Honestly, you can probably skip this chapter. It's just her learning history, etc. so if that's not your cup of tea I apologize.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect
I woke up with an outstanding headache and a very large bump on the side of my head. I poked at it gently, trying to decide how bad it was, as I sat up. I found myself on the medical cot next to the one I had been previously laid on with the doctor lady hovering nearby.
"Ah, you're awake again. You must warn me next time if you're feeling faint. Your head probably hurts a bit since you hit the cot but it isn't anything to worry about."
"Sorry about that. It just kinda hit me all at once. Almost two centuries… That's a lot of time I have to learn about. When did we start space traveling?" The decision my brain came to was that I shouldn't waste any more time trying to get my bearings. I doubted that there was any way back so I had better start thinking about my future. I started formulating my plan to assimilate into this new world. Step one was learning everything I had missed out on. Step two was to learn at least the basics to all the new technology. Step three was to get a job, though depending on if I impressed the commander that might already be covered.
"Before I go into that, when was the last time you ate? Or slept for that matter?"
"I don't know, a day or two. No time. I need to know what's going on. If I'm going to be stuck in this time then I don't want to seem like I've lived under a rock for the past two hundred years." I was anxious to get everything sorted. Bodily needs could wait. Judging by the look on the doctor's face she didn't like what I had said, though.
"I can't force you to eat. However if you want any information out of me or any of the crew for that matter, you'll have to some food in you. And if you don't think I can get everyone to ignore your questions then you are poorly mistaken." I groaned and she gave me a stern stare.
"I've already wasted so much time, though!" My breath was wasted on trying to convince her, though. Standing up, I begrudgingly said 'fine' under my breath. She sat me back down on the cot before I could take a single step.
"I'll bring you something. You're still a little weak." A frown found my lips. I hated being on bed rest.
While she was gone I played more with the Omni-tool. It seemed I was correct with my assumption that it was connected to my nerves. It was like having another limb but somehow it was a seamless connection. For lack of better words, it felt right, almost like I had had it for my entire life. The screen that popped up was written in English and everything was neatly arranged. Kinda looks like Windows XP… Part of me wondered if it was showing me what I was familiar with. The other half wanted to know what the 'fabrication module' was. If it was what I thought then it was basically a 3D printer. I opened the program right as the doctor came back into the room with a plate of eggs and toast and a glass of apple juice.
"While you eat I'll tell you everything that has happened in the past few hundred years." Okay. I could work with these terms. Biting into the toast I waited for her to start talking. As soon as the food hit my mouth my stomach started rumbling. Guess I was hungry after all. I attacked the eggs as the doctor began talking about how in 2069 we made the first human settlement on Luna. In 2103 the European space agency made the first settlement on Mars.
Then we discovered the Sol system's mass relay in 2149. Originally it was thought to be Pluto's moon and the game changed. With the help of Prothean ruin's found a year earlier on Mars the scientist were able to reactivate it. A man names Jon Grissom led the first team of explorers through the relay. A dreamy sigh came out of my mouth.
"Oh, what it would have been like to help activate the technology…" A dream that would have never came true, even if I hadn't been shot into the future. A smile graced the older woman's lips before she continued her history lesson.
"Well, after we made it through the relay we began looking for places to make colonies. To defend the territories we began the construction of a military fleet and a space station. This began in 2151 and we placed it in at Arcturus. This is also about this time that biotics were born due to exposure to element zero, though we didn't learn of the potential until 2158.
"So biotics have these crazy super powers?" An amused laugh came out of her and she nodded, telling me if I wanted to know more to ask Miranda or Commander Shepard. More colonies were made in 2152 but these were the first extra-solar ones. And the shit hit the fan in 2157. For several weeks, we fought the Turians, which was Garrus' race. It all started over human explorers trying to activate a dormant mass relay, which apparently was forbidden under galactic law. This answered the question of if Garrus was actually kidding.
"How were we supposed to know that? It's not like anyone told us!" I was a little salty about it and I hadn't even been in existence at the time.
"Yes, that is true. But turians are known to be very… adamant about rules. They are a militaristic society. Add that to their philosophy of 'total war' and it was a very messy situation. They besieged the human colony on Shanxi, and when they surrendered the turians began occupying the world, thinking that we had been defeated. Then a month later the Alliance's Second Fleet caught them by surprised and evicted them from the planet. An actual war was brewing but before it could begin the Citadel Council intervened. Terms of peace were drawn out and the turians had to give heavy reparations to the Alliance."
"Seems like that would cause a lot of tensions between the races."
"It does." She paused momentarily before resuming the lesson. Not a whole lot happened for the next few years. Just more expansion and an assassination attempt on an ambassador. We sure did know how to make friends. And then in 2165 we got an embassy in the Citadel, which was a big deal for some reason or another. Honestly, I had only listening halfway at this point. I really wanted to mess with the Omni-tool. It was almost like a mental itch. She went on to talk about how batarian and human relations were strained to do to this and that. Biotic training for humans is outsourced to the military. Batarians separate themselves from the council, becoming a rogue state. We fight batarian pirates a few times. Then humans and turians worked together to make the SSV Normandy, which was the frigate that was made before this one.
"What happened to the first one?" Another sad look past through her face when I asked.
"We were ambushed. We lost a lot of good people that day." She fought past the grief though and began talking about how one of the human colonies was attack by the same creatures that had attacked the old Normandy. They were called the geth, a synthetic race that usually resided beyond the Perseus Veil. And this fight was just a precursor of a larger threat.
"So the geth were following the orders of a turian? Whom some massive creature that we barely fought off was controlling? And the relays are actually just a giant trap that lets that will let more of these giant creatures through?" Figures. Of course, I wouldn't be dropped off in a time of relative peace where I could marvel at all the new technology.
"So what are we doing to prepare for this upcoming apocalypse?"
"Well, the council is set on doing nothing. I, however, can't sit back and wait for them to come to us." I hadn't noticed that the commander had entered the room. She sat down on one of the cots.
"I came to check on you. I heard you had fainted." My ears felt hot as a flood of embarrassment came over me.
"I prefer the term 'blacked out'. Sounds much cooler than fainting." When she heard that she laughed and at that moment I decided that if I would probably like her if I wasn't so terrified of her.
"Well if you're all caught up on your history then Yeoman Chambers would like to speak to you. After that, we'll find a place for you on the ship." She stood up and beckoned me to follow her.
"Oh, I forgot to ask you name!" I turned back to the doctor, apologizing at the rudeness. I had spent the past few hours with her without even bothering to ask.
"Doctor Karin Chakwas, at your service." The older woman waved me on and I found myself following behind the Commander.
She led me past the elevator and into a room that had cots. I suppose this is the living quarters for most of the crew. In the back, another red headed woman sat at the table. She had a friendly enough smile. One that I immediately recognized. I fought to control my eyes from rolling.
"You're a therapist aren't you." The orphanage started making me go to a therapist when I was ten. They always thought there was something wrong with me because I liked to talk out loud and because I didn't particularly have an interest in being adopted or people in general. I just wanted to build gadgets in peace.
"Hello, Andrea. My name is Kelly Chambers. It's nice to meet you." She held out her hand and I took it reluctantly before taking a seat in front of her.
"I want you to tell me about yourself. Do you have any hobbies?"
"I like to build things." I didn't like talking about myself, however. The more questions she asked the more I felt myself clam up. My palms began to sweat and I felt my leg began bouncing with nervous energy. I could feel each wasted second passing by and I tried not to get too snippy with her. I'm sure she was a nice lady. She continued asking the typical questions; did I have any thoughts of wanting to hurt others or myself? How did I deal with everyday problems? What did I think was my biggest flaw? The exchange went on for at least an hour and a lot of willpower went into not looking out the window into the abyss. Finally, the questions stopped and she stood up.
"Thank you for your time, Andrea. If you have any problems please feel free to come talk to me."
"Um… yeah, sure. No problem." I rose so fast that my chair almost fell over. Sitting still for that long made my legs feel like they had pent up energy in them. I needed to walk around. Bad.
"I think we found a place for you to do whatever it is that you do. How do you feel about shuttle bays?" Shepard talked to me as she led me to the elevator. It opened with a low humming noise and she ushered me in before pushing the button to the fifth floor.
"Uh, I can honestly say that I've never slept in one so I guess they're okay? I mean, as long as I have a workstation and some blankets I don't really care." When it opened the first thing I saw a shit ton of crates. Then a decent sized workbench and a small cot, both bolted to the ground. It was a slightly cold and I had a sneaky suspicion that the reason I was put down here was so that they could keep an eye on me and through me out the airlock if I was being unruly. Apparently I had accidentally voiced this opinion out loud because Shepard made a slight scoffing sound and said that if they thought that I was a threat I would have already been shot in the head. She said she never missed when it came to sniping. Well, that's as subtle as a punch to the face.
"If you want to learn about weapons Jacob is who you should talk to. He's on floor two. Mordin is also on that floor. Miranda, Garrus, and Doctor Chakwas are on floor three. Engineering is on floor four."
"Okay, thanks, Commander." I noticed that my stuff was already sitting on my table and once she left I grabbed my recorder from my bag, talking into it in an attempt to keep my thoughts and the events of the day organized.
Then I began making my plan.
The first thing I would do is talk to Jacob and get a better feel for the technology. Then I would talk to Miranda about biotics, though that might be a little awkward. I'd save that for last. Mordin seemed to be their leading scientist so it would probably be a smart move to get to know him. And if I could get past how scary he looked, maybe even talk to Garrus. I needed more information about basically everything. I sat the recorder back onto the table and went back into the lift.