eezo pellet in the drive core overloaded and shattered.
Everything was silent as Jane looked at the wreckage. She tried reaching anyone through any radio channel but no one answered. Her radio was surely broken. A piece of the Normandy zoomed past her, and she groaned between gnashing teeth as jagged ends almost ruptured her suit. A silent explosion occurred behind her, and shrapnel flew her way. All she heard was a soft zip, and her hand was severed off. In a flash, she used her omnitool to cover the stump with medigel when she noticed that there was no air coming from her respirator.
The commander twisted around in the vacuum, trying to reattach the cut oxygen tube to her respirator, reaching behind her desperately. She could hear herself gagging and choking within the helmet until consciousness finally left her and she fell into Alchera's atmosphere.
…
Nicolas looked at the empty crate Jane had sent. He'd saved a couple chocolates for them to eat together when she got back, but at this point, her return was clearly overdue. His energy was somewhat down during those days, and that day, a week after Jane was supposed to return, he called in sick. Hal had been working from Nicolas' desk terminal to keep up with his job's deadline while Nicolas slowly got out of bed.
It was past lunchtime when the doorbell rang. Nicolas put on a loose sweatshirt and pants and hobbled over to the door with a cup of coffee. The holo-screen showed a man dressed in an Alliance uniform. Nicolas' mind didn't find anything odd about it until he had opened the door.
"Mr. Baker?" the soldier or officer or whatever he was asked.
Nicolas nodded, warily, "Yes?"
"I am Officer Hernandez, here to send my condolences on behalf of Councilor Anderson. He-"
"Condolences? Why didn't he come here himself?" Nicolas interrupted, an irritated frown on his face.
"He has had to direct his full attention to keeping the Reaper investigations going. There has been a lot of counterproductive efforts from the rest of the council after the, uh… Normandy incident."
Nicolas' eyes shot open, "No. No no no no no," before the Alliance officer could continue, Nicolas had shut the door. He tore the paper envelope open desperately and scanned it, looking for a name. Jane Shepard.
"No…" Nicolas moaned as his eyes teared up. He wanted to throw up, so he ran to the kitchen sink, almost not reaching it in time. He didn't know whether he was crying or his eyes were watering from vomiting but he didn't care. Shepard was gone. Hal called from the terminal, asking what was wrong before slipping into the apartment's security cameras. He focused on the paper letter Nicolas had received, spying the name of the commander.
"The funeral is tomorrow, Nicolas. Why don't you call Garrus up or take a nap?" Hal asked over the music player's speakers.
Nicolas wiped his mouth on his sleeve as his sorrow boiled into anger. Who did it? Why were there survivors? Where is Jane? "Yeah, Hal. I think a nap will do me good," he sniffled before heading for the shower.
After putting the alliance fatigues he'd received at the Normandy during the mission to catch Saren, he stormed out of the apartment while putting his omnitool on. Hal asked him what he was doing over the translator but Nicolas didn't utter a word. He jumped into a public sky-car and punched in the address of the human embassy.
…
Anderson sat at his desk with Joker in front of him, looking down at the sling on his arm. The councillor had tried for the most part of the previous night to think of a way to let the pilot know he was grounded, and the easiest way he could come up with was to use logic, "Jeff, I know this is hard, but your tests show that the commander's death is taking too big a toll on you. We both know you're our best pilot, but I can't let you-"
The door to the office whooshed open as Nicolas stormed in with bloodied fists, "WHERE IS SHE? ANDERSON, YOU FU-" he was cut off by two alliance soldiers who tackled him to the ground and restrained him. Anderson stood and ordered the soldiers to keep Nicolas in the office and shouted for Nicolas to calm down.
Baker struggled at first but took a couple of deep breaths before panting, "What happened to the Normandy?"
Joker answered with a voice he was struggling to keep level, "We were attacked by an unknown enemy. Shepard didn't make it out. She died putting me in an escape pod."
Anderson piped in, "Shepard died saving all of her crewmembers, Joker. Nicolas, we don't know who attacked the Normandy. Whoever they were, they had very advanced technology, since they were able to find the Normandy even while in stealth mode."
"I don't give two fucks what technology they had," Nicolas flinched as the soldiers twisted his arm when he struggled, "I want to know where she is."
"I'm sorry, Baker, we can't let you know where her body is. The location of the Normandy's crash is classified, and we cannot send a rescue party into the Terminus without an exorbitant amount of political backlash. Shepard will have to wait."
Nicolas shook his head, baring bloodied teeth from smacking his face on the floor after the tackle he had received, "You fucking spineless alliance cowards!" He was then pulled out of the office as he struggled to break free with more strength. He screamed every curse he knew at the top of his lungs until one of the officers used a stun gun on him and he blacked out from the shock.
He woke up at the C-sec detention centre, soon after he stirred, a familiar face came up to his cell, "Come on, broomhead, you know better than storming into a councillor's office and assaulting two alliance guards," Garrus shook his head, "what were you thinking?"
"They wouldn't tell me where Jane is, Garrus, and they won't go get her. There's no way in hell I'm going to her funeral if the casket's gonna be empty." Nicolas spoke bitterly, his eyes glued to his feet, avoiding Garrus' sight.
"Well, I suggest you go home and get some sleep, or some time to think over things. I can go to your place later today, if you want. The Alliance hasn't pressed charges, so you're free to go," with this, Garrus opened the cell.
"Thanks, Garrus. You don't need to worry about coming over. I'll be fine," Nicolas grumbled as he got up and walked out, tapping his knuckles on the white prosthetic plates on the turian's arm.
…
"Hal, how soon can you finish the VI project?" Nicolas asked as he packed various objects into a duffel bag.
"It's finished, Nicolas. You double checked it yesterday." Hal spoke through the apartment's speakers, over the loud music that was already playing.
"Did I? Well, send it over to the start-up guys and wipe all traces of you from the terminal before getting in the omnitool. We have to get out of here before Garrus inevitably shows up." He said as he checked through the travel crate containing his armour and holstered his handgun on his thigh.
…
Garrus rang the doorbell to Nicolas' apartment, receiving no answer for the fifth time. He exhaled through his nose, annoyed and crossed his arms before inspecting the door. Opening his omnitool, he opened the C-sec program for searching houses with probable cause. Once inside the apartment, he looked around to see it was just like it was the last time he'd met Nicolas. There were no signs of a fight or a binge of alcohol or anything out of the ordinary. The crate Shepard had sent was on the kitchen counter beside the heating unit so he walked up to it. Five levo chocolates with bright wrappers were there, stacked on top of the crate. Feeling there was nothing he could use as a clue, he walked to the bedroom. Looking in the closet, he found the armour crate was nowhere to be found and the door to the gun safe was ajar.
"What did you do, Nicolas?" Garrus muttered to himself as he headed for the terminal for any more clues.
It was unlocked, and a single text file was open. Garrus used his omnitool to translate it into legible characters. I went to find Shepard, Big Bird. Don't come looking for me.
…
Nicolas stood in line at the dock to get into the civilian ship. The constant buzz of the docks and the smells of cuisine from all over the galaxy attacked his nose and ears as he tried to shut everything off while still keeping enough of his senses about him to not get pickpocketed by the children running up and down the line.
Boarding for shuttle Beta-67 to Omega has begun. Please keep your baggage with you at all times.
So yep, that was the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! I'll get to work immediately on the next one!