A\N: Thanks for all the reviews guys, I really appreciate it. Didn't think I'd get such a good response for using Rookie.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mass effect or Halo :(
Chapter – 2 Investigation
Somewhere in an unknown location, in a Dreadnought, Saren sits on his acclaimed 'throne' as an Asari Matriarch walks up to him. She clears her throat to make her presence known.
"We identified the ship that touched down on the Eden Prime, The Normandy, a Human alliance ship, led by Captain Anderson", said the Asari.
"And the beacon?", asked Saren.
"One of the human may have used it", the Asari replied.
Saren suddenly went in a fit of rage, walked up to her second in command and grabbed her by her throat. "What happened to the other human we found?".
The Matriarch then remembered of the 'Human that appeared out of nowhere', as Saren told her.
"They took him too", The Matriarch replied.
Saren glared at her, "The human who used the beacon must be eliminated…and the other human, he must be found and brought to me, alive…if possible", he ordered.
*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
Shepard stirred.
"Doctor? Doctor Chakwas? I think she's waking up", said Kaidan.
Shepard slowly sat up and realized she was back in the med bay of The Normandy.
"You had us worried there Shepard, How are you feeling?", asked Doctor Chakwas.
"Minor headache, nothing serious", said Shepard, "How long was I out?"
"About fifteen hours, something happened with the beacon down there I think", the Doctor replied.
"It was my fault. I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way", said Kaidan.
"You had no way of knowing what would happen", said Shepard, making a smile cross Kaidan's face.
"Actually we don't even know if that's what set off. Unfortunately we'll never get the chance to find out", said Chakwas
"The beacon exploded", Kaidan butted in, "System overload maybe, the blast knocked out cold. Rookie…had to carry you here to the ship", Kaidan replied with a slight frown, Shepard noticed but didn't say anything.
"Physically you're fine, but I detected some unusual brain activity, abnormal beta waves", said Chakwas. "I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming".
"I saw- I'm not sure what I saw. Death, destruction maybe", said Shepard.
"Hmm, I think I'll add this to my report and- oh, Captain Anderson", said Doctor Chakwas as Captain Anderson arrived into the Med bay.
"How's our XO holding up Doctor?", asked Anderson.
"All the readings are normal, I'd say the Commander is going to be fine", said Chakwas.
"Glad to hear, Commander I'd like to speak to you in private", said Anderson.
"Aye Aye Captain, I'll be in the mess if you need me", saying this Kaidan and Doctor left the Med bay.
"Sounds like that beacon hit you pretty hard Commander, You sure you're okay?", asked Anderson.
"Did we leave Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams and Lance Corporal J**** D**** back on Eden Prime?", asked Shepard.
"I figured we could use soldiers like them on our crew, I reassigned Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams to the Normandy, but this 'Rookie'…", Anderson trailed off.
"What about him?", asked Shepard.
"I ran background check on this man", said Anderson, "Shepard, there is no record of a Lance Corporal J**** D**** in the Alliance Military Database…or even a human named J**** D****".
This made Commander Shepard's eye widen, "That's impossible…well, he did sounded suspicious especially when he mentioned himself being an 'ODST', what is it anyway?"
"I don't know, I never heard of the ODST's, maybe he's making it up. I tried to talk to him, but he says he won't say anything until you wake up", said Anderson. "Then he borrowed Lt. Alenko's Omni tool, and a Haptic Adaptive Interface glove, asked him how to use it and has been reading a Codex ever since, as if reading it for the first time…and he seems really frustrated".
"Then let's go talk to him", said Shepard getting up from her bed.
"Commander, there's something else we should discuss…Its Saren the other turian", said Anderson.
*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
Rookie was sitting in the mess hall looking through this 'Codex' on Lt. Alenko's 'Omni tool', using an omni tool was fairly easy. And he had also upgraded his Translator, now it could translate more languages from this world, as he had concluded, in addition to the language used by the Covenant. Since he arrived on the Normandy, he has been about studying this 'Dimension' as he believed. He was frustrated at first, but has calmed down.
'Year is 2183 instead of 2553, so I didn't travel to the future, but a different dimension. No war, no covenant…no flood', he thought to himself. 'Aliens as allies rather than trying to obliterate us and Systems Alliance rather than UNSC'. He downloaded the Codex into his Helmet's memory for later use. 'I'm SO screwed'.
Rookie winced and clutched his elbow as the pain resurfaced, the wound was reopened when he tried to block the swing from that geth and it still hurt.
He finished learning almost everything about this world.
'Okay, now with my explanation…C'mon think, think, think…that plasma grenade should've turn me into pieces…then why? How?...Damn! I hate debriefing'
He started scanning his helmet for any type of data with the omni tool.
'Only pieces of my last mission's logs, that has to do'
'Overload? Hmm…' he thought as he pressed the overload option on the omni tool. Suddenly a nearby terminal exploded, and he realized he was pointing his omni tool at it.
"Uh, oh"
"Hey, I heard something and—", Lt. Alenko said as he entered the mess hall, he saw Rookie sitting on a mess chair pointing his omni tool at a nearby terminal, and smoke being released by the said terminal.
"If you're done with playing with my omni tool, I'd like to have it back", Said Kaidan glaring at Rookie.
*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
Shepard finished taking with Anderson and they both decided to talk to Rookie. They stepped out of the Med Bay. Shepard decided to talk to Kaidan and Ashley while Anderson left for the debriefing room. She arrived to see Kaidan bent over a terminal, Ashley standing at a corner apparently trying to suppress laughter…and Rookie sleeping on a chair, resting his head on the table.
"What did I miss?" Shepard asked as she walked up to Ashley.
"Rookie messed up that terminal and they blame LT because it was his Omni tool", said Ashley snickering.
"Sounds like he's making friends already", Shepard said nodding to Rookie.
She chatted with both Ashley and Kaidan, and then went to wake up Rookie.
*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
Rookie felt someone tapping on his helmet.
"Hello, you in there?" said Shepard. "We'd like to hear your case".
Rookie got up from his chair stretching his arms and nodding to Shepard. Rookie, Kaidan, Shepard and Ashley headed towards the debriefing room where Anderson was waiting. All of them took seat except Rookie who kept standing.
"You can remove that helmet you know", said Shepard.
Rookie shook his head and said, "It's fine".
"Are you shy or something?" asked Ashley.
…
"So Rookie, care to explain why there is no record of you on the Database", said Anderson.
"Err, before I start explaining, please keep an open mind about what I'm about to say…and please, this info must not leave this room", Rookie began.
They looked at each other and nodded, "Okay, we won't tell this to anybody", said Anderson.
"I think I may have somehow jumped to this dimension from mine", said Rookie.
"Yeah, right", said Ashley, "You were right Commander, he's definitely insane".
"That…makes sense", said Shepard, earning raised eyebrows from everyone.
"You can't possibly believe him Commander, it's just ridiculous!", Kaidan said.
"Think about it, Lieutenant", began Shepard, "That dockworker on Eden Prime, said he saw Rookie appear out of nowhere, there is no record of him anywhere in the Alliance Database"
"The Commander's right, you need to have an ID on you to use a public transport, he couldn't have survived all his life without an ID, and also he does not have a fake one on him, just the one from 'his' dimension, which won't be considered as valid here", said Anderson.
"And most important of all, that dockworker also mentioned Saren being interested in him", said Shepard, "If we hadn't rescued him god knows what would Saren have done with him".
Rookie had to admire the Commander and the Captain on how quickly they came up with that, even he didn't remembered most of that, saved him most of the talking.
"Well, I still don't believe you, but do you have any evidence supporting your claim", said Kaidan.
Rookie nodded.
"What kind of evidence do you have then?", said Shepard.
"When we first encountered those husks on Eden Prime, one of them was able to electrocute me, that wiped out most of the data from my helmet's memory…but I was able to retrieve the logs of my last mission before I ended up here…but it's messed up", said Rookie.
"Wait, you record everything in your helmet?", asked Ashley.
Rookie nodded.
"Can you play it for us?", asked Anderson.
"Uh, I'll need your Omni tool, sir", said Rookie.
Kaidan sighed, "Fine but don't do what you did earlier", he said.
"What did he do earlier?" Anderson asked.
"Nothing!" everyone else replied.
Rookie took Kaidan's omni tool and downloaded the video log from his helmet. He knelt down facing towards the screen, away from everyone. He removed his helmet, scanned it with Kaidan's omni tool.
'Is he trying to hide his face?', thought Ashley as she bent slightly to the left and then right, unable to see Rookie's face.
Rookie then put on his helmet. He connected the debriefing room's Holo projector with omni tool and uploaded the log. It started playing.
*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
The video footage is all blurry and occasionally static blocks the screen.
*Static* "For fuck's sake Rookie! Don't sleep through the debriefing!", says Buck and punches rookie *Static* "Alright we're all groundside, let's regroup", says Buck from the radio *Static* this part shows rookie and the squad advancing through what appears to be some kind of ancient architecture *Static* Rookie and his squad gun down a Brute *Static* Rookie is looking inside some kind of storage tank. "Is that…a forrunner?", asks Mickey *Static* an explosion is heard somewhere, "Rookie grab that thing and let's go!", orders Buck *Static* a grunt throws a plasma grenade at Buck. "Buck! Look out!", Rookie shouts and shoulder pushes him out of the way, the plasma grenade latches itself on Rookie's chest and explodes *Static* "Hey, wake up!"—At this point the video footage stops.
'Great, stuck by a grunt', Rookie thought.
"Was that me in the end?" asked Shepard.
Rookie nodded.
"That leaves us with more questions than answers", said Anderson.
Rookie sighed, "Alright, shoot"
"That little video footage is not really convincing and it doesn't tell us how you got here", said Shepard.
"I may know how", Rookie says and pulls out something from his chest pocket. He went closer to the group and opened his palm, it was a small device which awfully resembled a mass relay without the element zero core.
"A mass relay toy? You gotta be kidding me!" said Ashley shaking her head.
"When Buck ordered to 'Grab that thing', he meant this", Rookie said, indicating at the miniature mass relay, "And the grenade exploded right over where I placed it in my pocket"
"But the Mass relays fling ships across the Milky way, not fling people across dimensions!" said Kaidan.
"This doesn't look like your normal Mass relay", Shepard said and started scanning the mini relay with her omni tool. "It does not give out any kind reading, looks fake".
"That plasma grenade was supposed to turn me into an indistinguishable pile of meat, even if it somehow didn't kill me, it still emits large amounts of radiation, I should've been dead, but I'm not…my guess is that this thing absorbed all the energy and used it to bring me here", said Rookie.
"Sir, should we hand this over to the Council?" asked Kaidan to Anderson.
"No, the Corporal showed up in the Eden Prime with this, if we do mention it, Saren will try to convict him for the attack in some way", said Anderson. "Rookie should keep it for now"
"Tell us about this mission of yours", said Shepard.
"That was planet Reach I was last in", Rookie sighed. "This was supposed to be just a simple mission. Go in, kill all the Covenant loyalists, and get out. Not much to do since the war is over"
"Wait, you're in a war!" asked Ashley.
'Damn it!', Rookie thought, he took a deep breath and started, "We were in a war with a group of different alien species who called themselves the Covenant, the first contact didn't go well and their leaders thought that the humans were a blight, so they waged a war against us. The war lasted almost three decades, we almost got wiped out. It is officially over now, but we're still fighting remnants of Covenant resistance".
"That's way too brief Rookie for a three decade war and I think you're omitting too much", said Shepard.
"Sorry ma'am, but the rest of the info about the war is strictly classified, even if I'm here I still have to follow the protocols", Rookie replied.
"I understand, but if the war is over, then what were you and your squad doing on Reach?" asked Anderson.
"Buck, my squad leader, said that the UNSC wanted to re-colonize Reach but when we got there we found out that the remaining Covenant loyalists had setup many outposts on Reach" ,said Rookie.
"What are Covenant loyalists?" asked Shepard.
"Near the end of the war, one of the alien species joined our side, the Covenant separatists, because they realized that their leaders were lying to them about the ha-", Rookie stooped in mid sentence, 'Damn, you almost said it!' He mentally smacked himself, "-About the humans being a blight to the galaxy, so the remaining aliens on their side were known as Covenant loyalist".
"You're obviously lying about the last part", said Ashley.
"It's only a half lie. Anyway, we had to attack all the outposts in a single surprise attack so that they won't have any time to respond or escape", said Rookie, "So that's where ODST's came in".
"You never told us what ODST means", said Shepard.
"ODST is short for Orbital Drop Shock Trooper", said Rookie, "We are the elite operatives of the UNSC rivaled only by the Spartans".
"The Spartans?" asked Shepard.
"…That's a totally different story", replied Rookie.
"What kind of training do you have?" asked Anderson.
"To compare, I'd say my training is something similar to an Alliance N7 marine, the soldier class", replied Rookie, "Plus my HEV training".
Everyone was staring at the Rookie, eyebrows raised.
"Well, that's hard to believe", said Anderson.
"Sir, he was a pretty good shot with a pistol and his CQB skills are pretty substantial too", said Shepard.
Anderson nodded and turned to the Rookie,"What was that about 'HEV training'?"
"ODST's are trained to ride the HEV's or the Human Entry Vehicle. These look a lot like the escape pods here on the Normandy but in reality, these pods are used to deploy the ODST's from the high orbit into the battlefield", said Rookie.
"Is that even safe?", asked Shepard.
"No…but it sure is fun", replied Rookie, "Now with my mission, Many ODST squads, along with mine were plummeted from the high orbit to their assigned outposts…with my luck we got what looked like some kind of forrunner fortress, must've been their main outpost, it is there that we found this thing…and now I'm here"
"Again, way too brief for a mission", said Ashley.
"I've told too much to you already"
"Fine then", said Anderson, "Your history aside, what are you planning to do next now that you are here?"
Rookie's shoulders dropped, "I don't know, maybe I'll find some way to go back home"
"We don't have 'plasma grenades' here you know", said Shepard.
"No, I won't risk something like that", said Rookie. "Dunno how this thing works anyway".
"How about this, for now you can join our crew, we can't let you wander off just like that while Saren is looking for you, you will be safe here on the Normandy", Anderson offered, "And we'll help you find some way to help you go back to your dimension".
"And you can enlist in the Alliance military if that's okay with you", Shepard suggested
Rookie nodded.
"And you can keep your rank, you must've worked hard for it", said Anderson. "And I'll prepare a new ID for you"
"Won't your superiors get suspicious?" asked Rookie.
"Apparently, you don't know Captain Anderson", said Shepard with a smirk. "He can get around"
"Captain we are inbound to the citadel", Joker chimes in from the comm. "ETA ten minutes"
"Okay, so we're done here", said Anderson. "I'll go and prepare your new ID, welcome to the Alliance military, Corporal"
"Thank you, sir", said Rookie and gave him a crisp salute.
"I have one last question", said Ashley.
Rookie sighed and nodded.
Ashley crossed her hands, "In that video, what was that about 'Sleeping through the debriefing'?" she asked with a smirk on her face.
*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
A/N: I avoided the 'OMG! Your world doesn't have element zero!' discussion, it was annoying. I like it that way, less tech talk, more story.
Rookie arrived here after the war was over.
And yes that IS right, they can't tell stuff about the war like the Halo rings and the Flood to anyone outside the UNSC or to the civilians to avoid world wide panic. Good for the Rookie though, poor guy had to talk a lot, again. You bet that'll give him a sore throat.
Next up, The Citadel!