Downtime was something that Jorge was going to have to get used to. Cryo-stasis technology was in its infancy in this universe, which meant that he could not simply go into cryo during the long journeys between star systems. Unfortunate, but he'd adapt. He'd already found one way to use the extra time- search for his home, Reach. After getting back from the mission to Sharjila, he knew of another one- customizing his equipment. The tactics that Shepard had planned on using to take down the 'kidnappers' had exposed several vulnerabilities, in his mind. Vulnerabilities he would have to eliminate.

With that in mind, Jorge had spent the past hour and a half wrestling with his machine gun on the workbench, going through engineering diagram after schematic after circuit diagram on his omni tool. The gun had several panels removed, exposing a mess of circuitry and blinking lights. A few wires had tentatively been pulled. Jorge was smart, but he had no engineering experience or training. With a heavy sigh, he sat into the reinforced chair he had brought and began going over a number of circuit diagrams- again.

"What'cha doin, big guy?" Ashley quipped from his left. Lifting his head, he saw the Gunnery Chief holding a cup as she examined the mess on the workbench in front of her. Weapon maintenance was usually her job, the maintenance bench her place, but Jorge liked to fine tune his own weapons.

"Trying to figure out which wire to pull next," Jorge replied, rubbing his eyes. Staring at an omni was bad for normal eyes, worse for his enhanced eyes. Back in his universe, customizing his weapon usually meant welding on handles so he could grab the gun more easily, or bolting on extra ammo containers. He knew some stuff about computers, but the level of integration of computers and guns in this universe made it much harder for him to customize his equipment to the way he liked.

"What are you trying to do?" A sigh escaped his lips as he gathered his thoughts into a coherent stream.

"Tali has a program that spoofs overheating in weapons. If she has a program like that, others do too. I don't want my gun taken out in combat, so I'm trying to figure out some way of neutralizing it. I thought I could turn off the overheating alert function manually, but... there's a lot of failsafes, hardware and software."

"Of course there are," Ashley told him. "If everyone just turned off the overheating, peoples' guns would start melting in the middle of a battle. They're not designed to be turned off, Kadar."

"I don't like the idea of someone hacking my gun. I need this turned off."

"Well, you could try to bypass the software... but that would mean hacking experience well beyond my level of expertise," Ashley replied thoughtfully. "Let's see... we could... turn off the overheating alert... oh, right..."

"I know. I think I got it," Jorge said, studying the diagram intently. One wire... was it that simple? Cautiously, Jorge pulled one end from its socket.

Instantly, every light on the gun went red and it began shrilling the 'overheat' sound at a deafening volume. He quickly plugged the wire back into the socket- nothing happened, if anything the complaints of the gun increased. Desperately, he fumbled with his omni-tool interface- only a hard restart of the weapon successfully turned off the alarm, after nearly a minute of constant annoying sound.

"Ouch," Ashley commented, taking her hands off of her ears.

"Whatever that was, don't do it again!" Garrus complained from the Mako. He proceeded to flare his mandibles and open his jaws, almost like a human trying to pop their ear. Off near the lockers, Wrex grunted out a laugh, then ignored Jorge's efforts once again.

"Sorry, sorry," Jorge grumbled in apology. Rubbing his eyes once, he hunched back over and began tracing over the circuit diagrams again. A hand fell on his shoulder.

"You can't do this," Ashley told him quietly. A flare of annoyance rushed through him. There was nothing he couldn't do! He just needed some time.

"I will," Jorge promised. She shook her head.

"The guns we have are meant to limit themselves, so they don't overheat."

"I can't afford to have the enemy control that," Jorge told her doggedly. His eyes resumed tracing paths over the circuits, trying to discern the meaning of the coding that he was seeing. It had to be possible, all he had to do was remove the features that prevented it from happening, whether that be the overheating mechanism or a software change. He would get it eventually.

"Then you need help," Ashley said, taking a sip of her drink. He gave a snort.

"If you're offering, I won't say no."

"I am offering, but I don't have a damn clue either. But I know someone who does. Garrus?"

Wait, Garrus? Why?

"Yes?"

"Think you could help us out over here?" Jorge facepalmed as he heard the clacking of the turian walking over.

"As long as you don't set off that alarm again, sure," Garrus replied. "What's the problem?"

"The Chief here is trying to... upgrade his gun," Ashley began. "Go, on, tell him."

Jorge sighed. He'd been hoping to keep this to himself, or at least within the Alliance. Ah well.

"I'm attempting to modify it so that you can't spoof overheating," Jorge summarized. "So I was trying to disable the overheat function manually. That was the alarm."

"Wait, this isn't a mod?"

"Nope," Ashley supplied. Garrus looked confused, at least that's what Jorge thought.

"I'm not sure how much I can help," Garrus confided. "I mean, I've modded a lot of weapons, but what you're asking for is more like a redesign. I've never gone to that level before... not really sure anyone has unless they were designing a brand new weapon. Sorry."

"Thanks," Jorge grunted out, annoyed. If they couldn't help him, he might as well muddle through by himself.

"So we need an engineer," Ashley summarized. Wait, of course! The Normandy had a full compliment of engineers!

"Probably, yes. Problem is, most of the engineers on this ship specialized in starship engineering and drive engineering, not weapons design," Garrus replied. Jorge felt his hopes drop again.

"Bet Tali could do it," Ashley said confidently. Inwardly, Jorge groaned. Garrus was at least an ex-military cop. Tali was just a civilian with some weapons training. Certainly, she could hold her own, but she just wasn't military. He still didn't know why Shepard had insisted on making Tali a part of the ground team, or even let her come along in the first place. This mission wasn't a place for civilians.

"She'd be the best one for what you want to do," Garrus agreed. "Though I'd be happy to take a look at the software..."

Jorge sighed in defeat as he slumped in the chair. If he wanted to get his gun working the way he wanted, he was going to need an alien to do it for him. Non-Alliance. But then again, she was supposed to be an ally. And Shepard trusted her. He doubted he would ever let go of his instinctive mistrust of aliens. Years upon years of combat against the Covenant saw to that. But if Shepard trusted Tali and Garrus, she must have her reasons, so who was he to argue?

"I'll ask Tali," Jorge said as he stood, interrupting the small talk Garrus and Ashley were having on the subject. He headed towards engineering, past the lockers, past Wrex who eyed him as he went by, and towards the drive core.

Inside was busy as usual, people attentively monitoring the great dark blue ball that powered the ship. He spotted the quarian immediately, her suit giving her away against the humans she helped. She was bent over a terminal on the left side of the core, concentrating on her task. She didn't notice Jorge as he walked up behind her, so he cleared his throat to get her attention.

She jumped visibly startled, and jumped again when she turned around and saw that it was him.

"Keelah, I didn't hear you," she stammered out. "How does someone so big walk so quietly?"

Jorge merely shrugged. All Spartan II's had gone through extensive combat training, up to and including stealth. Spartans were expected to be snipers and infiltrators in addition to field combat. Though Jorge's combat role had long since become being the biggest and loudest thing on the battlefield, his stealth training still unconsciously gave him a quiet gait.

"You have a moment?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"I was hoping you could help me with my gun. I'm trying to modify it, but I've run into some problems," Jorge summarized. He heard footsteps to his side.

"Alright. Engineer Adams, do I have your permission?" she asked.

"Sure, I'll cover for you," Adams replied.

"So what exactly are you trying to modify?" she asked as they exited the engineering bay.

"I'm trying to disable my gun's overheat monitor," he began, ignoring the look of surprise that earned him. "I don't want the enemy to be able to sabotage my gun."

"You know that disabling that function could cause the gun to overheat and explode, right?" she asked him skeptically. She was already eyeing the bench with the partially disassembled gun.

"That's what I told him," Ashley said from behind. "But he doesn't listen."

"I don't care what we have to do to it. I can't afford to have the enemy disable my gun," Jorge told her. "If there's another way, I'll take it." Tali sighed, the light in her mouthpiece flickering as she did so.

"Well, I suppose there are a few other ways. Let me see what you've done, then we can figure out what to do from there."

-{()}-

So, Jorge isn't happy with his equipment. And he had to ask aliens for help, oh no!

This chapter took a long time, and it's short to boot. I know, I'm sorry. For those who haven't read my profile, I got swamped with school about a month ago and it hasn't let up since. Doesn't look like it's going to let up until the end of the semester, either, so unfortunately the story is essentially on hold until mid-May. I started this chapter just before I got swamped and I've been trying to finish it ever since. I didn't finish it the way I would have liked, but I want to get something out to you guys so you know I'm not dead.

As always, I read the reviews to try to answer any questions and address any story issues, so let me know what you think! It'll make the story better and make me a better writer!

Thanks for bearing with me.