A/N: I don't own Mass Effect or Halo :(
Chapter 9 – Interlude I
"This is Commander Shepard speaking. We have our orders, find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you crew, this mission isn't going to be easy."
"This began with an attack on a Human settlement in the traverse, but we know Saren won't stop there, his geth army isn't going to stay on the far edge of the Citadel space."
"For too long our species had been kept apart from the others, now is the time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy, time to show what Humans are made of!"
"Wherever Saren goes, we'll follow. Wherever he searches for the Conduit, we'll be there. We will hunt him down to the very end of the galaxy and bring him down."
"Humanity needs to do this, not just for own sake, but for the sake of every other species in the Citadel space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all, we will stop him."
…
Every single person in the Normandy had stopped their respective work to listen to the Commander, listening intently to every word that she said over the ship wide comm, a moment later after she had finished a series of cheers and claps were heard throughout the ship.
Rookie just smiled, he never really needed motivational speeches, but it was nice to hear one anyway. He was currently in the Normandy's garage, he had setup a working desk, a personal locker near his desk and a crate to sit for himself on the far corner of the garage near the Mako, he was cleaning his weapons along with several magazines for the respective weapons that were retrieved by some marines from Eden Prime, they were all in working condition.
In the garage, there was Garrus working on a console near the Mako, Ashley on her work station, Wrex just standing around, leaning on one of the crates and another guy Rookie didn't know. Rookie's table was littered with his rucksack, combat knife, guns, magazines and bullets that he was currently cleaning.
The Mass Accelerator weapon system used in the conventional weapons in this world was formidable, the damage output of the Pistols and Assault Rifles with Mass accelerator system was higher as compared to Rookie's M6 SOCOM Pistol and M7S Caseless Submachine gun. But no infantry weapon surpassed the power of the SRS99 Sniper Rifle, well except maybe for heavy weapons, but they weren't available for the Normandy team, they were only supposed to be available for the frontline soldiers.
The UNSC had developed its weapons to counter the Energy Shields possessed by various Covenant troops such as the Elites and Brutes, same was the case with the Mass Effect Technology in this world, except in this case the Kinetic Barriers were produced to protect the Soldiers against the Bullets from the Mass Accelerator weapons. The only difference between the Covenant Energy Shields and Kinetic Barriers was, the Energy Shields could stop from simple melee attacks to directed energy weapons, while the Kinetic Barriers could only stop Bullets traveling at a certain speed and some Biotic attacks to some extent.
In the Covenant army, the strength of the Overshields depended upon the rank of the soldier using it. From a Huragok Overshield (Weakest) to the Energy shields used by the Elite Ultras, Zealots, honor guards and Brute Chieftains (Strongest), While the strength of the Kinetic barriers depended upon the quality of the batteries and certain other modifications used in the Kinetic barrier generator for any soldier.
So, Rookie's weapons or at least the SRS99 was good enough to be used against Kinetic barriers, even if the others considered the weapon to be 'Antique'. They hadn't seen the power the Sniper rifle…yet.
Rookie had stripped the VnSLS/V 6E scope and the laser aiming module off the M6 SOCOM and attached them to his Stinger mark V which was already equipped with a suppressor. Now he went towards Ashley's working bench, where she was cleaning the rest of the squad's weapons.
"Ma'am?"
Ashley turned around to face the Rookie who was holding his M7S on his hands.
"Rookie, you need something?" asked Ashley.
"Uh, could you please fit my gun with Mass accelerator system?" asked Rookie holding his M7S up for her.
Ashley raised one of her eyebrows, "Why? You don't like our weapons?"
Rookie shrugged, "This is my favorite"
Ashley nodded and took the M7S from Rookie and examined it.
"You know? If I do manage to fit it with a Mass accelerator system, it would technically be illegal", said Ashley taking the Submachine gun from Rookie.
…
"Are you sure about this?" asked Ashley.
Rookie nodded.
"Okay, but first I will need you to explain me how to disassemble this", said Ashley.
Rookie spent at least fifteen minutes explaining Ashley to assemble and disassemble the M7S, being the Gunnery Chief she learned quickly, even allowed her to fire a short burst.
"Hmm…Good gun actually, material is fine too, the barrel of gun won't melt on itself on constant fire from the Mass accelerator slugs, I may have to replace most, if not all the mechanism from the inside this and have to replace the inner layer of the barrel, it's too thick, it's meant for actual bullets, also the suppressor should work too…" Ashley mumbled to herself.
"Fine I'll do it but it'll take some time 'cause I'll have to start from a scratch, I'm not a miracle worker though" said Ashley shrugging.
"Thank you", said Rookie and walked towards his desk.
"Hey, what about that Sniper rifle of yours?" Ashley called after him.
Rookie didn't respond and kept walking towards his desk.
Ashley followed him to his desk, "What's so special about it?"
Rookie regarded her for a moment, then picked the SRS99 and a magazine with a single bullet and slammed it into the rifle.
"…So, do you need a target?" asked Ashley.
Rookie nodded.
Ashley moved an extra crate that they had and kept it at the far side of the garage.
"Let's see what it can do" said Ashley.
Rookie shouldered the Sniper rifle took aim at the centre of the metallic crate.
CRACK!
Everyone in the garage jumped in surprise, Ashley and Garrus both came to the crate for closer inspection, the bullet had tore a fist sized hole through the metallic crate, but it didn't stop there, it had also left a dent on the hull behind it.
"Wow…just…wow" was all Ashley was able to say.
"Isn't this one of the antique weapons that you had?" asked Garrus, "I didn't think it was on working order…or it could do…this…amazing" he said looking at now useless crate.
"What the hell exploded?"
They turned around to see Shepard coming out of the elevator towards them.
Both Rookie and Ashley saluted.
"That was Rookie's rifle, Ma'am", said Ashley and gestured at the crate.
"Back to your stations", ordered Shepard after examining the damage on the crate and the hull, "And Rookie, don't fire that rifle inside my ship"
They all complied, Rookie went back to his desk
Now, it was his Sniper rifle he had to think about. The grain scrapped off the metal block in the Mass accelerator system is supposed to shatter on impact, if it didn't, the grain would simply pass through doing minimal damage. The Mass accelerator technology won't work for SRS99 since it's supposed to be an Anti-Materiel rifle. So, there was no choice but to somehow produce ammunition for it.
As for armor, he hadn't managed to repair his armor since he arrived, he took some fire on Reach and also on Eden Prime, and then there was the Krogan who punched him, leaving a dent on his chest plate.
Bored, he started checking his very own Omni tool. Bluewire I was one of the lowest grade Omni tools available. Currently there were no personal files installed. Rookie shrugged, Nothing he could do, so he again started to search his Helmet's memory for any recording not wiped out. He did found something…and played it via his Omni tool in a very low sound so only he could hear.
The recording showed a man in an ODST armor speaking to the Rookie.
"Years ago, I told my father it was 'just dirt.' But it's not just dirt. It's where we live. It's our dirt, dammit. And more importantly, it's about who's standing on that dirt. Those children. Your family. Your friends. And those freaks are going to pay for every piece of dirt they've taken from us"
Rookie closed his eyes and sat in silence, hands resting against the table. Gage Yevgenny, he led a long tragic life, gave everything he had to serve the humanity, and what happened to him in the end?...He got betrayed by his own people. Rookie was the one to find him, albeit in a much wounded state. He told Rookie about his life, right up to his current state, after that he told Rookie to run for his life, even in the last moment, he gave up his life to kill the Covenant forces by detonating the Shiva nuke. Rookie had promised Gage that he'll never forget him and do everything in his power to fight against the Covenant and do everything to serve the Humanity in any way possible…the sole reason he haven't even tried tampering the Mini mass relay that supposedly bought him here in this world.
The Human-Covenant war was over, the UNSC can do without one soldier. But Shepard can't, the Council choose to ignore the Reaper threat, there wasn't enough evidence to prove their existence, only the Normandy crew and Captain Anderson seemed to believe it, but they were only a handful of people, not enough to face an army of geth or Reapers, whatever the hell they were, Rookie had seen enough of the world to know that these Reapers are not to be ignored. The UNSC had tried to hide the existence of the Flood and for a good reason, but in the end, they were caught off guard when the Flood showed up on Earth and infected the city of Voi, which ended up being glassed by the Covenant separatists.
He wanted to help Shepard, Saren is a threat to Humanity, hell, he's a threat to every species out there. Rookie was going to help the Normandy crew, and if it meant that he had to work with the aliens and the fact that he may have to spend a long time away from his home…so be it.
"Who was that?"
Rookie opened his eyes and glanced sideways to see Commander Shepard looking at him curiously. He stood up and gave her a crisp salute.
Apparently he hadn't noticed her standing there the whole time.
"At ease, Corporal", said Shepard.
Rookie relaxed.
"So, what were you listening there just then?" asked Shepard.
"A recording" replied Rookie.
"Someone you knew?" asked Shepard.
Rookie nodded looking at his omni tool, he didn't say anything.
"So, are you busy? Do you have a moment to talk?" asked Shepard.
"…Why?"
Shepard shrugged, "I like to know the people I'm working with"
…
Getting no response from the Rookie, Shepard continued, "…And I know very little about you, as a person"
…
Still no response, "Look, you seemingly appear out of nowhere, claim to be from another dimension, and readily accept to help us without much questions, that's a little too convenient, don't you think?" asked Shepard crossing her arms.
'Fishing for information?...Unlikely. The request sounded genuine…and she does have a point though…if I'm here, I might as well play along'
Rookie sighed, "Okay, Ma'am"
"You don't have to be so formal, I'm a little flexible in that case", said Shepard.
Rookie nodded.
"So, are you having any trouble settling here on the Normandy?" asked Shepard.
Rookie shook his head.
"How's your progress, I mean with the whole 'getting back to your world thing?'" asked Shepard
"Nil"
"Have you tried anything so far?" asked Shepard.
Rookie shook his head.
"Why not?"
"I've decided to help you first" replied Rookie.
"With Saren?"
Rookie nodded.
"…Okay…So, how did you get your nickname? You sure are no Rookie", asked Shepard.
"Oh…when I was assigned my previous squad, I was the last one to join, so they started calling me 'The Rookie'", Rookie shrugged, "It stuck"
"Another question. Why do you keep wearing that armor? Isn't that uncomfortable?" asked Shepard.
Rookie shook his head.
"Not even the helmet?"
Rookie shook his head again.
"It looks damaged though, let's go and see if we can get it repaired", said Shepard and beckoned Rookie to follow her.
*#*#*#*#*#*#*
"So, your armor has titanium plating you say?" asked the Alliance requisitions officer, apparently also responsible for the repair and maintenance work for the squad's armor.
Rookie nodded.
"And you also want me to make you some actual bullets?"
Rookie nodded again.
"Can you do it?" asked Shepard.
"Repair is possible, but I will need refined titanium, that ain't cheap ma'am" replied the requisition officer, "As for the bullets, I did saw what your rifle did back there, awesome man! Tungsten bullets right?"
Rookie nodded.
"I'll need a sample so that I can replicate it, but it's Tungsten, that ain't cheap either, ma'am"
Rookie handed him a bullet.
"For now, I can repair that nasty dent on your chest plate, so…"
Rookie removed his chest plate and handed it to the requisitions officer, it was detachable so he didn't have to remove his whole armor.
"Okay, I'll get it done as soon as possible" said requisitions officer.
"And while you're at it, see if you can repair that dent on the hull. Apparently, destroying that terminal earlier today wasn't enough for him, he wants to take down the whole ship" said Shepard playfully.
'For the love of…!'
"Oh and before I forget, I've got something for you", said Shepard reaching for her pocket and removing a Dog tag issued by the Alliance, handing it to Rookie. Then she left for the engine room.
"Uh…ma'am?"
Shepard turned around, "What is it, Rookie?"
"What's our next destination?" asked Rookie.
"We're headed to the Artemius Tau cluster, to find Dr. Liara T'soni" Shepard replied before walking away
Rookie nodded and went towards his desk, wearing the Dog tag and tucking it inside his weave, along with the Dog tag issued to him by the UNSC, he wasn't going to remove it anytime soon.
Rookie's stomach grumbled. So he checked the time on his HUD, it was nearly 9:00 PM Earth time. Time flies really fast in the Citadel, or maybe there was a confusion since the Galactic time and Earth time had a very large difference.
*#*#*#*#*#*#*
Rookie walked in the mess hall and found it empty, apparently everybody had their dinner. So, he picked up some marine rations, took a seat and removed his helmet to eat. He was soon joined by Kaidan, whom Rookie saluted before resuming his meal.
"So, Rookie" Kaidan broke the awkward silence (For him at least, Rookie didn't seemed to care), "How do you like this world?"
Rookie shugged, "Good, I guess"
"For someone who just traveled to a different dimension you don't look particularly excited, Rookie", said Kaidan, "You did tell us that everything here was new you, right? The technology? And the aliens? I mean, if it was me, I would've liked to know everything about this world, you know?"
"I'm not you" Rookie simply replied, then quickly added, "Sir"
…
Another awkward silence.
"Um, sir?", this time it was Rookie who broke the it.
"Yes, Rookie?"
"Can you teach me some hacking?"
Kaidan's eyes widened in horror, "NO!"
"…Why not?" asked Rookie slightly taken aback
"Because I'm still fixing the Terminal you fried today", replied Kaidan.
Rookie just rolled his eyes and resumed eating.
It was then Kaidan suddenly winced and clutched his head in pain.
"…Migraine…Medical bay", Kaidan managed to say.
Witthout a word Rookie quickly wore his helmet and jumped on his feet and helped the Lieutenant to the Med bay. As soon as they entered, Dr. Chakwas saw the situation and quickly directed Rookie to help Kaidan into the nearest bed.
"Hmm, a moderate L2 spike, nothing too serious" informed Dr. Chakwas, looking at one of the terminals, "Lieutenant Alenko should be fine, he just needs a few hours rest"
"As for you young man, I don't think you've had your Medical diagnosis, am I correct?" asked Dr. Chakwas.
Rookie nodded and turned to leave when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"I have to keep track of the crew's medical condition and you're no exception", said Dr. Chakwas.
'Medical diagnosis…hell no!'
Rookie suddenly dashed towards the door and almost ran into Shepard who jumped back to avoid running into him, both came to a stop.
"New rule, you don't run inside my ship", said Shepard, "So, what happened? Did the Doctor threaten you with a syringe?"
"Nothing like that Commander", said Dr. Chakwas chuckling, "I just asked the Corporal for a Medical diagnosis, I didn't expect him to run away like a child", she said shaking her head and smiling.
"Rookie, this is important. Do as Doc says, that's an order" ordered Shepard.
Rookie looked at both of them. After a dramatic sigh, he walked towards the office and went inside the Med bay to change into the Hospital gown that Dr. Chakwas gave him.
Ten minutes later he nervously stepped out of the office, wearing the Hospital gown. Shepard had left and Kaidan was awake, looking much better. Dr. Chakwas scanned his whole body with some device Rookie didn't recognize.
"These scars and burns…do I want to know how you got them?" asked Dr. Chakwas.
Rookie shook his head. He couldn't tell right away that he got it by the Covenant's directed energy weapons.
"Nice tattoo" commented Kaidan, who was sitting across the room, referring to the ODST tattoo Rookie had on his shoulder.
Rookie nodded at him smiling.
"Lieutenant Alenko please, you need to lie down and rest" said Dr. Chakwas.
"I'm fine Doctor, really" replied Kaidan before clutching his head again.
"Don't make me sedate you, young man", said Dr. Chakwas in a motherly tone placing her hands on her hip.
Kaidan reluctantly lay back on his bed. Rookie smirked at him which he returned with a frown.
Dr. Chakwas sighed, "I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm running a nursery for little children here"
After answering various questions and getting an implant for the Haptic Adaptive Interface by Dr. Chakwas, Rookie was allowed to leave.
Rookie walked into the office, the door closed, at the same instant the door to the Medical bay opened and Ashley walked in, she did notice the door to the office close but didn't say anything.
"Dr. Chakwas, have you seen Rookie?" asked Ashley.
"Ah yes, he just went inside to change into his armor" replied Dr. Chakwas.
Ashley facepalmed. She missed it again.
A few minutes later, Rookie walked out of the office in full armor, he handed the gown back to Dr. Chakwas.
"Rookie, Let's go, you and Vakarian are having a little competition" said Ashley.
*#*#*#*#*#*#*
Rookie and Ashley both arrived at the garage, Rookie saw two human shaped targets standing at the far end of the garage.
"Rookie" greeted Garrus, who was holding two pistols, he tossed on to Rookie which he caught, "Williams here told me you're a good shot, how about a friendly match?"
Rookie shrugged.
"Both of you get ten shots, the targets are being scanned by a VI which will tell you the score" said Ashley.
They both took positions, and fired.
A moment later the VI announced-
Garrus – 100 points
Rookie – 60 points
*#*#*#*#*#*#*
Shepard walked into the Med bay to check up on Alenko, she saw him sleeping on one of the beds, so she decided to chat with Dr. Chakwas.
"Dr. Chakwas, how's the Lieutenant doing?" asked Shepard.
"Oh, he'll be fine Commander, he just needs a few hours rest" replied Dr. Chakwas, "I was just studying our newest human recruit, 'The Rookie's' Medical diagnosis, and I've found some really strange things"
"First of all, his DNA. It doesn't seem to match any recorded signatures"
"And secondly, he has some kind of Bio-Augmentation that I haven't seen before, but it has similar features as compared to the implants given to the marines"
"He also has some kind of neural implant, I don't know much about it. The Corporal was pretty vague on the details"
"I see…", said Shepard. She wasn't surprised, she was getting used to finding odd things about Rookie, "Well Doc, his file is classified for a reason, so let it be our little secret"
"As you wish, Commander" Dr. Chakwas replied.
They both heard the sound of gunshots coming from the lower deck.
"Now what?"
*#*#*#*#*#*#*
Shepard walked into the garage to find Garrus and Ashley arguing.
"It's a draw" said Ashley.
"No it's not, I got more points, I won" countered Garrus.
"He did that on purpose! Don't you see?" said Ashley.
Shepard looked around, Rookie was back on his desk, again messing with his Omni tool.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Skipper, I'm glad you came. Rookie and Garrus had a little competition" replied Ashley pointing her thumb towards the two human shaped targets at the end of the garage, "I declared this a draw, but Vakarian doesn't get the point"
Shepard looked at the scores, then turned to Ashley, "Why are you calling this a draw?"
"Go and see for yourself?" said Ashley indicating towards the targets.
Shepard went for a closer inspection, she saw the Human target labeled under the name of Garrus, it had many shots at a single point in the centre of the head. Perfect.
She then saw the one labeled under the name Rookie, it had a smiling face drawn on the head of the target with bullet holes.
Yep. It's a draw.
*#*#*#*#*#*#*
A/N: It is lightly hinted that UNSC marines (All Non-Spartans too) have some kind of Bio-Augmentation and also those Alliance marines have some muscle implants as well. Exact details are not mentioned.
As for the scars and burns all over his body, have you seen how much damage Rookie takes in the game? That oughta give him some awesome scars and burns.
Hope you guys won't chase me with sticks and pitchforks (or guns and cannons) for what I did with the Halo weapons.
It can be a while till I update this Fic, I have my finals next month, so I have to concentrate on my studies. Wish me luck!
Till next time.
