Chapter One: Part Seven

Back in the Swing

Will dropped his tray of food next to Jack's as the two sat down in the mess hall to eat lunch. The mess was quite large and could easily fit thirty to forty crew at once. White tables and benches lined the dining space. The hall was well lit, with four main rows of tables as well as a cafeteria line similar to what Jack had experienced in grade school. The food itself looked quite appetizing, something Jack had learned to appreciate in his time in Alliance. Not every ship would offer fine, gourmet cuisine. Usually the CO of the ship would need to pitch in some of his or her own salary to cover additional culinary resources. Jack felt lucky that Captain Alenko deemed the mess hall a necessary expense. Jack picked up his fork and placed a napkin in his lap.

"Good first day on the job so far?" Will asked as he munched on a carrot.

Jack couldn't stop running his hand across his scalp. His bald head was a constant reminder of how all the time and effort he had put into growing out his thick brown hair had been erased in the single stroke of a razor. Between mouthfuls of cafeteria food, Jack managed a response.

"It's been one medical examination after another so far. Physicals, immunizations, and psychiatric checkups have been the order of the day," Jack replied before he dug into the bowl of pasta on his plate.

Will laughed.

"Did they give you the shot that turns your tongue purple yet?"

Jack looked to his friend with an eyebrow raised and a mouthful of pasta. Will nudged Jack in the left arm with his elbow. Jack swallowed and stuck his tongue out to Will. Sure enough, Jack's tongue had turned a deep shade of violet. Will patted Jack on the shoulder.

"You know you missed this…"

Jack put his fork down on his plate and shrugged, a smile crossed his face.

"Maybe a little," he said as he looked out the window.

The colorful vortex of the Mass Effect field swirled around the strong pane of reinforced, clear hull. The material was not glass, although some humans would occasionally refer to it as such. Jack took a pause in his consumption of lunch and looked over towards the table where Senior Alliance personnel were seated. Kaidan was gesturing broadly with his arms to describe some unknown topic of conversation. Also seated at the captain's table were Dr. Liara T'Soni, Navigator Ming Yu, and another man Jack could only assume was his new XO. Will followed Jack's gaze and noticed who Jack was fixated on.

"Still haven't met the commander?" Will asked, taking a swig of scarlet carbonated water.

Jack leaned back in the mess hall chair and rested both hands on the back of his head.

"Haven't as of yet, but I assume we'll run into each other pretty soon."

Jack could only see the massively muscular back of his Commander. The crew reports he had read listed the man as an N7 class soldier.

"Commander James Vega, pretty big man… does he double as the ship's personal trainer?" Jack asked humorously.

Will chuckled as well.

"One workout with him and you'll be stiff and in bed for a few weeks, Jack."

Jack sarcastically looked at his right bicep and pretended to flex.

"I've been working out a bit, myself," he said looking at Will with a smug face.

Will looked from Jack's arm to Jack's face and back again, as they both cracked up.

Once they had finished their food the two parted ways. Jack began the journey to the armory, where he had a scheduled meeting with the Alliance quartermaster before his first shooting examination since he had re-joined the Alliance.

'Finally,' Jack thought to himself, 'a chance to show off what I can do with a gun'. Jack's specialty was not with an omni-tool, nor did he have biotic implants. However, what he could not do with what he considered super-powers, Jack could accomplish with a rifle in his arms. He had been trained in all weapon classes and had received commendations and specialization class in all that the Alliance had offered. He could make a standard-issue heavy-pistol dance like a sub-machine gun. He could hit targets from any distance as long as there was line of sight, and occasionally without it. His favorite past-time with guns was the modification process. Jack had a knack for maximizing the amount of rounds a weapon could fire before having to eject a thermal clip. His favorite ammunition was an incendiary, heavy weight slug which could not only light organic tissue on fire, but also blow through most any cover like tissue paper.

When Jack arrived the quartermaster pulled up her omni-tool to see what clearances Jack had to select weapons. When Jack's qualifications appeared the woman could only whistle. Her hair was tied into a short bun behind her head. Her skin shone brightly as the artificial lighting glinted off of her ebony face. Her blue Alliance jacket had a gold nametag on the left breast. It read Killea. Killea smirked at Jack as she pressed a button on the wall of the armory closest to Jack's right side. The wall pushed out and morphed into a full wall of weapons and ammunition. A weapons bench complete with modification tools also extended from the weapon wall.

"Enjoy, Lieutenant… let me know when you're ready to begin your weapons examination," Killea said.

Killea's subtle English accent immediately jumped out at Jack. He had always appreciated those accents. At the sight of the guns, though, an excited Jack dove right in and began to grab weapons. He weighed them in his hands and pretended to shoulder rifles. He preferred precision over pure brute force. Whatever his weapons lacked in bullet force he made up for with his modified ammunition and clip size. Jack selected a M15 Vindicator assault rifle and got to work adjusting it. He wiped the barrel with a cloth once he was finished with his personal modifications. He then went back to the wall and picked up a thermal flip-scope. It had two magnification settings for long distance to medium range. For close quarters Jack selected an AT12 Raider class shotgun. Jack had picked up one of these shotguns in the battle for Earth. He remembered his friend, Wyse, explaining to him about how the Raider shotgun was a death machine in a pinch. Jack was lucky enough to have stumbled onto Wyse's body and shotgun after Jack himself had run out of ammo. With reaper forces bearing down the shotgun had proved vital to Jack's survival. The gun packed a punch and even though the recoil had bruised Jack's shoulder, there was no weapon Jack trusted more in dicey situations. Jack also saw it as a token to his late squad-member's memory. Jack closed his eyes in an attempt to shake off the memory.

"Ready, Lieutenant?"

Quartermaster Killea was leaning along the opposite wall of the armory, arms folded across her chest and her head tilted in a quizical fashion.

Jack looked over his shoulder and allowed a smirk to show on his face.

"Ready as I'll ever be…"

Killea straightened up from the wall and pointed to a door to her left. Jack placed the shotgun down for the moment.

"Step into the range and into a shooting lane when you are ready."

Jack nodded and entered the weapons test range and unshouldered his Vindicator. He set the scope to medium range and prepared for the examination to begin.

"Alliance representatives would like to remind you that a supply of thermal clips will be provided, all modifications are optional, and to always make sure to keep the weapon-safety on whenever you are not performing in the examination."

Jack tilted his head towards Killea and looked at her over the stock of his rifle, eyebrows raised.

"That's a new set of instruction… is the safety bit really necessary?"

"There've been… a few accidents since your last recorded examination… also remember the shooting range and weapons bench are always available to Alliance soldiers during down time.."

Jack shouldered his rifle and waited patiently for the quarter master to finish her instructions and information checklist.

"… targets followed by a breakdown of the exam score," Killea finished, slightly more winded than before her monologue.

Jack turned off his safety. "I think I'm ready for whatever the Alliance has to throw at me."

"Wait for the firing range VI's mark to begin the exercise and good luck, Lieutenant."

Killea stepped out of the firing range and into the observation room, well away from the possibility of a stray bullet. Jack continued to wait patiently at his firing station. The low hum of the ship's artificial lights reverberated throughout the firing range. Suddenly, a disembodied mechanical sounding man began to speak over the firing range comm.

"Examination to begin in 5…4…3…2…1…, begin examination!" the unhuman voice exclaimed loudly.

As soon as the first target presented itself years of training and instinct took control of Jackson's physical and mental being. Jack fired three round burst after three round burst into the human and alien shaped mechanical dummies. Jack could have sworn he saw a Reaper husk cutout as well. The targets were presented at completely random distances and angles from Jack's firing position. They would remain up until Jack's plasma rounds struck the colorful shielded surface. A chiming noise would ring out for shots to the head. The exercise continued on like this for about twenty seconds. The targets began to pop-up in pairs, and then trios, and eventually all at once. Jack likened this situation to the grand finale at a fireworks show. Could one man take down thirteen other soldiers all at once with no cover? Impossible odds, but for the folks who created the examination, why the hell not? As the final target fell the VI spoke up once more.

"Thirty-four point two one seconds… the SS Gabriel's previous record of thirty-four point two nine seconds has officially been replaced. Point calculations… out of sixty targets killed, forty-nine were headshots… this score has officially tied the Alliance's previously held record for a time at or beneath thirty-five seconds. This examination is complete, please proceed to the observation room for recognition."

Jack's Vindicator barrel smoked a tad from the sheer speed at which rounds were fired in the exam. Jack clicked the safety on and left the firing range. Once he was in the armory he immediately walked over to Killea who gave Jack the classic… did not expect that look. Jack simply rubbed his bald head once again and smiled sheepishly. Killea broke the silence.

"Where'd you learn to shoot like that?" she asked, her arms folded. Killea had been adjusting weapons in the crew lockers before Jack had entered the armory after the examination. Jack figured one of his senior officers had been watching him from the observation room with her and had told her to tend to other duties once Jack looked like he had a semblance of weapon experience.

"I learned how to shoot in basic…" Killea rolled her eyes. Jack continued.

"…I learned how to kill in the war." Killea tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at Jack. She wasn't buying it. Jack wasn't finished, though.

"and I learned how to survive at the battle of Earth." At this Jack handed Killea the weapon. The quartermaster took the weapon, looked Jack over and nodded before turning to Jack's locker.

"Well thank the LORD you're not pointing that gun at me anytime soon, Lieutenant. Remind me to never piss you off."

Jack chuckled.

"I only shoot bad guys, don't worry." Jack replied as he threw his hands back behind his head.

Killea turned back towards Jack after placing the rifle into his locker next to the AT-12 shotgun. She pointed towards the observation room.

"Well, now that you're done showing off you can go talk to Commander Vega. He's itching to speak with the 'marksman of the year'," Killea said. Killea made sure to sarcastically emphasize the last part. She gave Jack a wide smile before turning back to her other duties. As Jack walked towards the observation room he whistled a quiet song to himself. Shooting had a tendency of putting him into a glorious mood.