Chakwas

She was as her improvised desk in the mess hall, inputting reports about her ongoing observations when EDI spoke.

"Doctor Chakwas. I'm detecting an increase in heart rate from one of your patients. She maybe in distress."

Chakwas pushed herself up, strode to one of the med-bay windows, and tapped it. "EDI un-fog this please." She requested, and looked inside once the clouded glass cleared.

The two aliens had been placed next to each other and she saw that EDI was right one of them was beginning to move. Worse the alien was starting to wake up, Chakwas watched as she raised her unbroken arm and tried to shield her eyes from the overhead lights.

"EDI contact the Commander! Tell him one of our guests is waking up." She ordered grabbing her helmet from her desk, as she fiddled with it, the alien tried to move her other arm, which had been sealed in a cast. For reasons she couldn't see the restraint on her arms movement caused the alien to panic.

"PATEL!" Chakwas shouted as the alien rolled off the bed an onto the med-bay floor.

The pair of them dashed to the med-bay door, entered and waited as the temporary airlock performed a decontamination sweep.

Priscilla

Her eyelids fluttered as the darkness of unconsciousness turned into light, she screwed her eyes shut against the light which became blinding. She brought on of her arms up to block the light so she could get an impression on where she was, but as she tried to move her other arm, she found it was immobilized.

Priscilla's started to panic as old memories came to the surface like a dark tide.

She was bound with chains of silver and magic to the cool wood of the table, the scent of old blood filling the air. She struggled against them under the merciless gazes of the Pale Drakes acolytes. She had the unpleasant feeling that more than a few of them were leering at her naked body. She hated being so vulnerable. The swishing sound which reached her ears, froze her in terror, as the Pale Drake himself slithered into her view. Without a word he reached out his hand and one of his aid's passed him a long, thin tool, before he began to methodically tap the scales on her side, until he comes to the one, he wants. She tries to squirm away but she's bound to tightly, and whimpers faintly as the tool slides between scale and flesh, before with a savage wrench it is yanked from her body. She hears is her own voice screaming as darkness claims her.

Reflexively jerking away from remembered agony, she rolls of what she had been laying on and lands hard on a cool floor, before curling into a ball, rapidly gasping for breath.

Chakwas

She and Patel dashed over to the alien who was shivering in a ball on the floor.

"Doctor what do we do?" Patel asked in a panicked rush.

"I think she's having a panic attack." Chakwas said calmly as she slid around the alien before sitting and cradling the aliens head in her lap. "We need to wait for her to calm down, so I need you to keep your voice calm. That may help her relax."

Patel took several moments before responding her voice more even. "Is that wise Doc?"

"It's hard to say, maybe, maybe not. For the moment, just keep talking. It doesn't matter what you talk about since it's unlikely she can understand us. What's important is our tone." Chakwas stated as she tried to sooth the alien by gently running her hand over the alien's hair. "Talk about something calm like how your family is."

"I can do that." Patel answered as she began into a story about some of the mischief she and her brother got into in the past.

Priscilla

The pain and darkness were horrible, the gnawing agony which had haunted her every single time she had had a scale pulled had once been overwhelming. That remembered pain was back with a vengeance, pulling her deeper into those memories, that volitation. Just when she thought she was going to drown in them something changed. She felt someone brushing her head gently with a hand, it reminded her of something her mother had once done when she was upset, cutting through the pain and despair. As the echoes of past trauma faded, she slowly began to realize she was on her side and someone no, two people were speaking nearby.

"…my folks moved to Terra Nova little over four years ago." One person said.

"Four years? Then they were there when…" The second replied.

"Yeah four eyed bas-" The first started.

"Calm, Patel." The second interjected.

"Sorry, Doc." Patel responded. "I just could have lost most of my family that day. I'm just glad the Commander intervened. Part of why I'm here now, feel like I owe him."

"I'm sure he'd tell you it was just doing his job." Doc replied.

"I'm sure he would, doesn't change how I feel, I volunteered to be on this crew. Would have never joined Cerberus otherwise." Patel explained.

It dawned on Priscilla that her head was resting on a stranger's lap, she turned her head to look at their face catching their attention. She met the eyes of an older woman in some form of white clothing she didn't recognize, and a peculiar helmet which looked like it was mostly clear glass or crystal. The stranger stopped brushing her head and carefully helped her sit up, leaning her against something.

"Doc? What do we do?" The one called Patel asked nervously.

"No sudden movements." Doc responded quietly. "Let her get her bearings, but stay in her line of sight."

Priscilla grimaced as a flash of pain lanced through her skull reflexively grabbing that her head with her good hand. She swallowed softly as she breathed through the pain, as she asked. "Who-who art thou?"

She saw both Doc and Patel exchange glances, before they looked back at her.

John Shepard

They were running through the abandoned streets of Gozu. Mordin at their side, the old salarian was still in excellent shape. Shepard had panicked a bit when EDI relayed that one of the aliens was waking up, and Mordin had asked for details.

Alchera, anomaly, first contact. With that Mordin pulled out a go-bag and was off with them stating. "Situation calm for now, can come back, if need to."

They had run several blocks before Mordin spoke. "Away from clinic, what's the full report Shepard?"

Shepard slowed slightly, and relayed a less brief explanation, letting the story sink in. As they neared the transport hub Mordin looked at Shepard and stated. "Impossible situation. Believe you did the right thing."

With that they loaded into a sky-car and set course for the Normandy's berth.

Chakwas

She stared in shock for a moment at the alien sitting next to her, before Patel's voice brought her back to the situation. "Doc, why's she speaking English?"

Chakwas paused as she processed what the alien had asked. "Who art thou, is who are you." She translated. "I am Karin Chakwas, a Doctor." She gestured to Patel. "This is Sarah Patel. What is your name?" She gently coaxed.

The alien's gaze flashed to her and she hesitated. "Mine name is Priscilla." She finally answered.

"Alright Priscilla? Did I say that correctly?" Chakwas asked provoking a small nod. "What is the last thing you remember?"

Priscilla frowned slightly. "I was… attacked… I had gone out…" Her eyes widened as she shot to her feet. "Yorshka! Where is mine sister?!" She demanded.

Chakwas raised her hands in a placating gesture. "We found someone like you, she is on the bed next to yours, over there, behind you."

Priscilla

She spun around and catching sight of Yorshka, vaulted the bed easily, yet as she landed, she reflexively pressed her hand to her side. She vaguely heard an exasperated sigh, but she disregarded it over checking her sister. While she wasn't a healer but Yorshka seemed to have more color than when she had found her in the painted world.

The sound of movement distracted her and she whirled to face the woman called Chakwas, who had moved into her line of sight, but had stayed several feet away.

"I have done what I can for your sister. However, I know very little about either of you and nothing about your people, which limits what I can do, and to be honest I was not hopeful about her chances. I've seen many good men and women with less critical wounds die, but you recovered much faster than I expected. Which gives me hope for her recovery." Chakwas explained.

Priscilla processed what Chakwas had said as she caressed Yorshka's head. "Thank you, Chakwas." She whispered, before she grimaced as pain shot though her side and she pressed her hand the her wound which came away faintly crimson. It also dawned that her gown was missing replaced by a different one, Yorshka's armor had also been switched for a similar gown.

As she stared, she heard Chakwas huff slightly before speaking. "Pricilla. Onto the bed, please. I need to look at your side again." She hesitated hearing the order which Chakwas had put into her words and tone, but she gingerly sat down as Chakwas retrieved several items she could not identify and walked carefully over, yet she didn't waste any time either.

Pricilla sat perfectly still as Chakwas got to work muttering. "I was afraid of that. You pulled your side when… you…" She trailed off and paused as she looked at the item in her hands.

"Tis something wrong?" Pricilla asked.

"No, not wrong, just unusual." Chakwas paused for several moments before continuing. "You need to take it easy for several days until your side heals enough. Am I clear?" She instructed.

"Yes. Chakwas." Pricilla replied as she felt something cool being spread over the ache in her side. "Where is mine gown?" She asked as Chakwas backed away slightly.

"Your clothing is still here; Patel bring me the bag on the left. However, it has a large cut and a fair amount of blood on it. Which you probably know." Chakwas explained.

Pricilla accepted the bag from Patel with a nod. "Mine thanks."

"You're-You're welcome." Patel stammered as Pricilla tore the bag open and began to examine her gown. She ran her hands over the soft fur until it roughened with dried blood. Chakwas was right the cut and blood on the side was the largest damage, but there were other stains, Yorshka's blood, she realized.

"May I hast some privacy." Pricilla requested, as she looked up at Chakwas.

"Of course, but I need to run a quick scan on your sister. Yorshka? Was it?" Chakwas said.

Pricilla watched as Chakwas ran the item she had used to check her side over her sister, once she was done both of the humans withdrew from the room leaving her alone with Yorshka.

Pricilla drew upon what knowledge she had on the light sorcery repair and spread the small amount of golden powder over her gown both repairing the tears accumulated through combat and the blood leaving the gown as it was the day it had been first given to her. Carefully she stripped out of the new gown and slid her own back on. Feeling comfortable in her own clothing, she sighed as it settled on her like a second skin, a suit of armor, against a world which had despised her.

Pricilla sat and watched Yorshka breathe. They weren't dead; anything else she could handle.

Chakwas

As she walked out of the med-bay and toward her improvised work station EDI spoke up. "Doctor Chakwas?"

"Yes EDI." Chakwas said as she began to sink the data from the medical scanner with previous data.

"Having analyzed Pricilla's speech patterns with recorded human dialects I believe she's speaking Elizabethan era English."

Chakwas nodded. "That's what it sounded like to me." She said as she studied the data in front of her.

"Due to the recent productions by director Francis Kitt. There is a modern translation software for that form of English. Should I update the crew to acquire it?" EDI asked.

Chakwas looked up, she had forgotten about that. "Yes, but warn them before you do. It can be disorienting to have the implant updated without warning."

"Understood Doctor. Updating the crew now." EDI stated.

Chakwas flinched as her implant updated, and there were a handful of chimes across the mess hall as various crew members got the notice. Chakwas focused on the information as the older data was compared to the new data, and raised even more questions.

Shepard

He waited impatiently for the airlock to finish cycling. He had to get his two new team members settled and see to his guests. Made more complicated because he was fairly sure that Mordin wanted to be there for the second part.

"Hey Commander. Chakwas has a translator update for everyone. Should be syncing with your tool now." Joker called from his position at the helm.

"Shakespeare?" Miranda asked a little incredulously as she looked at the suggested update.

"Curious." Mordin stated. "Updating software now."

Zaeed simply grunted as he updated his implant and Jacob just acknowledged the instruction.

"Comm room to debrief." Shepard ordered as he led everyone there.

Once everyone was settled, Shepard began. "Massani, Doctor Solus thank you for joining us. I'm sorry but I need to keep this short. Doctor Solus across from the armory is the lab, if you need anything make a requisition request. You both can talk to Miranda for sleeping arrangements."

At Miranda's frown Shepard continued. "You claimed the position of my XO Lawson, this is part of the job."

Miranda sighed. "Yes Shepard."

"One last thing. EDI?" Shepard asked.

"Yes Commander?" EDI replied as her avatar popped up. Shepard watched Zaeed and Mordin's reactions. Zaeed was a little surprised while Mordin was intrigued.

"This is EDI she's the ships AI." That definitely got Mordin's interest. "Ask her if you have any questions. Dismissed." Shepard finished, before striding out the comm room door. He only beat Mordin to the ships lift by a second, and punched the interface for the crew deck.

"Any advice from the STG handbook for first contact?" Shepard asked Mordin.

"Nothing useful." Mordin replied.

"Just great…" Shepard sighed.

Chakwas

She looked up as the elevator dinged and heard Shepard walk up with a salarian. "Chakwas what's the situation."

Chakwas looked up to Shepard. "Contained for now. One of our guests is awake and she speaks English surprisingly enough. There are a few other things I don't understand. The data is confusing."

The salarian spoke up then. "May I see, another set of eyes, always useful."

"Doctor Karen Chakwas meet Doctor Mordin Solus. Doctor Solus, meet Doctor Chakwas, Chief Medical Officer, on the Normandy." Shepard introduced them his eyes focused on the med-bay. "What else can you tell me?"

"The one who is awake is named Pricilla, from what I've seen she appears to be very protective of the other one, which is her sister, named Yorshka. Obviously, they appear to be able to heal much faster than I thought possible outside of a krogan. Other than that, and the oddities I just detected, that is all I know Commander." Chakwas explained.

"What oddities?" Shepard asked.

"Immune system data, shows rapid development over short time span. Incredible." Mordin muttered.

Shepard looked to Chakwas, and she nodded. "They had no immune system when I briefed you yesterday, today they both have one. It's not strong but if this continues, by the end of the day, likely they'll be able to safely leave the med-bay." Chakwas expanded on what Mordin said.

"This keeps getting weirder…" Shepard muttered as he grabbed one of the medical helmets and put it on. "I'm going in to talk to this Pricilla." Shepard continued as he took off and placed his weapons save his pistol onto the table. "Hopefully we'll get some answers which make sense. Also, EDI set up a general request board for the crew. See if there is anything that we can get to make life better for everyone."

"Understood Commander." EDI replied.

Shepard sighed and stepped into the med-bays temporary airlock.

Pricilla

She was wandering about the decently sized room touching various furnishing's and equipment. A combination of boredom and curiosity had made her unable to remain still for too long. It was all very… Shiny. Laying a hand on a table with a strange chair next to it, she felt the chill of the metal which it had been made of. There was so much metal here, the floor, walls, and ceiling were made if it.

Cautiously she tried one of the drawers which Chakwas had taken instruments out of. It was locked. The still unfamiliar hiss of the door attracted her attention and she turned and took several steps forward to keep herself between Yorshka and the newcomer. He, she was almost sure it was a he, was wearing a different outfit from what Chakwas and Patel had been wearing. Black with a white and red stripe down one arm, the sturdy looking plates which made up most of the outfit were not reassuring and clashed badly with the helmet which was one of the ones she had seen earlier.

As the second door released, she settled onto the balls of her feet, and waited.

Shepard

He flexed his hands as he watched the woman on the other side of the glass, examining her. It would likely have been seen as creepy if she hadn't been doing the same to him so he called it even. Pricilla, now that she was no longer dying on a hostile world, was to his eyes a certainly attractive woman, standing at or around six feet in height, which made them roughly the same height. He noticed that she could likely pass as a human with the right clothing. If it wasn't for her tail, that along with a regal bearing would be enough to prove that to anyone.

The chime as the inner door unsealed wasn't comforting, but he took a deep breath and entered into the med-bay. He stopped moving about five feet from her and assumed a neutral posture.

"I am John Shepard, but most people just call me Shepard. I'm the commander of this vessel, and I have more than a few questions for you. I'd guess that you'd have some as well." He stated.

Pricilla studied him for a few moments before she bowed her head slightly. "I am named Pricilla. You are correct Shepard; I also have questions."

He gave a small return nod. "Alright, do you want to start?"

She gave him a surprised look and he shrugged. "Call it curtesy."

"Very well, where are we, how did we get here?" She asked.

"If you mean here on this vessel that is my fault, I was investigating an anomaly and found your sister." He nodded toward the unconscious figure. "I did what I could in the field to stop the bleeding, but I had to call in Doctor Chakwas. She advised to bring you both up here for treatment. Given what else was going on down there I agreed." Shepard shrugged. "As for where you are currently? You are in the medical bay of the Normandy SR-2. Which is presently docked at the space station Omega."

Pricilla frowned. "Space station?" She asked as if feeling unfamiliar terms.

Shepard sighed. "This is going to be hard. Alright the simple answer is that this ship can travel between stars and a space station is sort of like a port city. In space. There is more to that answer, but I would like to ask you a few questions now."

Pricilla nodded. "Very well ask."

"Then let's begin with, how did a section of a city appear out of thin air?" Shepard stated.

Pricilla looked away for a moment. "That-That was my fault." She admitted. Shepard raised an eyebrow at her, she caught the expression and continued. "I used a sorcery that Seath-" She choked on the name. "That the Pale Drake crafted. I don't really understand most of it, I only found out about it recently."

Shepard stared at her. "You used magic? That was made by a dragon?" He shook his head. "Never mind, could you demonstrate a… Sorcery? You called it? If there is another one, not the thing that made a city appear."

"There is the light sorcery, that is fairly harmless." She answered. Shepard tapped his omni-tool provoking a warily glance from Pricilla and sent a command to lower the lights in the med-bay to twenty-five percent, before he nodded for her to continue.

Pricilla cupped her hands in front of her mouth and then extended one palm upward, a glowing ball of light was nestled in it. When she let her hand drop a moment later the light remained there, hanging where she had put it.

Gingerly Shepard reached forward and touched the glowing sphere he shifted his hand so his palm rested under it and lifted up, feeling the ball settle into his hand. He stared at it for several moments before it winked out. He was quiet for several moments before he had the lights returned to normal.

"I don't suppose that's all sorceries can do?" He asked.

"No there are many types of sorceries." Pricilla replied, shaking her head. "I used the light sorcery, repair, to mend my gown." She paused. "There is also soul arrow, it is an offensive sorcery, and before you ask, it requires a target to cast."

"You are being very forth coming with information." Shepard stated.

Pricilla made a small gesture akin to a shrug. "It is because of you that my sister and I still live. A little information is a fair price, I think."

Shepard opened his mouth to speak but his Omni-tool chose that moment to chime at him. He glanced at the message and froze. "I'm sorry, I need to cut this short something just came up. I'll instruct Chakwas to tell you whatever you wish to know." He told her, as he backed toward the door.

"Tis something wrong?" She asked.

"Yes. However, it isn't your problem. Stay here, and recover your strength. We'll talk later." He said as he passed through the door and waited for the sub room to cycle. "Head's up everyone. Good news is we have a lead on Archangel, bad news is that the Blue Suns found him several days ago. Grab your gear, extra ammo, grenades, whatever, and meet me at the main airlock asap!" He spoke over the comms as he ran out the med-bay door.

Pricilla

She stood still as Shepard left before sitting at the foot of Yorshka's bed resting a hand on her uninjured leg. "Rest well and heal mine sister. I shall keep watch over thou." She whispered as she thought of questions to ask when she could.

Reader Review Responses and as always constructive criticism are always welcome

Jebest4781: Thanks, and that's an interesting idea.

Jctherebel: Thanks!

lop90ful1: I'll keep that in mind but I do want to cover all the main content. Recruitment, loyalty, and main missions.

NabucodonosorV: I try not to abandon projects but I've been in a large rut for a while. I hope this pays off on the wait.

Carre: Thanks! Gotta keep those hands clean!

Sorry, this took so long being under lockdown hasn't been conducive to my already erratic ability to write. Hope you and your families are staying safe in these times.