4 Years after drop
SSV Normandy SR-1
Chapter 2: Welcome To The Citadel
The Rookie awoke to a horrible pain in her side. She tried to reach over to it, but her hands wouldn't respond. Her eyes tried to open but they wouldn't. She could feel herself lying on something soft, a bed maybe. She was reminded of her drop into New Mombasa, and her surprised awakening. She tried to hit out at the emergency release bolt, but neither of her hands would listen. She tried desperately to open her eyes. Even her mouth wouldn't listen to her commands. She tried calling for help, but all that came from her mouth was a series of grunts and moans.
She felt a hand grab her arm gently. Its voice was smooth and almost motherly. "Calm down, calm down. It's okay. Your nerves are just adjusting from that shock." The Rookie wanted to keep fighting, but soon could do no more as she felt sleep coming over her again. Well, shit.
Shepard watched as the Rookie settled down again. She looked to doctor Chakwas. "You think she'll be fine doctor? I need to question her on some things she mentioned."
The doctor gave her a stern look. "Shepard, do you really think you should be questioning her? From what I heard she saved you and the colony."
"Doctor, she not only lied, but threatened a civilian at gunpoint. I need to know who she is, and who she works for. For all I know, she could have only saved the colony to get to me and destroy the ship or something!" Shepard was doing a kind of whisper shout that she often did when angry.
Chakwas merely looked on at Shepard with... what was that look? Pity? "Shepard, I've known you long enough to know that it's the attack of a colony that's making you angry, not this woman here." She pointed to the Rookie, asleep on the bed. "You miss your family, and you're perfectly entitled to anger, but please Shepard, don't take it out on this woman. Goodness knows her mind and body have enough scars already."
Shepard seemed to calm down a bit. "You're right doctor. I'm sorry for losing patience at you." She let a long sigh out. "I need to do it, but I'll be gentle, I promise. Anyway, what was that stuff about scars?"
Chakwas walked over to the Rookie and Shepard followed, standing on the other side of the bed. "She... Shepard, what's her name?"
"I dunno, she only told her to call her Rookie."
"Well, from the looks of it, she's anything but a rookie." The doctor pulled the Rookies newly adorned Alliance shirt off of her body, so that the Rookie didn't have anything besides a bra on the other half of her body. Neither of them minded. Shepard was in the army, so you just got over that stuff because it was pretty communal. And Chakwas was a doctor. Any squeamishness, and you didn't have what it took. "Let's start at the abdomen. Large scar from left side of waist to the navel. Skin regrowth pattern suggest the scar was cauterised at the same time that she received the scar. Most likely some kind of plasma blade, but that is speculation. Moving up, we have three inch scar across diaphragm, horizontal. Internally, her entire right lung is a replacement.
"Replacement?" Shepard asked, completely confused. "How'd she get that?" If this soldier had had a collapsed or ruptured lung in combat, she should have died.
"Well, I can tell you that it is her own DNA, not an organ donor lung. I know it's a replacement because it appears to be newer than the other lung, but aside from that it appears perfect. Next up is her left hand." She pulled up the Rookies arm, and moved the fingers around. Shepard was going to question why, until she heard something. Every time the finger moved it made a mechanical servo sound.
Shepard suddenly figured it out. "Wait, is that a mechanical prosthesis?"
"Yes, fully functioning with nerve endings in strategic placements, and skin grown over it, though it does appear to be some kind of artificial skin. It also appears that only the bottom three fingers are prosthesis. That's not the last mechanical implant either. The next one can't be shown directly because of its placement." She pulled the beds holo projector over, and a holo appeared of the inside of the Rookies body. "Notice anything odd commander?"
Shepard stared before finally admitting "You've stumped me this time doctor."
Chakwas smiled. She zoomed the holo onto the Rookie's head, and then told her. "Here, in the back of her skull, is a small computer interface. It is inserted directly into her Medulla, the primitive part of the brain, and has a connection to her optic nerve and from there can seem to project a HUD and information directly to her retina.
"That's pretty impressive, but aren't augs like that illegal?"
"That doesn't seem to have stopped our friend here. And finally, what I personally find most interesting, are her legs."
"Whoa, slow down there doc, you two only just met." Shepard joked.
Chakwas seemed to ignore the joke and went straight said "On a serious note, I think this'll interest you. Her legs seem to be incredibly strong boned, and have been broken, shattered, and fractured more times than I can count on my two hands. Whatever work she did, she was doing a lot of jumping."
"You're right, that does seem weird. That's a lot of breaks. You mind if I touch, see how strong they are?" That sounded fucking weird.
"Go right ahead."
Shepard reached down and squeezed the Rookie's femur. She almost got a heart attack.
You know the music time to dance... Check your mouths, find your chairs, and get set, for a combat drop... Slipspace rupture... Nuke?... Rookie watch out! Something large hits my pod... I almost break my neck... then I wake up with my brother on Luna... we wrestle... I fall, and keep falling... below me is Earth... I fall without pod, silently screaming... I hit the ground, and as I do, I feel my leg tighten... No, it can't be real, no, no, No!
The Rookie awoke with a scream and jumped up, headbutting the commander incredibly hard. She looked around and tried to see where she was. Then she felt the bed. I was here just before. She looked down, and saw her top off, only on a bra. That's weird.For a moment, she forgot about the commander, and then remembered, now her head hurting too, along with the other woman now trying to calm her down.
It was definitely the motherly sounding woman. "There there honey, it's okay, you're safe, lie back. Looks like those nerves are definitely back to nor-" She never finished her sentence.
Three people ran in, two she recognised as Ash and Alenko, and another she hadn't met yet. The man walked over to the commander. She stood with her head up, pinching her nose as it bled roughly. "Shepard, are you alright? " he asked with genuine concern.
"I think my nose id broken." she said in that way that people do when they have broken noses. "I might have gad a heart attack doo." Chakwas walked to the commander, and applied some kind of salve to her nose. It seemed to stop the bleeding almost instantly, though the nose was still slightly disfigured. The man turned to the Rookie, and she managed to get a clear look at him. He was black, early to mid fifties, and seemed to be of importance. Oddly enough, he sounded a great deal like the Arbiter, who she had seen once, at the Voi memorial.
"Soldier, you mind telling me what you're doing smacking my XO in the head?" he said rather angrily.
"Sorry sir, bad dream." Great, there'll be more conversations today, I'll bet.
"Well, you're not the only one. Shepard, you mind if I tell her?" the newcomer asked.
The commander's voice seemed to return to normal. "Go ahead. This still hurts like hell."
"Very well. Oh and soldier, I'm Captain Anderson." The Rookie snapped off a quick salute. "At ease. After you did what you did with that EMP, you deactivated all the bombs and Geth, probably saved the colony, so you do deserve thanks. Alenko carried you until you all found the beacon. He proceeded to put you down and investigate the beacon, while the commander radioed for extraction. Alenko here began to be pulled into the air by the beacon, and the commander tackled him out of the way and was pulled up herself, and was shortly knocked unconscious. The chief and Alenko took you to the Normandy, and when she woke up, the commander told us she had visions of death and destruction. Now we are going to have to discuss dressed and head to the conference room. Dismissed."
The captain walked out with the commander, and Alenko left too when he noticed the Rookie was half naked. That just left the Rookie, Ash, and who she assumed was the doctor. Visions of death and destruction. Damn, that's a monday morning for me.
The doctor walked over. "Well Rookie, it seems you have a clean bill of health, though I would like you to report back later. Is that alright?" The Rookie just nodded. The doctor handed her a shirt, and the Rookie put it on. A thought came to her head.
"My armour?" She asked to the doctor.
"Downstairs, in the hangar. You can get it after the interview, if you need it." she answered. "Ash will show you the way." The Rookie got up and swung her legs off the the table and got up.
"Thanks doctor."
"No problem, Rookie."
It was weird to not have armour on after two months straight with it. War Games tended to take all the energy out of you, and it was almost constant, so there was no point of removing your armour. The doctor added "Try not to cut yourself anymore. There are too many scars already." The Rookie just nodded again.
She walked to Ash. "Alright Rookie, you ready to meet the brass?"
The Rookie nodded. "Where are we?" she asked as she looked around the hall.
"The Normandy. I'll just assume you don't know what that is." The two walked out into some kind of mess area, where people were busy eating and chatting. "It's a joint project between the Turians and Alliance, the most advanced stealth frigate we have. Took a lot of credits and years. It's about 220 metres long, and packs a surprising punch." They walked to some stairs and began to ascend them.
The Rookie thought it seemed more like a corvette, but she hadn't seen the whole thing yet.
They emerged from the stairs and saw some kind of command room. Damn sight prettier than UNSC ships, that's for damn sure. They took an immediate right and entered into a circular room with comfortable chairs and a holo screen at the end. The captain and commander, along with Alenko, were sitting beside each other on the seats to the right.
"Hey Ash, over here." Alenko told her. Ash split away from the Rookie and sat next to Alenko. The Rookie took a seat opposite them. They all stared at her for about a minute, the Rookie just sitting back comfortably on her seat.
The captain was the first to speak up when the Rookie settled down. "All right, Rookie, I'm going to need your name, age, and birthplace. None of that alias stuff like Jane Doe. Then we're going to question you about the things on Eden Prime, and then expand beyond the report. Do you understand, and will you cooperate?"
The Rookie, while unsure of protocol at this point, decided to be respectful by engaging in full conversation, a difficult thing for her. "Yes sir. My name is Jennifer Li Dabrowski. Born on Crisium City, Naniwa, Luna. Aged 28." The captain seemed to make notes on his omni-tool. These people were probably not going to believe anything she said, and she had a theory why, though it would make her sound crazy. She was in fact, telling the whole truth. She was 28, and her name was Jennifer, though her family called her Jenni. Not a name she often heard people call her by anymore. The Li came from part of her heritage. Luna was the first colony ever, and was settled by joint Chinese and Japanese volunteers, and then became very popular with American, so that's where she got Dabrowski from, her mother's side. As for appearances, she took everything from her mother's side.
The captain continued with his interrogation. That's what it reminded the Rookie of. "The first thing of interest in the commander's report are your weapons. Tell us anything you can."
She wasn't sure if she should, these people didn't have them apparently. But, if they don't have them, what's some random soldier describing them going to change? "My rifle has both ammunition in the form of bullets and energy, and can use one or the other at the flick of a switch. The bullets are just that. But the energy feature utilises recent tech. The rifle has a small power plant in the stock, and generates an energy beam almost the speed of light, but not quite reaching it. It travels down the gun, and when it hits the bullets they become superheated and almost into pure energy. Upon contact, the rounds create miniscule explosions that work well against shields, but don't really have an effect on the people other than minor itching. Don't ask me how it works, I'm just a soldier. But when the round hits flesh, I doubt itching is going to be their biggest problem" She paused for a second, her throat becoming soar. She wasn't used to this much speech. "Can someone get me a glass of water, my throat hurts."
The commander unclipped a flask from her side and handed it to the Rookie. "Thanks." She took a big gulp before continuing. "I also know that when in energy mode the whole bullet is fired. That's 65 percent more bullet, you know? Anyway, as for the other three, the sniper is a fifty cal so it really doesn't require energy, but the SMG, my favourite, comes in two different variants. The energy one has a bigger, fixed stock, and the bullets have been entirely replaced by energy. The problem is, that while they tear up flesh and armour, they do only half damage to shields, and can't be silenced. My version is different. It has fully changeable stock length, ability for almost pure silence, and can't fire energy rounds, but having a good damage against shields and three quarters damage against flesh and armour. I forgot to bring grenades, but those were just frags."
"This certainly is most interesting. Tell me, why is there no hybrid version of your SMG?" Jeezo, how long is this going to last? The captain, and true of the others too, seemed most intent to listen to her story.
The Rookie continued with her explanation. "Simply put, the SMG is too small, and also it has a 50 round capacity, and due to some new materials being used, it's too expensive to give every round a special ingredient X, as it were. And lastly, for stealth purposes, the gun needs to be light, something which can't be achieved with a power plant." She took another gulp of water. "The pistol is simply far too small for the power plant, so now it comes standard with low yield explosive tips.I think that's the guns part done. What's next, sir?"
"Next is the lack of other technology. You don't have an omni-tool, or shields, or biotic powers. Care to explain?"
She just sighed. "With respect sir, this will take hours at this rate. I can draft a report with the answers to all your questions, but not only do I hate talking, I have a theory on why I differ so much from you." She put her most defiant face on, to try to convince them that she would see this as the only condition.
After a few silent minutes of thought, he leaned forward in his chair. "Very well, Dabrowski, I will forward all questions to you. I'll have you fitted with an omni-tool, and a shield as well. Now tell me of this theory you have."
"Well, it's slightly crazy, but I think..." she let the tension build, before just spurting out "I'm from a different reality."
That seemed to shut almost everyone, except Ash. Of all the people, it was her only 'friend', using the word lightly. Ash had a small laugh. "Really, Dabrowski, or whatever? Another reality? You do realise you sound just... completely crazy right now. How did you even come up with that?"
Alenko also spoke up. "Yeah, I'm a little more open minded than that, but it still seems pretty out there." Shepard oddly enough, remained quiet.
"And how did you come to this conclusion?" the captain asked, with suspicion written all over his face, and patronisation riding his words.
"Well, everything I have and don't have is completely different to yours. I lost memory before my last combat drop, and then woke up here. I would show you files off my amour's storage, but that will have been locked down after the EMP, and only a skilled tech or someone with access could unlock them, and after what I saw, I'm gonna say these fine, fine soldiers don't have those abilities." She pointed at the three soldiers. "You have to trust me on this. I am a soldier of the UNSC where I come from, and that makes it my responsibility to ensure the safety and survival of humanity, through actions big or small. I think my actions on Eden Prime proved this."
"I don't know if I believe you, but... I will trust you. You're right in your statement, aside from when you threatened the man. Care to expand?"
"Oh, yeah. The data held on that was classified top secret, but it won't work anymore. I've realised. As I activated it, I remembered that the chip must have lost EMP protection, so I essentially fried it. As for why I would've had to kill him, if he did know something, he wouldn't last long under torture, and plenty of people would try to get that info off of him." She hoped it made sense to them too.
"Makes sense to me too." Shepard agreed. "Say, if we do trust you, or at least one of us, you mind coming along on our mission? We'll need an extra hand at some point, and you look pretty proficient at combat. You up for it?"
"What other choices do I have. If the captain allows me, it'll be my honour to serve under your command." The Rookie hoped sounding all noble and shit would get the captain to agree. I don't think I'll be going home anytime soon either.
The captain thought it over for a full 10 seconds. "Very well. So long as you understand that all your superiors in the Alliance are your superiors. Just because you are UNSC doesn't mean the rules don't apply. We clear?"
"Clear as crystal sir. You won't regret it." She stood up with a genuine smile on her face, actually pleased that something went right today. He stood up and they shook hands.
"Welcome aboard the Normandy, Lance Corporal Dabrowski."
"I prefer Rookie, sir."
"Very well Rookie." He walked to the door. "Everyone to the armory and get ready. Be on the bridge in 20. The Rookie took a swig from the flask and gave it back to the commander.
"Here you are. Thank you commander". The other two filed out of the door.
"Hey, eh, just call me Shepard. And I'm sorry for being pissy at you on the colony. My family was killed by slavers, and it reminded me of that down there." Slavers? What sick shit buys a slave? This is definitely a different reality. "Don't let it cloud your impression of me. I'm really sorry." Shepard appeared to have her head down in shame, still seated.
The Rookie just grabbed Shepard by the wrists and pulled her to her feet. "I know the feeling commander. My family was killed on a battle on Luna. I know how angry I can get at the thought. Don't worry about the apology, there was nothing wrong about what you said. Now come on, I can't have my new CO moping about, and not yelling orders at me, can I?"
"You're right. Get to the armory before I kick your ass." Shepard mock yelled at her.
"Now that's the commander I've been waiting on."
She had only taken a few minutes to find the armory. It really was corvette sized by the UNSC's standards. But still, the Defiant was small but incredibly bad ass.
The Rookie was currently getting back in her ODST armour, a pain in the ass unfortunately, another reason she didn't take it off often. As she finished strapping on the last piece, the chest plate, she saw Ash walk over. "Hey Rookie, or, Dabrowski, which do you prefer?
"Rookie."
"Right, well, I was just gonna ask of you wanted the sniper back? I mean, I've got my own now, so..."
The Rookie just nodded. Ash walked back to her locker and the Rookie followed, and got the sniper on her backpack again. Heavy, but still. "Hey Rookie, I just wanted to apologise for doubting you in there. I mean, I still kinda do, but I should have kept it quiet. It was disrespectful Sorry." The Rookie just shrugged. "Does that mean we're still good? she asked. The Rookie nodded. "So, how different are we in this new reality of yours?"
The Rookie couldn't tell if it was real or mock interest but she decided to humour Ash for the time being. "Very. We are xenophobic to aliens and just finished a thirty year war with them." To say the least, she had just thrown a right hook at Ash's jaw.
"Really. All aliens you're xenophobic to?"
"Except one enslaved race. We found them enslaved by the main aliens, and at the end of the war they defected to us, and we now treat them incredibly well." She waited a moment as she finished readying herself. "Now, please, I really dislike talking." She took a drink from her own water flask, and then firmly put her helmet in place.
"Let's stop goofing around then. The captain wants us on the bridge, ASAP. You'd better follow me." They went to the elevator, and waited before they reached the crew deck. How bloomin' long does an elevator take to go up one floor? They finally reached the crew deck, and then had to jog up the stairs to get to CIC, as she had learnt it was called, then all the way to the bridge.
A few people have her odd looks. She hadn't been seen by them yet, and they looked pretty confused. In my time and place, an ODST was met with cheers. Here, it's just mistrust, even of other Humans. They arrived at the bridge. She expected it to be a large room with many stations, but there were just a few seats in a rather confined space. How they manage to run the ship from here I will never know.
The captain, Alenko, and the commander were already at the bridge. Through the glass she saw a large structure rapidly growing larger as they got closer. It had two rings, with a blue field being emitted from them, and they were spinning rapidly. The pilot with the cap announced "Coming up on the relay in 10!"
The Rookie had a panic attack at that point. Blue lightning began to hit the ship, and she thought they were being attacked. She was about to call out a warning when all of a sudden the ship jumped forward. Yet, there was no jump feeling. There wasn't any different feelings. Outside of the window, the stars were going fast by them, like in Star Trek. "We're about to exit." the pilot told them. And just like that they appeared in real space. As eerily normally as they entered the energy sword shaped structure.
In front of them was a large purple cloud, A nebula the Rookie thought to herself. She was about to ask what one when something shut her up. They emerged in a clear space, where there were many ships and a space station. It was absolutely massive. It must have been at least 60 kilometres, and was separated into five different arms. Apparently, that wasn't the impressive thing though.
"Wow, look at the size of that ship!" Kaiden remarked. "It's main gun can one shot any ship."
"The Destiny Ascension, pride of the Citadel fleet." Ash called it.
"Not that impressive." The pilot bluntly stated. I'm inclined to agree.
"Joker, you're just jealous." Ash mock accused. So Joker's his name? Why so serious?
"Hey, I'm just sayin' size isn't everything." he defended.
"A little touchy are we?"
"How Rookie, how big was that Infinity, or whatever you called it?"
The Rookie saw how they lighted up at the sight of this rather Covenant looking ship, and felt she would seem a complete bitch to be smug, so with as much indifference as she could handle, she simply stated "Bigger."
Joker asked, to the woman he'd never met before "How small are the smallest?"
"Bigger than this."
Anderson interjected. "Well, I'm sure the Rookie can school us on ships later, right now we're going to dock with the Citadel. Everyone to the airlock. Docking in three minutes." They all went before the Rookie, and she went out last with a salute to Joker, and he did a stupid face back at her. Great.
They waited another few minutes, and when the door opened, she was surprised to say the least.
She stood rooted to the spot, watching the Turian guard shout at her again, though she didn't have a translator so she couldn't understand what he was saying. He was sitting on the ground, with a broken, what she assumed to be, nose, while his friend wrote something on his omni-tool.
Of course, the moment the alien with the gun moved to her, she grabbed his gun and smacked him in the face with the stock. Just what you do as an ODST.
After the officer finally stopped fiddling around with his omni-tool, he closed it and looked up to her. "You got a legitimate excuse for why you hit an officer with his own weapon?" She just stared, not knowing what he was saying. "They teach you manners where you're from?"
Shepard decided now was as good a time as any to interject. "Sorry officer, she's never seen an alien before, and I think she got very nervous when an armed alien walked up to her speaking a language she couldn't understand. She doesn't have a translator you see."
"Well, I guess it's somewhat understandable. You'll have to forgive me for getting her name and details for an incident report. If yo-"
Anderson cut off the officer. "Excuse me, but I'm captain Anderson." The Turian snapped a salute, the Rookie still not knowing what was happening. The captain continued "We are under a tight schedule, we are off to see the council as you must have already confirmed. I'll send you details once we are finished, and I would request that my friend here receive a translator piece, as must be supplied by authorities."
The officer considered a moment. "Very well. If you will please follow me to customs, you shall receive a translator, and will be free to go." He turned to the other guard, "get yourself relieved from another officer, and make your way to Huerta, got it?"
"Yes sir!"
"Let's go then."
They began to walk to the elevator, the Rookie still completely in the dark as to what was happening, shrugged at Alenko when he looked over to her. "Ah, you don't understand. We're going to get you a translator, then go speak to the Council. Then, I don't know." He looked away a second before looking back and asking "What does ODST stand for?"
"Orbital Drop Shock Trooper." Please no more questions. Thankfully, none more were asked. People still chatted amongst one another, Ash and Alenko just had general banter, and the captain and Shepard were discussing Saren. At the end of the dock was an elevator, and they all crammed in. There was a news about a colony run by a corporation. A colony belonging to a corp? Who the hell thought of that? The UEG never let corporations have their own colonies, but often corporations established them through UEG contracts. The elevator ride was so slow. Maybe it's just part of being a helljumper, but anything that goes vertical in this reality is too damn slow. They finally reached C-Sec HQ, and boy were there a lot of aliens.
Wherever she looked, there were not only aliens, but Humans too. One of the Turians walked over to the officer, and handed him a small thing in his hand that fit human ear contours. That must be my translator. The officer walked over to her, and handed it to her, not bothering to say anything because she didn't understand anyway.
She removed her helmet, and removed a stray strand of hair, and tucked it behind her ear. The translator looked too big for her ear, but surprisingly, as it touched her ear, it molded itself to its shape. When it finally went all the way in, the officer spoke to her, and she heard it in English. "Is that working ma'am?" She nodded. "Well, that's good to see. Is there any help you need with it?"
The Rookie considered a moment. Currently it had matched her own skin colour. "Can I colour it black?"
"Well, sure, if that's really necessary. Here let me just..." he worked on his omni-tool, before finally announcing "Got it. Will that be all?"
She looked at her ear in the reflection of her visor, before putting her helmet back on and being back to ruthless ODST. She shook her head. The officer told them "Right, well as I understand you're supposed to see councillor Udina first. I'll call a taxi for you." It's good to finally understand aliens for once. Gives you the up on them.
The Rookie wasn't sure what she had thought 'taxi' meant, she assumed it was just a car, but lo and behold, a flying car comes out of nowhere on the ledge they are standing on. Well, that was unexpected. "Alright, everyone pile in." Shepard ordered them. They all managed to fit in, though Ash and the Rookie had to squeeze in a bit tightly. Looks like these things aren't made for many people, especially not armoured ones.
Ash turned to her. They were literally touching shoulders in the very back two seats. The armour really didn't help. "So, what you think of the Citadel right now? It's your first time right?" She just shrugged. It's impressive, but size... woah. She looked out and what she thought would have been city, was actually a large curved garden place, and there were lots of the flying cars. Skycars, I think I'll call them. She now slowly nodded her head.
Ash asked "So, I take it that's a sign of approval? It's my first time here too. I feel the same." The Rookie normally doubted statements like that, but with Ash, she wasn't so sure. This was their first time for a lot of things. First aliens, at least, non hostiles. First alien super capital space station. Well, that was only two, but still. They also had things like meeting soldiers from other realities, and having a caring officer above the enlisted ranks. Don't think Veronica counted. "So, what's the capital for your government, Rookie? This is the alien one, and ours is also a massive space station."
She took off her helmet. It was the only way she really liked speaking, for some reason. "Our government is the UEG, United Earth Government, has control over all 800 colonies, stationed in the capital of Earth, Sydney, Australia. All colonies have their own government elected by their civilian population, and can make any changes to legislation they want, as long as they have UEG and CAA approval."
She said it quietly enough so no one else would ask her question. Ash, while seeming to get the idea, still was a little too loud. "Woah, hold up Rookie, 800. That is a load of colonies. Do you defend every single one?"
"Yeah. It's now every colonies job to have at least a one thousand man garrison, straight from volunteers from the colony, and a requisition will be given to ensure they have training and equipment." She took out her water flask and took a big gulp. Dman throat's itching again.
"How many ships are in your navy? You must need so many to ensure the colonies are safe."
"Just over a thousand at the height of its power. Of course, that all changed by the end of the war."
"What do you mean?" Ash asked but the question came too late. The skycar touched down, the Rookie put her helmet back on, and off they went. "One day you're going to tell me. I'll make sure of it." Ash, though undoubtedly still wary of the whole thing, and not fully trusting, just couldn't help but be intrigued by the possibility of another reality. And the more crazy things get, the more curious you are.
This is some some sort of, what, helipad? They all filed out, with the Rookie going last, and saw a door leading into a building. They walked in and emerged into a large hallway, with more Turian guards guarding the doors. She saw in English, on a sign, Human Ambassador. Well, at least we have some kind of alien relations here.
That was obviously where Shepard drew the line on taking people. "Hey, uh, Rookie, why don't you go get yourself a shield and an omni-tool. Here, I'll give you a credit chit." She handed the Rookie some small square chip, obviously for transactions. "It's got 5000, but do try to get something for a bargain."
Anderson also chipped in. "Also, go down the hall and take a right, and give this to executor Pallin. Make sure you do that first. Once your done, just explore around till we call." The Rookie nodded in confirmation. The others continued down the hall and entered a room. The reason for ditching her was obvious. They weren't just going to let an unknown, possibly crazy soldier meet a VIP. She didn't really get offended, but still, they could've just said.
She went into the room that was pointed out, and inside sat a single Turian. He looked up and noticed the Rookie. "So, who are you? You don't look like you're here to report a crime." She just walked over to him and gave him Anderson's chip. He scanned it with his omni-tool before saying "Ah, so the captain has given in that incident report. Well, luckily for you Miss Dabrowski, you're not being charged. I understand why you would be concerned if you have never met an alien before. Just, please, refrain from any more violence aboard the Citadel." Anderson must have put my name into a database. She just turned around and walked out without a word.
Her next job was to find an omni-tool. No doubt more useful than shields right now. She was excited about the prospect of shields. Some ODST's got prototype ones back on the Infinity, but that was rare. Most ODST's resented Spartans because they got advanced ones as a standard, but she didn't care. Frankly, they could have her firstborn, because they deserved everything they got. They essentially saved humanity, as much as the ODST's hated it. Of course, the main problem for the ODST's was that their role as SpecOps had been taken by the Spartans. Still.
She finally found her way out of the building, and found herself in a lobby of sorts. Now for the shops. I love shopping. Shame I never get to. She walked out of the room, and was now by a river in the massive curved garden. A hologram appeared before her and scared the living shit out of her. She jumped back, and looked at it. It looked like an AI. She removed her helmet.
"Hello, I am Avina, a VI designed for guidance around the Citadel. Logging on Jennifer Li Dabrowski. How may I help you?" it asked.
"I need an omni-tool."
"I see. If you take a left and head across the bridge, a Hanar sells them. Will that be all.?" The Rookie nodded. "Very well, logging you out."
She followed the instructions, but somehow got lost. She seemes to do that all the time. At least in New Mombasa there were those audio logs, but here, just aliens. And all she had brought in terms of weapons was her SMG and pistol. Somehow, she managed to find a set of stairs leading down, and in the hallway was one of those blue female aliens. So far she hadn't seen any of their males. The alien was the first to speak. "Welcome, I am Naylina, I don't recognise you as one of our expected clients today, would you like me to see when the consort will be able to meet with you?" Um, what? A consort. Isn't that like a wife or something.
The Rookie shrugged, again, not speaking. Why is this woman wearing these clothes. Is this a brothel or something? Naylina spoke again. "Well, I'm afraid you can't just go in. The consort is very busy. If you leave a name, you should have an appointment, and she will make every effort to meet with you."
Why the hell not? I'll probably be gone by that time. She made her visor transparent so the woman could see her face. "Lance Corporal Dabrowski. UNS- I mean, Alliance."
Naylina typed something into the computer she was using. Weird that I'm having a civil conversation with an alien. If Mickey could see me now...
Her thoughts were interrupted by Naylina. "Very well, you should receive word in... three to four months."
Wow. "Nobody's worth that long." the Rookie told her.
Naylina laughed a little. "Well, that's not for me to judge. Now, is there anything else I can do?"
"Yeah. I'm looking for a Hanar who sells omni-tools."
"Ah, he should be right opposite the stairs you came in from. Is that all." The Rookie shut her visor back to black, and nodded. She began to walk out, and was halfway up the stairs when Naylina shouted out to her. "Lance Corporal!" The Rookie turned around. "The consort wishes to see you now." Oh shit. She walked backed down the stairs and stood in front of Naylina again. "If you would go up those stairs," she pointed to her right, "she will be waiting for you."
The Rookie gave a what's going on shrug. "I'm not sure. If you would go up she will tell you however." The Rookie turned to the stairs. Well, let's go see. She walked up and emerged into a large room, with another blue woman in the centre, her back turned to the Rookie.
The consort announced "That is close enough Jennifer." How the fuck does she know my name? "You must be wondering how I know your name." Damn right. "I heard someone in armour never seen before was found on the Human colony that was attacked. True warrior, they said. I have a great many contacts and I heard you were on the Citadel. I was hoping you could come. I have a certain problem I feel I could use your help with."
The Rookie removed her helmet. "Maybe I can help."
I have a friend, Septimus, a retired Turian general. I won't discuss the details, but he wanted me to be more than I could be. We had a falling out, and now he spends his days in a bar, drinking, and telling others lies about me." For some reason, the consort put her hand gently on the Rookie's jaw, and pulled her hand down it. The Rookie was going to move back, but damn it felt good. 20 billion dead Humans are probably rolling in their graves. "I was hoping that as a fellow soldier, you could speak some sense into him." Then, the consort put her hands on the Rookies waists and pulled herself in close, closing her eyes and putting the side of her face onto the Rookies jaw. Alright, I'm drawing the line here. She may, I'm ashamed to admit, be hot, but that's crossing a boundary. The Rookie peeled herself away.
"Alright, I'll do it, just no more touchy feely stuff."
"Thank you. Now I must ask you to take your leave. I have many clients today. Return once you have finished the task." The Rookie didn't stay in there one second longer, quickly jogging out of the room, down the stairs, through the hall, and to the shop to buy her omni-tool. What the fuck is up with her? She's like a galactic hooker.
The shop owner was a bit of a surprise as well. He reminded her somewhat of the Huragok, but only because of the tentacles. The main body seemed to be one big floating pink... thing. "I'm looking for an omni-tool." she stated.
"This one has what you need." He held out a small chip. She took it, and a standard omni-tool appeared from it. "This one sees that it is your first. We are willing to discount it to 500 credits. Is the customer pleased?" She nodded and gave him the credit card. He took them off and handed it back to her. She inserted it into a small slot on her arm usually reserved for an extra USB, and was glad when the display still showed up, even when it was secured in the armour.
"You got any shields?"
"This one does indeed. Basic unit is 3000 credits. Will the customer accept transaction?"
"Yeah, can you help me fit it?"
"We can." He took out a small device from a shelf, that looked something like an armour attachment, and fitted it roughly where an armour attachment went. She felt an odd tingling, and then nothing. I guess it worked.
She nodded to the alien and left the shop, looking for a taxi. She walked up to where Avina was, and saw another Human talking to her. The woman turned around when she noticed the Rookie waiting. "Oh, sorry, I didn't realise you were waiting, I'll be quick." The woman returned to whatever she was asking the 'VI' about. About a minute later she finally finished, and turned to the Rookie again. "Sorry about that. So, are you Alliance?" She was obviously confused by the armour nobody had ever seen before. The Rookie nodded, not wanting to expand wrongly on it, and risk losing an already weak alibi. "Nice, I am too. I work for the R&D department. You?"
"BlackOps." she just replied.
"Wow. Not many people openly admit that. Wait, you're not Cerberus, are you?" The Rookie shook her head, the voice of the other woman made it seem like a bad thing to be. "Well, that's good. I don't suppose you would tell me anyway. You know, spy stuff, 'If I told you that I'd have to kill you'" the woman joked. They both let out a small laugh at the reference. "So, she does make noise."
The Rookie made her visor transparent again. "Only when it's needed. I'm... Just call me Rookie."
"All right, but something tells me you're not really a rookie, are you? I'm Samantha, by the way. Samantha Traynor. But you can just call me Sam if we're going with nicknames." I can do that. "So, what brings you to the Citadel, Miss Spy?"
"Here with my new CO, she's seeing the Council. Doesn't want me there though. She thinks I might be an assassin or something." the Rookie informed her. She could often speak and have conversations, but she was only able to do them with certain people. Namely, her superiors when ordered to, and friends.
"Well, no offence, but I might have come to the same conclusion if you just got under my command. Well, I'm here to be evaluated in engineering by a council representative. They want to recruit me, but I'm staying with the Alliance no matter what they say." She said it rather proudly.
Then something clicked in the Rookie's head. Engineer hired by prestigious people. Locked down files. "Hey Sam, I need to call in a favour."
"Already? Most people wait a few days before asking one. But, I suppose I can. You're not so bad for a spy you know." The Rookie took that as a compliment. "What do you need?"
"My armours files have been locked down, and I need access to them, but there aren't any techies around. You think you can manage it?"
"Sure, doesn't sound too hard." She would soon take that back. The Rookie took off her helmet and handed to it to Sam. When she saw the Rookie she commented "Wow, and I thought all BlackOps spies were tough and had scars covering their faces." It was actually remarkable that she had no scars on her face. Usually, marines got one on their cheek or something from a missed needle, but thankfully, she always managed to avoid them. "Why is your hair that long?" Sam asked her. The Rookie had never actually been in the marines, but instead, the army, and the army and ODSTs were a lot more lenient on personal appearance than the marines, so she had always managed to keep her hair quite long. The same strand as earlier got loose and she tucked it back behind her ear.
"My unit is quite lenient on it."
"Well, you're one of the few then. Let's see..."
Sam put the helmet on, and was a bit shocked when the helmets HUD instantly was replaced with the words 'Unauthorised Access'. How did it know so fast. How did it know at all. "Rookie, your helmets locked me out." She heard the Rookie read out a series of numbers, and the helmet rebooted itself. Quite the tech she's got. Whoever designed this is getting a fistbump from me. An eagle with a shield covering it midsection, sitting atop a planet, with the banner underneath with the letters UNSC took up the whole display. I need to know who these people are, they are so good with tech. The eagle disappeared and the HUD came back up. Alright, time to work your magic.
She was thinking of some way to pull up the file icon from the bottom left of the screen, when suddenly the files section opened up. She looked away from the newly opened window, and it then closed. She looked at it again, and it opened. This is like an engineer's wet dream she thought to herself. She pulled up the master file, and quickly found the problem. In the event of EMP, all files are locked down to ensure survival but also so they cannot be secured by the enemy. What kind of files does this thing contain. She soon found out. Once unlocking them, which wasn't hard, she found over four gigabytes of orders in text and audio format, 17 terabytes of video, and oddly enough, 16 gigabytes of music. I have to sneak a peek into some of these.
"How's it going?" The Rookie asked.
"Almost there." Sam lied. She didn't like doing it, but she wanted to see what kind of music the Rookie liked. She wasn't stupid enough to look at classified info. Suddenly, without realising, she blinked at a song, and was almost deafened.
"Drop it!" A heavy electro beat sounded from the helmet and Sam threw it off in a scream. The Rookie ran over to see if Sam was alright, and saw she was okay.
"Sorry, I got there and looked at your music by accident. Damn, it's hard to control that helmet." Sam rubbed her ear, no doubt it was ringing. The Rookie, unbeknownst to anyone but her, had permanent ringing. She walked over to her helmet, picked it up, and hit a switch on the inside, stopping the song.
"I guess it's unlocked then?" The Rookie said with a smile.
"Yeah. What d'you need it for?"
"Proof of something. Thanks, by the way. So, what now?" the Rookie asked.
"Well, I was wandering if lunch sounds good? I've still got a long time to wait, and I don't want to eat on my own. Up for it?" Well, the Rookie thought, I am hungry, and it would be cool to speak to someone for once in this place about this place, and not be told to do something.
"Sure." she answered. "Got any places in mind?"
"Well, there was this ba-"
"No. No, bars, I have something to do in a bar, and I'm going to be distracted from the dinner by it, I can tell. A restau-" She began to heavily cough, and had to take a drink before she could continue speaking. Damn throat. She cleared her throat. "Sorry. A restaurant?"
"Sure. There's a place down by the river over there. Sound good?" The Rookie nodded. "Let's get going then." They had only walked twenty metres when her fun ended. She heard a tone come from her helmet, which was in her hand. She accepted the incoming message.
It was Shepard. Here's a rain cloud on my parade. "Rookie, this is Shepard. Report to the bar Chora's Den. We've got work to do. Over."
The message stopped and the Rookie looked at Sam. "So sorry, Sam. Rain check?"
"Oh never mind. I don't mind eating on my own. Well, my task runs for a few months, so if you're ever back, I'll find you and hold you up to that rain check."
The Rookie felt bad, and so she decided to make it up to Sam. "Hey, my CO gave me some funds, and I don't need them anymore, so here." She pressed the chip into Sam's hand. "It's 1500. I don't need it." She knew Shepard would be pissed. But honestly, she couldn't give a fuck about what Shepard thought.
"Well, thanks Rookie. The least I can do is pay for a taxi. Here." She transferred the funds to her account, and left 15 for a taxi on the card. The transit station is back where Avina is, a terminal to her right. Bye."
"Well, see ya." The Rookie shook Sam's hand before heading back to Avina, when she heard Sam shout back.
"Hey, what's your name. Your real one."
"Jennifer." It was all she felt comfortable telling her, even if Sam could be trusted so far. She turned back and kept walking to the taxi. She payed for a ride to Chora's Den, too tired to really be bothered with whatever was happening all of a sudden.
The whole time she had only one thought in her head. Would my life have just been nice and fun like these peoples if I had just left when the war ended. I think I would've liked to leave. Live on Luna again. Even if the ghosts of my family are still there. Thought of her family and a happy life and memories of times before promptly sent her to sleep in the cab.
A/N:
Thanks for all the reviews guys. Or gals. Or whoever. I really didn't expect to get any reviews really. It was my fourth attempt in private time to write a fanfic, and it was the only one I was confident enough to release. So, after posting it, I thought it was stupid, and considered removing it, but when I got the first review, I was instantly starting on the second chapter. I am glad to say, that the more of the reviews I get, the more motivated I am to write. So, keep 'em rolling in, keep them clean, and keep the beast's hunger for reviews sated.
Anyway, I know it isn't the Rookie's whole thing to talk, but some character interaction is needed, and the first few chapters are going to have a lot of questions that need answering. If you haven't noticed, I've also now made a rule where she only has full conversations when her helmet is off. Someone who reviewed last time said the name Jane Doe wasn't imaginative enough. I'm sorry if it wasn't clear, but she used that as a fake name in case Eden Prime was Insurrectionist, so she wouldn't be giving away her details. And I've given her a real name too, within the boundaries of JD, as set by Bungie.
You may have noticed this chapter is about a thousand words longer than the last. I'm gonna try to keep them between 7500 - 10000. Satisfying, but accessible. Anyway, I'm essentially updating this story as I complete chapters, and I do a few thousand words every day, so expect maybe just over half a week for each. Don't hold me to that though. Also, I'm gonna have a holiday hiatus in a week or two.
And a quick disclaimer for this week and lasts (which I forgot), I think there is literally nothing in this story I own, it's all Bungie's and Bioware's. And unfortunately, Mass Effect is EA's too.
See you until next time! Also, can you find all the references hidden throughout this chapter?