Mallus ground his teeth, hunched over the sensor readings in the Bridge of the ISV Quiet Repose. There was nothing.
"There has to be something, anything."
Walesh worked in the pilot's chair with near robotic efficiency. "Apparently not," he said simply.
Mallus had Walesh look at every corner of this system, looking for some bit of scrap to salvage that wasn't that surely-cursed human ship.
Mallus looked at the sector map, they were out of the relay system -where the Wreck was - hanging over a lonely spec of rock orbiting an ancient red star.
Mallus fumed, Zo was right. If they didn't bring something in this trip, there wouldn't be another. But every bit of him wanted nothing to do with that UNSC wreck.
Mallus pushed off the sensor panel. "Keep looking." He started to the door out of the bridge.
"But-"
"I said keep looking!" Mallus snapped over his shoulder, storming out of the bridge. He turned right sharply, kicking open the low door that exposed the ladder lead down to his quarters and dropped down without so much as touching the rungs.
His knee groaned at him as he crouched to soak up his momentum, an old memento from past action, but he ignored the pain. He ripped down his desk from where is was stored in the wall and glared at its contents. Reports, expenses, requests for leave, Janeth asking his pay be tallied per kill. Everything that came with being a captain. It was like a stick, prodding him towards that ship. He wanted to - needed to - find another solution. That's what he did, find the way out nobody expected. He would do it here.
Across the ship, curled up in a dark corner, River giggled.
Mallus sorted through the reports, little more than rumors, really, that brought him to this corner of the Terminus. There had been a handful of Bloodpack sighted in the area, if they'd had a job there would surely be collateral to collect. The Bloodpack were vicious and messy. More than one scav had made their career from the leavings of Bloodpack missions. The thought made Mallus' lips curl in disgust, Mercenaries were some of the worst people in the galaxy. Not like how Mallus saw himself and his crew. Mercs were murderers, generally concern with only money and killing. Though it was different for the Bloodpack, they much preferred killing to money.
Despite the rumors, they hadn't found anything to say the Bloodpack had been in the area. If they'd been Eclipse, or Blue Suns, Mallus might expect a covert operation, but the Bloodpack didn't do covert. So they must have left without a fight, unlikely, or the rumors were wrong and they were here for no damn reason.
Mallus' teeth began to ache from the pressure.
"Captain?" Simon's voice, tense and even more uptight than usual, issued from the PA, he sounded out of breath. "I need to speak with you in the infirmary."
Mallus sighed.
Ducking in to the infirmary, Mallus stopped, blinking. He was greeted by a strange sight, a krogan in need of medical attention. Janeth glowered in the medical chair, a gruesome crack in his skull plate, almost as long as Mallus' forearm, oozed thick orange blood. That wasn't the only thing that stopped him. The rest of the infirmary, normally kept in a state of near perfection, was in complete disarray. It was as if a storm had swept through, blowing everything around. Or, more likely, a pain addled Krogan looking for drugs. Simon grunted as he worked a large medical grade staple gun, standing over Janeth's head. A dull Kchunk sounded as Simon put a thick staple into Janeth's head to stabilize the crack. "Janeth?" Mallus asked. The Krogan at least had the decency to not look proud of the mess he'd made.
"Sorry, Mal. I was-" The Krogan started only to be cut off by Simon.
"This- this creature, attacks me while I'm cleaning, bleeding everywhere." Simon grunted again. Kchunk. "Demanding something for pain. He eats a handful of antipsychotics, a dietary aid, and a suppository before I could dope him." Kchunk.
"I'm following you so far," Mallus said, trying to keep a straight face. Kchunk.
"Between his rampage and his thievery, we're low on almost everything." Simon was angry, furious, now he was worried.
Mallus frowned. "Antipsychotics?" What that meant took away any mirth he could have had.
Simon stopped stapling, looking down. He had the look of a commander who was losing men and couldn't stop it. "River is going to have a few… bad days… until I can restock." The words sounded like they were being ripped from his body. He grimaced, "if I can restock."
Mallus put a hand on Simon's shoulder. "You will." He said. Simon looked up and smiled. The human believed him. Mallus looked down at Janeth. "And you will make this right."
The Krogan argued hotly, but he did look sorry, a little. "Mal, I weren't in the right mind, I didn't-"
"I brought you on to help protect what I've built here." Mallus spoke simply and quietly, shouting and raging didn't work nearly as well as people though it did. "And you've done so. But I won't have you hurting my crew." Family. "Make it right, or find your own way." Mallus spun on his heel. "See it done, Janeth."
"How am I-?"
Mallus opened his omni tool, "Walesh, set a course for the relay system. We've got a mark to salvage."
An hour later, Mallus stood in his cramped quarters, staring at the empty armour handing in the corner. The darkly bronze visor stared back.
"Could have done with a boring life," Mallus muttered, gripping the helmet with both hands and pulling it off the stand. "Mom was right, shoulda been an accountant." He turned the helmet over in his hands, admiring the scratches and scrapes it had acquired over the years, trying not to image the new ones that this job would surely bring.
The ship shuddered slightly underfoot as she came out of FTL. "Sir," Walesh's voice crackled over the PA. "Arrived in Relay system. Eta to wreck 6 minutes."
"Understood," Mallus said into his omni tool. He keyed the Shipwide. "Away team, cargo bay in 5." Mallus spared only one more glance at his helmet before tossing it onto his bed and readying the rest of his gear.
Mallus was dressed in his exo-suit, with his long coat worn over it and helmet in one hand, and at the mouth of the cargo bay in 3 minutes. Almost as good as his record time in the Hierarchy. I'm getting old, he chuckled to himself, leaning against the wall next to the bay doors. He was soon joined by Zo, in a similar coloured suit. Her helmet, firmly on her head, was subtly different to allow for her female elongated jaw spurs.
Her bronze visor glinted in the harsh lighting. "Heard there was a commotion in the medbay with Janeth?" Zo said, clearly not asking if it happened. "Janeth going to be able to make it?"
"He'll make it," Mallus said. He tapped his fingers on the butt of his pistol, a custom job on a Phalanx, the elongated barrel suited him.
Janeth's appearance in the cargo bay was heralded by two different things: first, the loud clomp clomp clomp of his boots hitting the deck as he walked, and secondly, the bright, garish glow of his armour. A sickening whirl of bright colours and hues that blended together in just the right - or wrong - way to make the viewer slightly nauseous.
"Still trying to blind your enemies before coming in for the kill, eh, Janeth?" Mallus said, shading his eyes with his hand.
Janeth grunted once.
Mallus looked over at Zo with a wry grin. "One means yes, two for no." Janeth grunted again and Mallus' grin grew. "See?"
Zo shook her head but didn't say anything.
Mallus put his helmet on, and his smile died a quick death as soon as his face was hidden. A General's mood infects his men. If he's happy, the fight must be in their favour, and they'll fight to the death. If the General is worried, maybe this fight is too hard to win? Wars have been won on a General's smile, boy, don't forget that.
An alarm blared once as the cargo bay doors opened. A blue shield snapped into place as the bay was opened to the vacuum of space. Blackness broken by a smattering of pinpoint stars greeted them.
"Synchronising rotation," Walesh's voice said through the radio. Then slowly, as if a grand reveal, the wrecked ship came into view. That cross hatch of exposed decks would have been able to support many hundreds of people. But who did they work for? Mallus fretted silently. "Be wary of crossing," Walesh added. "Debris around vessel not insignificant."
"Hmh, Janeth grunted, "most things are insignificant compared to me," he boasted, it lacked that arrogant energy that usually suffused the Krogan, though.
Zo's visor glinted in the sharp light of the new star that they were orbiting as she looked over at him, an unasked question shooting between them. Mallus shook his head. Zo shrugged and batted away a human shoe that had floated into the bay.
Mallus signaled to his companions and they all took two decisive steps off the cargo ramp and into the cluttered void. "Entering debris field now." Mallus said into the radio. The three of them floated into the swarm innocuous things. Clothing, personal items, radios, equipment, and weapons. It was an eerie time capsule, all the things that make a people, left out in the cold of space between them and the wreck. Like one last, futile, effort to protect their ship. Mallus shuddered.
"Who could make something like this?" Janeth asked, his voice crackly over the radio.
"That is the mystery of the day, isn't it?" Mallus said. "Anyone with this kind of weight to throw around would have been here by now."
"Could be some kind of black ops gone wrong?" Zo suggested, she carefully spun and shifted through the debris. Barely disturbing it as she passed through.
"Even if someone didn't want it found, wouldn't they clean up their own mess?" Mallus asked, casually backhanding an oncoming boot. "We both know Black Ops don't leave evidence, Zo."
"Could be," Janeth said, scratching his chin thoughtfully as he tumbled through the mess, human odds and ends bouncing off his armour haphazardly. "That they were bad black ops."
Mallus soundlessly snapped his fingers in the vacuum, "That's it, genius." Zo chuckled quietly and Janeth made a rude gesture in return.
They past through the ring of detritus and the wreck loomed over them. It filled Mallus' vision. "Alright, you know the music, time to dance." tiny puffs of gas from their armour propelled Janeth towards the upper decks, and Zo down to the belly of the ship. Mallus went straight down the middle. "Regular check in every 5 until we rendezvous."
"Yes, Sir"
"Sure thing, boss."
Mallus adjusted his trajectory so that he'd fall straight down one of the hallways. Zo was below him, maybe seven or eight decks down. Zo shot a salute, just as the metal swallowed them up, Mallus nodded and silently returned the gesture. Then he was inside. He drifted down a hallways, suddenly feeling unoriented. Mallus curled into a ball to spin himself "upright," then fired his jets to slow and stop himself. He hung in the center of the hall, floating a foot off the floor.
"Alright," Mallus said to himself, making sure to keep the radio off. Commanding was often lonely business. "Time to see what horrors this old wreck has to give us."
One thing was immediately clear to Mallus as he began to explore the wreck. It was most definitely not Alliance. For one, the colours were all off, and the curves, there weren't any. Alliance vessels didn't have the gentle swoops and rounded edges of the Asari variety, but this ship was almost turian in its design. Simple, angular designs of a people that was far more interested in function than fashion. Mallus pulled himself down the halls carefully, almost swimming through the ship.
"Sir," Zo's voice came over the radio. "Found what looks to be their reactor…" she hesitated, not something Zolal normally does. "..Maybe."
What did that mean? "Care to continue your explanation?" Mallus said, drifting past a door and catching the frame to halt his journey.
"It looks… odd." Zo finished, clearly not happy with her choice in words, but evidently unable to find a better one.
"Do I need to get Simon on the line so we can brainstorm better words?" Mallus asked.
"This isn't a normal Eezo core," Zo said definitively. "I'm not sure, but I don't think this thing can generate a mass effect field."
Janeth cut in. "How's she gonna go FTL without eezo?"
"Mark it and keep moving," Mallus ordered, "we need to cover ground, not make assumptions and get tangled in mysteries."
"Yes, sir."
Mallus ghosted through the ship. Ghost was the right word, the entire ship seemed dead. A spectre of cold metal, but something tugged at him. Dead ships had a feel, Mallus had been in enough to know it. This ship was empty, that much was clear, but it didn't feel… abandoned. How that could be didn't make any sense to Mallus, and he didn't think the answer would bode well for him and his. The regular check-ins from Zo and Janeth helped, neither of them found anything but signs that people had once lived there. One thing nobody found, disturbingly enough, were bodies. Not a single one. Finding corpses was always grisly, but not finding any? On a wreck like this? It was just… unnerving.
A sign over a door caught his eye, he'd been in a number of different rooms, most of them storage, or crew quarters, none with anything worth noting. Mallus stared at the word. "Cryonics." Freezing people had gone out of style, the only ones to do it now were crazy quintillionaires and prisons, keeping the worst of the worst out of the general population on both accounts.
Just what I need, Mallus thought grimly. A dead ship full of frozen human psychopaths and/or rich people. Mallus wasn't quite sure which he disliked more. One was liable to stab you in the back with a smile on their face, and as for the other, well, prison ships were a pain to deal with as a rule.
Mallus pulled his pistol from the mag strips that secured it to his thigh and flicked off the safety. No sense no being prepared.
The door opened with a sharp hiss and Mallus swung in, eyes on a swivel and pistol raised. The room was largely empty, of living souls at least. There were a number of pods, looking almost like coffins, set along the walls. And a pedestal of some kind in the center. The pedestal glowed with a faint blue light. It pulsed gently, as if breathing.
"Ok, blue." Mallus said to himself happily. He didn't lower his weapon, however. "Blue is good." The Alliance can't seem to make something not blue. Maybe he'd been wrong before. Designs can change. Keeping an eye on the glowing thing, always watch glowing things - that'd been a lesson he'd learned early on in his career - he floated around the room and checked the pods.
Empty. Thank spirits. He turned and checked another, then another and another. All empty. One last one remained, but Mallus was already breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank spirits for small favours," He murmured, "I don't have to deal with crazy frozen…" His words died on his tongue. The last pod was not empty. Very not empty. "...Damn."
Inside the pod was some kind of… giant. Human, he assumed, though he supposed it could be a very masculine looking Asari. It was a soldier, that much was clear. It's exosuit was heavily armoured, what looked like solid metal plating over a dark undersuit. Not at all like modern hardsuits. Could be a ancient human expedition? Mallus wondered. Before the 314 incident? Maybe even before they unlocked Mass effect technology. But how would it have gotten so far into the terminus? Earth is on the other side of the galaxy! Through the pod's transparent front door, Mallus' pensive face was reflected back up at him in the giant's gold visor. "Hm," Mallus thought aloud. "Shiny." He sighed. "Ok, so one frozen crazy person." Mallus amended, "not so bad, I just have to keep him under."
Mallus was so intent on the occupant of the pod. didn't see the pulsing glow speed up. Pulsing faster and faster until it was a steady light pouring from the pedestal. He didn't see the shape of a small, blue woman appear, laying sprawled on her side, at the top of the structure. And he didn't see her stand to glare at him, or the soft blue turning sickly purple as a crack of red light crept up her leg.
"Who are you?" she asked. Mallus jerked around, pistol raised and ready to fire. The small blue woman's eyes widened at the sight of the weapon. At first Mallus thought it was fear, but then realized it was simply surprised as her face shifted into a rancid grin. Mallus swallowed. That was waaay too much emotion, simulated or otherwise, for a garden variety V.I.. This was bad.
"Identify yourself." Mallus barked, keeping his weapon ready. You could never to too careful with A.I, He'd learned that the hard way.
The woman's - A.I.'s eyes swept around the room, seemingly uncaring of the gun pointed at it. Processing core must not be local. Mallus reasoned. Or it's crazy enough to not care. Finally, after a long moment of looking around, her eyes, now glowing faintly purple, rested on Mallus. "My name isn't important," she said darkly, a note of rich amusement colouring her voice. "His is." She nodded to the pod behind Mallus, then fanned out her fingers to study her nails. Did AI have fingernails? It was a thought for another time. "Though I doubt you'll live long enough to learn it."
"Mr Popsicle over here doesn't seem too much of a threat." Mallus said dryly, jerking his head to the pod. The AI - it couldn't be anything else - just laughed, rich and throaty.
"Not yet." The lights in the room snapped on and the ship hummed to light around him. Mallus immediately put himself behind one of the pods, on the far wall to the door and situated so he could easily see the Giant's pod, the pedestal, and the door.
"Yes, run and hide little creature." The AI cooed. She was more red than blue now. Definitely a bad sign, and an electronic whirl began to build, going higher and higher. Lights on the Giant's pod flickered to life and motors in its base groaned to reorient it so it stood up, its occupant could easily step out.
"Zo, Janeth, on me, NOW," Mallus snapped into the radio. That's what you get for not watching the glowing thing!
"Moving."
"On my way, Mal."
"They can't help you!" The AI snapped. Her calm "supervillain with a plan" demeanor was gone. Her hair was wild and tangled around her face, little more than an animalistic snarl. The red had swallowed everything but one eye, which was a deep purple except for the very center. A single, brilliant blue spark in a wildfire.
"Ok, that's enough of that." Mallus growled. He wasn't an engineer, but he knew how to overload a system, he jabbed his omnitool at the madwoman.
Nothing happened. A quick glance down showed that his omni tool didn't overload the AI's systems because it did not know there was anything that could be overloaded in front of him. This AI might as well not exist at all, expect for the immediate and mortal danger it presented.
"Fine," He rose out of cover and levelled his pistol at the pedestal. "Bye, little blue lady."
Metal shrieked and a pod burst off its housing in the wall to fly in front of the pedestal, just in time for Mallus' round to bury in the steel. The pod's overworked motors wheezing as they died. The AI looked at the pod, just as, if not more, surprised as Mallus as it crashed into the opposite wall.
Flashes of dark sapphire glimmered through the red, which had stopped encroaching on the woman's body. She looked at Mallus. Her madwoman's rictus gone, replaced by fear, but not, Mallus thought, a fear of him.
"What am I-?" She looked down at herself in horror. Her clawed fingers glaring scarlet trembled. "No."she whispered. "No no nononono!" The last was a howl, ripped from her throat like pulling a barbed hook from flesh. Then, all at once, the room plunged into darkness and the rising whirl died.
Mallus looked around in the darkness, more than a little confused. He pushed himself up over his cover. Slowly. "Oookaaaay…"
Blue light returned. But dimmer, lower. The pedestal was the only source of light in the room. The image of a woman projected onto the top. She was collapsed on the floor. Like someone had thrown her there. She was blue, not red, which seemed good. Mallus cautiously approached. Her blue was darker, now. A deep, melancholy azure that barely beat back the shadows at all. She laid there, hardly stirring as Mallus pulled himself closer, hand over hand, so that he could float next to the pedestal and look her face to face. Well, face to whole body.
"It's too late. Kill me," She murmured thickly, pushing herself up on her hands. Her movements were sluggish weak. She reminded Mallus of one of his men he'd seen one take a hard hit to the head. Everyone'd thought he'd had just a bad concussion until he'd died, bleeding from his eyes half an hour later. Mallus raised an eyebrow. Crazy AI didn't ask to be killed, they wanted to control the universe. "I'm not safe for him to be around." She said. "Kill me."
Mallus' trigger finger twitched. It would be easy. Memory flickered.
An old turian, his spines greying and brittle sat in his living room floor, cradling his right shoulder, where his arm used to be. The doctors had said the old man's recovery had progressed without a hitch. But they were only looking at the man's body. Now, Mallus stood in the door, looking into his eyes. They were sunken, hollow. They stared now, empty, seeing nothing. Odd, as they were like that from having seen too much.
"Sergeant…" The elder said. He hadn't picked up the pistol from where he'd dropped it, he didn't look up at Mallus either. He just stared into the void. "I'm sorry, I couldn't." He reached out to Mallus, trying to catch his long coat tails. Mallus jerked away. Disgust curling his lip. The old man fell and didn't get up. He laid there, as if thrown by some monstrous force.
"I can't fight anymore," he pleaded. "The only thing I can do is choose where to die. Please, Sergeant. For an old friend."
Mallus walked around the old man, then picked up the pistol. His fingers traced the intricate scrollwork running along the barrel. It was a phalanx, heavily customized.
"General," Mallus started. "You've lead me through more fights than I can count, and we've both worked for the good of the Hierarchy." The weapon seemed heavier than his own. It could be. But it might be weighed down by what was being asked of it. "You were like a second father to me..." Military loses were inevitable, and though the General hadn't been dishonorably discharged, his resignation had been… vigorously requested, after such a public loss for the Hierarchy against these humans.
The old man's voice took on a ragged, heated edge. "Do it, Sergeant." He said. "I'm done with this world. I clearly can't be trusted to do what's best for it. Do it!"
Mallus didn't move. The elder's face twisted in rage and pain.
"That's an order from a superior officer, Sergeant!"
Mallus looked up from the pistol. "Then I accept your most gracious retirement gift." He raised the pistol and put it into a pocket, then turned and walked away, waving behind him to the one-armed man. "There's rope in the garage. A noose isn't terribly difficult to tie. If you want out, you'll have to earn it, Old man."
Mallus walked out the admiral's home and pretended he didn't hear the sobs.
Mallus grimaced at the despondent creature before him. "I'm not in the habit of killing unarmed…" he looked at her. She was defeated. Any flavour of threat she had been was no longer. At least for now. "Whatever-you-are." He said finally. He could always shoot her later if she became a threat. "I will, however, settle for a story." Mallus drew himself in to "sit", floating two feet off the ground, with his legs crossed under him. His pistol was easily draped over one knee and his free hand holding onto the pedestal to keep steady. "So why don't you start from the top?"
Several minutes later, Mallus looked up. The door shot open and Janeth sailed into the room, claymore shotgun up at pointing at anything target shaped. The Krogan continued through the room and slammed against the opposite wall, but didn't seem to notice, or care, still aiming at anything that might be a threat. Zo followed soon after, making a more measured entry. Holding a disciple shotgun, she slid through the door, navigating micro-gravity with practised ease.
Mallus watched, a sly grin on his face hidden behind his helmet. He floated two feet off the ground, relaxed, and clearly in no danger. He waved.
"Hey."
Zo sighed through the radio and put up her weapon. "You gave the impression you were in danger, Sir."
Mallus nodded emphatically. "Oh yeah, it was really touch and go for a second there."
"And you didn't feel the need to let us know you were fine before we arrived?"
Mallus gestured to the pair. 'And miss my brave crew valiantly coming to their Captain's rescue?"
Janeth looked around warily. "So we shooting something? Or what?"
Mallus waved dismissively. "Stand down, we're listening, not fighting."
Zo pushed off to slowly drift towards Mallus. "Listening to whom?"
"That would be me."
Zo's eyes snapped to the pedestal and the small woman projected onto the top. A different creature entirely than before. She was a bright blue again, and standing with her arms crossed. If Mallus hadn't been there, he wouldn't have thought anything was wrong with the little blue woman.
"Spirits!" Zo cursed and drew her weapon, pointing it at the pedestal. "Is that-?"
"An AI." the woman said. "Yes"
"Alright, alright, let's all be calm," Mallus said. "A quick debrief." He pointed to the blue woman. "This is Cornea-"
"-Cortana"
"-That's what I said- And this,"Mallus pointed to a pod near the rear of the room. "Is Mister Chef-"
"Master Chief" Cortana sighed.
"-right- and they're from the UNSC-" Mallus stopped sharp and looked over at Cortana.
"No, no, you got that one right," she said, motioning him forward.
"...And they're stranded." Mallus finished.
Zo waited, a long moment of silence was only broken by Janeth floating over to the Chief's pod and running headfirst into it with a clonk.
"That's it?" Zo asked.
Mallus raised a talon. "I did say it was quick," he pointed out.
Zo sighed.
Mallus turned to the AI. his pistol still firmly in his hand. "First question: what is the UNSC?"
"The United Nations Space Command." Cortana said, drawing herself up proudly. "The Military and exploratory arm of the Unified Earth Government."
Janeth snorted in laughter. "I've met humans. Ain't nuthin "united" about 'em"
Cortana looked around at Janeth, curious. "What year is it?" She asked, demanded.
"2184," Mallus said slowly.
Cortana's eyes widened, Mallus' narrowed. Was it surprised at how long it had been in suspension? It was difficult to believe something this complex could be any older than a decade or so. Even now an AI this… complete was difficult and rare.
The AI's expression went from shock, to confusion, to intense contemplation in a flash. Mallus could almost see the gears turning in that little blue head of hers. Then, just as quick, she went slack. Like a sail with it's lines cut, the little blue woman stood in the center of the pedestal, her arms loosely at her side and her eyes blank, almost glassy. Mallus looked over at Zo. her visor shimmered in the soft blue light. Her shrug held no answers. Janeth was still engaged with the Chief character, leering into the pod eagerly, no doubt already wanting to fight it.
"Hey, Little blue, you there?" Mallus snapped his talons in front of the despondent hologram, ignoring the face they were still, in fact, in a vacuum and it wouldn't produce any actual sound. "Look, if you're from the last century, or something like that-"
Cortana's eyes sharpened to a razor focus. "Quite the contrary, I believe. Or something close to it." She sounded like she knew a secret. If there was one thing he knew he didn't want a crazy AI lady to have, it was secrets. Mallus' hand flexed around the grip of his pistol.
"I am not from your past, Captain. But rather, or so I believe, a future."
Mallus blinked. "Run that by me again?" He asked, already feeling the headache come on. Just what I need, time travelling crazy AI.
"Not your future," Cortana clarified. "But rather one that could have been, at least from your perspective."
Mallus sighed, then looked over to his XO. "Zo. you're smart. Translate?"
"Many worlds theory, sounds like," Zo said curtly. "Every choice creates opposite universes, leading to an infinite variation in events across them all." She shrugged. "Or something like that, I'm a little rusty on quantum metaphysics."
"So you're from...?"
"The year 2552," The thing said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. "My world has seemingly progressed differently from your own. The Systems Alliance is nothing like the UNSC, Humanity is... different here." Cortana's tone suggested that it was not a positive difference. Not that they were bad, but just… lesser than she'd been expecting. Like a child who thought they were getting a puppy for Christmas, but instead got a stuffed dog toy.
"How do you know about the Alliance if you're not from here?" Zo asked. Never one to trust easily.
"I did a quick extranet search on humans, the council, and a few related subjects." Cortana said casually. Or she tried to, the pride in her voice was unmistakable.
"So you can use our tech, why can't ours see you?" Mallus waved at the pedestal and showed Zo the results, or lack thereof. Zo shook her head and scanned the AI herself, muttering at her wrist when the results came back. "It does seem unlikely that computational strategies from different universes would be compatible…"
"My question stands," Mallus said impatiently
"My systems were designed to function on alien systems…" Cortana supposed, tapping her lip. "Though yours are particularly strange, I will admit."
Zo drew Mallus away from the AI. "Sir, what are we going to do?" She asked. "AI are illegal in council space, and these guy's story doesn't smell right to me." She looked over at Cortana, who was watching Janeth watch this Chief character. "I hate to say it, but you were right, we don't want anything to do with them.
Mallus' brows drew down thoughtfully. "Now I'm not so sure…"
"Sir," Zo's tone made him look over. It was a tired warning. "Don't we already have enough to deal with? Cerberus is still going be looking for Simon and River. We're almost dead in the water without taking on two new mouths.
"One, mouth," Mallus corrected. "The other one eats batteries, or something." He glanced over at the Chief's armoured form, through the frosted glass of his cryo pod. "Or maybe they both do." He chuckled inwardly. "Kalia would be ecstatic."
"Sir-"
"I'm not saying trust." Mallus had made his decision. "We've only seen one half of this coin, I'm keen to see the other." Mallus' made his voice firm. A general giving an order, not a friend making a suggestion.
"Well?" Cortana asked as they came back to the pedestal. "Will you help us?" Mallus unclipped a small case, made for containing sensitive data packets. It was a hard locked EM shielded Blackbox. It was designed so one could transport a datachip without fear someone could hack into it and steal, delete, or copy the contents. Useful for salvagers who stumbled upon valuable data. It should work for this new purpose.
At least Mallus hoped it would.
"Maybe." Mallus knelt and studied the pedestal. When threatened, she'd defended it. Which meant that there probably was- Aha!
"Maybe?" Cortana asked. Her face drew down. And she grew on edge. She could see something was about to happen.
Mallus looked up at Cortana. "Maybe." He repeated. "But we're definitely going to help him." He jerked his head towards the frozen human, and quickly found the chip that - hopefully - contained the AI, and jerked it free of the pedestal. Quick as he could, mallus dropped the chip into the Blackbox and snapped shut the lid. It powered on with a quiet whine.
Mallus released a breath he had not realized he was holding.
"Now what?" Zo asked, hands on her hips.
"Now we get the Chiefscicle back to the Repose and see if he's really who Little Blue said he was."
"Permission to speak, Sir?" Zo asked.
"Is it a compliment?"
No, Sir"
"Then no." Mallus said childishly. So there.
"I feel I've already made my point." Zo said, a flicker of humour in her voice as she headed out of the cryobay. "Janeth, wait here, I'll get the lift."
Mallus followed Zo out.
"What are you going to do with it?" Zo asked. Glancing at the Blackbox.
'Its in the box." Mallus said. "What more do you want from me?"
"An actual plan would be nice."
"I have a plan!" Mallus said haughtily. "The plan is to put this away so I can... come up with a plan."
"Mhmm" Mallus could hear the single raised brow-plate through the radio.
"Planning to plan a plan still counts as a plan!"
Mallus was wandering the Repose, planning. He couldn't think sitting still. He had to move his body to move his mind. He kicked out the ladder and climbed out of his quarters, pointedly not looking at the small black case under his bed. There was nothing to truly do until this Master Chief character woke. The ship felt eerily quiet, like it was holding its breath for something. The Medbay, in contrast, was not.
"What do you want me to do with it?!" Simon demanded from the back corner of the medbay. What little space was there had been taken up by the massive Cryopod that sat on the floor. Kalia hovered over it excitedly. Those two were spending a worrying amount of time together. Janeth stood at the far end, nearest the door.
"Don't care." Janeth said with a shrug. "Boss asked me to bring it here, so I did."
"Why not bring it down to engineering?" Kalia asked. "It looks real shiny. I'd love to get into its workings and whatnot."
"Figure we should at least hand the poor fellow off to medical," Mallus said, drawing eyes. "Get your opinion."
"In my opinion," Simon started, "He's frozen. I can't fixed frozen. Cryonics isn't used medically anymore, and I have no idea the methods used to preserve him. If I don't warm him with the proper procedures and materials, I could kill him." Simon sighed. Kalia crawled over the device, checking every square inch.
"Mayhap we get it powered, mister might wake up. Tells us all we need to know."|
"That's the plan," Mallus said.
"Welp, No need for me." Janeth said. "I'll be in my bunk." He clomped off.
"You got a plan?" Mallus asked Kalia, was muttering to herself under her breath.
"Figure so." She nodded. "I think we take a mould of this here power port. Fill it with any and all things conductive, and plug'er into the Repose."
"Sounds good"
"Probably won't even explode the ship, bye!" Kalia dashed out of the Medby with a gleeful energy.
"Explode-? Kalia!" Mallus shouted after her. The excitable Asari didn't slow, quickly disappearing towards engineering.
"Talk to me once he's breathing again," Simon said, returning to his work. "He's probably already dead, anyway"
Mallus waited in the Medbay for Kalia to return. She scanned the inside of the power port and tapped some commands into her omni tool. "Now lets see what the fabricator can make of it." She said, disappearing again. Simon puttered around the medbay for several minutes, cleaning, rearranging, and going over inventories they would need to replenish. Kalia returned carrying what appeared to be a large block of metal welded onto thick cable.
"Here goes nothing," Kalia murmured and slotted the plug into the port with a solid Kchunk.
There was a familiar building of energy, a low buzz that grew into a shrill whine. Mallus looked at Simon, who watched, as far away as he could get from the pod and still be in the medbay, then to Kalia, whose face was wreathed in fascinated glee. Mallus took a step back as the whine peaked, his hand going to his pistol unconsciously.
The whine died suddenly to leave the medbay in an eerie quiet.
"That it?" Mallus asked.
Everyone jumped as the pod door cracked open with a sharp HISS.
A black and green hand reached up to push the lid open the rest of the way. It swung over to hit the floor with a CLONG. That hand grasped the lip of the pod and levered the rest of its occupant up and out of the pod.
It silently stood, swinging its torso up to a truly impressive height. A featureless gold visor swung this way, then that, searching for something.
It stepped out of the pod onto the deck. The floor groan slightly. Mallus eyes widened. Spirits! What's it made of? The… being, silently watched its surroundings. Nobody moved, as if paralysed by its looming presence. It would even dwarf Janeth if he were here. Speaking of, I would feel better if he were. Not a sentence one is glad to find themselves thinking. Mallus looked at Simon, who looked at the thing with wide eyes. The giant didn't react. It almost looked… placid.
Mallus' hand flexed around the grip of his pistol and the giant's gaze snapped over to him so fast that any thoughts of it being placid were immediately discarded. That pane of gold glass stared at him. Started INTO him.
"Where is she?" The voice was deep, undeniably male. And slow. Not slowness of mind, but every word seemed to be dragged out of the man.
Mallus swallowed. "The little blue woman? She's safe, we're keeping it in a safe place, separate so she can't affect anything. We just wanted to-"
"Get her." the man said. Chief, that's what the AI had called it. Master Chief.
Mallus raised his hands to slow down this Chief. "Now slow down there, we just want to talk so we can make sure-"
The assault rifle came into one of the giant's hands and was raised before Mallus could even think of going for his own weapon. Spirits, he's fast!
The rifle remained rock steady as the giant took two careful steps, putting himself between Mallus and Kalia, who was still kneeling at the side of the pod, frozen in an odd mixture of awe and terror. "Now." The Chief didn't sound angry. In fact, his tone hadn't changed from the slow, ponderous one he'd started with, but the threat was clear. They had one of his, so he took one of theirs.
Mallus slowly turned on his communicator "Zo?"
"Yes, sir?"
"I want you to go into my quarters, collect the Blackbox from under my bed, and bring it to the medbay."
"... Sir, did you put the possibly homicidal AI under your bed?"
Without looking away or shifting his aim a millimeter, the giant's free hand whipped over to point at Simon. He'd begun to slowly slide around the back of the medbay. Towards Kalia. Mallus groaned internally. Stupid boy. Simon stopped. The finger pointed down.
Simon sat.
"No codes." The giant told Mallus.
"I did." Mallus answered Zo with an only slightly forced chuckle. "But we've need of it in the med bay."
"On the way, boss."
The air of tension was only slightly spoiled by Kalia quietly studying the Chief's leg armour. Tapping on it gently and listening. She even licked it!
"Kalia? Mallus asked, keeping his arms raised. "Is now the time for that?"
"Big fella ain't pointing a gun at me, Cap." Kalia shrugged. "Don't see why not. This armour it's really good stuff, heavy, though. I'm not sure how he's walking around in it without snapping his legs." Kalia pulled her legs in to sit with them crossed under her. "If there was mechanical support, they'd to be too burdensome for such weight. And probably too strong for the wearer to survive use'n 'em. A real nogg'n stumper, as we say back home."
Mallus didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry. "Your lack of tactical awareness continues to impress me."
"Aww, thanks, Cap."
The door to the medbay hissed open to admit Zo, Blackbox in hand. "Got the Box, Sir, and I'll keep quiet about the other things I found down- HOSTILE!"
Zo immediately backpedalled and covered behind the medbay door. "Sir, are you alright?"
"Just fine, Zo," Mallus said, trying very hard to maintain an air of calm and serenity. "In a bit of a pickle, though. Mister Chief here is requesting we return his friend to him.
"And you're going to release a possibly dangerous AI to an unknown combatant?" Zo's tone spoke to exactly how stupid she though this was.
"I know he's dangerous." Mallus said, slowly extending a hand behind him without taking his eyes off the giant. "So nothing is changing is it? AI still might be dangerous. Giant green supersoldier, definitely dangerous. Got it?"
"But-"
"Order, Zo. Box." Mallus flexed his fingers on his extended hand.
A smooth angular object slid into his hand, and Mallus brought it forward. It was the Blackbox. Mallus sighed an internal sigh of relief. He wouldn't have put it passed Zo to slide in something more… dangerous. A tactic he would normally be in favour of, if Kalia wasn't huddled behind the enemy.
Mallus opened the box to reveal the small chip, a brilliant blue disc spinning in the centre. "There," Mallus said. "You gets your back, now give us ours back."
The Chief dipped his hand into the box and carefully, no, delicately, plucked the chip out and slid it into a slot in the back of his helmet.
"One." The Chief said, gesturing to Simon.
"NO!" Simon shouted. Every eye turned to him, he froze, halfway up from his sitting position. "No." Simon repeated, his voice trembled and his knees shook even as he finished standing. The boy was clearly terrified. "Kalia goes. Keep me here."
"Nah," Kalia waved away the idea, still intent on the green armour. "I'm busy"
Chief turned to look at Simon but kept the weapon trained squarely on Mallus. Simon's face glowed gently in the reflected light of Chief's visor. "Very well." Chief said picked up Kalia in one hand and offered her to Mallus.
"Oh come on!" Kalia pouted as Mallus bundled her out the door and to Zo.
Mallus stepped back into the medbay door. Where Simon stood against the back wall, the Chief was between them both.
Mallus made himself relax, deep, consistent breaths. It never helps to lose one's head. Especially in a hostage situation. Mallus leaned against the wall, the picture of relaxed conversation. "So, mister chef, now what?"
Chief himself sat on the lip of the cryopod. Mallus had to banish the thought that he might be easier to ambush now. This thing was no less dangerous sitting down than standing. Mallus doubted that he could get the better of him if the human were asleep.
"You know my name." It was not a question. Chief didn't seem concerned by this fact. It just was.
"Had words with Little Blue, there. On your ship." Mallus frowned, "I'd apologise for putting her in a box, but we've had a few… bad experiences with AI."
"You'd do it again?" Chief asked.
"I protect my crew," Mallus responded, "simple as."
"In his defence, Chief, I did not give the most stellar first impression." Cortana's voice sounded terribly incongruous issuing from the same speakers as the Chief's.
"That you, Blue? I hope you're not going red on me again."
"Blue as the day I was born," Cortana said. A small blue projection of a woman flickered into existence, standing on Chief's shoulder. "I've brought Chief up to speed." Cortana sat, and crossed one leg over the other, dangling them both over the cliff that was Chief's shoulder. "We're in a parallel universe, lost, alone, likely declared KIA by the UNSC. We need somewhere to stay, a base to operate from so we can figure a way home."
Mallus frowned. "Alright…"
"So tell me," Cortana said, studying her nails again. "Why shouldn't we kill all of you and take your ship for ourselves?" There was no trace of the red from earlier, she was in complete control of herself.
A bolt of terror blazed through Mallus, but he smiled, and shrugged. "Way I figure it, you might be a fancy pants AI what can use alien computers. But an extranet net search is no piloting license. You'll need a guide, someone who knows the board and the players on it." Mallus stood straight. His heart was pounding, his legs wanted to shake. Years of experience fighting and soldiering told Mallus one thing. If he wanted to, Chief could kill them all. Cortana might be doing the talking, but Mallus felt she wasn't the one who would make the final decision. "Tell you what, Chief, join my crew. Help on my jobs, do your part and I'll see you get a fair wage, three square meals, and a place to hang your hat." He hesitated. "Or helmet, whatever. What do you say?" Mallus stuck out his hand.
"We threaten to kill all of you and steal your ship and you offer us a job?" Cortana asked, mystified.
Mallus looked at Cortana. "Little Blue. I'm not the smartest man alive." Mallus heard Zo chortle behind him. "But if there's one thing I know, it's soldiering." He switched to look at that impassive golden visor. " you're a soldier, not a sociopath. You're not going to kill anyone who's not your enemy, and none of us are." Mallus frowned at Cortana. "I suspect you're just trying to feel out who you're dealing with. A hardball play to see how we react."
Cortana's projection became a bright blue spark and zipped over to Mallus shoulder, materializing on his shoulder, leaning against his head.
"I like him." Cortana said, before zipping back to the Chief and disappearing.
Chief stood. He held out his hand. "I accept," he said simply. "Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117."
Mallus shook Chief's hand. His heart pounding in his chest. "Captain Mallus Renaldus, of the ISV Quiet Repose. Welcome aboard."
Mallus followed Chief and Cortana out of the medbay. Holding off an excited Kalia with one hand and gesturing to the stairs on the left. "Your quarters are down there. Two lefts and you're home.
Chief nodded. "Thank you." He said simply and turned to walk away.
"C'mon, Cap. I just wanna see him!" Kalia struggled against Mallus' straight arm. Reaching uselessly at the retreating giant.
"You can bother the enigmatic super soldier after he settles in." Mallus said flatly. Chief's towering form disappeared down the stairs. Mallus released Kalia and looked at Zo. "Let's sleep lightly till we're more sure of these folks."
Zo nodded, "Sir."
Mallus opened a com channel to Janeth. "Janeth, time to be up."
"Whats up, Boss?"
"You're on guard duty tonight."
Janeth grumbled under his breath as he audibly got up out of his bunk. The sounds of shifting cloth and boots being donned filled the com channel. "Who're we guarding?"
Chief's footsteps echoed up through the halls. Slow, rhythmic, unhurried. Not the kind of footsteps one expects from someone who's alone, cut off from everything they knew and is in the company of strange aliens. No. Those footsteps were the kind of footsteps you hear when someone walking into a game with a stacked deck, shaved dice, and a knife up his sleeve. Someone sure that they can't lose.
"You're guarding us."
