…
"A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason."
(J. P. Morgan)
…
MFV Rayya, January 19th, 5:37 AM, 2184
…
I was very tired. I needed coffee, or sleep. Preferably sleep. The only thing keeping me awake right now were two NoDoz caffeine tablets I had taken an hour ago, yet even that was having very little effect on my awareness. I never realized how much more energy quarians had until now.
We had spent the entire night debating near non-stop in the Conclave. I didn't understand how the debates could be so intense, yet so boring at the same time. It seemed like everyone had a different opinion on what to do. I had honestly lost interest in the debate long ago.
All I was doing now was sitting in the back of the bleachers as we waited for Hackett to come back. I was scrolling through my datapad looking for something to keep myself focused, but it was all failing. I tried to prop myself up slightly to keep my head from leaning back any further, but I slipped and instead went right back down.
"You alright, Captain?" Mal asked as I slowly turned to look up at him. "You seem a little bit… sloppy."
I sighed, shaking my head in a negative fashion.
"No, I'm not." I remarked, stuck in my deadpan. "I've had no interest, no sleep, and no fucking coffee for the last thirteen hours. How can you go on for so long like this?"
"Sometimes I wonder the exact same thing." He replied, offering me a hand up. I accepted it as he pulled me back up to my feet. "I don't think it'll be much longer."
"I hope not, because if I have to go another hour like this, I'm libel to pass out." I finished, shaking my head and resisting the temptation to beat myself in the head just to make myself more aware.
Another five minutes slowly went by, feeling more like ten minutes in my sleep-deprived mind. Finally, Hackett arrived much the same way he had before, with a breathing mask and four Alliance marines escorting him. I took in a deep breath as Raan began the meeting, blessing the ancestors.
"Admiral Hackett, we have deliberated many hours on your offer, but we have yet to render a decision because we still don't have enough information." Raan explained as Hackett looked around at all of us.
Even in my current state, I hoped that he wouldn't be able to pick me out all the way back here.
"Well, what would you like to know?" He asked, likely looking to secure this deal any way he could.
"We'd like to know about the exact nature of this partnership." Koris began, as he shifted slightly. "We've had a lot of problems lately, and we're worried that this could pose problems for us in the long run."
"With this partnership, we'd be cooperating between one another on an information-based level." Hackett started, looking between all of the Admirals as he spoke. "I'm mostly concerned with exchanging information regarding the Reapers as the moment, but if we could agree to it, we could exchange other information."
"I'm worried about the potential security risks of this." Gerrel remarked, crossing his arms. "We're aware that the pro-human terrorist group Cerberus has firmly rooted itself in the Alliance using undercover agents. How can you guarantee that none of our information will go back to them?"
"OK, now you've got me very confused." Hackett stopped, holding up one of his hands as he got an angry look on his face. "How are you so aware of the Alliance and its internal issues? I'm still confused as to how you have acquired our jump drive technology."
I knew this partnership wouldn't happen if we kept up this air of suspicion and distrust. I had to do something.
I sucked in my gut, shook my head, and let out a hot breath of air as I mentally readied myself.
"That would be my fault, sir." I said out loud, raising my hand into the air. Everyone turned to look at me with varying levels of surprise.
"Captain, this doesn't need to involve you!" Rael angrily remarked, almost yelling.
"Yes it does, Admiral Zorah." I rebuked, slowly making my way down the closest isle to the center. "If we keep up this cloak and dagger bullshit, there's no chance that a partnership can form from this."
I then calmly walked up to Hackett, depolarizing my faceplate as I looked into his surprised eyes.
"Dr. Michaels?" Hackett questioned disbelievingly with a slightly lowered voice.
"Long time no see, Admiral." I greeted, offering a handshake which he actually denied, which was a bad sign. "Well… ask your questions."
"You've been with the Quarians for the last two years?" He continued to question as we focused exclusively on one another.
"A little more than that, actually. February will make it three years, I believe." I replied, clasping my hands behind my back as I prepared to get serious. "Aldrin Station was attacked by Cerberus. Admiral. They were given the codes to the station's defense systems by Major Lynda Embry, who turned out to be an undercover Cerberus operative."
"All the project leads, including me, were captured while the rest of the station staff were murdered." I continued, suppressing the urge to pace. "A month later, we managed to escape from Cerberus, only to be attacked by Admiral Catherine Parangosky of the Seventh Fleet above Eden Prime. With nowhere else left to go, we sought out the quarians, who we offered our expertise in exchange for protection. Now here we are."
Hackett simply stared at me for a few seconds, a million thoughts likely rolling through is head.
"So you're the reason why the quarians have the Gravity Drive system?" Hackett asked, as I prepared for the worst. "Your team did all of this in just three years?"
"High expectations are the key to everything." I quoted, thinking back to an old Sam Walton book I had read years ago. "My team and I have worked our blood, sweat, and tears into helping the quarian people these last few years. We've helped give them new ways to build, fight, and even helped find them a new home. I'm proud of what we have done."
A few members of the Conclave slowly began cheering and congratulating me as I remained completely still. It felt kind of good to finally have this off of this chest, though that feeling could easily shatter depending on Hackett's response.
"I think you've done a fine job, son." He simply said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "You've given these people a chance to live like the other species of the galaxy, and that is something very commendable."
"Thank you, sir." I nodded, as he offered me a handshake this time around. I accepted it with renewed enthusiasm as we both gave each other a firm shake.
What I didn't know was that this handshake had unofficially sealed the deal.
Half an hour later, the Migrant Fleet and the Systems Alliance were now allies.
…
Serenity Valley, January 24th, 9:57 AM, 2184
…
The last five days had been fairly quiet, despite all the excitement over the Alliance and our new partnership. Like Hackett had promised, it was very hush hush. A little bit of information had trickled in, but it was a slow process. Due to lingering and, frankly, perfectly reasonable paranoia surrounding Cerberus, everything sent was highly encrypted and transmitted through very specific channels.
Nothing too interesting, just a few movement reports and a few technical readouts on this Reaper that was fought at the Citadel. It was made out of some kind of unidentified material of unknown composition. Alliance specialists have apparently been trying to figure out exactly what this stuff was, but weren't getting anywhere fast. He was going to send us a small sample of the material to test later down the line.
Hackett had also been nice enough to send us the reports and investigation docs on the attack on Aldrin. It was… sobering to read through everything, all those poor, innocent people killed, but it was the closest any of us would get to closure.
Even since then, I've spent most of the time back at the homestead, trying to take things easy. The rest of the team seemed to think I had been working a little too hard, and wanted me to take a few "vacation days" off with Mara, who had also been working especially hard.
I think it was their subtle way of giving us a little more "alone time", so to speak. As if we needed any assistance doing that.
Ever since that October night, things have just felt… perfect between us. There were the occasional arguments over some things, sure, but that was normal for any relationship. There exist no healthy relationship in the world where there isn't the occasional disagreement or argument. It was a biological and sociological fact. The only place relationships like that exist are in dumb romantic movies.
Besides, no number of mental barriers or preparation could have prepared me for what she told me this morning.
She was pregnant.
She had found out while I was at the Conclave, but decided to wait a few more days before telling me. I would be lying if I didn't admit I suffered a small initial panic, but it was quickly quashed by one singular fact.
I was going to be a father. A daddy. The thought alone nearly brought me to tears.
We had spent the rest of the morning since her announcement trying to put together a schedule of some sort, along with basic needs and other requirements. There was so much we needed to prepare for now.
"So, we'll need some new clothing. We can either trade up for something in the supply runs, or we can try and put something together ourselves." I said, adding it to our list on the paper in front of me.
"Put something together? You know how to sew?" She asked with a thin smile on her face as she sat on the other side of the table.
"Yeah. My mother taught me when I was younger. Nothing fancy, just the basics." I replied, as an older thought crossed my mind.
"What's wrong?" She asked after a few seconds, cocking her head slightly.
"She would have been so angry that I'm having a child out of wedlock." I realized, trying not to let myself go.
I sat there in silence for a few moments, thinking about everything leading up to this.
"Then why don't we make it official?" She suggested, snapping me out of my thoughts and causing my eyes to shoot up in interest.
"Well… how would we go about that? All the way out here, we only have the bare basics." I replied, putting down my pen and leaning back in my chair.
"It wouldn't have to be anything that involved." She started, getting up and moving to the seat next to me. "We could just arrange a small function in the flat area outside of the houses."
"Yeah, that sounds pretty good." I nodded, tugging on my goatee slightly as I continued to mentally put the pieces together in my head. "Invite the whole team and the crew, have a small little party afterwards. Simple."
"When do you think would be a good time to do it?" She asked, leaning her arm on the table as she looked down at the list I had written earlier.
"Hm. How about next week?" I suggested, tapping my pen against my chin as I shot her a raised eyebrow.
…
Serenity Valley, January 31st, 2:30 PM, 2184
…
"Well… how do I look?" I asked all the guys, who were waiting outside for me to get dressed.
Today was the day Mara and I were getting married. I had gone through the effort of getting a nice outfit together. It was a simple button up shirt with a nice black dress coat that Dimitri had traded up for me as a gift. I couldn't express how grateful I was for it. I wore my nice pair of slacks, trimmed my beard and moustache, and made sure my hair was curved just right in the front.
"You look fantastic, Sean!" Jack congratulated as everyone else gave me various nods of approval.
I looked over at Dan, my best man. Even he, with his usual stoic attitude couldn't help but smile.
All the ladies were with Mara in Sira's home. It was far enough away that there was no chance I would see her until it was time.
"So, you two went from instant enemies to this." Richard commented from the couch with crossed arms, as Powell watched from a nearby projector. "Things sure change over time, huh?"
"They sure do." I agreed, looking out of the window down at where the wedding would take place.
The wedding area was fairly simple. It was out on the shuttle pad where the ground was nice and flat, and there were simple, foldable chairs for people to sit on. The only extravagant feature was the lovely holographic pergola that Sira had programmed for us to stand under. It had a warm orange glow to it, and resembled one she had apparently sat under while she was growing up.
As the others began making small talk, Dan walked over and stood next to me.
"Life is a strange thing, isn't it?" I began, staring down at the shuttle pad. "One minute, there's nothing, but the next there could be something new, just through the miracle of nature. We were like that once, dragging ourselves out of the primordial muck to evolve into what we are now. It makes you wonder sometimes."
"Are you going to be alright?" Dan asked in a deadpan, looking harder at me. "You've had t-this odd air about you ever si…since she told you about the pregnancy."
I stayed quiet for a few moments, staring down at my hands for a few moments before looking back at him.
"I keep looking around myself, wondering if I've really truly done enough to keep us safe." I admitted, looking hard at him. "I want nothing more than for you, her, our child… everyone to be safe. I just keep getting these thoughts, these doubting voices asking over and over again if it's really enough."
Dan nodded silently, folding his hands behind his back as we both looked at the mountains.
About half an hour later Dimitri, Jack, and Richard walked outside to take their seats below as Captains Ysin'Mal and Cyi'Keno arrived. We had sent invitations to several other captains and all of the admirals, but I expected that they might be too busy to attend our little wedding. Captain Mal had agreed to administer our vows since I was my own ship's captain.
A little while later, the wedding began. We didn't have any fanfare, but that suited me just fine. I walked down the aisle with Dan right behind me as I looked at everyone who was here. A few captains, Gillian and Hendel, most of our techs and assistants from the lab, and surprisingly, Admiral Zaal'Koris.
Once underneath the holographic pergola, I turned around to face our housing units. Not thirty seconds later, Mara walked out with Sira following closely behind. She was wearing a custom-made white wedding gown with a quarian style hood over her head. Her blond hair was fully permed, and poured out of her hood gracefully as she walked towards us.
She was absolutely beautiful.
As soon as she stepped under the platform, we joined our hands together as Mal began administering the vows.
"Captain Sean Michaels, will you take Mara Ford as your life mate, love her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health so long as you both shall live?" Mal asked, looking from his small datapad as he spoke.
"I do." I confirmed, letting a smile cross my face as I maintained eye contact exclusively with Mara.
"Mara Ford, will you take Captain Sean Michaels as your life mate, love him, honor and keep him in sickness and in health so long as you both shall live?" Mal repeated, looking as her as she too maintained unbroken eye contact.
"I do." She agreed without hesitation, grinning uncontrollably as we both tightened our grips.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your loved one." Mal finished as I pulled Mara in for a long kiss. Everyone around us cheered as we embraced, before things died down and we received our rings from the best man band best woman respectively.
The rings were simple, made out of polished titanium taken from the Explorer. Each had our names inscribed inside, making sure they would forever be between us.
I looked out at everyone as I smiled, holding Mara's hand.
This was now the best day ever.
…
Serenity Valley, February 23rd, 10:21 AM, 2184
…
I sat quietly at our couch, sipping the last of our old coffee shipment down as I put together a list of everything going on with the notepad and pen in front of me.
Things had been very calm over the last few weeks since our wedding. We've been working on calmer, less extensive and dangerous projects as of late, but they had the potential to be some of the most interesting ones yet.
Dimitri and Dan had taken a break from weapons development to work on an experimental ship cloaking system based on older, personal models developed for Alliance spec ops teams. It wasn't going anywhere fast. We had to reproduce the personal model before we could even thing about making one that could envelop a starship. Still, the ability to completely mask a starship from visual detection was a very cool prospect.
Jack and Sira were working on some kind of "hush hush" shielding system, one that would be twice as effective as normal, military-grade kinetic barriers. They were currently trying to solve issues regarding energy projection from what I've heard, leading me to believe that they could be developing a "true" energy shield. Jack had asked again if I would help with the emitter problem, but I was still a little reluctant to delve into Dan and I's old research. I told him I'd consider it.
Richard, Powell and Lydia had started working on something a little more low-key. They were trying to work up some standardized upgrades for quarian envirosuits, picking up where Sira and I had left off a few months ago. So far, they had a working, self-sealing layer for suit punctures and a few other small mods that could later be produced for quarian suits after a few months. Just a few small improvements like this could really make a difference for all the quarians.
Mara and I have been overseeing the construction of our soon-to-be new research center located under one of the mountains near Serenity Valley. It was going to replace our old lab which was hastily built for us at Camp Dolor shortly after we colonized the system. The new labs would be in a much safer location, would have much better power management, and would provide us with independent staff quarters, offices, and even a hydroponics lab where we could grow human crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and coffee beans.
I had dubbed it CASTLE Base. I would never stop making references to The Fall of Reach.
Rael and Gerrel had a large stake in this new lab. They had a whole separate research lab off of ours being built. They hadn't explicitly told me what it was for, though I did know that Rael's research team from the Alarei would be setting up shop in there when it was ready. I was in no position to argue with them, though. They were still angry with me for the little "stunt" I pulled during the talks with Hackett.
I looked back down at the datapad off to my side, taking the time to look back over the old walker designs we recovered back in September. It was a two-legged beast that had four mass accelerator cannons, two missile pods, and a small cutting laser. It seemed to be a derivative of the old Atlas mechs temporarily fielded by the Alliance a decade ago.
The interesting part, though, was the size. It was a whole four stories tall, completely dwarfing any previously fielded designs currently known to us. If anything, it reminded me more of some of the designs I had seen from the old BattleTech games, specifically the Archer mechs. There were obvious differences, but the comparison had been made.
Even though the design was impressive, I still had no idea how the turians had planned to power this thing. The power demands for the legs alone would have been massive for conventional mass effect cores. If they were to use cores alone to power this thing, they'd need at least four.
The idea that Dimitri, Dan and I had been knocking around was to make a prototype directly mimicking the original design, then slowly modify it from there. We'd start it off with a Mk.4 Nemo-Michaels reactor for power, then see what else we could do with the design.
I downed the last few drops of my coffee, threw on my surplus jacket, and grabbed a box of my belongings as I began my ten minute walk to CASTLE Base. Right now it was just a dirt path made to connect our little villa to the facility, but it would be covered over with concrete at another time.
The outside of the facility was actually fairly large. Originally, one of the quarian mining ships had set up here and cleared away a lot of the area surveying for alkali metals such as potassium and sodium. Unfortunately, not only had they set up too close to our homestead, but there wasn't any significant alkali metal concentrations here anyway. They pulled out a week later, leaving us with this nice flat area at the base of the mountain to work with.
Based on our geology reports, this mountain used to be volcanic thousands, perhaps millions of years ago. There were large, empty magma shafts all throughout the mountain that had seen years and years of erosion from water, ice, and natural seismic activity. They were perfect for building CASTLE Base.
I walked up to the front gate at the beginning of the clearing, flashing my ID to the guard on duty as I walked right into the surface facility. Here, there were hangers and other smaller buildings that would be used for various projects once the base was operational. Right now they were being used to store construction materials.
At the base of the mountain there was a very large blast door currently set in the open position. Once inside, the entire thing became a labyrinth of hallways, rooms, and maintenance passages as the facility delved deeper and deeper into the mountain. In the heart of the mountain was a Nemo-Michaels reactor of similar build to the one we had designed for Cairo Station. It provided more than enough energy for the entire facility and the surrounding areas.
I walked into my new completed office, taking in how nice it was. I had it custom designed to be the best office a man could ask for. It was 20 by 15, a nice fair size, and the edges of the ceiling were lined with lights that provided good illumination. My desk was made out of solid oak and polished to a sheen, and my chair was made out of genuine leather provided by Kirva. My back wall was made of oak paneling that I had cut and treated myself, giving my room a slight wood smell.
I put down my box, taking a seat in my new chair before taking the lid off. Inside were a few personal items, knick-knacks, physical pictures, my personal computer, and a few data drives. All the basics. I began with the pictures, focusing hard on each one before putting them on the wood paneling.
The first one was of me and Dan at our high school graduation at UMBC. We were both wearing our blue robes and mortarboards, clutching our diplomas as big old smiles crossed our faces. It was one of the few remnants of our old lives that survived both our jump and the destruction of Aldrin.
The second was a group photo of all seven of us in the old atrium at Aldrin. It was a pretty well shot photo. Dan and I were near the front as Dimitri towered behind us. Off to my side was Jack and Sira, while to Dan's was Mara and Richard. We all looked rather neutral to be honest. Neither angry nor happy. I kept it around mostly because it was the only picture of all of us together.
The third was a simple picture of the SSV Explorer before it was stolen by Cerberus and shot to hell by the Seventh Fleet. The old girl was still something to be admired. The first ship to achieve superluminal speeds with the use of a Gravity Drive. That was no small feat. It still served us well, even to this day.
The last picture was a lot newer than the others. It was of me and Mara on our wedding day. Sira had taken it the moment we began walking down the aisle again. We both looked so happy, I couldn't help but smile thinking back to that day. I looked down at my ring, nodding slightly as I placed the photo carefully on the wall.
As I began to empty the rest of the box contents on my desk, my omni-tool began beeping loudly. I checked the I.D., seeing it was our mining foreman Baena'Loen vas Hochiss. She was in charge of the teams clearing away space for the lower levels of the facility.
"What's up, Baena?" I casually inquired, opening the channel as I continued to remove items from my box.
"Sir, we've run into something down here that you need to see." She replied with some urgency in her voice, causing me to immediately stop and pay full attention.
"What did your team run into?" I asked, my mind suddenly racing as to what it could be.
"We don't know. All we know is that it isn't natural." She answered as I stared off into space for a second before replying.
"I'm on my way. Keep your crew away from whatever this thing is until I get there." I finished, cutting the line as I ran out of my office to the lifts. I punched in the lowest floor where the dig was, tapping my foot in anticipation as a million thought raced through my head.
Once the lift hit the bottom with a clunk, I walked out, grabbing a hard hat and throwing it on as I went into the mine shaft. Normally, the tunnels would be echoing with the sounds of jackhammers and other mining equipment, but at the moment they were completely silent.
I followed the guideline to the newest section of the dig, seeing that all the miners in the area had stopped and were now staring at something through a fresh opening in the cave walls. I nudged them aside, seeing some kind of technological structure before me. It was lined with solid green lines that slowly pulsed, giving this part of the cavern an odd, alien glow.
"Sir, we ran into this four minutes ago. Two of my men were expanding the cavern walls when the wall broke down revealing this." Baena explained as we both began walking towards it. "No one has been allowed near the structure since we've found it."
"Any idea what this thing is?" I asked, having a hard time trying to determine exactly what it was I was looking at.
"No sir, but one of my men suggested that it might be Prothean." She answered as I got slightly closer.
The structure looked like a close knit series of obelisks. They had a brown, almost dull gold look to them along with the aforementioned green "lights" along the outside. The walls of the chamber seemed to have done their job fairly well, though the walls on our side had collapsed.
"Sir?" Baena said, jolting me out of the gaze I had let myself fall into.
"Cordon off this entire area until further notice." I ordered, pointing slightly at her as I got extremely serious. "I need to get some equipment down here, along with the rest of my research staff."
"Yes sir." She finished, nodding slightly before running off to get the rest of her dig team out of the cavern.
In the complete stillness of the now empty chamber, I stared curiously at the artifact.
"What secrets could you be holding?" I asked out loud, letting out a deep sign as I opened up my omni-tool to call my friends.
This was going to be a busy day.
…
A/N: So, an unofficial partnership between the Alliance and the Migrant Fleet, pregnancy, weddings, and a new find underneath CASTLE Base. What will this new discovery reveal to our intrepid scientists? Tune in later to find out.
I'd like to apologize if this chapter seems a bit disjointed or oddly structured. I've been struggling to write this through the hellishness and chaos that is finals week, and it's really taken a toll on my concentration. The next chapters will be of much higher quality, I promise.
For those of you interested, the mech that Sean and his friends are slated to begin building is based pretty verbatim off of the Archer series of mechs from the BattleTech universe. I was specifically inspired by the redesign of the Archer mech done by Shimmering-Sword on deviantART. It's a badass heavy design that just oozes power and destruction.
Also, I have closed the poll for the story theme! The winner was Harry Gregson-Williams's Science The Shit Out Of This from The Martian soundtrack. Great choice! Even if your person choice didn't win, I'd still like to thank everyone who participated in the poll. You guys rock!
I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!