Me: Hey guys its time once more for- *gets hit in face with object* What the heck? A calendar? Wha- its been a whole month?! Well almost a month anyways...please don't throw anything more dangerous. Now as for being gone for so long I've uh, been having some technical problems.
Allie: Technical problems? You threw your laptop at a wall. I'd hardly call that technical problems...What why are you staring at me like that?
Me: Wha- how- you can't be here! You're just a figment of my imagination!
Allie: Well I guess you're going insane then Mikey!
Me: *curls up in fetal position and starts muttering*
Allie: Well, while he's dealing with his new found "insanity" here's a new chapter. Enjoy! Oh before I forget, Michael does not own Mass Effect despite how much he wishes he did. Rights for that lie solely with Bioware.
Chapter Ten: Ship Life, the First
My finger flexes, and my shotgun blows the head off of the Batarian child running at me with a bomb strapped to its chest.
Then I'm running past a room and throwing in an incendiary grenade only realizing it was full of woman and children once the screaming began.
A dozen more Batarians are shredded to pieces by a make-shift nail bomb I flash fabricated with my Omni-tool.
Then I was in the room where I killed the leader again, and he was holding Allyson by her hair. He mocked me for not saving her despite my ability to do so, before putting a gun to her head. I reached out and snapped his neck with biotics. Allie stands and runs over to me. She's within arms reach when a loud, earthshaking horn sounded. The ground around us exploded in crimson light and my world became nothing more than burning agony. I see Allyson's charred body a few feet from me as the air rips apart with fire and screaming as people start running from machines and members of their own species. Then the sky reverberates with a booming, blood-chilling voice.
SHE WILL DIE. YOU CANNOT STOP US. THE CYCLE WILL CONTINUE. YOUR ONLY CHANCE IS TO JOIN.
XXXXX
April 14, 2183
8:20 pm EST
Normandy Medbay
My eyes fly wide open to the familiar sight of the medbay. I attempt to bring my breathing under control as I wipe the cold sweat from my forehead and then rest my hand there. It's then I notice my body is really sore.
"Oh Jesus," I groan. "I'm never doing that again."
"I should certainly hope not," replies Dr. Chakwas who walks over from her desk. "That stunt you pulled shattered your left elbow, put multiple fractures through both ulna and radius bones of the same arm, tore every muscle in your legs and created hairline fractures throughout both tibias. You've been out of it for six hours, and I've managed to fix most of the damage but you're off of the ground team for the next four days while your arm heals."
"What!?" I yell, mostly in surprise at how short a time she told me, while sitting up right. An action that proves to be a mistake. "Urgh, on second thought, that sounds good. How long do I need to stay in bed doc?"
"Twelve hours," was her reply.
"Oh man," I whine, falling back and wincing again as I do so. "I'm gonna be sooo bored."
"Well you should've thought of that before using experimental armor upgrades," Chakwas chides sternly.
"I know," I mutter. "At least the data will be valuable."
She mutters something about stubborn marines, then walked away saying she was going to go eat. I let out a huff, and sat there in silence for the next five minutes. Then I got bored enough to rip out my hair, so I started fiddling with my Omni-tool. The first thing I did was go on to the extranet and do a search for Dead Space. For a few seconds nothing popped up making me nervous. Then the screen filled with results of what had been proclaimed the best horror game series of the 21st century. I'm filled with a terrible sense of nostalgia. I missed so much, even if this universe was slightly different than mine. On a whim I type a name into the search bar, and cross my fingers in hope that she existed in this universe.
Without a pause this time the screen fills with search results for the YouTuber, Dodger Leigh. I smile like a kid in a candy shop. Not only did YouTube exist in this Universe, and was still around currently, but my favorite YouTuber had existed. In fact she had done exactly as she said she would and made videos well into her 90s. I shook my head at that. I should've figured. I brought up the YouTube archives and began watching videos from her DexterityBonus channel.
XXXXX
April 15, 2183
9:05 AM EST
My eyes slowly flutter open as I wake up once more. I sit up in bed and give a big yawn and a stretch. At some point last night I fell asleep catching up on the amazingness that is Press Heart 2 Continue. It's amazing how much gaming news I missed over the past 170 years. I mean Dead Space 4-8, they made six more main series Halo games. Hell they even had an entire new saga of fourteen Kingdom Hearts games, the Crusaders Saga.
I looked at the clock to see that enough time had passed that I was allowed out of bed. I slowly stood up and groaned a bit at the soreness in my body. I slowly make my way out to the mess hall where, rather unusually, it was completely empty. I walked over to the table and sat down. I haven't felt this drained from walking since my back surgery in 2010.
I hear foot steps and look up to see a tall man with short blonde hair and green eyes walk in. Corporal Eric Sullivan is a young man from Boston who joined up with the Alliance a few years ago right out of high school. He sees me, walks over, and sits down across from me.
"How's it going Eltee?" he asks with a grin. "Or should I say Mister God damn Spectre? Congrats on that by the way."
"Thanks Sully," I chuckle, as he scowls at the nickname. "I'm doing okay besides the whole injury thing. So why is it so quiet around here? There's usually a few people in here."
"Shepard decided to stop off at the Citadel to get supplies," he replies. "She also specifically told us that you were not to leave the ship. Like at all."
I sigh and drop my head in defeat. "How did I know she was gonna do something like this?"
"I believe she said something along the lines of it being your punishment for being an idiot," Eric stated.
I sigh again and say nothing. Figures she would punish me for my the stunt I pulled back at Therum. I was hoping to get a few things once we stopped back at the citadel. Like some normal clothes for one. The Alliance uniform is nice and all, but now that I'm a Spectre I'd much rather wear jeans and a t-shirt. Also I wouldn't say no to a leather jacket. Those are pretty sick.
"She did say that if you needed anything to give her a call," Sullivan added as an after thought, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. "She should still be running...around...and I'm talking to no one. Damn he's fast for a guy with injured legs."
As soon as he mentioned giving her a call, I was up and out of the room faster than I probably should've been moving. And without making any noise too. I'd make an awesome infiltrator...what was I going to do again? Oh yeah call Allie. Stupid distracting ADD. I step into the elevator and press the button to go down to the crew quarters. Then I pull up the video call feature on my Omni-tool and call Allie. It rang for a few seconds before she picked up.
"Oh hey Michael, sorry I didn't answer right away. I'm just enjoying how awwwesome the Citadel is," she says teasingly. "Too bad you can't come and enjoy it too, but alas you're injured."
"Cute," I deadpan, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. "Listen since you won't let me leave the ship, can you pick up a few things for me?"
"Aww you're no fun," she whines with a pout. "Fine what do you need me to grab for you oh gimpy one?"
I bite down on a laugh and forward her the list of things I was planning on getting. "Oh and if you know any good armor makers can you find someone to make this for me?" I ask sending her a video link.
When she receives it and opens it her eyebrow raises in a questioning manner. "You do realize that's gonna be extremely expensive. Not to mention you might get sued. They do still hold the copyright for that even though the series ended back in the 21st century."
"Yeah but it'll be sick looking. Besides no ones gonna sue a Spectre. Oh while I'm thinking about it make sure that the light is green instead of red. As for the clothes just go to the shop, Styles of the Past. That's the only place on the Ward arm your on that sells 21st century clothing."
"You know with how much you love 21st century things, one would think you belong in said time period."
Even though her tone is joking, I still freeze a little inside. That's all I need is for someone to get suspicious about why I don't like things from this century as opposed to my original one. People aren't that paranoid...are they?
"Well maybe I'm from there and I traveled to this century," I laugh grinning widely.
"Nah, you're not smart enough to create time travel," she denies with a wave of her hand. "Anyways I'll grab all your stuff then. As for the the armor maker, Garrus was just taking us to a friend of his that owns an armory here on the Citadel. If he's as talented Garrus says then he'll be able to do it. Now you still look like shit, so go lie down and get some rest."
With that the call disconnected and I realized I went into autopilot because I was in my room now instead of the elevator. Shrugging I willed my Omni-tool to turn off and hopped into bed. Apparently my body was still exhausted as hell because despite what time it was, my eyes started closing as soon as my head hit the pillow.
XXXX
6:05 PM
I wake up again to find that there were a few bags thrown on the desk. On one of the bags was a sticky note. I got up out of bed and stretched the stiffness out of my limbs before walking over and pulling off the note.
Michael,
Here's all the stuff you asked for. The armor you wanted is down in your locker. I have to say Garrus's friend is talented. That and we got everything half off so that's cool too. Anyways knowing your lazy ass you'll be awake around...oh say 6:00ish. I picked up a mission from an Alliance Admiral by the name of Kahoku. He asked me to search the Artemis Tau cluster for his team of marines that were investigating the area before dropping out of contact. Their last known coordinates were in the Sparta system. We'll probably be planet side by the time you read this so see you when I get back to the ship.
-Allyson
Wait...Sparta system? That means Edolus.
...
Oh shit!
Despite my protesting body I ran from my room and towards the elevator. Once inside, I load a program I created from the Prothean schematics Tali forwarded to me, for emergencies like this, into the elevator controls to make it faster. I arrive to the mess hall level in record time and fly up the stairs. Rushing through the CIC I reach the cockpit quickly.
"Joker, is the Commander down on the planet!?" I asked nervously.
"Yeah she is," he states. "Why, what's got your panties in a twist all of a sudden?"
Without thinking (seriously I have to fix that) I blurt out an answer. "I just received a message from an anonymous sender saying 'Good luck to you and your partner. Let's see you survive like she did on Akuze.'"
Jokers face pales and instantly connects to the ground teams video feed. They were already at the beacon and out of the Mako. I leaned forward and activated the comms.
"Normandy to ground team, come in ground team, over," I say with a shake to my voice.
"Michael is that you?" she asks, with a smirk in her voice. "Ha the rest of you owe me a hundred credits each. I told you he'd wake up around now. Anyways whatcha' need?"
"Allie you need to get the fuck out of there now," I order, panic creeping into my voice. "I just got a message mentioning us and Akuze. This is a set up! Look at the bodies and the vehicles. They're melted by Thresher acid!"
I hear a string of expletives from both Ashley and Garrus who apparently are the only two she took with her. Then the ground starts shaking and Allyson's vitals spike and I hear her breathing become frantic. Then Garrus's video feed spins around as the ground explodes upward...in four different places. Mother of God there's four fucking Thresher Maws...and Allyson still hasn't moved.
"Allyson snap out of it!" I holler into her comms.
This works as suddenly she's shouting orders at the other two and they rush back into the Mako. The tank tears away from the area as shown by the radar.
"Joker get down there and prepare for a pickup. This might be a little tricky."
Joker piloted the ship down into the atmosphere not bothering to slow down at all to make sure we got there in time. I give the order to clear the cargo bay as Shepard was coming in hot with the Mako. The next five minutes were heart racing as we touched down and waited. Then the Mako flew over a hill, slamming to the ground and putting its suspension to the test. I told Joker to start taking off and the Normandy's engines roared to life as we lifted off the planet's surface. The Mako was zooming towards us and then the stabilizer jets activated sending it soaring into the cargo bay. As soon as the Normandy left the ground the ground exploded and the Thresher Maws appeared.
"Force those fuckers back into the ground!" I holler.
"Already on it, sir," Joker replies seriously, hands flying across the display bringing up the weapons systems. "Firing solutions coming in now. Ready and...open fire!"
The ground below us disappears in a hail of fire as mass accelerator rounds slam into the monstrous space worms. Then we're zooming off through the atmosphere not even checking to see if we'd killed anything.
"Good work Joker. I'm gonna go check on the ground team," I state before walking off, not waiting for a witty reply.
By now the adrenaline in my body had worn down so I was starting to feel soreness slowly creep back in to the muscles, though not as pronounced as it was before. I also noticed that the pain in my arm had lessened from the other day. Now I know there had been medical advances since the twenty-first century, especially with the discovery of the Prothean ruins on Mars. But making bones that were as damaged as mine heal in three to four days? That's fucking amazing!
The door opens to the sight of the Mako on its side leaning up against the wall. There were spots in the armor where you could tell Thresher acid had hit it as there were sections of metal that were melted. There were also score marks on the floor from where the Mako had slid. Ashley was leaning against a support beam catching her breath while Garrus pulled Allie out of the Mako.
Once she's out she pops up and grins like nothing's wrong. "So, who's up for a movie night?"
XXXX
11:15 PM EST
So we ended up having a movie night just like that.
Apparently when she was on the Citadel, Allyson got an entire state of the art entertainment center installed down in the crew common room. We ended up watching a film that was more action than plot. It took place during the First Contact War and followed some hotshot solider as he made his way through enemy lines on Shanxi to rescue his comrades from the clutches of the Turian invaders. The title stuck in my head because it made me cringe. The Shanxi Redemption? Just...just no...that's not cool at all.
All in all though it wasn't all that bad. Wrex seemed to really be into it, though I think he just liked the fact that it depicted lots of violence, killing, and dying Turians. Ashley looked like she was enjoying it almost a little too much, but given her history and how the Alliance blacklisted her family after her Grandfather surrendered Shanxi, it was understandable. As for the others: Allie loved it, then again she picked it out saying we HAD to watch it so I would hope she did; Garrus had on an amazing poker face, but by the way his mandibles twitched every time a Turian died I could tell he was a tad bit uncomfortable; Joker kept cracking jokes about the badly written one-liners; Kaiden was neutral towards the movie, and was just there to kick back and relax; Tali was gushing over the specs of the special effects engine after the movie finished; Liara was hilarious, because it took almost an hour to convince her that the movie wasn't a recording of actual events plus another half hour to explain the human movie industry to her. The other crew members that had joined us hadn't stuck around after the movie so I wasn't too sure how they liked it, but they appeared to enjoy it while watching it.
By now the rest of the team had filtered out of the room to either catch some shut-eye or, in Tali's case, go to a late night shift. I had yet to get up yet because I had a certain redheaded commander sleeping against me with her head on my shoulder, something that got plenty of chuckling from the others. I sat there for a few minutes after everyone left just enjoying the quiet and the feeling of Allie leaning against me.
It dawned on me that we still hadn't talked about yesterday, but I wasn't about to push the issue. We had more pressing things to concern ourselves with. Like Saren first of all, not to mention the Reapers. For now I think I should hold off on any advances for now. Neither of us need the distraction right now.
She shifted against me and started muttering in her sleep. Tonight it seemed like she wasn't having nightmares, which was a good thing. I stood up and lifted her off the couch bridal style, my arm barely bothering me. I make my way up to her room an put her in bed. Her mutters change from happy to discontent after I set her down. I chuckle and leave her room. Thankfully my trip back down to my room was uneventful. I throw myself onto the bed and stare at the ceiling.
I guess some down time isn't so bad after all.
Me: And there we go! Another chapter finished!
Allie: Wow that was a fast recovery.
Me: You cannot be real therefore I'm ignoring you. Moving right along, as of right now I am using a borrowed laptop so there is no guarantee on when I will be able to upload again. I just ask that you hang tight and bear with me.
Allie: Ignore me all you want I'm not going away. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! As always review, point out mistakes, don't send him into a nest of Maws (trust me, they're terrifying), and have a great day!