Wow, I can't believe this has gone to Ten chapters already. Its been such a blast writing this, and I hope more people will continue to read it and let me know what they think. I am also writing another fic called ME Revolutions that you guys should also check in and is partially why I don't update as often , along with the fact that finals are coming up.

Peace,

Gehenna79

Chapter 10: A few drinks.

Once John returned to the Normandy, Garrus and he were taken to the War room for an official debriefing by Commander Shepard. The War room was full of analysts doing work on computers, and Commander Shepard was busy looking at the terminal interface and turned around to face John when he heard them coming from behind him. The Commander's eyes were surrounded by black rings; obviously the Commander wasn't getting enough sleep. John didn't have such problems being a Spartan; he was designed and trained to operate on little sleep. The last few days were interesting, having eight hours of sleep a night. But he wasn't complaining.

"So, Garrus," Shepard said, "How'd he do?"

"Excellent, sir," said Garrus, "He showed good combat ability, not to mention he saved me from a trooper trying to get the drop on me. He also was able to quickly adapt to the situation."

"Good, I'm starting to believe your story of being a super soldier. Not that I had any reason not to after Liara told me what she saw."

John said simply, "Yes, sir."

"You are dismissed, Chief."

John saluted and walked off. He went down to the AI Core to talk to Cortana. After getting a quick scan by one of the guards he went inside and turned on Cortana's console. She appeared this time not purple, but blue. She had her arms crossed and wore a surly look on her face. Obviously, she was displeased.

"Um…" began John.

"Having fun?" said Cortana with an attitude.

"In a way. Fighting enemies that are completely inept at doing their jobs isn't much of a challenge."

"Looking for more of a challenge are we? Wish I could tell you what's out there, but," she said dryly, "But, I am trapped in this network, with firewalls on all sides. So I can't really tell you much."

"When I get my armor back, you'll be able to be able to leave."

"And for what reason do you at all think they will give you back your armor? Just because you think you can prove some sort of deluded loyalty?"

"I don't know whether or not I'm loyal to them, Cortana, all I know is that I didn't have any options. I suppose I could have just started killing random people on the street take their money, but that would have not been the right thing. Besides, like I've said before, fighting is my best skill, they are giving me things to fight. It keeps me focused."

"Yeah, well, I know its not your fault Chief," she began, "But, I'm tired of this. Do you even know anything about what kind of enemy you are fighting."

John thought about it for a moment and said, "They are fighting some kind of advanced AI technology, is what James told me. James is a marine."

"Advanced AI?"

"Yeah, besides that I haven't had much time to learn. Don't really need a reason to either."

"As long as you get the job done.." started Cortana.

" It doesn't matter." Finished John.

Cortana and him talked for a little while longer about some of the things John had seen and then he decided to return to his room. After shutting Cortana off, he walked out the AI core, and ran into James. The marine said to John, "Hey Chief, heard your trial mission went well."

"Yeah."

"Congratulations, welcome to the Corps."

James held out his hand, and John firmly grasped it. "Mean grip you got there," remarked James, "Are you interested in getting a drink in the lounge? Drinks are tabbed on your pay check."

John thought about it for a moment and said, "Alright, I'll come along for a drink or two."

John followed James to the lounge, a small room on the port side of the ship. It consisted of a sweeping view of space, and one side was a bar, while one side was a poker table. At the poker table a couple of crew men were sitting around playing a game, and at the bar, Garrus was drinking a strange green drink. He turned around and said, "Operations Chief, Lieutenant."

"Come on Vakarian," James said humor fully, "Lose the formality."

"Well, Jimmy," said Garrus, "I don't technically outrank you, so I suppose I can let it slide, just this once. What will it be Chief, first round's on me."

John looked at the drinks, and since he didn't know any of them he asked, "What do you recommend James?"

"Two Asari Tumblers, bartender."

There was no bar tender so James quickly ran over and said, "Right away, Mr. Vega."

James poured a pink drink into John's glass. John lifted it up to his eyes and then said dryly, "It's pink."

"Yeah, and its good."

John had drank worse things than whatever was in the glass so he took a quick shot. It was a pleasant sensation, kind of a quick buzz, and had a sweet and slightly fruity flavor. John nodded appreciatively and said, "Thanks Garrus."

Garrus chuckled, "Any time Chief, glad you lost the sir, so the Commander tells me you are a special case, care to share your story?" Garrus took a casual lean on the bar table facing John. John thought about it for a second, and decided to say, "Sure, but you go first, sir."

"Oh I see, well, I suppose that's only fair, and my story cannot nearly be as interesting as yours."

James laughed, "Turian loves his stories."

Garrus began, "Well I am a Turian, from Palaven, and I used to be a cop on the Citadel."

"I know what the Citadel is, it's a big space station right?" asked John.

"Indeed, its where our government is stationed."

"Alright, continue," said John.

"I was fed up with all the bureaucratic crap on the Citadel. You see, its pretty hard to be a cop, because there's so much rules, and regulations, and I decided to leave and join our Commander, when he was on an investigation looking into the activities of Saren Arterius, a rogue Spectre."

"Spectre?" asked John.

"Shadow agents, big spooks." Said James.

The term made John immediately think of Veronica Dare, one of ONI's top field operatives.

"Yes," said Garrus, "They are considered above the law, allowed to do things there way, without anything in the way. Shepard is a Spectre as well as a Commander in the Human Systems Alliance. So anyways I joined up with Shepard, and we took Saren down. He had an army of Geth with him but we stopped him from trying to bring back the Reapers, who I'm sure you've heard something about."

"Yeah," replied John, "They are supposed to be giant living spaceships who have a problem with people."

"A little more than just a problem, I was with Shepard when we spoke to one, raiding one of Saren's bases. Their goal is to harvest all organic life, and possibly turn us into their slaves. But we defeated it. And one month later Shepard was killed in action by the Collectors, who were agents of the Reapers."

"Wait what?" said John, "The Commander Died?"

"Yes, but somehow Cerberus, the people we were fighting on our mission, brought him back. They are led by some rich 'humanitarian' (Garrus did some air quotes while saying that) and he funded the project that brought Shepard back to life."

"Wow, that's, sort of convenient." Said John.

"Indeed. Anyways, Shepard sought me out two years later and I joined him in his operation to shut down the Collectors."

"And then pow! Right in their cojones!" said James.

"Yes, as the Lieutenant said, we defeated them too. And for five months, Shepard was kept in prison for actions he did concerning a mass relay that he had to blow up to keep Reapers out of the galaxy.

"While that happened, I went back to my home world, and with some help formed a group of other soldiers helping my people get ready for the war. Now the Reapers are here, and our all worlds are burning. If we don't do something soon, if we can't rally everybody together against this one threat," Garrus started to get loud, "We will all die!"

Everybody was silent and then Garrus said, "And that's why I'm glad somebody like you John, who doesn't seem to know anything about this, is deciding just to help us for the hell of it."

"Well, it wasn't a hard choice. I suppose my story will clear up that."

"Oh yes, you owe us a story."

John said, "Alright give me another drink." After taking a quick swig of another pink alcohol drink he started, "So, a long time ago, when I was just a kid, I was considered an eligible candidate for the Spartan II program, a program which turned humans into super soldiers. They taught me how to kill, how to survive and how to use the armor that I was given. At first, our job was to stop the Innies, the rebels who wanted to overthrow the Earth colonial government, but then we made contact with an alien race known as the Covenant, well, more accurately it was a collection of races who all worshipped the same gods, and for some reason they hated humanity and called us 'heretics'. So I've spent the last twenty years fighting them."

James and Garrus were listening intently, and after John stopped James asked, "So how'd you end up here?"

"Well, after I left in a ship from a major battle on the fringes of the galaxy, I floated about in space for a few years, then we ran into a slipspace rupture that must have transported me to this universe. According to the AI in my suit."

"AI?" asked Garrus.

"Yeah, the AI in the core? She came with me."

James coughed, "I went in there and EDI was talking to it, told me it was a VI interface prototype."

"Darn." Said John, realizing they were keeping Cortana a secret.

"So what were you doing before you came on our ship?" Garrus asked.

"I landed on this planet Tuchanka."

"The Krogan homeworld?

"Yes."

"Okay, continue."

"They had me fight one of them, I defeated one and they gave me a ride to a freighter that was then attacked by the Cerberus people. I tried to save the crew but the Cerberus soldiers were merciless. Do you know why they attacked that frigate?"

"There was a Reaper artifact on that ship," said Garrus.

"Oh."

"Cerberus is using Reaper tech to augment their forces, its partially why we believe they have been indoctrinated."

"Indoctrinated?"

"Yeah," said James. "Its how they turn our own people against us, control their minds, make them go loco, turn into evil Dark Energy crackheads."

Garrus facepalmed.

"No," said Garrus, "The Reapers , even the dead ones, emit a field of energy that influences the thoughts and actions of those around it. That bends them to accept the Reapers logic and turns them into mindless thralls. Once completely indoctrinated there can be no saving them, only a bullet can do that."

John thought for a moment then said, "I faced an enemy similar to that. They were called the Flood. They consumed life and controlled their bodies. They would form to build large collective consciousnesses, and their goal was to conquer the galaxy. I think they were defeated. I think."

"Very interesting," was all Garrus said.

"Yeah," said John.

"Well, thanks for sharing your story, John."

James said, "Yeah good tale , your nickname is, I don't know what you shall be called yet, but I'll figure it out."

John looked at Garrus who just shook his head. John then said, "well, thanks for the drinks, I am going to go now." He shook Garrus and James hands and Garrus said, "Anytime."

John returned back to his room and found a data pad with a note on it.

John,

I know that you are a little lost in our world. I thought you might want to learn more, so I commissioned you a lap top for extranet browsing.

Sincerely,

Liara.

True to the letter's word, there was a laptop on his desk. John grinned and decided he would look at it after a few hours of sleep.