Chapter 11: Back Here Again
Twenty years ago, on Jartar in the Dis system, a batarian survey team discovered the corpse of a living ship they called Leviathan. They found it at the bottom of a crater. According to them, the ship was a billion years old. It 'disappeared' after they left the system, but the batarians claimed that it hadn't existed at all. The salarian scientists, who had done their own recon and had seen the crater and apparent corpse of the living ship, issued complaints, but they were not fully followed through as there was no true proof the batarians had done anything illegal. Even if they had, it would have been a case of claim-jumping and thus on the low end of priorities for the Council
There was a darker truth about the Leviathan of Dis, it was in fact Sovereign. Dr. Qian the project lead of the Sidon Facility found the Reaper in a state of hibernation. How he found it after the batarians and squirreled away was never truly known
It was there that Qian became involved with illegal experimentation with alien AI technology. Back then Sanders along with the other personnel thought the 'relic' was Prothean, others believed it predated them. The truth of was kept from them all. Qian deliberately kept his people in the dark. He treated his people like lab-monkeys, running data he gathered from his tests and experiments. Qian knew all of the details about the artifact; where it was, what it was, what it did.
Qian had become indoctrinated by his constant connection to the ship, a ship which he had allowed no other to see or interact with. All his work, his notes and even Sovereign came into the possession of Saren and well the rest of that story was well known.
Nearly two years ago Shepard had come to Grissom Academy seeking these two decade old memories from Director Sanders. Answers Sanders was more than willing to give after all if it wasn't for Shepard, Elysium would have fallen and with it her father Jon Grissom, the namesake of the very Academy the Normandy was now docking with.
Shepard as was her nature stood behind Joker's leather pilots chair with her left arm resting upon the top. At her side was David and at his was Jack. What threw both Jack and David off at first was that the Commander wasn't in her normal black and red N7 armour. She was in her dress blues with gold she had so many ribbons and medals pinned to her chest it's a wonder her uniform top didn't sage from the weight.
When Jack quirked an eyebrow Shepard shrugged, "Sometimes the dress blues are far more effective than a hardsuit and a pistol."
"Pft…not bloody likely."
"It's a station filled with kids, Jack. Leave your side arm besides a biotic is never without a weapon."
"Yeah…okay fine." she looked at David and agreed a station full of kids was no place to bring a gun. Besides Jack wanted to show Sanders that she was a responsible person, worthy of being the Kid's guardian or to be around kids in general. Not something a few months ago Jack would have ever entertained let alone be willing to do.
"This is the SSV Normandy SR2 requesting a vector and berth." Joker announced over the comm. it only took a fraction of a second for the station to respond.
*We are aware of your arrival Normandy. You are cleared for approach on docking bay four.* the voice didn't belonged to Grissom Academy docking manager but to Kahlee Sanders. *And we look forward to welcoming our newest student.*
"Yeah we'll see about that," Jack muttered under her breath. She had serious reservations about leaving her 'son' here. Back on the Teltin Facility the Needle men talked about piggy-backing on the Ascension Project. And Jack was also privy to the information that the Academy had been infiltrated not once by twice by Cerberus.
The first had been the fucker mole Jiro Toshiwa who used experimental drugs (and Jack was sickened by this) developed back when they used a lot of them on her to heighten her biotic potential on some girl named Gillian Grayson.
Sanders and her security Chief Hendel Mitra escaped with the child to the Migrant Fleet. The quarians took the kid in and Mitra stayed with her as her official guardian. The kids' father the worthless scum bag that he was actually relented and let the child disappear. But in the end he took his balls out of his purse and faced off against the King of All Assholes and told TIMmy to stick it where the sun don't shine if they ever tried to go after his daughter again.
Of course Cerberus had tried. They raided the Flotilla and the losers luckily ended up fucking killed by quarian Marines. But Jack knew how relentless Cerberus was better than anyone. They had hunted her ever since her escape from Teltin. They wouldn't let the Graysons go. Why would they? Cerberus dumped a lot of creds into those programs. And they wanted a return on their investment—with interest.
Reading all the documents QOFGS made the Cheerleader give her, Jack also knew about the whole screwed ups super soldier crap and that some guy with a sword tracked Grayson the guy not the kid down on Omega and yanked him back to their oh so secret hidey hole. Of course Shepard knew about it to and passed that gold nougat to her CO Anderson who went with a bunch of Alliance turian soldiers to take out TIMmy-King of All Assholes.
Didn't really work though, 'cus the mother-fucking KOAA was still alive and kicking. Never fucking trust Cerberus. Never! The guy with the sword went to the Academy to get some vengeance or some shit and ended up with Anderson capping the fucker's knees and leaving him for dead.
Yeah Jack wasn't so sure David was going to be safe at Grissom Academy, Cerberus sooner or later would ransack the joint once more and then David's back in the shit Shepard rescued him from. Dammit! Why in the hell didn't she spatter Archer's head into paste the moment Miri told him 'I have something worse, I have a Jack.'
Shepard painted a pretty picture about the Academy, but Jack knew enough about the Alliance's fuck-up with the BAaT program or more commonly known as Brain Camp not to trust things that seem too good. She wanted to know all about this Ascension Program. Of course QOTGS said that part of the Academy was for the biotic students. But Grissom taught humanity's best and brightest whether their talents lay in maths, science, art, or music or even creative writing like they come out the next Beethoven, Einstein or Tesla or Da Vinci or all those other big name guys.
Jack turned to her 'son' and smiled trying to give the Kid some confidence in taking on a new life, in a new place filled with new people. Jack was an expert at that. She had reinvented herself more than a dozen times over and over but she always came back to the true self. To Jack the psychotic biotic.
"You ready for this Kid?"
"Is it going to be quiet?" the young man asked his voice filled with trepidation.
"This place is a school filled with lots of kids so probably not. You rugrats can get loud, obnoxious and don't get me started on booger eating. That crap is just nasty." Jack teased.
The boy smiled back. He even chuckled. Jack never told him an untruth. He liked her. A lot. He was glad she was his guardian. He liked having a 'mom.' It was something he never recalled having and Jack never having a son….the negatives balanced into positives.
He knew that Commander Shepard: Spectre and Queen of the Girl Scouts and her wife were ultimately responsible for him like his brother was supposed to be. It was for the Commander that he counted the days he was living. But it was Jack … that brought him happiness when memories became loud. Jack made it quiet, mostly when she was making terrible jokes. He loved her terrible jokes. Booger–eating…that was funny. And so he smiled.
"Square root of 912.04 is 30.2...it will be Quiet."
"It will be." Shepard made a vow. "Grissom Academy is nothing like where you came from David. And there are a lot of smart kids just like you. You're going to like it there, make new friends. You'll see and...anytime you need to talk Liara and I will be there for you and so will Jack – most definitely."
"You bet your shiny bald head, I will." Jack promised.
The Kid smiled.
Twelve.
"Come on Kid. Let's go check this place out." Jack put a hand on the boy's back guiding her charge along with Shepard to Normandy's airlock.
Dr. Chakwas was already waiting for them there, in her hand was an OSD; she greeted him kindly as she always did. An expression David had never actually seen on anyone at Atlas Station. Their faces were always so serious, cold, hard. Even his brother's became more and colder as Overlord become more and more important to him because The Illusive Man would always have his hide if brother didn't get results.
Jack looked to the Kid then to the Doc; of course she'd be there. She was completely responsible for bringing the Kid back to some kind of normal. He wasn't even green any more since a day ago she took the Kid off the plant-juice that was supposed to make him heal faster 'cus he was sucking in CO-2 as well as O2. According to the Kid that was day
Eleven.
QOTGS still didn't know the Kid was counting the days and it wasn't her place to say anything about it. It was the boy's. So Jack stayed quiet. Because it could be one of the Kids's quirks like his square root thingy.
Well as long as the Kid was happy doing his square root thinking or counting Shepard Days, Jack was fine with it. Hundred percent fine with it. Let him get to a thousand, Jack thought fuck it let him get to two and then three and then fuck it ten thousand Shepard Days and Jack would die a happy old woman. Fuck it why not start counting Shepard Days herself?
The number of days QOTGS allowed Jack to be just Jack without judgment, fear that she'd be betrayed or all that crap she had come to expect. She still slept with a gun under her pillow even when she was banging the Cheerleader. Maybe even especially then. Still there was something weird about QOTGS that made you wanna believe in the whole bigger better thing let's save the goddamn universe thing.
Day Fucking-ass-freedom: 150
Thank you Queen of the Girl Scouts….no seriously-fucking thank you…and I won't ever fucking admit it. But I'll be counting too.
The OSD was handed not to David but to Jack "David, this is holds all your medical records to date. The Academy's doctors will monitor your progress and soon if you maintain the same nutritional regimen you are now, and I know you're not happy with it your body will soon recover." She smiled warmly. "Which means you can eat normal food." She moved and placed her hand in the air as if to give the boy a high five. He mimicked the action; it was his way of shaking hands or giving a hug.
"Good luck, David."
"Square root of 906.01..." David started
"...is 30.1" Chakwas answered.
"Thank you Dr. Chakwas." he kept his head bowed and wrung his hands.
ME~ME~ME~ME~ ME~ME~ME~ME~ ME
Kahlee Sanders didn't look military. Well not military like Shepard did. Shepard screamed soldier-like she was swaddled in N7 dippers. Sanders…she had the look of some pencil pushing desk jockey. Like Shepard she was wearing Alliance dress blues, but over the uniform was a white lab coat which flared out ever so slightly as she moved. Her sensible shoes with their wedged shaped heels clacked as she walked with quick, confident steps towards the new comers.
Jack watched her with weary eyes. What surprised her was that Sanders looked to be in her mid thirties like Shepard but in truth she was a decade over that. She was average in both height and build, she was fit enough to still move with a spryness of a woman that worked out regularly. Unlike Chakwas who had a lined face, Sander's face was smooth save for a few wrinkles around her eyes, they especially turned up when she laughed or smiled.
She had blonde hair which was streaked though with darker sand, she wouldn't have to worry about getting gray hairs for at another three decades. That was the wonder of modern medicine in this era with people living upwards to 150 if they were lucky rarely looked outwardly they age they truly were.
"Welcome back to Grissom Academy Spectre Shepard."
"Thank you Director." Shepard tilted her head in respect. "Let me introduce you to David Archer and to…Jacqueline Naught his official guardian."
Kahlee graciously returned the salutation. "It's good to you both, David, Miss Naught..." Speaking Jack's 'last name' aloud seemed to give Kahlee a pause as if the word didn't fit right in her mouth.
"Here to see that he's gonna be okay. And um it's just Jack."
"As you wish…Jack. And you David are most welcome. I promise you will be safe here.
David lurked just behind Jack's left side and Shepard's right. Where it was safe. New faces and situations made him uneasy.
"Square root of 906.01 is 30.1"
Kahlee was no stranger to children with autism. She knew they needed routine, structure, stability. They do well with disruptions and unexpected surprises. And like others who struggled with atrium David had invisible walls that separated him from the rest of the world. He tapped his finger tips together and bobbed back and forth.
"Square root of 912.04 is 30.2. Square root of 918.09 is 30.3."
"The math makes him feel better." Jack explained.
"I understand. Grissom has the facilities and staff to aid David. He is not the only autistic student we have. Many of our classes are structured with special needs and focus in mind.
"Before we get to the tedious task of paperwork how about we go on a little tour. The station isn't as large as say Arcturus, but it is comfortable. Our station is divided into wings: Dormitory, Class rooms half for the Ascension Program that focuses on our biotic students, then we have our classes for the Gifted. And they are further divided into the arts and sciences."
Kahlee lead them through a place called Orin hall.
Shepard had heard all of this before and by the sound of it Sanders had given this spiel more than a few times to parents, guardians and perspective students. Jack was listening intently she had to know this place was going to be different than Cerberus.
"Of course we provide basic education however unlike other schools where there is a standard regiment like History, Maths, English and so on our classes target the areas our students excel at."
"What about the biotics?" Jack asked. She had to know it had to be better than Teltin.
"They share the conventional classes with our gifted students, but they have their own training regiments to help them understand just what they are capable of. There is endurance training, how to focus their abilities into a pinpoint accuracy, to channel it into more mundane objects. And the of course how biotics function, what their bodies are going through and how to insure they avoid the basic pitfalls such as overloading their implants or even simple nutrient maintenance as you and Spectre Shepard know you biotics burn a lot of calories."
"Yeah we can pack in alright." Jack said. "Some of burn hotter than others. How do you test out that the kids can do, you pit them against each other?"
"Absolutely not." Sanders said in a no-nonsense voice. "In fact striking another student with biotics is strictly forbidden. The older students who are going onto the military track will learn to use their abilities against others but we use holographic training dummies just like those found in Armax Arsenal Arena or indeed boot-camps."
Jack just grunted. Seeing was believing. Still of the students they past none of them looked haggard or terrified. They looked ...happy. Others looked well bookish like the salarian—like their heads were all up in their books and studies.
Shepard patted Jack on the shoulder. "Give this place a chance. I told you it's safe here. Look at David."
The Kid wasn't afraid, he was...curious.
"Jack I know you may have misgivings but the Ascension Program is a sanctuary for many of our students who unfortunately face prejudice from their own parents. Some parents...will only visit their children once a year if that, others tend to forget about them as if they had locked them a way s in some tower. Here we not only help our students deal with their biotics but also their abandonment and childhood isolation. Here we give them a family. They have sanctuary. We try to give that same feeling to all our students. "
Both Jack and Shepard faced their fair share of suspicion, prejudice and outright scorn and hatred for their abilities. It's hardly surprising that parents who find out their kid can lift a five tonne truck with their mind and they get tetchy and decide to drop their kids off some place deemed 'safe' and forget about them.
Sanders escorted the trio through the Academy showing them the class rooms and then to the labs where David was quite content to stay and start 'play' with all the gadgets, gizmos and whatchamacallits. He even wandered up to a whiteboard and changed a single decimal point in a integer in a sequence of equations that changed the outcome significantly.
"Better now." David said. "The other was wrong."
The students turned and looked at the young bald headed boy in wonder. It was if Einstein was shown up by Stephen Hawkings.
"We've been working on that for hours..." a young dark haired kid smiled. "We should have seen that before. Thanks...um..."
"Square root of 906.01 is 30.1" David answered.
"This is David." Sanders introduced. "He will be starting here soon. We're on our grand tour."
"That's cool." a blonde girl smiled. ". I'm ... and thick head over here is... Welcome to Grissom."
"Thank you." David muttered.
Next on the tour was the atrium and its forests. Now only did the gardens provide a much needed park for the students and faculty to relax it was also the station's main 'oxygen factory'. Following the atrium were the dorms the library, rec-rooms, and the gyms.
Here they paused watching as fitness instructors drilling kids in various exorcises. Some of the older ones actually wore ensign uniforms. What caught Jack's attention as well as Shepard was the students were barely paying attention to their instructor who was struggling to keep the group not only listening to his lesson but absorbing it.
"Now listen up."
The kids were still not paying attention. It took three attempts for the teacher to finally get his students to give him the attention he sought but even then it wasn't undivided.
"Prangly, an unshielded opponent approaching at two o'clock—shielded opponent approaching at twelve o'clock. Both holding heavy pistols. What is the most effective way to take them down?" Yusnaan quizzed
"Shockwave. Tat—tat-tat-blam down!" the boy grinned.
The others laughed. The instructor grimaced
"You're such a Double-Dee, Prangly." Scoffed one of the other students.
Jack moved past Shepard, Sanders and the Kid to see more.
"Incorrect."
The others chuckled, a girl punched Prangly in the shoulder. "Double-Dee!"
"Rodriguez?" Yusnaan now addressed the question to the young woman.
"Throw...get them off their feet then a shockwave." the girl said with a prideful smile believing she got it right.
"Wrong! That will get you splattered." Jack groused pushing her way further forward. "Shockwaves won't touch shielded enemies. That's a good frigging way to get your brains plastered to a wall." She marched up and looked the girl...Rodriguez in the eyes making her shudder and move back. "First you better make sure your barriers are up. They'll hold out long enough for you to use a singularity to catch them both. Then you warp that mass of energy. It's unstable and then BOOM!" her exclamation caused all the students to jump as well as the instructor. "You just made a biotic explosion plastering their guts to the wall instead of yours." She had all seven students staring at her in mixed awe and terror.
The instructor looked over to Sanders for some sort of explanation on whom this strange tattooed woman was.
"Instructor Yusnaan, this is Miss Naught...our newest student's official guardian." Sanders said walking up to the younger woman's side. "And also a very talented biotic."
"Have you ever done that Miss Naught." Rodriguez. "Biotic explosions?"
"Yeah but it takes timing, practice and you have to pay attention. To yourself, your surroundings and to the enemy. And if your in a team, you make sure you do don't do some dumbass thing like get them caught up in some area effect blast. And if you time it right you can set up multiple explosions with their own powers."
She had their rapt attention; there was no joking, teasing or interrupting.
"You. Rodriguez right." Jack pointed to the girl
"Yes Ma'am."
"And Prangly?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"Hit the dummy with singularity then you Prangly follow up with a warp." Jack pointed to the target.
Without hesitation the ensigns obeyed. The resulting explosion was not as spectacular as a seasoned biotic but it was impressive. Unexpected there was a small amount of residual backlash causing the students to skitter back. Rodriguez fell on her backside with a grunt.
Jack reached down and yanked the girl back to her feet. "That happened because you didn't have your barriers up. You'll get killed that way."
"That. Was. Awesome!" Prangly cheered. He wasn't the only one cheering all the others were as well, as if they had never caused a biotic explosion.
"There are other ways too. Hit your enemy with a stasis field and then quickly with a warp. If you have a teammate have them hit the enemy at the same time with a reave. Crushes their insides into gooey paste. Annihilation field works great too, especially with a singularity. A lift and throw are easy combinations but only work on unshielded enemies. So don't even try it anyone shielded.
"A lift will damage shields, tech-armour but won't touch barriers. Charging will but that puts you directly into enemy path and unless you're good with an omni-blade or warp-slashes didn't even try it. Not until you're a master of biotics and they way you keep running your pie-holes instead of opening your frigging ears during your lessons that will never happen. You'll be Double-Dees forever considering the stupid shit you'll get yourselves into..." she moved up to Rodriguez —invading her personal space and leaning in just a little more so she was staring hard in the girls large brown eyes. "And if you never keep your barriers up, forever will be as long as your next breath. Get me?!"
They all immediately snapped to attention and offered a very crisp salute.
"We get you ma'am" seven voices said as one.
Yusnaan looked to Sanders who was impressed. Jack actually got Class Beta -2 to listen without scolding them into submission or tossing them so many demerits they lost all privileges no omni-games, sims or down time in atrium. Some even went into lockdown for several weeks.
Of course many of them were lashing out, more than half of the Beta-2s were abandoned by their families because they were biotics. Those who had families that hadn't left them they may as well have. As those particular families only visited maybe once or twice a year if that out of some obligatory expectations, and yet they still saw having a biotic in the family as a blight on the family name.
"Double-Dee?" Shepard asked in a hushed tone to Sanders.
"It's a slang term some of our students devised for one another, one that is heavily discouraged in using." Sanders said scathing. She also had a look of one embarrassed by her students while she was trying to make a good first impression.
"Means dumb-as-dog-shit." Yusnaan said sheepishly. "Guess it's sort of the same as drill sergeants calling recruits maggots all the time. But of course instructors never say it to their students.- Not directly." He had the look of one that used the slang behind his students back in reference to them.
Shepard couldn't argue that point. It was the same. Still kids could be a bit harsh, she worried for David.
"The Square root of 906.01 is 30.1." David muttered, his fingers wringing nervously. Of cause the biotic blast would have unsettled him He was a literal thinking individual, metaphors were lies to him and he certainly wasn't used to teasing good natured or otherwise. To him the constant ribbing the students were giving one another would have been seen as hostility and Jack had just shown them how to blow someone up.
"It's fine David." Shepard said trying to ease the young man's nervousness. He was going to have to become accustomed to biotics, other young people, coping with normalcy something he didn't have back at Atlas Station.
Jack turned and left the quaking students who had yet to drop their rigid attentive stance it wasn't until Shepard pointed it out that the ex-con tossed over her shoulder.
"At ease."
And as one they all went into parade rest. Feet shoulder width apart, hands clasped behind their backs, and their eyes staring a head, fixed upon the nothingness just over the adults' right shoulder.
"I have to say Jack I'm quite impressed with how you handled the Beta-2s. They respond well to your...instruction." Sanders committed.
"Pft, they just need a hand that knows what it's like to be them and won't take their shit." Jack smirked with a shrug. "Not a big deal."
Sanders wasn't so convinced to her it was a very big deal, and an idea started to form in her very calculating mind. "Shall we continue our tour? We can make a stop at the cafeteria, I'm sure you all must be hungry by now and ...well interested in the sort of the food David will have on a daily basis."
"Yeah I could do with some grub. What about you Kid?"
"Yes. But I'm tired of soft food. I'd like a burger."
Jack clapped the lad on the shoulder and shook her head. "Sorry until Chakwas give you the go ahead that's not going to happen. Mushy stuff for you."
The four made their way though the school, and entered the cafeteria, David's steps became slow, uncertain. His hand shot out and grabbed Jack's. She said nothing; she knew she was the only one he ever allowed to get close enough for physical contact.
Jack saw a sea of kids, some as young as seven others bordering on adulthood. All talking and laughing: to the Kid this would be a wall of overwhelming, terrifying, nonsensical sound he was trying his best to ignore.
"You got this Kiddo." She whispered. "I know it's loud but…it's not a bad loud."
"It's not a bad loud." David agreed.
As she guided her guests to the buffet line Sanders took note of David's unease which reminded of Gillian, and the many walls she had surrounding her. She recalled the girl always picked the same table in the farthest corner of the cafeteria next to a table that seemed to always be empty. It was here Sanders choose to escort her guests after they made their selections.
Jack looked at the tray which harkened back to every prison she had ever been on, hell even the Normandy used the same sort of slotted trays. But unlike the slop in the prisons or even Garners, this place very descent stuff. She could dig in with gusto.
Unfortunately David's stomach was still far too sensitive but he was able to at least consume soup along with his nutritional supplements. Dr. Chakwas had of course forwarded her recommendations for the nutritional supplements to the station's own physician who had intern alerted the cooks within the cafeteria to David's dietary requirements.
Though he looked as if wanted to longingly sink his teeth into a thick juicy double-burger Jack was currently devouring.
Any questions Jack had or even Shepard had Sanders answered effectively and with efficiency as she had a dozen times with many many parents and guardians over the years.
"So David," Sanders finally turned to the young man. "What do you think of the Academy?
"I like the labs." he said honestly. "No robots. This is good. I want to build machines to help Shepard fight the things that are coming. I saw it in the robots' …." David struggled with the idea of flash-drives, memory OSDs or even the collective consciousness on the geth consensus. In the end the boy landed on the word "memories. The Old Machines. They are coming." He shuddered and began to recite the square roots until Jack put a tender hand on the middle of the lad's back.
It had an almost immediate effect, the kid quieted. Shepard was impressed. The smiled to herself thinking she'd have to remember that trick when it came to her own daughters once they were born. Who knew Jack had a maternal bone in her body? And if someone who never had one or even a nurturing environment could possess such abilities then there was hope for Shepard had had both. In any case David Archer's lot had improved significantly now he had a home, he had a very caring if not overly protective guardian and he had a new start.
Of course that start began in Kahlee Sanders' office with a vid-comm conference call with an asari lawyer who worked exclusively on retainer for the T'Soni family and a lot of paper work. The lawyer was there to insure that though the T'Soni-Shepard family was in fact David's benefactors it was Jacqueline Naught that was the boy's legal and recognized guardian.
There was an ancient Thessian law that allows a mother, Trusted or in this case Benefactor to name a guardian-protector over their daughters (in David's instance it was son). Of course the Trusted and guardian-protector could be one and the same but often times it wasn't, especially if the mother was a matriarch with many duties that took her from home. The guardian -protector was there for the child on a more personal level- a person the daughter could connect to.
When Liara was still a youngling not quite in her Maiden stage her own guardian-protector was Shiala. She was always there for Liara to connect to, to go to when her mother's great legend became too much for a child of a very powerful Matriarch to deal with.
With David, the legend of Commander Shepard first human Spectre was far too much for him to connect to. She was the great hero, the myth. She was too big. The Commander was the greatest hero of all time Even if he counted the days Shepard gave him, it was Jack the boy had connected to, related to. Jack he knew. To the boy's mind, Jack the psychotic-biotic was his Lone-Survivor. And he wanted to be like her.
