A/N: Hello again. I've got a lot of free time on my hands at the moment, so I'll probably be churning out a lot of material fairly quickly. I don't know how long I'll manage to keep going at this pace, but I'll give it my best shot.
Now, ye be warned: SPOILERS AHEAD.
Short chapter this time, but it's between missions, so whatever. I'm just using this to set up the dynamic between Shepard and Blue Team for the next while, which needed to be done. Next time will be longer. And more violent. Omega is not a friendly place - and SPARTANs don't take intimidation tactics very well.
It wasn't as obvious last chapter, but my version of Blue Team is fairly chatty, by SPARTAN standards. There's a very good reason for this. They are, for all intents and purposes, cut off from their own universe, and they know it. They also know that Spartans' tremendous fighting ability brings with it a total logistical nightmare. Large quantities of food for accelerated metabolisms, biofoam for their injectors (I'll probably use Medi-Gel, unless Halsey can whip some up in the Normandy's Med Bay), repairs and highly specialized replacement parts for their MJOLNIR and SPI armor, and ammunition for a type of weapon (slugthrowers like the MA5-D and Magnum pistol) which barely exists in this new universe. In short, they need a support structure with enough resources to keep them supplied and in the fight. Shepard presents an excellent opportunity to acquire all of these. There IS another reason they're being so friendly with Shepard, but you'll just have to read the chapter to find out why.
END SPOILERS. Safe to read now.
To those of you concerned about me 'nerfing' the SPARTANs to 'fit in' with the Mass Effect universe's reduced, well, power level, for lack of a better term: Don't be. I intend to keep them exactly as they are - a stupifyingly lethal unit of heavily-enhanced, superbly-trained, insanely experienced soldiers who can take out pretty much anything thrown at them without much trouble. We'll handle their reaction to things like Biotics when we get there, but I can state with total confidence that there will be no nerf. In fact, I'm looking forward to the first time Blue Team encounters Wrex...
Anyway, you're not here to listen to me blather on. ON WITH THE CHAPTER!
Alicia stepped away from the vid-com with a muted snarl. She was really starting to dislike that condescending bastard.
The Illusive Man had been patronizing, circumspect, and just the tiniest bit smug throughout the entirety of their mercifully brief conversation. He had, however, thoroughly debriefed her. He took the news of the entire colony's loss without so much as blinking, a fact that irked Shepard even more than his constantly superior attitude. He'd then looked over the take from the video Tali had sent Shepard of their recovery of Veetor, and concurred with Miranda's initial impression - the near-mythical Collectors appeared to be collecting humans now.
She stalked out of the conference room, Jacob straightening up from where he'd been leaning against the wall and falling into step with her. "How'd it go?"
"Predictably." Jacob winced slightly at the quiet venom in her voice, but wisely said nothing. "He spent a lot of time posturing, gave me a tiny bit of useful information, a bunch of dossiers, and sent me on my way. But, at least I'm getting a ship. And Joker too, apparently."
Before the conversation could go any further, they arrived back in the small lounge by the docks, where Miranda sat waiting. She stood and fell in with Jacob and Alicia. "Well?"
"We're leaving as soon as the ship's prepped and the crew's ready." Miranda nodded. Of course she'd known the Illusive Man was giving Shepard a ship.
"And these Spartans of yours? What about them?"
Alicia snorted and kept walking. "They're not 'my' Spartans, Miranda. But yes, they're coming. I promised Dr. Halsey I'd get them treated, and hopefully the ship's Medbay will be able to handle them. My only real question is whether or not we'll be able to crack open those stasis pods."
Miranda's brow furrowed slightly. The stasis pods were impossible. To all appearances, the Spartans inside them were simply frozen. Dr. Halsey claimed otherwise. Either way, though, they'd proved impossible to open. "Well, if not, we can just keep them in the cargo hold until we find someone who can open them."
The trio rounded a corner and walked into the large lab the Spartans and their compatriots had appropriated upon arriving on the station. One of them - Kelly, if Alicia recalled correctly - had her helmet off, and was carrying on an animated discussion with CPO Mendez about the various differences between their own weapons and the 'new' ones Alicia had shown them earlier. Another, Linda, stood at a worktable, methodically cleaning every inch of her sniper's rifle. She worked slowly, carefully, almost lovingly, taking care that every piece was pristine and well-lubricated before snapping them back into place. Fred stood with Halsey in a corner, talking quietly. The smaller ones - Saber Team, she recalled - were propped sitting against a wall. From what she'd gathered from Halsey, they'd been fighting for several days before their dimensional jaunt, and were fairly exhausted. Shepard blinked. Two of the Spartans were missing.
She was about to ask where they'd gone when Kelly caught her eye and nodded at the space behind her. She turned in time to see the two missing Spartans decloak where they'd been standing at either side of the door. She felt her eyebrows climbing toward her hairline. Halsey had apparently taken at her word about Cerberus's untrustworthiness. Alicia grinned. She barely knew these people, and she was already starting to like them.
Fred turned away from Halsey to face Shepard directly. "Spartans! Officer on deck!" She barely had time to blink before every Spartan was standing at perfect, parade-ground-worthy attention, including the previously sleeping members of Saber Team.
Alicia snapped to and fired off a smart salute in response to Fred's. "As you were." She gave the blue-armored Spartan a half-exasperated look. "You don't have to do that, Lieutenant. God knows I don't stand on formality."
Fred gave her a candid look. "All due respect, Ma'am, but yes we do. Uniform Code of Conduct."
Alicia very nearly rolled her eyes. "Listen, Lieutenant, I don't know how things were-" she'd been about to say 'where you came from,' but a furious gesture from Catherine Halsey stopped her, "- in your unit before, but believe me when I say I truly hate formality." She spread her hands. "Despite the fact that the Powers That Be, in their infinite wisdom, have deigned to make lil' old me a Commander, I'm still a grunt, like you. I still carry a rifle and get my hands dirty. I still get stuck in the blood and the shit, and I still get my ass shot at." She let her gaze pan over the room, resting on each Spartan in turn. "None of you have said as much, but from what you have said, the amount of combat experience in this room is more than that of every Alliance soldier in the sector put together. I respect that experience, and I'm not foolish enough to think that I know more than you, or have any business giving you orders."
Kelly coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'Told you so,' and Linda quickly turned back to reassembling her rifle - but her shoulders were shaking slightly. Alicia blinked. "What? What'd I say?"
"Exactly what I told them you would." The gravelly, basso voice startled her, and she realized why a moment later. It was the first time she'd heard Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez speak. The Chief was powerfully built and in tremendously good shape despite his age, and moved with the lethal grace of a highly-trained killer. "I told them you weren't one of the Brass. That you were a soldier, just like them. Just like me. Not that they didn't already know that - we all saw what happened back on that colony."
"Furthermore, you're not just some Marine." Dr. Halsey stepped forward, flanking Mendez. "Back in our universe, my Spartans didn't often interact with non-Spartan personnel more than they had to. Do you know why that is, Commander?"
Alicia folded her arms and tilted her head slightly, considering. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Spartans quietly leaving the room, followed by Jacob and Miranda. "If I had to hazard a guess, they probably wanted to avoid becoming to people who had such slim odds of surviving fighting the kind of enemy you send a Spartan team against." She'd had a long, involved, and very enlightening conversation with Dr. Halsey during the shuttle ride back from the colony, and had pieced together a general idea of the state of the alternate universe, and, more importantly, the role the Spartans had played in it. "In a war like that, the attrition rate had to be horrific. I'm not at all surprised they didn't want to associate with people who were virtually guaranteed to die before the day was out. Frankly, in their position, I'd probably end up doing the same."
Halsey chuckled. "Yet more proof you're not just a pretty face, Commander. Yes, that's about how I'd explain it. Now," Her eyes focused on the Spectre's face like a GARDIAN array, "the big question is this. All that being said, why do you think they're being so open around you? You're not even from the same universe."
Alicia frowned. "I...don't know, actually. From what you've told me, there's no reason they should. It goes completely against their usual behavior."
Halsey smiled a bit sheepishly. "That's not...completely accurate, Commander. There have been instances when a non-Spartan will manage to befriend them. Usually, it's someone who's fought alongside them for a long time, and has proven they won't die as easily as the rest. A certain Sergeant especially comes to mind." She waved away Alicia's puzzled look. "Anyway, all that is to say that they see you as more of a Spartan than a common Marine. From what I've read of that Codex you gave me, the closest thing the Alliance has to the SPARTAN program is N7. Which, apparently, you graduated with flying colors. You're the closest thing to one of their own they're going to find here, Commander." Her eyes darkened. "And believe me, they've lost enough of their own in the past few weeks. They're not robots, Commander. They have emotions and feelings, just like the rest of us. And they're hurting. They hide it well, but they're hurting badly."
Alicia nodded mutely, and Halsey adjusted her glasses slightly before continuing. "And worst of all, here, in this universe, they have no purpose. There's no Covenant to fight, no Insurrectionists to root out. My Spartans are fish out of water in peacetime, Commander. But you." Her face brightened subtly. "You, Commander, are going to war. Oh, I know it's not really a war, per se, but it's close. And unless I'm mistaken, you'll need all the firepower you can get."
Alicia nodded slowly, then more forcefully. "Of course. And I'd be happy to have them. But do they know you're offering?"
"Of course we do. Who do you think put her up to this?" Alicia turned to see Fred and Kelly walk back in, followed by the others.
The Spectre folded her arms. "Why?"
"To gauge your reaction, honestly." Fred shrugged. "It's easier to do if the people you're discussing aren't listening. Or at least if you don't think they're listening."
"And? Now that you've seen it, now what?"
"Now we pack up our gear and head for the ship. And once we're away, you start training with the Chief." He jerked a thumb at Mendez, who smiled evilly. "We've got to get you up to standard before we go in again. Or at least as close to standard as we can, with your lack of augmentation and our lack of time."
Alicia was taken slightly aback. "You...I...what? Up to standard what?"
'Standard combat effectiveness. Strength, speed, training. The whole nine yards. We can't have you being a liability in the field." Alicia nearly took offense to the last bit, but the twinkle in Fred's eye gave him away.
"You...you're messing with me." Alicia stared wonderingly at the Spartan. "I don't believe it."
Kelly clapped a friendly hand on her shoulder and steered her toward the dock. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it."
"I will?" Shepard was still somewhat off-balance after the series of revelations.
"Yep. We all managed it. You'll do fine. Once the Chief is done with you, that is."
"That's right!" Alicia jumped slightly at the basso roar from directly behind her, and she spun to see Mendez, who had a look of such unholy glee she half-expected him to grow devil horns and a spiked tail. "Once I'm done with you, you might be fit to fight alongside the Spartans. But until then, you will not be all right. You will be hurting like a mad bastard, because I will train you until you drop, then kick you back upright and do it again!"
Shepard's heart began to sink at the prospect of being worked over by someone used to training people as robust as the Spartans. She began to tune out as he continued to list off the things she'd be required to do (a 5-klick run in fifteen minutes? Yeah, right.), and caught sight of Kelly walking to the airlock. The Spartan paused and turned to face her.
"Oh, by the way, Alicia." She grinned, and spoke with the air of someone continuing a proud tradition.
"Welcome to Blue Team."
A/N: Okay, before you shoot me, no, I'm not turning Shepard into a SPARTAN-II. It's completely impossible. All this means is that Blue Team is going to treat her more as one of their own than as yet another aloof, remote commander with whom they never interact except for briefings.
That's not to say that Shep isn't going to change, though. By the time Mendez - and I - am done with her, she'll be even more of a certified badass than she already is. But think about it like this: if I'm not nerfing the SPARTANs, and I'm not boosting ME's power level, but I still want to be able to write dangerous situations for the SPARTANs, I'm going to have to throw a LOT of really big, powerful stuff at them. The kind of stuff that ME-level Shep wouldn't survive. So yeah, she'll be getting training from The Chief. And depending on how clever Halsey can get with the Medbay stocks, we might see some augments down the line. Nothing like the SPARTAN-IIs, but significant nonetheless.
Anyway. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that you enjoy the chapters to come. Until next time, Readers mine.
P.S: If you actually feel like I've REALLY screwed up, don't be afraid to tell me. Either review or PM me, and let me know what I did wrong.
