A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating. As I stated before schools a pain in my arss.
So just so you all know single quotation marks like so, ' ' represent the thoughts that that character is thinking in their heads.
With that said, Enjoy!
Chapter 3
"Chakwas I swear I am feeling fine! See? Look!" Kaidan pushed off from the medical bed and walked around her in circles. Glancing at her and seeing that she wasn't convinced he began to do a mixture of jogging and skipping across the med bay room just to prove his point.
"Alright, alright Major. I get it, now stop skipping before you trip and harm yourself again." She replied in a stern voice, letting him know not to test her. He of course complied and closed the gap between the two of them.
"So does this mean that I am released from bed rest?" Kaidan stood in front of his dear old friend and stretched out his right shoulder and neck while awaiting a reply.
Chakwas delayed in responding for a few moments. She stood there studying him closely, trying to pinpoint any sign of distress or pain, nothing was registered. She ran a full body scan just as a precaution, she found nothing. Finally she released a breath and replied. "Yes this means you are released... Only! - Only, under the condition that you take it easy, no biotic use for a while until your brainwave readings are a bit lower than what they are now. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am!" He practically jogged right out of the room, he needed to debrief the crew, establish that he was in charge now, and get all of the necessary information as to where they were and why they haven't been flying for the past couple days. He was eager to get back on the horse and go to full speed with her. And Chakwas could sense this.
"Well, go on now." She waved him off with the back of her hand, and that's all it took. He rushed out of that room as if he was being chase by a yahg, eager to get out of that dungeon he was in. The second he stepped out of the room Garrus came strolling out from the elevator.
"Kaidan! Good, you've been released. Walk with me and I'll try and catch you up on what's been going on out here since we left Earth space." Garrus paused momentarily in front of Kaidan before continuing his stride, awaiting for the questions to rush out.
"Where are we? One of the last things I remember before passing out was feeling the ship shift into FTL drive."
Garrus nodded his head, "Joker had no other option but to blindly jump from Earth space. There was this red light that was essentially chasing our tail moments after picking you and Liara up, per Commander Shepard's order. Joker thinks the light is what caused our systems to malfunction and shut down temporarily. Ever since the shut down EDI has been offline."
"Anything that our engineers can do to turn her back on?"
Garrus shook his head as they both lifted their legs up the steps toward the main battery. "Not a damn thing has worked. Something in the red light caused this to happen, what it was is unknown as of right now. We've tried getting contact with the outer world, but communications has been offline following the red blast as well. Whatever that thing was caused a lot of damage to the Normandy's systems but no official damage to any organics on board, well, as far as Chakwas' full body scans and blood tests, that is."
Kaidan paused outside the door as Garrus typed in his code to unlock the main battery room. He was slightly puzzled at the action, he didn't remember it having a lock before. He attempted to comprehend and make sense of the information given to him before asking the obvious question. "Why is the main battery door locked?"
Garrus chuckled to himself before responding. "Oh, no real important reason, aside from the fact that this is my baby, my section of the ship that I know best out of everyone on board. And I don't like anyone messing with my baby. I've got a sort of system, one that runs like a well oiled machine, I know what needs fixing and what is already fixed. And letting someone in on it, aside from Liara, would be an extra added headache."
Kaidan nodded his head, he could understand that. A bit over protective but understandable.
"So how's Joker taking the absence of EDI, I'd imagine not too well. And where is her body being stored?"
Garrus entered the doorway and Kaidan followed, he made his way toward the back of the room to check on the south end batteries. "At first he didn't take it too well, naturally. But over time I think he just dealt with it the best he could, it's still a sore subject but he's been working nonstop up in the cockpit trying to get a few systems back online and running, especially communications. Frankly that's been our number one concern aside from trying to get the Normandy up to flying standards. As for the body, it's stored right in the center of EDI's systems, back room of the med bay." He paused for a second and focused on the batteries in front of him. "What I am trying to do now, since I know your probably curious, is I have been attempting to get connection to the rear batteries back on. This would essentially allow for the whole Normandy's systems to have full access to power. Since the front and middle batteries are up to speed. Although It's a lot easier said than done."
"Full power hasn't been reached yet?"
"No, here's a list of who's in charge of what. You can ask them for more details in their assigned sections. I have been mostly overseeing everyone so I know a little about everything that's been going on, but not the brutal details." He sent over the data to his Omni. Kaidan pulled up the list and read it out loud.
"Tali, Gabby, and Ken - Engines and comm systems
Joker - comm systems and mainframe systems
Chakwas - Medical equipment storage and maintaining health of crew
Liara - comm systems and battery
Garrus - Battery, Temp Command
James - Patch work on Normandy and heavy lifting"
"You should probably input what you want to focus on after talking to the rest of the crew, just so everyone has an idea of what you'll focus on. It's been a crazy few days Alenko. Our edible food stores are down to 50% and dwindling. We need to get off this planet soon before we all starve to death. We've established food rations, but with the hours everyone's been working, it's been a bit of a squeeze."
"And I am assuming that local food is either scarce or non-edible?"
"Surprisingly there is a lot of local flora here, but without the proper equipment on board to analyze the food we decided against it. Shepard, Jacob and I went on a mission on an off world planet and the colonist there that ate the local flora suffered extreme side effects, side effects that I would prefer to avoid."
"I read the reports, sounded horrible." Kaidan shifted on his feet, he wished at the time that he was with them helping out rather than filling thousands of reports. Even till this day a part of him regretted saying no to Shepard's offer of rejoining her crew.
"It was... AHA! Finally I've got the connection stabilized!" He turned toward his old friend, a huge grin on his Turian face, "look Kaidan, as much as I'd like to try and fill in all of the gaps, I've got a lot on my hands right now. Why don't you talk to the rest of the crew on that log and maybe they can help." Kaidan nodded his head and began retreating out of the room. "In the mean time, let's get you up and running my sweet baby!"
The door swooshed closed behind the Major, and just in time. The Turian let out loud cheers of triumph from finally accomplishing the torturous task. Kaidan smiled to himself while shaking his head. Glad to see his friend with a smile on his face. He glanced down at the list and decided to make his way over to Liara, she would know most about communications, especially with her tedious side job at stake with each silent minute spent.
"Drone, I need your assistance over here."
"Yes Liara, on my way."
"You see that wire along the far side of the wall? Once I plug that it to its respective place all of the screens will turn on. When that happens we have a 30 second window to type in the respective codes in order to sign in as the Shadow Broker. If done correctly it may help us further our prospects with turning communications back online."
"Understood Liara. I will run full measures to type in the correct codes for proper log in access."
"Good." Liara stretched her body behind the wall of screens to reach the wire. She grabbed the wire and began to insert it into the correct slot. "Okay, are you ready drone?" The drone simply twirled around in spot to indicate its response. "Alright, here it goes." She clicked the wire in place and the whole room lit up like fireworks.
"Please type in correct log in information, shadow broker." The computer automated system responded.
"Drone!"
"Inputting information... Done, access granted. We have achieved complete and full access to the Shadow Broker Intel."
Liara snaked out from her crouched position and rushed over to her computer consol to verify the access. "YES! Full access, aside from communications of course. But this is a fantastic start!" She cheered in glee.
The door to her room hissed open revealing Kaidan in the midst.
"Oh Kaidan, you are up and walking around! You look well, that is a great sight." She rushed over to him and embraced him in a tight friendly hug. "I was so worried about you and your condition, all of the crew was. I, myself, felt useless unable to do anything to essentially help you."
Releasing from her hug he replied. "Liara, the important part is that I am doing well and ready to get off this world we've landed on and head home, back to Earth. How's communications going? I heard you cheering from outside the door. Must be a good sign?" He questioned.
"Comm is still down, but I have gained access to all of the Shadow Broker Intel, this is a huge leap toward the right direction, I assure you." A smile spread across her face.
"And how's that?"
"Well having full access will grant myself information for alternative methods for getting communications back online. I'd imagine that there are various resources listed in the data base for emergency power wide shut down, if it ever happened back on the Shadow Broker base. You know, sort of as a precautionary back up." She explained to her dear friend.
Kaidan smiled. This was huge. "That's great news Liara! Other than this breakthrough, what have we tried so far with the comm that hasn't worked? I'd just like to be brought up to speed with what's been happening."
"Of course. We've tried just about every technique known from our small group of persons that survived. All of which got us nowhere... It's strange, that red light that chased after us, I've never heard or seen anything like it before. Even with all of my Prothean research. I have never came across any mentioning of a bright red light. It's quite puzzling, I can't help but wonder if Shepard was the one to trigger it... I mean it happened mere minutes after we left Earths atmo." She paused for a second, seeming in deep thought before speaking again. "I am not quite sure, I am still trying to piece together the puzzle." With that she returned to her terminal and went back to searching for anything related to comm information. "If I get any relevant information that can help with communications systems, I will be sure to let you know Kaidan."
Picking up on the hint, he began his retreat out of the Asari's room. "If you need anything, let me know."
Liara glanced away from the consol and gave a genuine smile. One of few since the crash. "Of course... I am glad you are doing alright Kaidan."
With that, the door closed behind him and he made his way toward the cockpit. Kaidan needed to make sure his best friend was coping alright, and to pass on the good news. But on his way to the cockpit his head started to spin a little. He wobbled, a bit off balance from the dizziness. His hand rose up and rested on a wall to steady himself. The dizziness seemed to fade.
He shook his head and dragged a hand across his eyes; slightly confused by the strange feeling. He was feeling alright so he decided to continued his walk to the elevator, as soon as he entered and the door shut, the dizzy feeling came back but with more force this time. He backed up into a corner in the elevator and sank to the floor, not wanting to stumble and fall. Suddenly, his mind briefly flashed to the dream he had of Shepard before he awoke. Just as soon as the dizziness and memory appeared, both vanished swiftly. He brushed a hand across his brow, sweat accumulated on his forehead from the strange occurrence and was beginning to trickle down his forehead. His breathing was irregular and it took him a few deep breaths to calm down. He had no clue what just happened, but he figured it could be from his over exertion following his recent release from bed rest. He figured he would take it easy and the feeling should pass. But he couldn't help but wonder, why the dream?
'Pain, pain was all I could feel, encircling me as I laid there on the broken Citadel awaiting death. But even the pain was slowly slipping away, eventually turning into nothing but numbness. I would have preferred the pain, it reminded me off all of those who suffered because of my mistakes. The Batarian's who suffered as I threw the mass relay into their planet, the people on the Citadel who died without a fighting chance as I was yet again blind sighted by Cerberus and the Illusive Man, or the little boy back in Vancouver who died while he was briefly blinded by false security, as a Reaper shattered all of his hope for a possible future within seconds. All of those mistakes created because I failed to open the eyes of the Council, of the Alliance before it was too late. I welcomed death with open arms as each breath I took grew shallower than the previous. I wanted badly to join Ashley up in heaven, to see Thane again and be able to properly thank him for his sacrifice, and to hear the songs being sung by Mordin while sitting together watching over our friends, protecting and guiding them from above. But apparently even death failed to listen to my pleading calls…'
"I want all of you to check every square inch of this floating mess. It was the last place Shepard's transmission was recorded after everything went dark. Keep in mind what Major Alenko taught us with our biotic use. This place is extremely unstable regardless if there's still a mass effect field holding it afloat." The biotic specialist called out to his crew before turning to search the wreckage himself.
The biotic team spread out in search for the infamous Commander Shepard, the one who they witnessed kissing their instructor before they descended on the final push to the beam.
"Lieutenant Eisenhawk what do you see down there?" Hackett's voice filled the comm unit of the biotic specialist leader.
"Nothing yet, sir. We just arrived to the last known coordinates of the Commanders, I just sent the crew out to search the perimeter. This piece is the biggest part of the Citadel that managed to survive the blast." Eisenhawk paused for a brief moment, letting his surroundings fully encompass him. "It's-it's strange, I've never seen this section of the Citadel before."
"Just keep focused on the search Lieutenant, don't let anything distract you."
"Yes sir."
"And while you're searching, keep an eye out for Admiral Anderson, he's reported missing and was with Hammer squad, he had to have been making a run for the beam, he might be up there with Shepard." Hackett ordered as his voice slightly betrayed the worry he felt for both of them.
"I'll radio the new search addition to the-"
"Lieutenant! We found two bodies."
"Hold on Admiral, I am being told we've found two bodies. I'm going to stake out the area and report back."
"Do so swiftly, Hackett out."
Eisenhawk returned his attention to the biotic soldier and motioned for him to continue. He obliged.
"One of the bodies is Admiral Anderson. He...he didn't make it. Gunshot wound to his side, seems like he bled out." The young biotic soldier shifted on his feet, nerves getting the better of him as he explained the situation to his commanding officer.
Eisenhawk recognized the nerves of the young biotic all too well. He was in his shoes not too long ago before his all too sudden promotion following the disappearance of Major Alenko. Another mystery left unsolved. He did the best to try and calm the nerves of the young biotic. "Good job soldier. Lead me to the place."
The lieutenant began following the biotic, "You said you found more than one body? Did we find the Commander?"
"No sir, we found an older man. His face is-is…"
"His face is what? Spit it out soldier."
"It's part Reaper."
Eisenhawk gaped in confusion at the response as he approached the scene. His eyes first clutched the attention of the deceased Admiral. He was sitting up with his head drooping down; the blood that had been seeping through his shirt was almost fully dried. He cringed at the sight. The lieutenant glanced toward the Admirals face, it seemed as though there was a slight ghost of a smile frozen upon his lips. His skin was so pale, close to being grey in color. Eisenhawk's attention was then drawn to the body strewn across the floor a few feet away. He made his way over to the corpse. Gunshot wound to the head, self-inflicted, a pistol; the weapon of choice, lay on the floor a few inches away from the man's hand. The lieutenant turned the body onto his back to see the face of the deceased man.
"See what I mean about being part Reaper." The young soldier explained. The look on his face was filled with disgust. And he didn't blame him, it was repulsive.
Eisenhawk ignored the soldiers comment and searched through his Omni-tool sifting through classified files. He's seen this man's face before, recognized it from somewhere. There was a reason why he went about trying to engrain this man's face to memory. He stumbled upon the picture, a stone formed in the bottom of his gut.
"The Illusive Man." He whispered to himself. The lieutenant stepped away far enough from the eager soldier so he wouldn't be able to hear him and raised communications to Hackett.
"What have you got Lieutenant?"
"We found Admiral Anderson. He's dead, sir." Sadness slightly filled his response. The Admiral was a decorated hero, one that he hoped to meet one day. The Reapers took away yet another honorable person.
"I see…"
"There's more sir, we found another dead body, one that I think belongs to The Illusive Man himself."
"And how would you know that the body belongs to the leader of Cerberus?" Concern and surprise formulated into the Admirals questioning response.
Silence filled the comm for a moment before the Lieutenant responded. "Uh- Major Alenko came across classified Intel that happened to have a photo of The Illusive Man within it. I believe it was sent by Commander Shepard herself. He had a small number of us commit the man's face to memory incase… well, incase him and Shepard failed to end his life." The lieutenant swallowed nervously.
"Alenko did always make sure all the ends were covered. Can you make out how long the bodies have been deceased?" He questioned the lieutenant.
"My best guess would be about 20 hours, sir. The blood around Admiral Anderson's wound has almost fully dried, his skin has paled a few shades. But without a doctor onsite to tell, that 's still just a guess sir."
There was a short pause on the other end of comm line. "Going off your assumption, that doesn't leave much time for Shepard assuming that she isn't badly injured." He replied more to himself than to the lieutenant. "Alright I'm sending a shuttle for retrieval of the bodies." He cut the comm off for a brief moment, hailing an available shuttle to their location and turned it back on within seconds. "What of Shepard? Have you found her yet?"
"That's a negative sir, we are still searching. Although there is a console here near the two body's sir, and there is a trail of blood that leads up to it. It seems as though the person was badly wounded, almost as if they were struggling to get to this console." Eisenhawk walked alongside the blood smear until he reached the console. He gasped at the amount of blood pooled directly in front of it, he leaned down to grab a sample to have it analyzed by his Omni tool. Within seconds the Omni tool rang indicating that the analysis was complete and revealed the owner of the blood.
"What is it? What do you see?" Hackett's voice cuts the extended silence.
"There's… there's a lot of blood sir, too much for anyone to be able to survive this long without proper medical attention." He shudders and tries to regain his breath before continuing. "The blood, it, uh-belongs to the Commander, sir." As the last of the words slip from his lips he stood up and leaned against the console accidentally hitting a button and within seconds the platform he stood on began to rise. Blood from the pile dripped off the edges of the platform as it began its ascend. Eisenhawk quickly regained his balance from the sudden movement. Between the panic and confusion rushing through his blood he realized that his comm unit was cutting to static.
"Admiral? Admiral do you read me? Admiral?- Shit." He glanced down below and realized that he wasn't alone and that his crew was still with him. He screamed down to them barking orders about the incoming shuttle and how they needed to load the bodies, but before he could give additional orders, it was too late; he had fully ascended to the upper ground.
