Chapter Five: A Different Perspective
Lucy couldn't just walk away now. When she thought Saren was just some washed-out Spectre-turned-terrorist...that was something Lucy could go home and let professionals handle. Knowing the truth made things different. Saren was insane. He had to be. He wanted to bring back a race of synthetics called 'reapers', who supposedly wiped out the protheans fifty-thousand years ago. How could he not be insane?
And that's why Lucy couldn't just walk away. A terrorist was something officials handled often. An insane Spectre bent on destroying the galaxy? That wasn't something that Lucy could just go sit at home and pretend wasn't happening. She had to do something, so she was going to stay on the Normandy.
She just needed to find where Zachary Shepard went so she could let him know. She looked towards a man she'd seen the commander talking with earlier—a broad-shouldered soldier with dark hair—and made her way over to him. He looked up at her with a kind sort of grin.
"You're the mechanic, right?" he asked, "I'm Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. I heard you were shot on Feros. Are you doing better?"
"Yeah, thanks," Lucy said, "Do you know how much longer before we reach the Citadel?" She wanted to know how much time she had to get to Shepard and convince him to let her stay.
"Actually, there was a change of plans," Kaidan said slowly, "Commander Shepard got word of a distress call in the Artemis Tau cluster. An asari scientist is studying prothean ruins there, and the Commander thinks she might have some information about the protheans and the Conduit. Shepard wants to make sure she's safe. It'll take about a week longer, but we'll still get you to the Citadel."
"No, it's oaky," Lucy said, waving it off, "Seeing all that's going on and what this Saren guy is up to...Well, I can't just go home and pretend it's not happening. I want to help."
"I heard about some of the things you did repairing the rover, and getting them through ExoGeni. We could use talent like yours."
Lucy was taken aback. She didn't think what she'd done was all that impressive. Still, knowing she was being gossiped about did give her a small sense of pride.
"You're planning to stay?"
Lucy turned to see Shepard coming out of a room just to the side. Lucy grinned a bit awkwardly.
"I want to help," she said, "I'm a good engineer, and I know my way around rovers and shuttles. My cousin is a shuttle pilot for the Alliance, and he's the one who taught me the ropes. And I have Drake, he's programmed for combat. I won't be defenseless. I want to be a part of this. I want to do what I can to help."
"Then I'm sure we can find somewhere for you," Shepard said, "Come on, we'll head down to the garage. Show you around, and get you fitted with some armor."
Lucy nodded, following Shepard towards an elevator. She'd never worn much armor before, but if it kept her alive she'd go for it. She'd seen the trouble that Shepard and his crew attracted, and had gotten herself shot because of it. Protection would be good.
The elevator was painfully slow, but the doors finally opened to a garage bay that was spacious and mostly empty. Lucy saw a turian was working on a terminal next to a rover that looked in much better condition than the ones on Feros. On the other side, Lucy noticed Wrex and Williams by a line of lockers, Williams working on some weapon maintenance. When Williams looked up and saw Shepard and Lucy, she stopped her work and stood straight, giving a sharp salute.
"At ease, Chief," Shepard said, "Just showing Lucy around, getting her fitted with some armor."
Williams raised an eyebrow, watching Lucy for a moment, but she finally turned back to her work cleaning a rifle. Lucy wondered what her problem was.
Shepard led Lucy over to a supply officer and soon enough, she was fitted with a decent set of light armor that would keep her alive in a fight. It was a bit stiff, but Lucy was sure she'd get it broken in eventually.
"I think we can put you in charge of the mako," Shepard said once Lucy got her armor and gun stored into an assigned locker, "You can work with Garrus keeping it maintained, and if you're up for it, take the controls when we take it out."
That was something Lucy could do. She wasn't much of a fighter, so playing driver for the real soldiers was something right up her alley. Plus, the mako looked a lot better than the rovers Lucy was used to. This should be easy enough.
Shepard led Lucy over to the mako and introduced her to the turian working there, Garrus Vakarian.
"Wendell?" Garrus asked when Lucy was introduced, "One of Fiona Wendell's girls, right?"
"You know my mother?" Lucy asked in surprise. Shepard seemed fine with letting them talk, as he went off across the bay towards Williams at the weapons rack.
"Worked with her fa few times in C-Sec," Garrus replied, "Mostly after our little encounter at Flux."
"At..." Lucy started, then she felt her face growing warm. Flux. And Garrus was C-Sec, met her mother because of this. A couple of years ago, Lucy and her sister had gone to the club to celebrate Lucy graduating college. Lucy might have gotten very drunk. And might have punched a turian on a dare. A turian who might have turned out to be an off-duty C-Sec officer. And ended up spending the night in a holding cell. Her mother never let her live it down.
And now she was on the same ship as the cop she'd punched. Better yet, she'd be working with the guy. Lucy swore she had the worst luck in the galaxy.
"I...um..." Lucy started, and Garrus' mandibles flared a little. Why were turians so hard to read?
"What's that human saying?" Garrus asked, "Water under the bridge?"
Lucy laughed a little, feeling relieved. If Garrus was willing to forget, then she was fine putting it away as well.
"That works for me," she said, then motioned to the rover, "So this is the mako? Shepard said I'd be working with keeping it maintained and driving it around."
The next couple of hours were spent letting Lucy get acquainted with the mako. It was more advanced than the rovers she'd used in the past—and had heavier fire power. The controls were set up differently, so it took time for Lucy to learn her way around. It would be interesting to get on the ground with this girl and really get a feel for her. Lucy found herself enjoying getting lost in a familiar activity. She'd just started doing a last check on if she knew the weapon systems when she heard someone talking to Garrus outside the mako. Lucy paused in her work, surprised at the tone to the voice. Like someone speaking through a filter. Lucy leaned over Drake—who was laying at the open door—and glanced out to see someone who was obviously female, wearing an environmental suit. Her mask was darkened, hiding the face except for two glowing spots that had to be her eyes and a vague shape of a nose. She was a quarian. Lucy had never met one before, but she heard about them. Most hated them for creating the geth three hundred years ago, but Lucy thought it was stupid holding against an entire race something that their ancestors did. Besides, they had created life. That was impressive.
This quarian seemed to follow another trend that Lucy had heard about. They'd often wear normal clothing over their suits, maybe in a way to hide it somehow. Or at least look a bit more normal. This quarian had some sort of sundress pulled on over her suit. It made her look cute.
Garrus looked up at Lucy, his expression unreadable, before turning back to the quarian he was talking with.
"This is Lucy," he said, "Lucy? This is Tali. She gave us critical information on Saren during our investigation on the Citadel, and she joined up with the team after."
"Nice to meet you, Tali," Lucy said, hopping out of the mako, "I've never gotten to meet a quarian before."
"There aren't many of us around," Tali replied, "Garrus was just telling me you're an engineer yourself."
"Yeah, we can talk if you'd like. I'd love to talk shop with a quarian."
"That'd be nice," Tali said, a little light flickering at the bottom of her face mask as she spoke, "Maybe I could examine the mech you have?"
That was an idea Lucy couldn't help but be a bit frightened over. Quarians created the geth. If anyone would notice that Drake was an A.I., it would be one of them.
"Um...Drake is sort of my personal project," Lucy said awkwardly, "I don't really want anyone getting into his programming but me."
"I guess I can understand that. Don't worry."
Lucy resisted the urge to sigh in relief, though she did agree to join Garrus and Tali for lunch in the mess—didn't matter that they couldn't eat the same food. So, fifteen minutes later, Lucy was sitting with the quarian and turian at a table, all three with the best meals the Alliance could provide. Which was a step up from the generic, freeze-dried rations from Feros.
"The Normandy is an amazing ship," Lucy said, "I've never been on something so advanced."
"The turians helped design it, you know," Garrus said with a note of pride in his voice. Lucy couldn't blame him, though. She'd probably brag about it as well.
"You have to come down and see the drive core later," Tali said, "It's amazing! I've seen so many ships over the years, but never anything like what the Normandy has. I sometimes can't believe I'm here."
"You'll have to give me a tour," Lucy said as they ate. She noticed Tali was sticking to some sort of canned stuff, drinking it through a straw. Lucy couldn't imagine what it had to be like for a quarian. Living their entire lives inside of suits just seemed so sad. Still, she was brimming with questions, but she'd just met Tali. Asking her personal things like how her immune system even worked when she was so isolated wouldn't exactly be a good first impression.
Instead, they just shared stories. Lucy learned a lot about the two aliens, and that Garrus wasn't quite as serious as he seemed to be. Especially when he began sharing stories about C-Sec. Lucy really enjoyed it when the stories started to involve her mother.
"And then Wendell tried to sneak up behind this guy," Garrus was saying, "Got flipped right over his shoulder. A volus half her size, and still took her down. We've never let her forget it."
Lucy snorted into her drink. That was a story she'd never heard before and knew her mother would hate it that Garrus had told her. Lucy had to admit, she really enjoyed the afternoon with Garrus and Tali. She and the quarian spent a great deal of time down in the drive core, sharing advice and talking over the advanced drive core. She even met the chief engineer of the Normandy, a man named Greg Adams. He seemed to enjoy Lucy's interest in the ship and was happy to explain anything she asked about. Like Tali, he'd taken an interest in Drake, but accepted Lucy's explanation that she didn't want anyone but her messing with her mech.
Eventually, however, exhaustion was catching up to Lucy. It had been over two weeks before she'd gotten a proper rest. She knew she needed sleep, and Shepard had assigned her a bunk in the crew quarters. Lucy made her way there, changing into sweatpants and a top before getting into her bunk, letting Drake rest at the foot. It had been weeks since she'd had a proper bed. She didn't care that the mattress was hard, or that the blankets were stiff and itchy. It was a bed. Far better than rocks and using a jacket as a blanket. Hopefully, she could finally get a good, long rest.