Chapter 8: Adjustment

John took a good rest in his room in Life support. He got up, and the bed rolled itself away into the wall. After doing some stretches, he made his way down to the Armory level, in order to get outfitted. The idea of wearing armor that wasn't the MJOLNIR, seemed a little repulsive; but it would be returned soon, and he was curious as to how the people of this universe defended themselves. When he got down to the armory a crew member motioned him over to a table, and handed him a hot cup of coffee. Not sure what to do, John just quickly sipped it all at once. The crew man, an older looking African American with a small clipped beard looked surprised and then said, "The name's Rogers, once Cortez gets here, we can brief you on your new armor, and the standard Alliance issue ordinance that you will be receiving."

The bald man from John's first entry into the Normandy came around and he shook John's hand, in a firm manner. He said, "Well, you're the new recruit aren't you. Glad to have you aboard. I've heard that you have had special training. So obviously you know how to fight. Have you used any mass accelerator weapons before?"

"Yes, I fought some of the Cerberus troops on the ship before you picked me up."

"Excellent, do you know what model and type of gun you were using?"

"It was an Assault Rifle, and it consisted of two barrels separated by an empty space. It held 30 rounds."

"Ah, the M-8, well that was probably what we were going to give you, unless you had a thing for sniper rifles."

"Actually I've always sort of had a knack for shotguns."

"Shotguns eh?" said Rogers, "I think the commander got some Scimitars from the field in the back, if you want I can see if I can re acquisition them for you, if you want to give it a try."

"I'm up for anything," said John.

"Cortez, show him the armor while I bring out the guns."

"Right, follow me." Cortez said, and motioned John over to a table. There was a set of armor, all the color of fine steel, a chestplate, armored gauntlets , a set of greaves, and a helmet. The shoulder had an insignia on it; it said N7 in bright red letters. The helmet wasn't John's style personally; it was too angular and had no visible slits for eyes. Although that probably wasn't how one viewed from inside, he didn't like it. The visor of the MJOLRNIR Mark VI was what he was used to, but he didn't complain. He merely touched the pieces one by and one and said, "You want me to try these on?"

Steve nodded and John put them on, hearing them click into place. It felt good and was surprisingly light, very light compared to the MJOLNIR armor. He put the helmet on, and saw the world through a strange red light. However the audio quality was supreme; he could hear every little noise inside the armory. He wondered if this was used for stealth operations; be able to hear where the enemy was. John asked, "I like the Helmet, seems very practical."

"Yeah," said Rogers, "It's the Death Mask. Intimidating as shit, but also practical. Okay you can take it off now, we're going to run you in through your weapons briefing."

John took the armor off and placed it back on the rack. Then he walked over to the bench, where Cortez presented John with a red M-8 Avenger, and next to it, what appeared to be a white box, but in reality was a compact shotgun.

John picked up the assault rifle and took a quick look into its optics. He nodded approvingly, the optics were clean. Then he picked up the shotgun. It was a little lighter than the shotgun the Krogans had let him borrow for cleaning out the Pyjak infestation, but not by too much. It felt good in John's hands. John said, "Okay, I think these will do."

"Yeah, though you might want a pistol. A pistol is a good weapon if you are running low on thermal clips for the others and for dealing with light armored foes. Here," Cortez handed John a small compact pistol, that had a black barrel and a white grip, "Take this Predator. There's no shooting range on the Normandy but I entrust you know your way around pistols."

"Of course, does it have a scope?"

"Scope?" questioned Rogers.

"Yes, I prefer my pistols with scopes."

"Nah, no scopes right now, but you can send out a reacquisition order if you want."

"Okay," said John.

After that John was given a quick tour of the ship. The Ship had five levels, though John needed only to really be on the 3rd and 5th floors. The 1st floor was the Captain's Quarters, which were not off limits, but nobody really had any business unless it was with the Captain. The 2nd floor was the combat information center and the war room, where various war related activities were done, and where the ship's navigational systems were operated. The third floor, where the Life Support room was, was the crew deck, and Cortez showed John around. There was a mess room, where the crew was served meals between missions, an engine room, and the medical bay, where John was slated to get a physical exam from the ship's doctor, Dr. Michel. The fourth floor was the engineering level, and the fifth floor was the armory and shuttle bay.

John went to the medical bay, an empty room where an average height woman with auburn hair sat at a desk and was taking readings. John coughed and said, "I was sent to see the Doctor."

"Ah yes, you must be the new crew man, John." She said this in a french accent. "I am Dr. Michel. I will be using my omni-tool to scan your vitals, and then I will just take a quick blood sample and you can be on your way."

John stood still as she waved her omni-tool over his front twice and then moved around to the back. She did some numbers then said, "You have a very hardy constitution, Operations Chief, and your vitals are in prime condition. You are very healthy. You are definitely fit to be a soldier. I take it you have dealt with combat stress before?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Good. Now let me just take a blood sample," She took a small device and poked John with it, extracting a little bit of blood. "Very good, now you may be on your way."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

The next few days were easy on John, most of the time he did Physical training regimen in the had never had so many days off duty before. On the first day he was formally introduced to James Vega. They shook hands and James said, "James Vega, Lieutenant, welcome to the Normandy Operations Chief. Well as you can see we run a tight ship. You know of our current mission right?"

"Defeat the Reapers."

"Well that's the short story. In reality the Commander has the tough job of securing alliances between the races. Our last mission put us on Palaven which is the Turian homeworld. I don't know if you have run into Garrus yet, but he's one of them. I actually probably trust you more than I do the Turians, seeing as you don't have feathers growing out of your head."

John replied, confused, "Are Aliens not trusted by humans?"

"Course not, but we need their help if we are going to win this. They feel the same way about us, but they know we are dependable. Shepard saved their leadership three years ago, so we can count on them, once we solve their problems."

"Sounds like a bunch of hurdles. You think they would co-operate..then again.." John thought back to how the Insurrectionists continued to bomb UNSC colonies even during the war with the Covennant.

"They are all self-centered, but they do see reason, from time to time. It was really hard myself to leave Earth, watching it get burned to the ground."

John was surprised when he heard that Earth had been taken by these so called Reapers. "Earth has been taken?"

"Yeah, now I remember that you don't know anything that's going on. Are you seriously from another universe with humans? That's pretty loco if you ask me."

"Yeah I'm not lying, back where I came from Earth was at war itself, and going to battle with aliens of its own."

"Not saying you are lying, just thinking you might believe something that's not true. But doesn't matter to me, I just want to see what you can do. Anyways you are probably here to work out right?"

"Yeah, got to keep In good condition."

"Okay, well there's a bench press there,"James pointed over to one by the wall, "and there's also a bar for pull ups right here, there's also some weights on the wall."

"Got it, thanks." Said John. John worked out for about an hour in the morning and an hour at night for three days. It was good to get into a routine. During the days he mostly spent his time in the armory, either working out or learning about the weapons that he would be using, modding them and learning how to set them up. He often talked with Cortez and James, and they gave him some information on how the war had been going so far. It didn't sound so good, but John had taken on challenges before, and wasn't concerned as long as the leader ship remained constant. He had yet to see first hand the destruction the Reapers could cause.

One day as he was heading upstairs on the elevator, the elevator opened up and inside was the Blue skin colored alien known as Liara who had touched his mind. John walked into the elevator and she gave him a smile. John smiled back, which felt weird. He hadn't smiled in a while, not sense the time he lit the bomb in the Covenant Carrier over Earth, in what seemed like an eternity.

Liara said, "I don't think we've been formally introduced, my name is Dr. Liara T'soni."

She gave out her hand and John gave his hand. Her hand felt very smooth. He said, "John 117, at your service, ma'am."

"Nice to meet you John. I didn't really explain how I ascertained the truth about your…past did I?"

"No, but there are some things I just have to accept."

"That's very interesting. Not many people take things on face value. But anyways, I saw everything you have went through."

"Really?"

"Yes, and I'm interested in finding out more about your world. Would you care to come to my office some time and tell me?"

"As long as I don't have any duties, then yes I would."

"Excellent, come by, we are on the same level," the door opened, "Its over on the port side of the Engine core."

"Sure." They departed and she said, "Good bye for now, John."

John watched her walk off. It was going to be strange, making friends. But he didn't have a reason not to, and something about the Doctor was very interesting. John shrugged and went back to rest a little more.

Later that day, there was a voice on the intercom. John was reading his data pad, reading up on some history. Strangely all history prior to 2012 was the exact same as his own Earth. The similarities were many, he found it very weird. The voice was a female's, with a clear British accent. It said, "Calling John 117 to the Briefing room."

John quickly got up and took the elevator to the war room. The scanning team still hadn't gotten information on who he was yet, and he had a little trouble getting through. However a very tanned woman with wavy black hair in casual gear, walked in and said, "John 117 is clear to get through until told otherwise by the Commander." They let him through.

"Thanks," said John.

"No problem, this way, into the war room, to meet the Commander."

John walked into the war room and saw Shepard and a strange alien standing over a terminal. The alien had a strange face that seemed to be similar to that of a cat, and it wore heavy blue armor, made of individual plates. The alien had elaborate blue colored feathers on the top of its head and a holographic visor over its eyes.

Shepard said, "Good , you are here Chief. Garrus, this is our new recruit, John-117."

John shook the alien's hand who said, "Garrus Vakarian. I'm here to evaluate your combat skills. We're going to be running an op together."

The alien sounded confident, bordering on cocky. John could tell just by looking at him that this was a renegade.

"Sounds good, what's the mission?"

Shepard used his omni-tool to bring up a 3-D model of a planet and then zoomed in on a type of lab facility. It reminded John of the Sword Base on Reach. He remembered being there , doing sims with Jun-A266. He wondered where the man was, since he had never been officially declared M.I.A. John watched as Shepard pointed to the facility and said, "This is Sanctum. It's a small planet; there are no real colonies due to the high winds and cold temperatures. There is a Cerberus base where they are studying Reaper technology. You and Garrus will be going in to acquire the Reaper tech samples, or if failing that , in case you can't extract them manually, take any data."

"Yes, sir."

"Suit up and meet Garrus in the shuttle. You leave at 0200."

Finally! Some Combat, thought John.

Shepard said after John had left, "Alright, Garrus. Any suspicious behavior and you put him down, I don't trust him yet."

"Of course, Shepard."