Here it is, Chapter Three! Also known as the first chapter of the actual storyline, seeing as the previous two were prologue chapters.
This chapter is not going to be combat-loaded like the previous two were, so y'all can take a breath again :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, nor any of its characters or content. I do however own some original characters. And no, I do not make any money from this.
Thursday March 3rd, 2174, 13:22
Alliance Colonial Headquarters, Terra Nova
Beep...
Beep...
Beep...
I slowly hear a steady beeping get louder and louder. I try to open my eyes, but the best I can manage is to ever so slightly crack open my right eye. White. All I can see is a blurry white area before my eyelid falls shut again. Dear god, I feel like utter shit. I've got a headache that feels as if my brain is getting pounded with a sledgehammer. I try to move my arms, but they won't budge a millimeter. All right, legs are next. Again, I can't move anything and I give up trying.
I try to make out where I am. What I know for sure is that I'm laying down with my face pointing up, and there's an obnoxious beeping sound coming from my left. 'Where the hell did I land here', I think to myself. My headache is starting to feel slightly better, as if that sledgehammer is running at a mere 90%, but I now feel numbness encase my entire body. Focusing all of my willpower, I try to move my right index-finger. There, a slight twitch happens. For some reason that felt extremely good. I might as well be paralyzed, but I'm starting to overcome whatever is hindering me. My eyelids still feel like a thousand tons and are closed shut, but I try moving the other fingers on my right hand. There, slowly but surely I manage to move them, one by one. Good, now the other side. After what feels like nearly ten minutes, I've got basic motor functions back in both of my hands. 'Alright', I think, 'Let's move the arms'. I focus on the left arm, and feel my muscles tense. 'Almost there', I think to myself, 'just a little bit'. The arm starts moving and...
...I feel straps around my wrist restraining me from moving any further.
What the fuck?
Slowly, I manage to open an eye and see the white blur above me again. My eye slowly starts to focus, and I manage to get the other one open. The white blur sharpens and I realize that I'm staring at a what appears to be painfully sterile, white ceiling. My head is propped up on a pillow, and I use that angle to move my view towards my arms.
Sure enough, I see my hands encased in thick, black straps. Not only that, but it appears that my legs are also strapped to this bed that I somehow appeared in. My brain has finally woken up enough that I'm able to roll my head to the left towards the still obnoxious beeping sound. I see what appears to be a weird-looking screen on a movable arm,you know the ones that can move in any direction, however the screen was turned off. Checking my surroundings, I realize three things: One, everything is either white or gray. Two, there's only a single door with what looks to be a weird, orange circle in the middle that for some reason looks slightly familiar. And three, I've got no way to lose these straps that are keeping me pinned to the bed.
The numbness has mostly dissipated, but I still can't feel my body around my stomach. Hmm, wonder why that is. In any case, I'm able to move my toes and flex my muscles again, and my skull-crushing headache has weakened to just a normal headache. Well, under normal circumstances I'd probably classify it as bad, but after experiencing the mother-of-all-headaches this feels quite nice.
Suddenly I see that weird orange circle in my peripheral vision spinning wildly. I turn my head towards the door, as the circle stops spinning and turns green. Man, I swear that circle seems familiar, but I can't figure out where I've seen that before. The door slides open instead of opening like, well, a normal door and I see a women, who appears to be in her early thirties, come in while holding some kind of tablet computer. She looks up from the tablet and gasps in shock when she notices me looking at her.
"Hey, why am I tied up?", I ask in Swiss German, my weak voice betraying that I'd woken up not long ago. The woman regains her posture and at a quick pace moves towards the beeping screen. "Hey", I say again, this time a bit louder, "Where am I and why am I tied up?"
She doesn't look at me and hastily switches on the screen, but I can see in the way her face twitched when I spoke that she clearly understood me. I look at the monitor and to my surprise I see a whole flood of information about my blood-pressure, heart-rate and other medical readouts. Looks like I'm in a hospital which makes the woman is either a doctor or nurse, answering one of my questions. Still doesn't tell me anything about why I'm restrained or why she won't talk to me. The nurse, I at least think it's a nurse seeing that she's checking my readings, finished typing something in her tablet and starts to move towards the door again. Fuck that, I want answers.
"HEY", I try yelling as loud as I can and surprisingly, she stops. "Why won't you tell me anything?", I almost plead in a low voice. The woman doesn't turn around, but says just as quietly, "Because I'm not allowed to", before walking out the door, turning the green circle orange again. I think about what she said, when I suddenly realize how she said it. She didn't speak in Swiss German or any of the other three national languages. She spoke in English.
Fuck.
I wasn't in Switzerland anymore.
Thursday March 3rd, 2174, 15:41
Alliance Colonial Headquarters, Terra Nova
Major Sean Brynant was a big man. Standing at 185 cm and weighing 90 kg of pure muscle he was a person that you couldn't miss in a crowd. The fact that he was the commanding officer of all special forces in the exodus cluster made a recipe for a man that oozes strength and authority.
Right now, all of that was worth nothing.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M BEING DISMISSED?! I'M THEIR CO, I PLANNED THIS ASSAULT WITH THEM, AND YOU HAVE THE SAME RANK AS I DO!", he roared at another man standing in his office.
"Yes Major Brynant, but this document signed by the Alliance's Prime Minister", the man simply replied being absolutely unfazed at the shouting before, "states that everything regarding the mission on that base, including the spec-ops squad and any recovered...", the mysterious man paused for a second before continuing, "assets, fall under my command effective immediately. Now my first order is to classify everything about this raid so highly that you are not even allowed the name of the classification, so I suggest you hand over everything to my authority or you'll be charged with treason of the highest degree, warranting immediate capital punishment. Understood, Major?"
Brynant was fuming with anger. How dare this spook do this? But the order did have the signature of the Prime Minister, so through gritted teeth, he replied slowly, "Yes, sir. Eagle squad and all assets will be turned over to Naval Intelligence."
The mysterious man let a faint smile creep onto his face. He was not sure if he could believe the reports he read about the raid, but if they were correct, then he would be busy for a while.
Thursday March 3rd, 2174, 16:19
Alliance Colonial Headquarters, Secure Hospital Wing
I was bored.
Not the normal bored that you would get once in a while, but I was completely, utterly bored.
There was nothing that I could do, seeing that I was still restrained and couldn't move, and the fact that I was probably being held prisoner, while frightening, wasn't enough to keep me distracted for what felt like hours since that nurse came in. I tried to remember how I got here, but the last thing that I can think of is receiving orders to stand around for 8 hours in front of the UN building in Geneva. After that, there's nothing except for a nagging feeling in my head. You know, the one you get when you walk out of the house and know you forgot something, but just don't remember what.
Suddenly, the door slides open and the nurse walks in, but this time there's a short man following her. I move my attention to the man, and see that he's wearing some kind of dark-blue uniform. As soon as I spot the uniform, I get the same feeling that I had when I saw the orange/green circle on the door, but I still can't remember where I've seen that before. Before I can notice that me not remembering things is starting to become a theme, the man speaks up. "Do it, nurse." Well, that confirms my theory about her being a nurs-
"Wait, what?", I ask confusedly but in that instant, the nurse pulls out a slim tube-looking thing and jams it into my arm. I feel a cool liquid enter my veins, and before I can even utter a word, my world goes dark again.
Thursday March 3rd, 2174, 20:23
Classified Alliance Base, Terra Nova
I awake with a gasp, feeling my heart pound furiously in my chest. Immediately checking my arm, I see a small puncture where that nurse injected me with some knock-out liquid. Damn, and here I was desperately hoping that the entire thing was just a bad dream. Taking my eyes off my arm I only now notice that this isn't the same room that I was in before. First of all, there are no restraints keeping me pinned down on the bed. Nice. Secondly, the room looks like a prison cell. Not that nice. The only other point of interest in this cell, next to the bed I was on, was a door with that same familiar, orange circle.
I decide to make the most out of the situation and do some workout while I'm stuck here. Hey, I might be a prisoner that still doesn't know anything about whats going the hell on, but workout beats boredom and is healthy for you. I swing my legs out of bed and notice that I'm wearing an orange jumpsuit. Jup, definitely in some kind of jail. Suddenly the door to my cell opens, and I tense expecting someone to come in. Nothing happens though, and then a voice overhead speaks, "Lieutenant, please move through the door."
I hesitate. Should I really do what this voice is telling me through some hidden speaker? But then I have a flashback to the nurse injecting me with that stuff, and I decide to follow the instructions for now. I walk to the door and peek out. The only thing I see is a table with two chairs and another door. Well fuck me, looks like they want to interrogate me. In this moment the voice talks again. "Please sit on the chair closest to you."
Sensing that I don't really have a choice in this matter, I do as I'm told and sit down. The chair is surprisingly comfortable, and I look around, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, the door on the other chairs side opens and the same short man with the uniform I saw at the hospital steps through, holding another one of those tablet computers. However, another man is following him and he is wheeling in a big unmarked box. If I was nervous before, I'm now positively sweating bullets. The second man drops the box off and leaves through the door, while the short man sat down on the chair opposite of mine. He looks me straight into my eye, and I'm to afraid to look away so I meet his gaze. After what felt like an eternity, he looks at his tablet and asks, "Tell me something about yourself".
I'm surprised at his voice. He looks like a typical middle-aged Italian guy with short dark hair, a matching mustache and brown eyes, but his accent is a perfect London English. He keeps looking at me intently, and after I don't reply for about ten seconds he asks again, "Come on now, don't be shy, tell me something."
At this point my training kicks in, and I reply stoically:
"Hartmann Matthew, Second Lieutenant, service number 756.-"
"Listen," he interrupts, "I've got all of that information, apart from your rank, right here."
He reaches for the box that was wheeled in before and grabs something silvery. He throws it on the table right in front of me and I gasp. Lying right there were my dog tags. I try to say something, but he immediately continues, "I know your rank because of this" and pulls out a camouflaged jacket. Sure enough, on the top there was the Velcro rang insigna with a single thin stripe, indicating my rank.
"Well, then that's all I have to tell you under the Geneva Conventions.", I say trying to sound neutral, but failing to keep all of my nervousness out, "I don't even know where I am or who you are." I add.
He looks at me intensely, and I feel uncomfortable under his gaze. Slowly, he asks "You really don't know, do you?"
I nod, unable to say anything. Just what did he mean with that question?
He then taps something on his tablet, and starts questioning me.
"Who is the momentary president of your federal council?"
Startled, I look at him. What the hell kind of question is that?
"Alain Berset", I answer carefully.
"What was your mission on the 28th of February in the year 2018?"
What the fuck? These questions make no damn sense!
"We were supposed to protect the UN Building in Geneva." I answer truthfully. Damn, I can't believe that I'm telling him this, but something about his tone and the way he keeps looking at me tells me that he already knows the answers and merely wants me to confirm them.
He then slowly reads out the next question,
"What is the last thing you remember from Geneva before waking up in the hospital?"
Hell, I don't remember myself so might as well tell him. "Look, I don-"
'A man holding a burning, red flare shouts "I'll give you one last chance to step aside and let us get those traitorous pigs in the UN, but should you refuse you'll face the wrath of the people!"
I tell him that I can't do that.
He pulls out a gun and starts aiming it at me.
I already have my rifle and shoot the man.
The crowd behind him shouts and pull more weapons.
Gunfire from behind erupts and rips into the crowd.
*hey*
I too move my rifle towards the crowd, but feel multiple bullets hit me.
*HEY*
I fall to the ground, and slowly everything goes dark'
"HEY! Snap out of it!"
I look confused towards the voice, and see the same man that was questioning me look at me worriedly. "You had a flashback", he said in a calming voice, "It's all ok, you're not there anymore."
"I-I was s-suppossed to t-talk down the man i-in charge", I stutter, still frightened from the memories that returned, "a-and he pulled a gun and I - oh god I shot him and then they pulled guns and we just- we, we just opened fire."
I start crying now, not caring that the man in front was interrogating me for something. "We *sniff* we just started gunning them down and then *sniff* they returned fire a-and *sniff* I- I think I got hit and I fell and-"
"Hey, hey, it's all right, you didn't die", the man says to me. I look up to him, and immediately wish I didn't. His face was extremely sad, as if him telling me that I didn't die wasn't the whole truth and there was something worse he hadn't mentioned.
"What are you not telling me?", I ask him after I somewhat shook myself from my memories.
He looks down, as if he desperately didn't want to be the one to tell.
"What are you hiding?", I ask more firmly.
"Well," he starts, "there's no easy way to tell you. You see Lieutenant, from all of our mission reports that we managed to find in our archives you.." he stops for a moment to focus himself, "You were declared killed in action."
"What?", I manage to breath. Dead? "But I'm alive, I woke up in a hospital, I'm fine."
He looks uncomfortable, but replies anyway. "You see, they never recovered your body. An air force Super Puma helicopter picked you up, but the helicopter suffered a technical failure and crashed, exploding in a giant fireball. Nobody thought that it was possible to survive that."
Holy shit, that's a lot to take in. I gulp, but reply somewhat optimistically, "Well, that's good, no? I'm alive, so they can change my status, right?"
The man however sadly replies. "You see, that was in the year 2018." And then he adds a sentence, that should change my entire life. "Right now, the year is 2174, and I am a member of a supra-national organization called the Human Systems Alliance."
Oh god.
The orange door icons.
That dark-blue uniform.
It all makes sense.
I'm in Mass Effect. 9 years before Eden Prime.
What the fuck am I going to do?
Endrius raised a good point in the comments about Cerberus being an Alliance black ops unit during this time (cheers to you mate for spotting that), like Admiral Kahoku says in the first ME. After visiting the wiki and spending a couple of hours on it, I surprisingly didn't find much information on when they actually split. However, the canon timeline states that the first terrorist act linked with Cerberus was in 2165 when they tried to steal antimatter from the SSV Geneva. Now I can't believe that they'd have to steal from the Alliance if they still were part of it, which leads me to believe that they broke off earlier, giving plenty of time for the Alliance to start hunting them. Still, good point you brought up there Endrius, and I hope you're enjoying the story so far.
On another note, thank you guys so much for the favs, follows and reviews! It's really nice to see something that you put effort in get positive feedback and is liked by other people. I think I said it last chapter, but fuck it, I'll say it again: You guys rock!
Anyway, I'll see you all in the next chapter!
