…
"Do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world. To not know why you're here. That's... that's just an awful feeling."
(Elijah Price)
…
Phantom-Class Frigate, December 27th, 8:47 AM, 2184
…
I sat down on one of the stools in the ship's science lab, picking up a datapad that had been left on the table and reading from it. It listed all the equipment that was currently installed here, down to the OS the terminal ran on. I was happy to see everything I had requisitioned was installed, even the terahertz scanner. It was all state-of-the-art, only the best for the upcoming mission.
I was making the effort to try and make personal contact with the human half of our crew. I was already well acquainted with the other half, having worked with them at CASTLE Base before asking if they wanted to join this mission. So far, everyone was very cooperative and competent, being able to answer any questions I asked without trouble. There was only one man I hadn't talked to yet, and that was Jeff Moreau, our Flight Lieutenant.
I was impressed with his CSV. Even before piloting the Normandy he had garnered a reputation as one of, if not the best, pilots in the Alliance Navy. He pulled Shepard out of some hot situations, and performed countless combat drops during his time under him, even managing to pull one off with only twenty meters of space. That factoid was impressive.
I put the datapad back, opening my omni-tool to view the map of the ship once more. The still unnamed ship had four decks, all laid out in "boomerang" shapes. I liked it over the Explorer for a few different reasons, mostly better use of space. Depending on where you were in the ship, it felt more like a submarine.
Deck 1 was where the CIC, bridge, science lab, and communications/briefing room were all located. It was also the location of our two airlocks at the tips of the "wings". If we ever had to defend from boarders, they'd have to go through an energy barrier and a remote-controlled ceiling turret. The science lab, where I was, was right next to one of them.
Deck 2 held the med lab, clean room, mess hall, recreation room, sleeping quarters, and the Captain's quarters. The bunks were a mix of human and quarian styles, ending up something like what you'd find in a capsule hotel. They were compact and numerous enough that everyone got their own private space. The rec area near the front of the ship featured a skylight, holo terminal, and a bar which I had provided all the vices for.
Deck 3 and Deck 4 bled into each other slightly. Deck 3 focused on engineering, life support, light storage, and garbage disposal while Deck 4 was the hanger and armory. Both decks shared the bulk of the NM reactor, gravity drive, and plasma management system. A series of maintenance ducts made accessing any of these relatively simple.
The ship came armed with standard fare, overlapping GARDIAN arrays and mass accelerator cannons. Its secret was the series of hidden, retractable heavy turrets in the hull that could be used to defend the top or bottom of the ship depending on the situation. For propulsion, it used four high-power antiproton engines. We were originally going to use our experimental plasma engines, but we decided they needed more testing before being used on a ship like this.
I walked down the hallway, passing two crewmen, a human and a quarian, who were having an involved conversation regarding the weapon systems. I remembered their names, Vadim Rolston and Inoe'Whilk. Vadim was a man in his late twenties who was assigned to the CIC, brown hair and brown eyes. He primarily worked in monitoring enemy communications. Inoe was assigned to Engineering, and was among the first generation of quarians not to go on their traditional Pilgrimage. She was wearing one of the new envirosuits, having given it a green and black paintjob.
"Oh, hello Captain!" Inoe greeted as I neared, stopping in her tracks as Vadim did the same. "How are you? You're here awfully early today."
"I didn't have anything better to do, really." I replied, nodding as I stuck my left hand into my coat pocket. "Besides, I need to get used to the ship, seeing as I'll be joining the crew too."
"I couldn't ask for a better ship to be on, sir." Vadim said, cracking a smile. "All of this is incredible. I've never seen a design like this before."
"Well, if you ever see my friend Dr. Nemo, you'll have to tell him how much you appreciate it." I smiled back, looking past the two of them down the hallway. "Say, can either of you two tell me if Mr. Moreau is awake yet? I've been meaning to talk to him."
"Mr. Moreau?" Inoe questioned for a second before Vadim quickly interjected.
"He's referring to Joker." He clarified, looking back to me. "Yeah, I saw him go to the cockpit not too long ago. He's still there."
"Thank you." I finished, nodding to both as I made my way into the CIC. "Joker... huh."
The CIC was about the same size as it was in the Explorer, but with a few exceptions. Instead of being situated around the edges of the room, the stations were now focused in the middle. This was intended to keep communication between everyone better coordinated and to conserve space. It had yet to be proven in a real combat situation, so I held random drills daily that were intended to test both the reaction time and cooperation of our crew. So far, they had performed beautifully.
The cockpit was much closer to the CIC than before, but was still separated by another door. It was built like a panic room, protected by an extra foot of titanium armor and boasting its own temporary life support system. If the occasion ever presented itself, it could even be locked down by another energy barrier.
I opened the door, immediately getting a good look at the fleet shipyards outside through the segmented window panels. Dan based them off the Ranger spaceplane from Interstellar. The second thing that caught my eye was Joker himself, who turned his seat around to face me.
"Oh, it's you." He remarked with dull surprise, shuffling slightly in his seat. "Hey there Captain."
"Hello Joker." I greeted, crossing my arms as I focused all my attention on him. "Sorry I haven't personally greeted you sooner, I've been swamped by political bullshit."
"I understand. I've heard tangling with those Admirals is like trying to escape from a box filled with rabid cats. Very angry, hairless cats." He joked, managing to get a smile out of me.
"Hell, if it weren't for Hackett, the rest of the galaxy would still be wondering what happened to all the hairless cats." I shot back, crossing my arms as I leaned against the wall next to him. "Regardless, we've gotten a lot done in a short amount of time. I'm satisfied with my work."
"Yeah, what kind of work do you do when you're not building giant guns and breaking the laws of physics?" He questioned in a slightly mocking manner. "The stuff on the Normandy was state-of-the art, but this new stuff scares me. Before I know it, half of the ship and the planet will disappear."
"Heh, WMDs weren't really on my list of things to do, but I'm content with everyone thinking I have the capacity." I said, smiling hard enough that my dimples appeared. "But seriously, I wouldn't worry about it. It's the safest version of our Gen III reactor system yet."
"I'll take your word for it." He dismissed, looking up and out the window before focusing on me once more. "Can you tell me when will I get the chance to put this bird through a real test? I can only simulate flight so many ways, you know."
"Unfortunately, I can't launch the ship until the bloodsuckers up above tell me I can." I shot down, taking in another breath of air as Joker frowned.
"Man, that sucks." He finished, shaking his head in disappointment. "I suppose after what happened to Rael they've been a bit more uppity."
"You know about that?" I questioned, cocking my eyebrow as I folded my arms.
"Yeah, I heard two of the guys below talking about it while I was eating lunch." He explained, moving his shoulders up and down slightly as he tried to get more comfortable. "Said he and his team were killed by Geth in their own lab."
"I'd rather not talk about it." I shot down quickly, not wanting to think about the events that transpired in that lab again. "I was the one who ordered the destruction of his lab, I don't need to hear how it went down."
"Sorry, it's just what I heard." He quickly apologized, holding up both hands. "I can only imagine how devastated Tali must be over this… it was her father, right?"
I locked eyes with him, squeezing my lips together before giving him a silent nod of confirmation. He sighed, shaking his head.
"Well, I suppose I should end this conversation before it gets any more depressing." He said, leaning forward and holding out his right hand to shake. I grasped it gently, giving it a light shake before letting go.
"I'll be seeing you around, Joker." I remarked, walking out of the cockpit as he rotated his chair so he was facing his controls again.
My brief conversation with Joker suddenly brought two things back to my mind as I walked back through the CIC. The first was Tali and her impending arrival in a few days, and the second was the raw research data still hidden inside of my wristwatch.
I wasn't looking forward to dealing with either two of these things.
…
Serenity Valley, December 31st, 8:34 AM, 2184
…
"Man, you are just a messy little spud, aren't you?" I said with a smile, wiping baby food off Elle's chin. "I haven't seen an eater as messy as this since high school."
"She'll get better." Mara replied with a smile, taking a sip from her coffee cup. "Taking another visit to the ship today?"
"No, I was planning on staying home actually." I answered, turning to face her. "I wanted to work on fixing that water leak in our air conditioning unit. It's starting to leave a streak on the side of the house."
"Sounds like an easy fix." She nodded, taking in a mouthful of cereal before picking up her datapad again. I turned my head back to Elle once more as she squealed, clapping her hands together.
"OK, OK, I'll give you free reign." I said to the small child, picking her up out of her booster seat and plopping her back down on the floor. She immediately started crawling towards the couch, which seemed to be her favorite place to go now. Finn and Darcy immediately ran over to her and began licking her face as she giggled.
"I think she has your nose." Mara remarked, looking up from her datapad with a smile. "It has that Slavic shape to it."
"You think so?" I questioned, feeling the tip of my nose. "I think she has your hair."
She smiled back at me before I sat back down at the table to finish my coffee. I remembered growing up hating raisin bran more than anything, but as I grew older it grew on me. It wasn't great, but it was certainly better with milk.
"So… how much longer until Miranda's little pet project up there is finished?" Mara inquired with thinly veiled disgust in her voice.
"It could be as soon as a week and a half at the rate they're going up there." I answered, doing my best to ignore her tone as I focused on my cereal. "Either way, it won't be long."
She hated Miranda, and I couldn't blame her. Despite her full admittance to what she had planned to do in the past, she still saw her as a snake in the grass. Even though I tried my best to try and see the best in people, she still had a long way to go before she gained anyone's trust around here.
"I still can't believe you plan to go out there with a man who's been dead for over a year and look for a bunch of wackos who're missing a few synapses." Mara brought up once more, causing me to reflexively make an expression of discomfort as I leaned back in my chair. "Are you sure you can't say here? If something were to happen to you out there it would kill all of us."
"Hon, this is just something that needs to be done. We've been over this before." I argued, turning back to face her as I kept one of my hands on the table. "There needs to be someone there who can handle the stresses and be able to provide technical support under said stress. Who would you rather have me send? Dan?"
She pursed her lips before a look of disappointment slipped onto her face, ending in a deep sigh.
"I just don't want to lose you again." She said, putting her hand on top of mine. "After what happened to Jack… I'm just afraid the worst will happen."
I stared into her dark blue eyes, examining every feature of her irises before speaking up once more.
"I can promise both me and the crew will be safe." I reassured, lightly grasping her hand. "I say this with a full heart, Mara."
She looked at our hands for a moment, tensing her grip slightly before locking onto my eyes.
"OK." She said in a lighter tone, nodding before leaning over to give me a hug. "I want to see you home and safe."
"I promise." I agreed, still clung to her as silence filled the void between us.
There were numerous promises I had broken in recent years. I knew this was one that I needed to follow through on. For both our sakes, and the sake of our daughter.
I wouldn't let them down.
…
MFV Explorer, January 3rd, 12:31 PM, 2185
…
"Coolant leak in our number 4 tank again." Lenlo announced over the bridge comm as I stood there looking at the video feed of the three of them down there. "Can you seal it until we find out exactly where it's coming from?"
"No problem." I replied, quickly tapping away at the console in front of me. "Done. Let me know when you find the source of the problem."
"Roger that, Captain." He finished, cutting the connection as I found myself staring out at the trees across the clearing. The tall things practically dwarfed the ship. If the mountains weren't already so tall I'd be hard to see them this close to the tree line.
I had to run over here from the lab after Lenlo announced that our coolant tanks were leaking again. This had been the second time in the last two months this had happened, but luckily both times it hadn't occurred while the reactor was at full power. The coolant was chilled carbon dioxide which was fed to the pipes that interlaced the reactor's main components.
These days, we used super-cooled helium for keeping our reactors cold, but it wasn't cost-effective to have the Explorer refitted with a different system. The only real disadvantage ours had was the extra amount of space it took up, something we weren't even worried about.
Part of me wondered why we were having trouble with it again so soon after fixing it. It wasn't even a temperamental sub-system, and had only suffered minor damage of the years. Then another thought came to me.
"Lydia… are you behind this?" I asked out loud as her ghostly figure appeared on the nearby projector.
"I was wondering how long it would take you to figure it out, Mr. Science Man." She said with a smile, crossing her arms. "I wanted to talk to you about something."
"It must be important if you faked a coolant leak to get me here." I sighed, leaning against the gunner's station as I put my hands into my pockets. "So… what is it?"
"I want to come with you on the mission." She stated clearly and without any reluctance, causing me to question what I had heard for a moment.
"You want to come with us?" I repeated in a deadpan tone, still not believing her request.
"Yes." She confirmed, somehow getting her smile even bigger. "I'm sick of being stuck here, I want to get back out there and see the world."
I was taken slightly aback, unable to think of anything to say for several moments.
"While I understand your reasoning behind this, you wanting to get out there and all… do you have any idea how dangerous it's going to be?" I asked, motioning reflexively with my hands as I spoke.
"Of course, I didn't go through Harvard and come out without an analytical mindset." She dismissed without a second thought, allowing her "arms" to hang at her sides. "As a matter of fact, I might be just the thing you need for a mission like this."
"Explain." I asked, narrowing my eyes as her face turned more serious.
She threw up images of both the Reaper, Sovereign, and the Geth, along with an image of the Cerberus logo.
"As we already know, counter-intrusion software used by the Council during the Battle of the Citadel was completely bypassed by Sovereign, and as shown by the events in Rael's lab, the Geth are nearly as proficient." She laid out, cycling through images of pure computer code. "After escaping from the Barn, you mentioned that Cerberus had been developing their own A.I. that could run the station. Given the amount of time that has passed…"
"They could have advanced their A.I. research even further than before." I finished, looking down at the deck panels as I sighed.
"Exactly." She nodded, crossing her arms again. "By putting me on that ship, we'll be better prepared in the event electronic warfare is attempted against the ship."
I mulled over her proposal for a few moments, rubbing my goatee in thought. She was completely right, and she knew that I knew that she was right. Part of me argued that this wasn't a good idea and hoisted more personal risk onto this mission, but the other half knew she had been stuck here on this ship for a long time.
I suppose it came as to no surprise when I accepted her request. She'd be our silent guardian on our mission into the unknown.
…
Cairo Station, January 10th, 2:00 PM, 2185
…
I stood at the top of the command center of the Cairo alongside Captain Keno, watching the live video broadcast of the Conclave choosing the new Admiral to take Rael's former position on the Board. Neither one of us had decided to go, both being sick of the politics behind it all. We were up high enough that we could talk normally between each other without his crew below us hearing.
"I'm telling you, there's no reason at all why it should have taken this long to pick a new Admiral." Keno argued, pacing back and forth as I stared at the viewing monitor. "It's ridiculous."
"It's just more political bullshit." I shot back, watching him walk back and forth in the same seven feet of space. "Any time something big happens in the Fleet they have to bring the idea of war with the Geth up again. Every single god-damned time."
He nodded, stopping for a moment as the feed twitched for a moment then returned to normal.
"I really hope they pick Mal. They need someone there that knows how to rein in Gerrel's craziness." Keno said as I nodded, knowing there was no way I could disagree with him.
I agreed with him 100%, of course. Captain Mal was one of the most respected ship captains in the whole fleet. Our friendship was one of the few that had been forged in the fire of combat, and I had the scar to prove it.
He was among two other ship captains who passed the initial voting process. The other two in the running were Daro'Xen, one of the people in the Fleet I hated the most, and Kar'Danna, who I considered more of a moderate. While I saw Daro'Xen as an outright disaster waiting to happen, Kar'Danna was more… indecisive. He lacked something that I couldn't pin my finger on.
I leaned forward slightly as I saw the Admirals move into view, taking their usual positions on the podium. Raan greeted everyone with the usual blessings to the ancestors before beginning the process.
"Captains, you've been given your 24 hours to come to a decision. It hasn't been easy for any of us, but the time has arrived." Zadie explained, opening a holographic projection in front of herself. "Please, vote now."
The entire Conclave lit up as all the Captains in attendance opened their omni-tools at once to choose who they wanted to become the new Admiral. We did as well, flashing our tools and immediately picking Mal.
The air fell dead silent both here and at the Conclave as everyone anticipated the results. I held my breath, squeezing my fist tight enough to turn my knuckles white.
"Captain Ysin'Mal vas Idenna, the will of the Conclave dictates that you join the Admiralty Board." Zadie announced as several Captains cheered and raised their fists in jubilation. "Please, step forward."
Mal silently made his way through the crowd of people, walking to the front where he stood directly in front of the four Admirals.
"Captain, from this moment onwards, you shall be known as an Admiral of the Migrant Fleet." Raan christened, manually changing his registry as she spoke. "May the ancestors help you guide our people to a brighter day. Keelah se'lai."
"Keelah se'lai." Everyone in attendance repeated as Mal took a bow.
"Thank you, everyone." He said in the humblest tone I've ever heard from the man as he fought hard to keep his body language in check. "I promise that I will do all in my power to make our people prosper once more."
Right as he began to speak again, my omni-tool rang out its emergency signal again, jolting my attention away from the Conclave as Captain Keno looked back at me in minor surprise. I checked the ID of the caller, seeing it was Richard this time.
"I've got to take this, one minute." I explained, walking off to the side where I was relatively secluded. "This had better be good, Richard. I was right in the middle of watching Mal get-"
"He's awake!" Richard shouted at me through the comm, enough to make the levels drop on his microphone. "We did it! We did iiiit!"
"Oh my god…" I managed to muster out, pausing for a moment to absorb the sudden news as I felt my jaw hang open. "I'll be over in a minute!"
I immediately ran out of the command center without a second thought, moving through Alpha sector and into the docking areas. I quickly flashed my credentials to the guards, forcing myself to stop and breath as the airlock cycled.
Those crazies managed to do it. He was alive and conscious. I wanted nothing more than to see him in person.
Richard was already waiting for me on the other side of the airlock, an excited, almost feral look in his eyes as his grin shot from ear to ear.
"Come on, we have him in the side room." He urged, motioning with his hand as he and I broke into a run.
"Has anyone told him anything yet?" I asked, slowing down slightly as we moved into the open part of the lab.
"No, we decided to wait for you first." He denied, nodding towards the other end of the lab.
The moment we were within range I could see him through the window, wearing a medical gown and sat down drinking water. Despite indeed being alive, he still looked like hell. Several of his scars were still quite visible, even from this distance. Especially the facial ones.
We walked in, gaining the attention of everyone in the room, including the man himself. I stepped forward with baited breath, pausing to think of something to say.
"Good to see you up and about again, Commander." I greeted, giving him a stern handshake which he quickly accepted. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I've got the worst headache in the world." He replied with incredibly dry tone, blinking rapidly as his eyes struggled to refocus themselves. "Who are you?"
"I'm Captain Sean Michaels of the MSV Explorer." I answered, doing my absolute best to not let my discipline go out the window. "I'm in charge of most of the science projects here and around Reach."
"Reach?" He questioned, taking in another deep gulp of water from his little cup. "Listen, I have a lot of questions, and I've only received one answer so far. Who are you people?"
It only just occurred to me that he had been dead since before a lot of our biggest developments. There was a lot I was going to have to explain to the man.
"We're scientists with the quarian Migrant Fleet. We've been working on… this project as part of our coalition with the Systems Alliance, specifically under Admiral Hackett." I slowly explained, struggling to find the right words to use. "So far, it's been going very well."
"Coalition? Why is there a coalition between the Alliance and the Quarians?" He asked further, running a hand through his hair. "How long have I been unconscious? What happened?"
I silently looked between Mineko, Hans, Richard, and Miranda for any sort of guidance. All I got was a small nod from Richard.
"Commander… you've been dead for nearly two years." I outright stated, watching his features become confused and slightly more distrustful. "Cerberus recovered your body several months ago and attempted to reconstruct you until we found you and brought you here to finish their work."
"Over four billion credits were spent on Cerberus's part to bring you back from the dead, Shepard." Miranda chimed in, arms crossed as all eyes turned to her. "Four billion credits to bring you back in the same condition you were before your death."
He stared at us all a few more seconds before downing the rest of his water and crushing the cup.
"I…I don't understand. All of this, just to bring me back?" He doubted, not looking convinced. "One man? That doesn't make any sense."
"It makes perfect sense." Richard interrupted, walking up and sitting down across from him. "You, Commander, are the only man who has gone up against the Reapers and won. You are the one man we can count on in the dark times to come."
"Human colonies throughout the Terminus are disappearing, Commander." I added, standing directly behind Richard as I spoke. "We don't know exactly who's doing it, but we have plenty of reason to believe that the Reapers are behind it. We've got a plan in place for you once you're up to speed and have spoken to Hackett and the Admiralty Board."
Shepard opened his mouth as if he was about to say something before stopping himself, taking in a breath of air through his nose before leaning back against the wall.
"This is too much right now… I just need some time to think about this." He dismissed with a tired look on his face as he stared down at the ground.
I nodded silently at him, looking down at Richard as both of us walked out of the room.
"I'll call Greg and have him relay the news back to Hackett. I need you and Miranda to get him back to speed. Slowly." I ordered, putting emphasis on slowly. "Once I'm done, I'll have to speak to the newly replenished Admiralty Board and give them the news as well."
"Who did they select to take his place?" He asked, almost certainly as an afterthought. I opted to smile back at him with a big grin, instantly getting the answer across as he too smiled.
I walked back into the open lab area, looking around at all the equipment and papers scattered around before opening my omni-tool. I didn't get far before Miranda walked into view, making a beeline over to me.
"What happens how?" She inquired, walking over as I closed my omni-tool.
"Elaborate." I replied in a deadpan, leaning back on one of the tables.
"Us, and all of this equipment. What'll happen to it?" She corrected, her face shifting from annoyed to more neutral. "You never did tell us what would happen after the goal of our project was achieved."
"Well… I figured the equipment itself would be moved to CASTLE Base where we would either be put into storage or integrated into our medical level." I answered, pushing against the inside of my left cheek with my tongue. "The lab would be broken up for scrap, and all of you would begin official work in CASTLE Base."
She didn't look satisfied with my answer as she narrowed her eyes, and I knew exactly why.
"Don't get yourself all worked up, Miranda, I got you a spot aboard the ship." I reassured, smirking as a small smile creeped onto her face. "It wasn't easy, but you are part of the crew now whether Gerrel likes it or not. Congratulations."
Her smile grew, the biggest I had ever seen it. It was almost unnerving seeing her break her composure like this.
"Thank you, Sean." She said in a genuine tone as she offered me a handshake. I slowly walked over to her, accepting the gesture with a hardy nod.
For the time being, we were ready for any threat the galaxy held. Our mission was fast approaching, and for once, I was actually looking forward to getting back out there and facing the world. I had spent far too much time hidden behind the Migrant Fleet and all the distance our home afforded us. I was going to show the galaxy what we had spent the last few years building.
I almost felt sorry for the bad guys.
…
A/N: Got on a real writing kick lately, especially with all the heat outside forcing me indoors. We've finally reached the second milestone of the story, the beginning of Mass Effect 2. I hope you're all enjoying reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. College starts August 28th, so I might still be able to squeeze another chapter in before I lose all free time.
I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!