CH. 4 Down Time

I stepped out of the briefing room with Shepard. I sigh and roll out my neck. The damn woman wanted to know everything. Everything. I walk down the stairs to the cargo elevator. I see some of the crew step into the sleeper pods before entering the elevator.

I reached up and rubbed the tired wariness from my eyes. As I reach to bottom I notice nothing is wrong. Garrus is back the the MAKO, damn thats right I need to teach him later, the Latina woman is tinkering with a set of weapons, and the Krogan was leaning against cargo crates. I step out and see a flash of movement in my peripheral vision.

The hostile slams into me a a high speed knocking me down. I turn my hips, raise my knees to my chest, and curve my back. As soon as we hit the ground I roll on my back while flipping my opponent with my lower body. Now I'm on top as the hostile flips over me and I follow them. I give the hostile a quick jab with my elbow and raise a second knuckle fist. I notice something wrong with the impact from when I hit the hostile. It felt hard like metal or ceramic... or environmental glass.

Pulled out of my battle haze by my thought I see Tali cowering under me. Shit. I was about to crush her throat. I can see Tali is visibly shaken and I see almost every Marines' gun on me. I slowly pick Tali up off her feet and set her on the ground gently. I absentmindedly check all of her seals and it turns out she is ok.

I sigh "Sorry about that. I thought you where trying to kill me."

Tali shakes a little "I thought you where going to kill me."

I shake my head "I was. I have no shortage of people who hate me. Guess I can't kill the few that don't."

Tali chuckles a little "I just wanted to thank you for what you are doing."

"What I'm doing?"

Tali looks surprised "You mean you don't know? The whole crew knows how you're trying to fix the Quarian immune system."

I sigh "You know I hate small ships. I wanted to tell you myself so I don't try to kill you with you hugging me."

Tali chuckled at this "It's ok. I just wanted you to know that on behalf of my people we thank you."

I nod my head respectfully at the Quarian Mechanic. I walk over to Garrus to see what he was doing. And he was... calibrating. Incorrectly. Again. I audible sigh behind him. Garrus spins on his heel to me.

"Oh Shepa... Hello R."

"Someone's getting a little riled up." I laugh a bit at his discomfort to break the tension. I works as Garrus chuckles and stops fidgeting. I notice his discomfort and nervousness is still there but not as strong. He rubs underneath his fringe in a notable Turian sign, nervous and uncertain.

"Yeah." Garrus says "I have been a little worked up recently."

"Any reason why?" I ask

"You." Is all he says as he points before spinning back to his monitor.

"Change the second exponent to a positive as well as change the variable factor to greater then one rather then greater then or equal to one and that should improve it, if not try a piecewise function on one."

I begin to walk away as I hear furious typing before a low click of mandibles and a curse. I walk to the Latina woman and lay my Hellcats out on the table. I press to ejector button on one of the guns and the coolant clip fell out onto the table. I lay the coolant clip off to the side. I pressed three buttons on the side of the gun before popping the top of the weapon. I thumb the hardened Tungsten/Titanium ammo block out of the middle of the weapon.

"So... Are you ok?" I asked as I pulled the shearing mechanism out of the back of the gun. I turn to see her pull the barrel out of a Lancer assault rifle a little more forcefully then necessary.

"I'm fine." She growls as she strips out the Mass Effect field from the Lancer with a yank. The blue-glowing cartridge hummed slightly once she set it on the table.

"Can I know your name at least?" I ask as I check the hardened blade for dulling or damage. I check the slide and receiver for signs of excessive decay in the golden gray alloy.

She roughly pulls out the cooling vent and set it forcefully on the table. "Ashley Williams."

I nod my head as I remove the barrel of the gun, checking it for damaged rifling. "Well Williams I'm R. Nice to make your acquaintance." My hands blur lightning fast as I reassemble the Hellcat, grabbed the other and slammed the weapons into their holsters on my thighs.

I turn on my heel and leave Ashley to her devices. I walk past the Krogan and onto the freight elevator, mashing the button. The elevator arrived at the top of the shaft after what had to be half a hour and opened spilling its light into the elevator. I stepped out and activated by blood red, night vision friendly omnitool to check the time.

1320 galactic standard time.

'Shit.' I thought 'I slept over 12 hours.' I walk past the kitchen as I wasn't very hungry. I spot Shepard talking to Kaidan over by his workstation. I hurriedly walked fast down the hall filled with sleeper pods and crouched in the corner intending to be alone.

I pull out my ara-to, naka-to, shiage-to, nagura, and a small bottle of water from my duffle bag as well as my longsword and knives. The blade has gotten duller over time and I had one of my many dead drops on the Citadel looted for the contents. I had given the several hundred thousand of unmarked credits to Shepard and hid the new identifications in the bottom of the Presidium lake. The only things left was several dozen extra coolant clips, waterstones (the ara-to, naka-to, shiage-to, and nagura), several weapons of different types, a suit of medium armour, and a large container of medigel.

I pored water over the naka-to after I set up the wooden stand. I begun to work my longsword over the naka-to and watched as the inevitable metal/sand slurry formed from the constant grinding. I didn't mind as the slurry helped sharpen and polish the blade. I worked for close to 20 minutes on my longsword before scraping the slurry that built up on the sword off onto the whetstone before setting the longsword aside.

I enjoyed laboring over the bladed works of death, they gave me a certain satisfaction to watch the blade and stone grind down to form the perfect weapon. Also over time the room became filled with the smell of stone, metal, and water, my own little slice of Earth.

I begun working one of my knives over the stone, humming a little happy tune that I do when I do things that bring me joy. Unfortunately the smell and humming brought forward one of the things I despised while I was stoning my blades. People.

Several of the crew members as well as Shepard formed a little crowd in front of me. Thankfully the questions were at a minimum as I worked as most where answered my Shepard. As I worked they watched. over the course of several hours I had finished with the naka-to and move on to the shiage-to. I wetted the shiage-to and cut off and wetted a piece of the nagura. I ran the longsword over the nagura and shiage-to as the nagura mushed into a slurry that the shiage-to was too hard to create.

As different shifts transfer people joined the group and left as I worked with the stones and blades. Over the course of 5 hours I finally finished the sharpening on all my knives and my longsword, refining the edges to a razor sharp point. I put the whetstones away in the bag as I sheathe my blades. The crowd disperses but Shepard stays behind, looking intoxicated by the smells of Earth. I smile at her and place the mask on my face. I walk past her letting her stay in her spot as I check the time again.

1823 galactic standard time

I sigh as I go to the elevator and press the button. I get to the cargo bay and check the time again 1825 GST. I set up the mats on the ground in the center of the bay covering a small area in the middle, dubbed the fight pit. I take place a the 'head' of the fight pit and wait for the class to form.

1830 GST hit and on the clock a small class formed around the pit. There was Shepard, Kaidan, Ashley (Surprisingly), Tali, the Krogan, and some of the crew. Garrus couldn't join as due to his injuries.

"Alright class welcome to the first class in improved hand to hand combat training and practice. First I need a volunteer for the showing of what you will learn in this class."

Every eye turns to the Krogan before he steps forward.

"You better not disappoint me Human," he says with a Krogan smile.

The class ended after two hours. Most of the class tried their hardest but only Shepard and Kaidan seemed to excel in it. The Krogan, whose name is Wrex, was too inflexible to properly use some of the techniques to the fullest effect. Ashley had her stance too wide and center of gravity too high, making her easy to knock over.

Almost everyone had problems with the endurance factor of the class. After two hours of constant battering and assault most of the class was drenched in sweat and exhausted. I stood there watching the class sweat and even two guys double over and dry heave into the mat. I check the time, 0031 GST.

I clear my throat before speaking to the class. "Alright everyone first class is over. Tomorrow is the next class, I would like to end class with 30 minutes of zazen; however, you do not have to stay."

I watch as most of the class leaves. The only remaining pupils left were Shepard, Ashley, and Kaidan, Garrus joined us as well under the prompting of Shepard. I sit at the head of the fight pit before assuming a sitting lotus. Kaidan, Ashley, and Shepard followed suit by assuming the correct position. Garrus just sits on his crossed legs, giving him a poised, predatory look.

"For those not introduced to zazen the concept is simple, no moving and no thoughts. The correct position for Humans is how I'm sitting, it's called the sitting lotus. Grasp your hands like this," I brake my instructions to show them. I simple grasp my left thumb in a light fist and curl my left hand over my right. "Only focus on breathing and the now. Take slow, deep breaths in your nose and out again. The only thoughts in your head should be the counting of your breaths. Relax."

I take a slow, deep breath and lead the class.

I walk to my bed under the engineering deck. It had yet to be found by anyone thankfully. Hopefully it never would because the thing I hate most when trying to sleep is people. I lay on the burlap sheet that made up my sheet and fell asleep.

...

I look up in abject horror as I watch my father's head get decapitated. I watch as his head bounced and rolled to me with the spurt of blood shooting out his neck. I stare into Dad's eyes as they glazed over and remained lifeless.

I pick up his head and shake it, willing the lifeless flesh to reanimate. I cried as my pitifully small, 5 year old hands shook. I look into his eyes and felt another emotion.

Hate. Pure, unadulterated hate.

It finally built into a unyielding rage when I watched two engorged pigs bend Mom over the dinning table in our small, two roomed shack. I ran past the two dogs as they ripped off her feeble clothing, exposing her skin to everyone. I moved past unnoticed, too small or quite for them to care.

I reach into the drawer that Mom and Dad wont let me in because of the knives. I pull out the sharpest wieldable one I could find. It was long and slender and Dad use to cut up the irradiated fish he brought home. The long, lithe, glinting blade trembled in my grasp.

I inhale sharply as I move as quietly as I can to the table. I see the table rocking, hear the grunts of two men, I smell an unfamiliar musk lacing the air, and I feel hate building up and stopping the trembling in my hands.

I stand behind the third man as he watched. He had moved closer to the scene beholding his gaze. In an unleash of hate I slice the back of his ankle. He screams as he falls to the ground.

I stand to my full hight and ram the knife into the eye of the man and kept it there till he stopped screaming a squirming. As I turn a large, metal boot flies into my face knocking me over.

I feel a warm, sticky substance flow freely from my nose. I jump up with a battle cry and ran at the man. The other man had disappear along with my mother and the man in front of my was having a hard time bringing a large rifle to bear.

My little body slams into him as the gun goes off. The sound was thunderous and made me cringe mid fall. I drive the knife into his throat again and again, bathing me in his blood as I scream at the loss of my mother, father, and at my own weakness.

I finally stop stabbing when I notice that his head was no longer attached to his body. I stand up with tears streaking down my face washing some of the blood away. I walk outside to see to se my mom. She was riddled with bullet holes and the last man was gone.

I walk down the road, inching around the craters the old bombs made. I walked up the big hill and out of the urban sprawl that had been the home of our community of 10 families. I walked until my feet hurt and tummy hurt. After walking for so long my body did what everyones would do.

It shut down and I collapsed to the side of the room. Looking just like another highway corpse.

CLANG!

I awoke with a start, the Carnifex already out ready to take a piece out of someone. I see a movement out of the corner of my eye. I turn and fire three shots. I hear screaming and shouting above me as I sit still and waited.

Five seconds . . .

Ten seconds . . .

Fifteen seconds . . .

I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. I crawl/crouch walk over to the area that I heard the clang. I view down and as I look down I see a fuzzy blob with a hairless tail and three fist sized chunks taken out of it. A rat. I laugh and laugh. After a high adrenaline, high stress situation it turned out to be a fucking rat.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a small compact light shine from one of the engineering crews omnitool. I stand completely still as it pass over me, letting my armour absorb the light like my own personal shadow. As it passes past me I quickly grab the rat.

Wait.

Wait.

Now!

I chuck the rat as hard as I could past the crewman's head. An immasculine scream pierced the section. I laughed like I haven't in a long time as I walk out into view of the entire crew, weapons unfolded and aiming at me.

I was still laughing as I raised my hands in a mock surrender. one of the crewman scowled at me while I crouched down and picked up the now deceased rat. The entire crew cracks up laughing as I stop and the crewman's face turned a bright red. I leap over the railing onto the deck and walked up to Shepard.

"You need anything Shepard?" I inquired

"Yeah briefing in 5."

"Copy that Commander."

A/N: Not my longest chapter but things happen and certain facts are revealed around R and some humor at the end. On another not I've been playing Blacklight on the Xbox Arcade. It's a fun game with a grand total of me and one other person playing it. So if anyone want to chill with me I'll be on that, Mass Effect 3, and Halo 4.