Well, part 2, isn't this exiting! I know part one hasn't had too many readers, but I'm continuing anyway, because I want to. I said some RWBY lore would change for this fic. Let's get some lore changes in here! I also want to say, that the final flotilla takes heavy inspiration from the Quarian flotilla from Mass Effect, for those of you who were wondering.

Ellie woke up in a bunk that had been given to her upon boarding the USG Spirit of Hope. According the Captain Ulysses, all new survivors pass through the medical deck of the respective vessels they're brought to. And most survivors start off on board the USG Spirit of Hope. All rescued survivors pass through the medical deck first, and undergo a basic medical inspection. The intention being to find either if the Marker had marked their minds, and to treat any injury sustained in the cold black of space. Her appointment was set for tomorrow 'morning', though morning was objective in space.

The following day Ellie had passed through the medical inspection with a clean bill of health. She was given a key-card, and was told it would get them to most public areas of most ships. Alongside that, she was given a sum of 3000 credits to get her started on board the USG Spirit of Hope. Upon entering the main public area of the ship, she was truly impressed. The ship itself had been turned into a space station. Most of the mining equipment inside the Planet-Cracker had been torn out, instead replaced with what Ellie could only describe as makeshift apartment facilities. Complete with a park for the children to play at while their parents worked.

Down the 'street' was what appeared to be a market-place, with stalls selling various food stuffs, from snacks, to street food, to full meals. The smells were conflicting. From the looks of it, all dishes were vegetarian. Though some smelled like meat. There was also a strong stench of alcohol in the air. Figures that someone would build a distillery somewhere. The smells reminded Ellie that she hadn't eaten anything for hours, causing hunger to set in. She stopped by a random food cart and purchased what looked like a falafel. She continued on exploring the ship, until she was interrupted by a, "Excuse me. Miss? Excuse me!"

Ellie turned around to see a woman standing before her, she was about the same height as Ellie, her skin was frighteningly pale, her hair dirty-blonde and tied into a bun, and a pair of reading glasses were on her face. She wore a medical uniform. In her hands was an electronic data pad, which she began typing fast into. Ellie stood puzzled, swallowing a bite from the falafel, she asked, "Can I help you?"

The woman held up the data pad, "Is this you?"

Ellie read the data pad:

-
Name: Ellie Langford
Age: 32
Previous Affiliations: Concordance Extraction Corporation (CEC), EarthGov (Temporary Affiliation)
Current Ship of Residence: USG Spirit of Hope
Marker Symptom: None at the moment
Doctor's/Nurse's Notes: Has had her eye replaced after event on the Titan Sprawl. Has remarkable resistance to Marker influence. Understandably isn't quick to trust people. Isn't nearly as paranoid as other patients I've dealt with. (Dr. J. Schmidt) / She might stab you. Keep sharp objects hidden. (Nurse D. Dooley)

There was a picture of Ellie in the top left-hand corner of the data pad.

"Yeah, that's me."

"I need you to come with me, there's, something on the medical deck I think you might want to see."

Ellie had already been on the medical deck, and no one had mentioned it then, but with nothing else to do, she decided to humor the good doctor. "Uh, can you please clarify what you mean by, something I want to see?"

The doctor lady paused as Ellie took another bite of falafel before answering, "Ah, uh, well, do you happen to know a man named Isaac Clarke?"

Ellie choked up on the falafel, coughing it onto the floor. Holy shit! Isaac's alive? That can't be right! I saw him fall from Tau Volantis' atmosphere, I WATCHED HIM DIE! She needed confirmation, "Ah... You're absolutely certain the man your talking about is the correct Isaac Clarke, not someone else who uses that name?"

The doctor lady flatly stated, "Yes, I am certain."

That still wasn't confirmation that Isaac was alive. Ellie was not about to let false hope take her. She would find the confirmation that Isaac Clarke was dead or alive right now. She grabbed the doctor lady by the collar, yanking her close to her face. Ellie glared and deadpanned, "Prove it."

The doctor lady remained calm and gestured, "Follow me."

The tram ride back the the medical deck felt longer than it did the first time. Maybe it was because the tram itself was crowded and stuffy, and Ellie was sandwiched tightly between the doctor lady and another random passenger. Or maybe it was the anticipation of finally getting closure on her boyfriend's final fate. She thought back to that horrific night on Tau Volantis, watching Isaac and Carver fall to the surface of that frozen hell, alongside that monster, the Brethren Moon, they'd just, by some God-given miracle, killed. She could find no transmission to indicate they were alive, and so flew away crying, thinking they were both dead.

Once they'd finally arrived on the medical deck, the two hurried to the psychiatric wing. Ellie followed the doctor lady to to her office, the door read: Head Medic. Ellie sat in front of a desk. A plaque on the desk read, Dr. Elizabeth Hampton PhD / MD / Head of Surgery.

The now identified Dr. Elizabeth Hampton sat behind the desk, handing Ellie a file labeled /Clarke, Isaac/. She opened it.

-
Name: Isaac Clarke
Age: 50
Previous Affiliations: Concordance Extraction Corporation (CEC)
Current Ship of Residence: USG Spirit of Hope
Current Occupation: Engineer
Marker Symptom: Marker induced Dementia (Only in presence of Marker signal)(diminished by mental training / anti-dementia medication)
Doctor's/Nurse's Notes: Aside from a case of dementia that only manifests itself in the presence of a Marker signal, Isaac also suffers from depression, occasional insomnia caused by nightmares, and bouts of alcoholism, however, the latter will be hard to notice, due to him being a functioning alcoholic, still, I've asked his co-workers in engineering and local pub-owners to limit how much he drinks, to keep medications to ease hangovers on hand, and to slap him sober if necessary. He always keeps his modified Plasma-Cutter/gun nearby. (Dr. E. Hampton)
-

Inside the file as well was dozens of sketches, some of an engineering suit, others of Necromorphs, but most were detailed sketches of her. She looked through all of them. The back most drawing was of her and Isaac, together, not even a sketch, it was a fully polished piece of art. Isaac drew this? Ellie thought to herself. She found it quite touching. But still, was this really him? Damn well seemed like it. There was one last thing Ellie needed now. And Dr. Hampton seemed to know exactly what that was, "Would you like me to bring him in?"

Almost on pure gut-instinct, Ellie responded, "Yes, do that."

Dr. Hampton nodded before standing back up, she advised Ellie to stay in her office while she spoke to security about summoning Isaac from his current job. She left the room, leaving Ellie sitting in silence.

After leaving the office, Dr. Hampton proceeded towards the security office to send a summons request to Isaac, who she knew was in engineering. He was either getting wrapped up into supervising what ever stupid disaster-gadget the young-bloods on the engineering crew had cooked up down there. Or he'd be on break, drinking.

Dr. Hampton had arrived at the front desk, sitting behind the desk was a secretary, sitting on the desk was Dr. Hampton's one and-a-half year-old daughter Victoria. Victoria normally stayed by the security desk while her mother worked in the hospital. Upon seeing her mom approach the desk, she flung herself to the floor and greeted her with a hug as big as a child her age could manage. "Hi mom!"

Dr. Hampton greeted the girl briefly before directing her attention to the secretary. "Can you place a request to engineering to send Isaac Clarke up?"

Victoria's face lit up, "Oh, is Mr. Clarke coming up?"

Dr. Hampton sighed, her daughter had a strange fondness for the broken-as-all-hell engineer. Isaac tolerated her well enough when he visited for regular psychiatric appointments. The secretary pressed a button on the communications device, directing a call to the engineering deck. "This is medical secretary Celia Smith to the engineering deck, please respond."

Instead of being greeted with the standard 'we respond, what do you need', they were greeted by a mess of different voices yelling:, "AHHHHH! MY LEGS! Oh shit, call medical! YOU MOTHERFU-!"

The secretary hung up abruptly, wincing, she turned to Dr. Hampton, Victoria was giggling at the sheer incompetence that the younger members of the team had just displayed over the phone, Dr. Hampton had buried her face in her palm and nodded to the secretary, "Place a call to Civil Protection to escort a medical team down there, and send up Isaac while they're at it."

USG Spirit of Hope Armory: HQ of Ship-Wide Civil Protection Force:

Beyond the shadow of a doubt, the last three months of living on a ship as a Civil a Protection officer had been interesting for the former EarthGov solider John Carver. Mostly on the grounds that his job was to make sure no one else phenomenally screwed up. There were plenty that had tried. Between the young-bloods in engineering nearly causing ship-wide catastrophe without supervision of a senior engineer, that elusive thief in the marketplace, and frequent scouting missions having the potential to bring something dangerous on board, life was never boring, and business for Civil Protection was booming.

Carver, at the moment, was enjoying a game of cards with his fellow officers when the Chief of Operations entered and alerted them of the situation in engineering. Carver, along with several others audibly groaned, injuries in engineering weren't uncommon, but young-blood engineers doing something stupid, boarding on criminally negligent was becoming a tedious chore. They could only tell them off so many times before their superiors just allowed Civil Protection to arrest them.

The team sent to engineering comprised of Carver, and three other military veterans. Civil Protection was made up mostly of veterans, people who had been trained to fight the hard fights, and defend the peace. Today, keeping the peace entailed making sure the young-blood engineers didn't tear a hole in the side of the ship, again. Before they left, the Chief of Operations informed Carver to tell his 'old buddy' Isaac Clarke that he's wanted in medical. Carver sighed and acknowledged the request.

His team stepped over to a store, which also conveniently doubled as suit storage. Each taking turns, they stepped in to equip their gear, they each had a military suit, with white armor plates, and specialized rig. Once they stepped out, they let their helmets extend over their heads, picked up a small firearm, and went to meet the medical team at the tram station.

They took the tram to engineering, and everything went as expected. Medics hauled the sorry-ass young-blood who lost his legs to the medical deck, Civil Protection scolded the rest. Carver didn't care, he merely thought, Same shit, different day. While that unfolded, he went to find Isaac, and bring him to medical.

It took him a few minutes, as the engineering decks of Planet Crackers tended to be quasi-equal to a labyrinth in design. Eventually he found Isaac on the other side of the deck, masked by loud mechanical noises. He was half-way beneath a massive industrial motor, Carver could hear the sound of a wench turning. Letting his helmet fold back into his rig, Carver casually knocked on the motor, the wench stopped turning.

Isaac was repairing a motor that was sent to engineering some time ago when he heard a knock on the motor. He stopped tightening the bolt and turned his head. He almost felt a heart attack when he saw the boots of a military suit. He paused for a second before saying, "Shit, did I go over my drinking limit again?"

He heard a familiar laugh, then the familiar voice of his friend John Carver called out, "Naw, you're just wanted in medical, dead boy."

Isaac winced, he hated that nickname. Carver found it funny, and Isaac didn't. He rolled out from under the motor. He looked up at Carver, looking down at him with a smirk on his face. Isaac gave him an irritated frown, before scowling and standing up, giving Carver another glare. He sighed, "Alright, I'll bite, what do they need me for?"

"Don't know, don't care," Carver stated, "man, it's probably just for another round of anti-dementia meds."

"Yeah... probably, whatever," Isaac groaned.

Of the two of them, it was abrasively clear who'd taken the events of the last six months worse, it could be seen just by looking at them. Carver looked like he hadn't changed any since Tau Volantis, his hair was still black and short, his skin was still tanned, and his facial complexion was still marked by a long scar going down from under his left eye, down to his chin. The only notably different thing about him was that he let the stubble on his face grow into a 1/3 inch beard.

Isaac on the other hand, had several noticeable changes, such as his slouch becoming more noticeable, (granted this was only the case when he was drunk, which he had been for a solid month), and there were a set of perpetual bags under his eyes that would never go away (likely caused by nightmare induced insomnia). His once black hair was noticeably more grey (though it was a dark shade of grey). When he spoke, he sounded like he had no real reason to even exist. In truth, he felt like he shouldn't have survived this long, and it especially didn't help that he'd lost everything he had ever cared for.

Fate was funny in the way that he did have one thing left, he just didn't know he had it. Yet.

The tram ride back was slow for Isaac, after all the horrific things he'd been through, adjusting to anything somewhat resembling a normal life was just impossible. Carver and Isaac got off at the medical deck, and made their way through the commotion of the main room, largely made up of the young-blood who lost his legs getting rushed to the operating theater. They came to the front desk and were greeted by Dr. Elizabeth Hampton and her daughter, Victoria. With Victoria being the first to speak up, "Hi Mr. Clarke, Hi Mr. Carver!" she called waving.

"Hey kid," Isaac nodded back.

Carver nodded, turning to Dr. Hampton, "If you'll excuse me, I was beating chad at a came of poker," he walked off, leaving Isaac with the good doctor.

Isaac sighed, "Did I go over my drinking limit again? I asked , but Carver didn't say."

Dr. Hampton chuckled, "No," she paused to take a small breath, "but I did find someone you need to see."

It was Isaac's turn to pause. "Sorry, what?"

"Follow me."

Isaac followed the good doctor to her office, skeptical of who might be there. He felt like his heart had stopped when he saw who it was, all thoughts that had flooded his mind drained in a nanosecond. Dr. Hampton had moved to the corner of the office.

Before him stood a woman with shoulder-length brown hair tied into a bun, a blue left eye, a green right eye that replaced her original eye, and a flabbergasted expression that was equal to his own face. The woman he loved was still alive, and here, on board the USG Spirit of Hope.

Stunned, Isaac asked one thing, and only one thing, "Ellie?"

Author's Notes:

So the one thing I wanted time to understand was how Isaac and Carver would be introduced to the story. Ultimately they would both be on the same ship, because reasons, but what I was really trying to piece together was how they've handled it all up to this point. In the end, I chose to have Carver work on a civil protection squad, and Isaac was working as an Engineer. Carver manages to overcome and find something new, while Isaac is once again beaten down. That is, until Ellie arrives.

Also, you hardcore Dead Space fans are probably wondering how a functioning flotilla of military ships, planet crackers, and stations can exist in a world as fractured as Dead Space. Short version: EarthGov is gone, Unitologists are split, and humanity is scrambling. But don't worry, the setting will change soon.

Finally. This chapter took a while because I had a hard time with Beta Readers. So I wound up drafting, redrafting, and knit-picking it myself. I hope this is good enough.

Please, let me know what you guys think!