This fic was written based on a Mass Effect RP I had. Mara is not my character, and I only use her with her creators permission. Mara belongs to DeviantArt user The-Sheepling. You can visit her DA page here: .com/ The-Sheepling also wrote all of Mara's dialogue, so make sure to send her your thoughts on her DA page! Again, thanks for reading, and I always appreciate reviews/comments!
Nick stood silently in the elevator as it started to move, making a dreadful creaking noise. It sounded scary, like it hadn't been inspected in years. He doubted anything on Omega had been inspected for safety in years. The doors groaned open after the elevator had ground to a halt. He stepped out quickly and cautiously, still half expecting for the elevator to fall or the doors to slam shut on him.
He paused outside of the elevator, again consulting a map on his omni tool. Nick had been looking for a clinic, run by a crazy old salarian. Doctor Mordin he was called. Not because he was injured, but because he needed work. At this point, he didn't care about the amount of money he was paid. He just wanted a place to sleep and somewhat to have regular meals. Most of the merc groups didn't have much use for a dedicated medic, as helping the injured was considered too expensive. And Nick wasn't the best offensive fighter either, opting for a lone pistol as his weapon of choice.
"Excuse me." Nick called out to a figure that had just passed him, giving up on his map. "I'm looking for Doctor Mordin's clinic. Am I going the right way?"
''Down this way, if you'll follow me.'' The figure responded, not missing a beat. Nick followed the figure, trying to catch up to the fast moving form. It was a woman. A human woman, and a rather attractive one at that. She carried a heavy looking armful of supplies.
"I'm not injured.." He blurted out as the woman turned down a set of stairs. She could most likely tell, he wasn't acting hurt, and the plague that had been ravaging Omega didn't affect humans. He followed the woman, slowly stepping down the stairs behind her. She was certainly courageous; turning her back on a complete stranger in some back alley of Omega.
''I gathered as much.'' She smiled slightly with a roll of her eyes. She continued on down the stairs, turning a sharp corner at the bottom, heading into a small dark hallway leading into the clinic. Armed guards and large military grade mechs were stationed at both sides of the entrance, guns at the ready, steely expressions plastered upon their faces. It was certainly an intimidating sight and you'd be a fool to try and cause any trouble. With a quick respectful nod of her head, the guards stepped to the side, letting Mara and her companion walk on by, not without a curt reminder to behave and not cause any trouble.
"Damn.." Nick commented on the amount of security they had at the clinic. He just hoped they wouldn't disarm him if they found out he was carrying a pistol under his jacket. There was one rule he always obeyed on Omega: Don't go anywhere without a weapon.
"I'm actually looking for work.." He moved along side of the woman. He wondered why she had been so quiet when he had asked for directions. Well, Omega eventually gets to you, especially if you were in the business of trying to do some amount of good. He would have been short spoken too if a random stranger had asked him for directions. "I've heard Mordin needs all the help he can get... Plus, I'm not one to take a paycheck for murder. Which means most of the work on Omega isn't suited for me..." He motioned to the Alliance paramedic patch that was sown to his jacket. "My name is Nick." He added. "I didn't catch yours."
''Nick? Alright, pleasure to meet you... I'm Mara. Looking for work? Well we do need hel-Got the supplies.'' She cut herself off as she heaved the container of medical equipment on to a near by counter, pushing them toward a fellow medic to take care of, then returning her attention back to the man.''As I was saying, we need help and I'm sure they'll give you a job, not sure about paying you though.'' A crooked smirk crossed her lips only for a few seconds before being replaced by furrowed brows. Her gaze followed the motion of his hand as he pointed toward a worn Alliance Navy paramedic patch sewn upon his jacket.
''A fellow ex Alliance eh? Well ain't the world small.'' Mara hadn't been a part of the Alliance for quite some time, nor was she one to dredge up old memories, especially the memory of the day she had to retire. She found herself rubbing her shoulder at the thought, her arms then quickly resting at her side as she tensed once more, a frown upon her features. ''Anyway, you'll have to speak to Dr. Solus' assistant Daniel about a job, but I'm sure he'll give you one.'' And with that she was off once more, picking up a few medi-gel packs along the way.
"Nice to meet you Mara.." Soon after she gave away her name, she took off. Nick didn't blame her, she seemed pretty busy. Now he only had to find Daniel. He wandered a bit further into the clinic. There was sick and injured of all races, all at different levels of severity. Some stood, looking mildly uncomfortable. Others lied in cots or on the floor, looking barley alive.
"If it were up to me, you wouldn't be allowed here. Human." A batarian groaned, hardly able to open his eyes as he talked.
"I'm sorry?" Nick looked down at the suffering alien.
"You damn humans... Started this plague."
"I don't know about the rest of humanity- But I can assure you, I had nothing to do with it." He commented snidely. He kept walking down one of the corridors, searching for Daniel. No luck. He began to return to the entrance of the clinic.
"Somebody help!" He heard a voice shout. He turned to see a turian being dragged through the front entrance. Nick looked around casually, noting that all of the medical staff members were busy. Without hesitation, he walked over to the almost comatose alien, knelt down, and popped open his kit.
"What happened?" He asked the human female who had dragged the turian in.
"I-uh, well.." She stammered nervously. "We were at my apartment, and all of a sudden, he said he couldn't breath. He passed out right outside the door."
"Uh, huh." Nick nodded, now rummaging through his hit. He selected a few vials of medication, placing a dose of each into the auto injector. "Easy fix.." He added.
"He's going to be ok?"
"Pretty sure.." Nick pulled the cover off the tip of the injector with his teeth. He poked the needle through the metallic looking skin of the turian, and pushed in the medication.
"Excuse me.." Another nearby voice chimed in. "Do you even work here? I've never seen you before." It was a human, probably in his early 30's.
"Oh, no I don't. I came to apply for a job and- You may want to back up, turians have a habit of blowing chunks when they come out of anaphylaxis-" Without missing a beat, the turian took a sharp breath in, sat up, and heaved; only slightly missing the man's shoes. "-and I saw a patient that needed help, so I helped." Nick motioned to the now confused looking alien. "You should be all set to go now. It doesn't look like he has the plague, you may want to leave before he gets it." Nick again spoke to the woman who had dragged in the ill turian.
"Its nice to see that you want to help, but please talk with one of the staff here before you treat patients."
"Oh I talked to... Mara only a few moments ago... I don't know where she went. I'm supposed to talk to Daniel-"
"I'm Daniel." The man interrupted. "Who did you speak to again?"
Mara had been in the middle of tending to a patient when a loud commotion broke out, some hysterical woman shouting for help. More plague sufferers perhaps? Maybe, she had to attend to her patient first. He was an older batarian, he was practically far gone when they had first found him, he would have probably died only hours later had they not come across him on a trip back from getting supplies. Yet still held on, fight left in him still, Mara admired that. He was also rather polite, well for a batarian, he knew that they were there to help and that was enough. Giving the batarian patient one last dose of medi-gel she headed off towards the ruckus, a medical pack in hand just in case. It seemed that her help wasn't needed, lo and behold Nick was in the middle of attending to the fallen alien, a young turian. From what she could see he definitely wasn't a plague sufferer, anaphylactic shock on the other hand, he was certainly suffering from. She watched as Nick took care of the turian swiftly, giving him the needed medication, questioning the woman who had brought him what had happened, all in all he had it pretty well taken care of. She couldn't help but grin at the woman and Nick's conversation, it would seem a romantic dinner date had gone rather wrong.
''Forgive me.'' She said, now addressing the woman ''But I take it you're rather new at dating Turians? Due to being a dextro-protein species they can't eat human food, you may have possibly fed him something that didn't quite...Agree.'' A thick brow raised, eying the heaving alien up and down before returning her gaze to the woman.''So keep that in mind.'' A faint blush of embarrassment crept upon the woman's face, it would seem Mara was correct in her theory. It was safe to say she had never had such problems herself, mainly due to being a medic; she knew a lot about other races, something that certainly came in handy in her day to day life.
Nick smirked as he packed away his supplies. "Feeling better?"
The turian nodded, his gaze distant.
"I just gave you a mixture of adrenaline and a couple different anti-histamines. While thats not going to make you feel good-" The turian dry heaved. "-You should at least be able to breath now. Ready to stand?" The turian nodded again. Nick stood, and offered a hand to the alien. The turian struggled to his feet, still wobbling back and forth. He stepped back, Mara now conversing quietly with the couple.
''I recommend you get home as soon as possible, have a nice night and remember to...Not ingest and chafing.''Mara addressed the young couple once more, a rather deadpan expression plastered upon her face. The couple looked slightly horrified. Nick forced back a grin as he overheard the conversation.
"Which means cook meals in separate sets of dishes. And, it may be old tech, but a rubber is a good idea too." Nick added, probably a bit louder than he should have. The young woman, who was already a light shade of red, turned almost scarlet.
''I also recommend that on your way back to steer clear of anyone, don't want to be catching the plague.'' What a way to end a date. A nice candlelight dinner followed by choking, being unable to breath, having to venture to a makeshift medical center, anaphylactic shock and finally heaving your guts out all over the floor, simply romantic. Mara was a little surprised the woman hadn't done her research, then again maybe she had but had just been lost in the moment? Who knew. Either way it could have ended badly, luckily for the couple it hadn't.
"I can't give you very much-" Daniel started again, now that the situation with the mixed race couple had been taken care of. "But I think you would make a valuable addition to the team.. If you want to stay. And Mordin will have to approve as well, but I don't see why he wouldn't."
"Seems like a nice place to work-" Nick said in a light tone of sarcasm, just as the sound of retching followed by liquid splashing on the floor could be heard in one of the nearby rooms. "I'd love to stay...You guys have a mop around here?" He looked around, while pointing a finger down at the puddle of turian vomit.
''I'll keep an eye on him until you get a yes or no from , he can help me with the patients for now.''Daniel was content with that, giving her a nod of approval, then taking his leave to return to Mordin's side.
"Keep an eye on me, right. What am I, a child?" Probably wasn't the best thing to say, and Nick instantly regretted it. It was perfectly acceptable for them to want to keep an eye on him, no one had the clinic really knew him. But Nick was famous for two things: Having a real short temper, and lacking a word filter.
"Sorry.." He sighed. "Mop?"
At the mention of a mop she had a quick gander around the room, a blue sheen rippling over her body once she had spotted the needed object, using a biotic pull to bring it towards her, then handing it over to Nick, a grimace upon her features as she eyed the Turian vomit. ''Enjoy...''
"Fancy trick there..." She didn't stick around, taking off to attend to another patient. "I can do a couple of... card tricks..." He continued mumbling to himself. Nick didn't know why, but people with biotic powers made him kind of jealous. Maybe it was because he was unremarkable in every aspect. No biotic powers, no exceptional combat skills, and not even an inkling of dancing ability when out at the club. Nothing more than a grumpy old man trapped in a 26 year olds body.
He made quick work of the mess, and even cleaned and returned the broom to its proper place. He wandered again until he found Mara. He stood behind her for a moment, waiting for her to finish treating a patient. He was rather impatient at this point, shifting back and fourth on his feet.
"Anything else you need me to do?" The question was silly, there were sick and injured everywhere. But Nick didn't know where to start. "I could... Work on streamlining your triage system... That way the more critically sick and injured get treatment first." He threw out the first thing that came to mind.
''Alright, I'll be here if you need me.''She said with a wave of her hand. She seemed too busy to be baby sitting the new hire, simply agreeing with his suggestion of improving the triage system.
"I'm going to talk with the guys at the checkpoint. See if they have any ideas of how we can get patients in here faster. Like our friends on their dinner date earlier. No reason she should have had to carry that patient in by herself..." He took off, wandering back out to the entrance of the clinic. He looked over the impressive security, again noting all of the combat mechs and armed guards.
"Can I help you with something?" One of the guards spoke, eyeing Nick suspiciously.
"No.. Not really." He shook his head. "I'm just looking at putting in a new triage system. Do you think you'd have room for a stretcher and a medic out here? That way we won't have to drag patients in who can't walk."
"Fine by me." The guard shrugged, being only concerned about mercenary assaults. Nick nodded, while continuing to inspect the guard post. Just as he was about to re enter the clinic, a burst of panicked radio traffic caught his attention. Garbed in between static was a voice desperately requesting any kind of assistance. Apparently there had just been some kind of large scale merc attack, and there were many injured.
"You going to send someone out for that?" Nick spoke up, wondering why the guards were ignoring the horrifying transmission.
"We used to. Its too risky now, we wouldn't be able to keep this place safe while sending security out to try to pick someone up."
Nick nodded, scanning for the transmission on his own omni tool. He returned into the clinic. The voice soon was coming through his own earpiece. This must have been some sort of big attack, Nick could hear that there were already some confirmed dead.
"Where the hell did I put my-" Nick wondered aloud, just as he tripped over his medkit he had left on the ground earlier. He recovered, hurriedly swinging the kit over his shoulder.
"Mara!" He called out quickly as he walked. " Shit just hit the fan over by the edge of Blue Suns territory. Multiple trauma codes, other serious injuries. I'm going out, you're welcome to come with." He spoke quickly and breathlessly, passing back out through the door before he had hardly finished his sentence. He preferred his work to be more exciting. And there was nothing more exciting than wandering onto a battlefield, and doing your best to try and pick up all of the pieces.