Disclaimer: Obviously all of the game characters, places etc. are creative property of BioWare.
Author's Note: In terms of legibility of assigned military rank, I am not as knowledgeable in some aspects to the extends which is desired. However I did use the aid of a few websites and books to try and closely mirror the proper ranking system (as equivalent to US Marines). Because Alliance is a fictional organization however I do not expect that to be too much as a problem, seeing how certain changes could be implemented in the Mass Effect universe.
Chapter 3
There was an uneasy feeling as Josh strengthened his posture, same as everyone in the barracks and stood to salute Captain Rohens. He stood in the main entrance and stared at them, his military clothes decorated by two medals. The man had more, however he was never known for parading his achievements around. Behind him, Josh could spy the Stephanie, she was no less stern than the Captain.
"I am sure your supervising officer will be happy to hear what happened here," the captain spoke, looking strictly at Josh, who did his best to return the courtesy.
"In due time Captain," Stephanie spoke softly, then turned to the soldiers, changing her tone to a more direct one, "listen up, Captain Rohens is here to talk about our assignment, I advise you listen carefully."
"I am a man of few words," Rohens started, finally taking his eyes of Josh, "so I'll be quick."
Josh wanted to chuckle, but did the best to force it back down his throat. Whenever someone said that they were a creature of 'few words' that usually meant the opposite. Ironically enough, saying that you were a 'man of few words' contradicted you just by adding words to what you were about to say. Somehow though, Josh thought that neither the Captain nor Second Lieutenant Sheppard were interested in his musings on the issues of proper conversations.
"As you know," Rohens went on over Josh's musings, "you are to be stationed on Elysium, one of the most successful human colonies. It stands as one of the symbols of humanity's successful expansion and capability to function in the broad galaxy. Because of that, enemies of humanity might find it proper to tear down such a symbol, which is why we require the best and the brightest to defend Elysium."
Josh glanced at the man who assaulted him a few minutes earlier, somehow he couldn't exactly get on board with the "best and the brightest" statement. Yet in situations like this it was easier to let it go.
"Although it may seem as something very ordinary and mundane, the responsibility of maintaining peace and order on Elysium is extremely important to Alliance interests in the galaxy." As Rohen was speaking Sheppard took a step forward, standing at his side now. "This is Second Lieutenant Sheppard; she is your commanding officer at the absence of anyone higher. They're all yours Sheppard."
Without waiting for anything Captain Rohens turned and made his way out of the barracks. The room fell silent for a few moments. Everyone was waiting for what Second Lieutenant had to say, and no one dared speak before her. Josh felt a little soreness from standing straight, but he thought that a fight was enough misbehaviour for one day.
"Obviously," Sheppard started, very direct, "SSV Einstein carries more than sufficient number of troops, however, not all of them are assigned to Elysium. We are one of the few units chose to defend Alliance interests there. I am Second Lieutenant Stephanie Sheppard, and I will be your commanding officer, this one unit has 25 soldiers in it, and I expect to get to know everyone at least relatively, it pays to know your men. Approximate time until the Mass Relay is 2 hours, until that time please take care to receive your issued equipment and undergo proper medical exams with on staff medics. They are also assigned to take a proper examination for biotics. Finally, I will be conducting personal interviews in my cabin. As I said, it pays to know your staff, and as it happens I live and die by that statement. That is all. Get to it soldiers."
She finished and walked off, leaving everyone else standing and staring at each other. The SSV Einstein was already safely out of the docks and moving. Josh looked at Markus, trying to figure out where they should go first. Two hours was ample enough time, however no one knew how long it would take Sheppard to conduct those interviews, granted there was time after hitting the relay, but the prospect of sitting for a drawn out heart to heart with a commanding officer didn't appeal to Josh too much.
"So what do you think," Markus said, getting up and heading towards the door, Josh following closely.
"Of what?"
"Of our command of course," Markus grinned, "we couldn't have gotten more lucky."
"You slept with her friend, not her," Josh kept walking straight, spying the requisitions desk, "and besides I doubt that will give you any special treatment."
The line was already gathering, a soldiers snuck in before them. Josh didn't mind waiting for a bit. The only problem was that these lines usually took a long time due to someone not satisfied with their equipment completely. There was very little this time would be any different.
"Hey," he heard a voice from behind them, someone talking to them, "I saw that thing you did to Brandon, that was cool."
Both Josh and Markus turned to face a smaller man. He was about 5'9, well built and lean, with glasses.
"Arthur Jones," he spoke, stretching his hand.
"Josh."
"Markus."
"How do you know Brandon," Josh asked.
"He was in my graduating class," Arthur responded quickly, "a big gorilla. Was a football player when he was little, still thinks world lines up seniority in terms of size and strength."
"I noticed," Josh tried to study Brandon from far, it was not hard to spot someone that big. The giant didn't seem to feel a gaze on him at all.
"I am excited to serve under Second Lieutenant though," Arthur went on.
"Ecstatic."
"I mean, her record through the Academy is damn near spotless, it is said that during her training exercise she didn't lose a single soldier."
Josh nodded, turning away, Elysium was back, and he couldn't help it. Training exercises. Some went spotless without a single casualty, some...
The face of his commanding officer, or better yet student came into his mind again. Twisted in agony, his bone displaced from joints under a severe biotic push, his eyes begging for something, not even understanding, just mercy, sweet cold mercy of death. He felt it now as if he was back in the mercenary camp.
"Are you okay?" Markus was quick to drag him out of his memories and back to reality. "You seemed to be zoning out there for a second."
"I'm fine."
"Next," the line made its way forward and Josh stepped up to get his regulation equipment. "Name."
"Josh Dri."
A standard issue Alliance pistol and a shotgun appeared in front of him on the table. Both were spotless and new, clean and ready to kill standard biotic issue weapons. They were never trained to use an assault or sniper rifles extensively, which to Josh made no sense. Biotics were better suited for commando units, yet he was not the one to argue. Asari got it right, not everyone could.
Securing his equipment Josh continued staring at the soldier before him, waiting for something else. The eyes shot up and met Josh's right away, not as much confused as angry.
"Yes?"
"I am a biotic..."
The man kept staring back, not even trying to answer, it was clear he was oblivious to what Josh was hinting at. Perhaps this would take a more 'basic' explanation.
"Amplifier..."
The man sat for a few more seconds before his face lighting up as if he remembered something important. He quickly ducked under the table and pulled up a standard issue biotic amp handing it to Josh, without saying a single word in the process though.
Josh took the amp nodding in response, quickly adjusting it around his arm. The weapons on his hip and back gave a slight feeling of reassurance. He wasn't scared of Brandon going off again, after all no one was stupid enough to start shooting on an Alliance carrier dreadnought.
With quick steps Josh headed for Sheppard's cabin. He knew that medical examinations probably came first on the list, but that only meant that Second Lieutenant would be free at the moment. The aspect with going later and talking to her for too long, or even worse when the ship jumped through the Relay did not appeal to him.
His knuckles brushed the cold steel, twice, creating an audible clunk. Even though he was not around to witness the wooden doors Josh felt as if those felt better against the hand. The door slid aside silently, letting him inside and closing behind him.
Stephanie sat at the desk, reading a portfolio; he could not tell who it was on however. His hand shot up to the side of his forehead as she noticed him. "Second Lieutenant."
"Private Joshua Dri," the way she stretched out his name made him feel slightly on the wrong side of uncomfortable, "take a seat."
He made his way towards the desk. The Lieutenant's room had the same set up as the rest of the ship. Maximum efficiency, zero personality. Josh pulled up a chair to lower himself into and started back at Stephanie. In his head he was trying to map up where this conversation would lead, and whether or not there would be any mention of their little adventure at the bar.
Calm down, he told himself, it's not like you slept with her, Markus just slept with her friend. And those thugs too. That was it, if anything I should probably get a thank you for handling the situation. He almost laughed at the thought, she probably would too.
She put down the folder and leaned forward slightly, "I see a good record from the Academy, pretty much spotless if you ask me, barring the Elysium training exercises."
His stomach twisted, he could feel it again. He felt his face get slightly white and tried to focus. Two of his fingers pinched his leg slightly to force his mind back to reality.
"So," she went on, either not noticing or choosing not to, "I also see you are a biotic, everything in your file is pretty stable, but we'll still run a routine check up." Her hand moved the folder even further as she focused only on the man in front of her. "But all of the technicalities aside, tell me about yourself private."
"That is a pretty ambiguous request," he said, fumbling inside his head a bit, and adding after a pause, "ma'am."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it is fairly broad," Josh was relaxing a bit now, this wasn't going to be too bad. "Don't get me wrong, I understand where you are coming from, with your desire to know the soldiers, but that is impossible, otherwise you would be stuck in here listening to life stories for a year."
"Very well," she said, leaning back, a hint of a smile crawling onto her lips. "I would just like to know why you joined the Alliance, what motivates you, I need to be sure I can trust my squad."
He looked around, as if searching for an easy answer, what was there to tell after all? This seemed like a run of the mill examination that they gave him before he entered the Academy, why would she bother? Nevertheless, when talking to a commanding officer best respond to their demands.
"Duty," Josh spoke, "I guess. My mom and my dad were both born on Earth, as their parents behind them, they've never actually been off the planet. Many people called them paranoid, I preferred to refer to them as 'old timers'. My sis and I always wanted to leave, but they wrapped us in a protective shell. I mean seeing new worlds seemed like such a great adventure, experiencing something new. It felt a waste to live in one place where the whole galaxy is within reach. A recruiter came by our school one day and I put my name up, just like that. And now I am here."
"Do that often Private?"
"Do what often?"
"Make decisions without consultation? Rash actions lead to worse consequences," she was smiling a bit more now, switching to a more familiar tone.
"Look," he leaned forward, taking her challenge head on, "my dad always taught me to do, to act, not to contemplate about acting, because the more you contemplate the you do. I am not stupid, and I know how to calculate situations I am in, however, I don't sit there for hours doing nothing. If I see a way to do something I will do it."
"Just like in the bar?"
"Just like in the bar," Josh knew where this was going from the start. She was fresh out of the Academy, just like him, only she was a commanding officer. A 'do it right by the book' type too.
"And consequences?"
"Are my responsibility," he shot right back. "Look, if I was one of the people sitting behind a holo-map, screaming orders and acting off the top of my head, then yes, perhaps that would make me a fucking useless type of soldier. But I act, and I take responsibilities for my actions, unlike other people who sit and watch other people die for their mistakes."
His tone was higher now, he felt like he was losing himself a bit. The images from Elysium came back into his head once again. Except this time it was their squad commander, their teacher, sending them in on their own.
"Like on Elysium?"
Josh was knocked back by that. She told him that she knew, but she never told him that she knew. What he did that day was not by any means following orders, but he did what was necessary, he saved some lives, he lost a couple, but that was the only choice. He would not let her chastise him, here, and not now; not ever.
"Yes ma'am," he said leaning back, and calming himself, "like on Elysium."
"Josh," her tone got softer now, she looked him straight in the eyes, "I've read your record, and I know what you did. I've even spoken to Sergeant Arrmi. Lives were lost, but if it wasn't for what you did, perhaps your whole squad would be dust on Elysium and you wouldn't be here. I do not carry this interviews to intimidate or play mental games with my squad, I just want to know where they stand."
He looked up at here. She knew. Josh didn't want anyone to know though, it was his fault, and he didn't want anyone to know. He could still hear their screams, Aleena's laughter. That was not something a man got over easily, yet he tried so hard, to forget, to at least push it behind.
"You can go," she said, but then raising her hand as he got up, "and go to requisitions and get other weapons, they must have not gotten the message from the Captain."
"I got my weapons already," Josh said, confused.
"Those are not Corporal issued," she spoke.
"I don't understand."
"In light of what happened on Elysium," she said, pausing, "as well as my recommendation from your actions in the bar on Earth the Alliance has granted Private Joshua Dri a rank of Corporal."
He stood there looking at her as if she just told him he won the lottery. This had to be a joke. Any moment a clown would jump out of the locker and laugh at him. 'Actions on Elysium' killed 5 people, psychologically harmed three more, one of the a student from the officer groups at the Academy.
"Are you going to take it or not?" she smiled, standing up and saluting.
"I am just slightly confused as to which one of my enthusiastic endeavours brought this on," he still couldn't find the ground beneath his feet, feeling weak. Corporal.
"You will be in charge of a 4-man unit, and have just become Fire-Team Bravo leader. I will let you choose your own four, with my approval. The rest will be briefed so they know as well. Dismissed."
Josh saluted in Stephanie's direction but he suspected he has done that in a lacklustre fashion. Corporal. Because of the expansion of the Alliance staff numbers there was a request for both commissioned and non-commissioned officers. People moved up the ranks faster now. At first, this brought on some troublesome ideas that perhaps not everyone who got promoted deserved it, however the Alliance became more tedious in their promotion process. If someone got one, everyone could bet their life that it came through many levels of command beforehand.
Josh walked back to the requisitions desk through the little haze. He couldn't quite figure out if he was excited or upset. This meant more responsibility, on the other hand, this meant more responsibility. The duality of things was a bitch, and this one was not going to play. He had to pick a four man fire team as well.
As one of the soldiers walked away with his new weapons, Josh squeezed right in, pushing whoever stood behind him away.
"What the fuck?" he heard a coarse voice that most definitely belonged to Brandon.
"I need an upgrade," Josh ignored the angry cursing behind him as he put his shotgun and pistol in front of the officer.
The man looked at Josh, obviously recalling the amplifier incident and went into his files again, checking to make sure that everything was in order. He then looked up as if to check, but spoke with a more apologetic tone, "I am sorry Corporal."
He took the weapons back and replaced them with the Kessler III model pistol and Storm II shotgun. Both manufactured by the Hahne-Kedar Corporation back on Earth. At least Alliance was supported by the home team and investing in the home manufacturer rather than turning to someone else.
Josh than turned to face Brandon. The anger on the giant man's face has receded somewhat, no doubt because he heard how the requisitions officer addressed him. Josh suspected that he would no longer have to deal with stupid incidents like before, but just in case he held the stare on Brandon for a couple more seconds before walking towards the med bay.
The door slid open right in front of him, letting out Markus, smiling as always. "Josh," he spoke, "how was the interview?"
"Same as everything else," Josh said, walking past Markus into the med bay. He didn't exactly feel like talking at the moment.
"Hi," the doctor said, she was in her mid 40s, with a very 'official' kind of look. She donned the white doctor-robe and was equipped to the teeth with any tool related to medicine. "Name?"
"Corporal Josh Dri," somehow calling himself that didn't make him feel better about it.
The doctor looked through her database on the Omni-Tool before typing something in. Josh heard two beeps as she looked up to face him. "Biotic huh?" something about the way she said 'biotic' didn't sit right with her, perhaps she was an L2, or maybe she just hated biotics all together, many people did. "You have to go into the next room for your examination."
Josh nodded and headed through the second door. Somehow he felt better about not being examined by the first doctor. Something in his mind classified her as a bitch, maybe even a first class bitch. Once he passed through the door, he stopped, his eyes falling on the medic.
She was not too tall 5'8, maybe 5'9, with a slim athletic figure. She was not wearing a robe, so a pair of pants and a shirt complimented her body perfectly. Her skin was slightly tanned, with lighter tones still visible. Auburn hair would probably end at the shoulders if it wasn't tied in a ponytail behind her head. But what caught him was the eyes, for a second he was caught in the sea of blue.
"Please come in," she paused to fumble through her Omni-Tool, no doubt searching for his name, "Corporal."
"Thank you," he moved slowly, not daring to look away. Great, he thought to himself sarcastically, a promotion and now this. Stop drooling you idiot.
She ran a few routine medical tests on him at the start. Checking his reflexes, sight, all of the other basics before switching to biotics. All the while neither of them said a single word to each other.
"Okay," she said, finishing up on his eyes, "you're general health seems to be in order, now let's check those biotics, Corporal."
"Josh."
"Excuse me," she sounded slightly confused.
"You can call me Josh," he felt like he placed a little too much emphasis on the 'you.' "It's just that I just got promoted, so it seems, it's still hard to get used to the title."
"The more reason to encourage people to use it," she smiled, "Josh."
"Thanks..."
"Tanya," she fiddled with her own amp, switching a couple of things. After that Tanya flicked a few things on her Omni-Tool as well. "Now if you can pull that class."
He did as she bid him, not really focusing. L3 mark biotics were really more functional than L2s ever were, however that wasn't saying much. It still took an incredible amount of time to learn to use them properly and adjust, he was the fastest in his class. "So what convinced you to serve in the Alliance Med-Bay Tanya?"
"Very good," she said in response to the cup, moving back a bit to bring up a few more objects on the table. "My dad owned a clinic, wanted me to be a doctor like him. I agreed, only on the condition that I do it for the Alliance, wanted to see the space. Now push."
He pushed, seeing a quick stream rush through and knock over some of the objects. "Sounds like a decent trade."
"Oh it was. Warp."
Josh focused again, concentrating his powers. The air around the objects got denser, focusing on one point. "You're part of the squad Tanya, or just assigned for the duration of the examinations?"
"Part of the squad," she said checking a few other things into her Omni-Tool, "lift. But unfortunately I do not believe in what your tone of voice is hinting at, its highly against the protocol."
He wanted to laugh, that almost broke his concentration and dropped the books he was levitating with his lift biotic ability. "What keeping people company at lunch with conversation? I must have missed that section at the Academy."
She smiled, only slightly perking the sides of her lips upwards, but Josh noticed that. "Sounds very much like a form of a date Corporal," Tanya banged a few more keys on her Omni-Tool, "Singularity."
This one was hard. He had to attune himself a bit more, trying to attune to his amp a bit better. After a moment a few objects still on the table started to shift or float towards the spot he selected. "I just call it being friendly. You ought to know that Second Lieutenant Sheppard has a policy about knowing her squad, I'd just want to know who will be healing me once I get shot at."
"What makes you think you'll get shot at," Tanya smiled, rolling a ball towards him. "Stasis."
The ball froze in place, for a few seconds before continuing its way forward, "with my luck Tanya, its almost a certainty by now. Besides, you are way more interesting that the bunch of brain-dead animals I share barracks with. Something tells me that the conversation about variations on the bench press will get stale fast."
She laughed again, this time a little more openly. "Well if you put it that way, I may just come find you at meal time." Tanya's hand went into the drawer as she pulled a Kessler I, standard issue medical-officer pistol, pointing it at Josh's feet. "And you were right about getting shot at though. Barrier."
He focused a bit more. A bluish glow surrounded his body, it felt almost gooey, laying close around his skin and clothes. Tanya aimed and fired. The bullet hit the barrier but did not go through it. Once Tanya put away the gun Josh released the barrier, it was quite enough for one day of biotics.
"We're all good here Corporal," Tanya said, keying in a few more notes onto her Omni-Tool, which she would no doubt then transfer to her computer and then to the Alliance database through the intranet. "I'll find you at lunch?"
"You won't have to look too hard I hope," he smiled at her and headed out through the side door that led straight into the hallways. There was still some time until SSV Einstein reached the mass relay, he planned to spent that time in his bed, maybe even sleeping.
Most of the soldiers around him rushed to different place, none still finished with their full examinations. It seemed that Sheppard was grilling the new men pretty hard, Josh had his own squad to choose from too, but that could wait. He probably should have asked Sheppard for the personal files, but he'd rather get to know them face to face. A paper could answer your questions, but probably wouldn't articulate the answers as well as desired.
By the time he reached his bed he felt already kind of tired. The sleeping quarters were empty, everyone still running by their business. Josh slipped out of his shoes and reclined onto his bed. The moment his head hit the pillow he drifted off into a different world of dreams. Only this time, he did not dream of Aleena for a change.