Chapter 9
Tali sat hanging her feet off the end of the infirmary bed listening to the Commanders words of motivation to his new crew and waiting for the doctor to examine her. The doctor was trying to take some blood from Wrex but he was insinuating that her bones would be ripped from her flesh if she gotten any closer with the needle
"Come on Wrex it's just a little needle. Is the big bad Krogan afraid of needles eh?"
"Watch your mouth Turian I'm not afraid of anything, just cautious of doctors since they are the ones who infected us with your peoples damned Genophage!"
"Wrex I'm a Human not a Turian or a Salarian and I have no intention of infecting you with anything. It is this ships policy to have a blood sample of every crew member now look at that big red elephant over there"
"Big red wha.."
Doctor Chakwaas plunged the needle in her hand into Wrex's arm and took a sample of his blood
"Ok Wrex your done"
"Wait what's an elephant and don't you want a sample of blood anymore?"
"Nope we are all done here"
"Humph good" Wrex jumped of the bed with a thud and walked out the infirmary none the wiser to what the doctor had done, Tali and Garrus only just managed to contain their laughter.
"Now miss Zorah if you could compartmentalise your upper left arm I'm going to need to take a sample from you too" Dr Chakwaas turned and took another already sterilized needle from her medical tray then walked over to Tali who was fidgeting on the end of the medical bed.
"Errr is this absolutely necessary Doctor...I mean my suit is completely sealed with an automatic medical system its highly unlikely ill need an outside Doctor"
"Tali you dont have to worry I am very capable of seeing to all your medical needs, I've studied many alien physiologies including Quarian, Krogan and Turian. Also its alliance policy to have all crew members dna samples on file for reference"
Tali understood why as the Flotilla had the same system but for everyone not just military personnel. It was to aid in the treating of wounds and in the most dire of cases identify the dead.
"Ok Doctor go ahead" Tali tapped a few buttons on her suits omni-tool, held out her arm and turned her head away while Dr Chakwaas took a small sample of her blood which Tali could feel, unlike Wrex, she was glad she lowered her helmets translator volume when she sealed off her arm.
"Very good, thank you Tali. Now mister Vakarian am I going to have to strap you down for a sample?"
"Not a chance doc, take what ya need" Garrus lifted his arm up and removed a piece of his armour so the doctor could take his blood sample.
Tali left the infirmary and joined Wrex and Kaiden who were waiting in the mess hall just outside. Kaiden gestured to her to come over where they were now only waiting for Garrus to finish up with the Doctor.
"So what do you think of our good Doctor Tali?" Kaiden asked
"Shes very capable, are all your peoples doctors trained to deal with other species too?" Tali didnt want to pass judgement on the doctor until the nagging pain in her arm had passed.
"Not all but some in the Alliance have to. Doctor Chakwaas is one of the best doctors in service today, I heard Captain Anderson specially requested her for this assignment"
"Well that wasn't so bad now was it!" Garrus exclaimed almost making Tali jump out of her suit
"Ok now that your all done with the Doc I'm going to brief you on this ship" Kaiden brought up a holographic representation of the Normandy and gestured for the three of them to sit down at one of the mess tables.
"The Normandy is the Alliances newest ship, frigate class with the most advanced technology we have, she was built with help from the Turian hierarchy and partly funded by the Council. The ship has eight decks CIC, Infirmary and mess hall, Crew quarters, environmental and emergency generators, weapons and the magazine, cargo bay, engineering and the flight deck"
Kaiden reviewed each deck on his omni tool display to the three of them "The commander has ordered that you all be given bunk space in crew quarters and be added to the duty roster. Certain parts of the ship will be off limits until the commander signs you off but if you have any preferences on where you want to help out ill pass them along"
Garrus almost shouted at Kaiden "Weapons! Errm sorry I mean I studied advanced weapons systems back on Palavin while serving in the military. Ive never come up against a big gun I couldn't shoot"
Kaiden made a quick note on his Omni-tool "Ok how about you Wrex?"
"I shoot things"
"...Ok Ill have you maintain our small arms in the cargo bay"
"Hmph" Wrex seemed uninterested
"So how about you Tali?"
Tali thought about it and couldn't believe her luck, she had been saved from certain death and now she was serving on what was most likely the most advanced ship in the galaxy "Anything in engineering would be perfect for me. I'm highly skilled in engine maintenance, it's what I did aboard the Rayya before my pilgrimage started"
"Great Ill pass that onto the Commander. Well I'll show you all to your bunks and you can get settled in while I go see the Commander"
Commander Shepard examined his new quarters having packed up Captains Andersons personnel effects, the room was better than a small bunk which he had as XO but still quite small. A small room with a seat and desk with a computer on it, a wall mounted holographic display showing its default screen saver of a star cluster and nebula and a small adjacent room with a bed and closet.
Shepard turned as he heard a buzz at the door. He opened it to find chief Adams.
"Commander the Captain just sent me a secure message through the extranet. He would like me to brief you on the ship if you have a few minutes"
"I've already had my top secret briefing with the brass when I accepted the posting Chief, thankyou"
"With all due respect, you haven't had this briefing sir"
"Come in chief and have a seat"
"Thankyou sir" Engineer Adams entered the Commanders new quarters and sat on one side of the desk and Shepard sat on the other.
"Ok then Chief what is it the Captain asked you to brief me on? I've already been briefed on the stealth systems and weapons aboard"
"I understand that Commander but this is about the ships main function. You see several years ago myself and a physicist named Joanne Anders started a research and development project to increase an alliance ships capable jump range, the Normandy is the culmination of that research"
"So the Normandy's engines are experimental. How far can she jump? and just how safe is it?"
"Don't worry commander this ship isn't a guinea pig, the engines have been tested. As for jump range I have to admit we dont know, to be honest I hope this mission sees her get put through her paces and we can see what shes made off"
"Im sure when you have to put it back together again you'll be regretting that statement Adams"
"Hahaha I have faith in her sir. In all seriousness though the standard jump range of an alliance vessel is about fifty light years, when we were designing the engine we aimed for a capable jump range of two hundred and fifty light years but after the Turian's started adding their tech into the ships power systems we noticed a significantly higher power transfer efficiency than we had hoped so I predict this ship could jump four hundred light years with only a thirty minute cool down afterwards"
"That's incredible. The fastest ship I've served on could jump fifty eight light years and needed a couple hours cool down after. How many people know about this?"
"Me , Joker, four Admirals, the Ambassador, Captain Anderson and two of my engineers sir"
"That gives us a huge advantage, bigger than we already had. I'm no astrophysicist but those numbers aren't large enough to render our use of mass relays obsolete are they?"
"Your quite right they are not but it does allow us to travel much much further outside of the relay network than the other races can do and jump into any populated system close to a mass relay almost instantly. Using the relays is still faster for getting across the galaxy but system to system this ship is in a league of her own"
Just as the Commander and Chief Adams were finishing their meeting the door buzzed yet again.
"Come in"
The door opened to show Kaiden, the Commander gestured for him to enter and join him and the Chief
"Sir I have gotten our new recruits settled on the crew deck and they have a few requests about where they would like to help out"
"Go ahead LT"
"Garrus would like be posted in the weapons bay, Tali in engineering and Wrex...well Wrex wasn't really open to the idea of working aboard the ship but I'd suggest having him mod our small arms on the flight deck"
"Sounds good, Chief who's your best man in the weapons bay?"
"Petty Officer Astley sir, he's a good man"
"Ok. Kaiden pair Garrus up with PO Astley and Wrex up with Chief Williams"
"With all due respect is that wise sir? Given Chief Williams views on err..."
"You can say it Kaiden, on Aliens. And yes I do think it's wise, they will either help each other sort out their own individual faults or kill each other getting to that point either way makes my job easier as a Commander just the latter involves more paperwork"
All three of the men laughed
"What about Tali Commander?"
"Place her in engineering. Chief make use of her and make her feel welcome, we wouldn't be where we are without her help"
"Not to over step my boundaries sir but shouldn't we keep her away from the FTL systems?"
"Your right Kaiden and I'm sure the Chief can find many other jobs on a ship of this size for a talented engineer, cant you?"
"Absolutely sir"
"When we are underway ill speak to each of them and let all department heads know as well that apart from the FTL drive itself the ship is open to them is that clear"
"Absolutely"
"Crystal Commander"
"Dismissed"
Kaiden and Adams left the Commanders quarters and just as he was about to sit down Jokers voice came over the intercom
"Commander the ships fuelled, armed and stocked full of potato chips, all ready for us to go gallivanting across the galaxy on a mission to save the universe" The Commander enjoyed how his pilots jokes always lightened his mood even if they were inappropriate and had bad timing
"Good Joker. Contact alliance tower and get us underway to the mass relay"
"Destination sir?"
The Commander brought up a file he had on his computer screen, a file he had reviewed in haste hours ago when he first received it from ambassador Trevos.
"Set course for the Artemis Tau cluster, best possible speed"
"Aye aye Commander"
Shepard finally sat down and opened up the full dossier on his computer terminal and started to study it in depth, he figured he had a good few hours before they arrived at their destination and he had to have a solid lead on where Dr T'Soni may be. In the back of his mind he was also thinking if he would be rescuing her from Benezia or capturing her for intel against Benezia, one of his favourite quotes came to the fore front of his mind Know your enemy and know yourself you need not fear the outcome of a hundred battles.
