Interloper Rewrite: Chapter 7

Out of Action


It was almost a week before Jenkins managed to get enough off duty time to come visit. He filled me in on some minor stuff that had happened about the ship. Finally, the subject of the ongoing mission came up.

"Well, we've been parked in orbit over this planet, Tuntau I think, Wrex wanted something from some guy down there. Anyway, we've had him under siege for like, five hours now."

"A siege?"

"Yeah, this guy, Actus, he's got a ton of men in this compound. The Commander is personally leading our snipers, it's a battle of attrition down there. We don't have the numbers to storm the place, and they don't have the support to beat us back, so we just sit and take potshots at anyone dumb enough to raise their heads."

"We can't just use the Normandy's air support?" I asked. It seemed like having a spaceship around would make a siege totally unnecessary.

"Not if we want to take the place intact. Wrex almost blew a gasket when A… I mean Chief Williams suggested we hit them from orbit."

"Wish I'd been up to see that," I said ruefully.

"I don't know, it was dicey down there in the hold. The chief doesn't back down easy." Jenkins mimed yelling energetically and then cocking a shotgun.

"Alright, so what are we doing about Saren and the Geth?" The freeze out, supposedly for my own good, was really getting to me. Knowing the story but being utterly unable to influence events wore thin quickly.

"I don't know everything, but I'm pretty sure we're on our way to Feros. The Commander's been stopping off at each relay to collect local comm. traffic, that's how we found this compound, but we're definitely headed Galactic West."

Feros, that means the Thorian, and the Cipher. Sure hope I'm cleared for duty before then.

"Thanks Rick, they haven't told me anything down here." Jenkins looked decidedly uncomfortable. Badmouthing his superiors was definitely not the way to go. "I know, it's for my own good, low stress and all that, but really, it's more stressful not knowing."

"I know, man, that's the life of us grunts. Speaking of which, I have to get back to my duties. Hold in there." He got up and left the medbay. I rolled over to face the ceiling.

"Don't look so glum, Mr. Liddle," Dr. Chakwas said. She rose from her desk with her daily short tray laden with a little paper cup and a glass of water. "Most of the crew on this ship would give their right arm to get some bed rest when there's a siege operation in progress. Some have given their right arm." She placed the tray down on the small fold out table.

"Most of the crew probably don't get called 'Sleeping Beauty' in the mess hall." I downed the two pills in the paper cup and chased it with the water. "But thanks, Doc. I guess I could have it worse." Doctor Chakwas had a way of making your problems seem small. Likely from years of practice providing healthcare to malingering sailors and patching up broken marines.

"Let them jabber," Chakwas replied, "besides, I have good news for you. That was the last dose of your regimen. I'm clearing you for shipboard duty as of this morning."

I felt my spirits buoy. An escape from the confines of the medbay. And... "Does this mean I can return to duty, go back on the next mission?" My voice must have carried more hope than warranted, because the good doctor gave me an exasperated look.

"I'm afraid not. Light ship duties only, and don't even think about trying to appeal it to the Commander. I shall know if you do, and Shepard knows better than to double guess my medical orders." She fixed me with her best stern gaze. "Now, be off with you, and count yourself lucky I didn't choose to keep you another week for observation. The human brain clearly wasn't designed to interface with that beacon, and going in and stirring the pot with Doctor T'Soni was dangerous. Reckless even."

"Are you sure I can't tag along? I'd just be driving."

"Absolutely not. Now, this conversation is over unless you're volunteering to extend your bed rest."

That broke me, and I was forced to retreat from the medical center with mutterings of 'bedside manner' on my breath. Quietly, of course. One did not raise Doctor Chakwas' ire lightly. So it was back to the barracks, checking and cleaning gear I wasn't going to use. Every now and again a big headache would hit, nothing unbearable, but increasingly annoying. With most of the marines planetside and the crew attending to their duties, the barracks were pretty empty.

After every bit of kit had been inspected, polished, and set back in its place, I passed through the mess to see if anything had been left out. The slim pickings really only served as a light snack, but after a week of infusion, it was good to get some real food again.

"Mind if I sit?"

"Sure thing, Tali," I answered without even looking up. That voice was pretty unmistakable. "What brings you up to the crew deck?"

"The same as you." She rattled a small pack of brightly colored ovals. "I would offer you some, but, you know."

"Hmm, yeah, I'm good with the whole not burning in agony thing. So, find anything new and exciting out about the engines?"

"Nothing new today, I think Engineer Adams is getting tired of me always asking questions." The quarian shook her head slightly.

"I'm sure he's just getting used to someone who knows more about ships than he ever will." I chuckled.

"Pehaps." Tali sounded happier with this explanation. "So, how's your head?"

"Fine," I lied, "I don't see why everyone's making such a big deal about it."

"Yeah, you only almost went into a coma," Tali chided, "no reason for us to worry or anything."

"Well I didn't," I finished lamely. There was a sudden burst of noise from the elevator. Several marines limped their way over to the medbay, supported by their comrades. At the back of the line was Corporal Steiner. She noticed me and came over.

"You guys take some hits down there?" I motioned towards the string of soldiers.

"Yeah, I guess Actus got tired of being pinned down in one place. Came out guns blazing. We took him out though. The Commander's still doing a sweep for that Krogan's armor."

"Deputy Liddle, you're up and about." Alenko approached the table. "How's the head?"

"It's fine." I said through gritted teeth.

"Well good, if it starts bugging you again, I've got a few tips for dealing with headaches. Corporal." He nodded towards the other marine. Steiner gave a lazy salute, which Kaiden seemed to accept. "The Commander will be up soon."

It was a while before the Commander emerged. Her armor was nicked and scoured, a thin stream of blood trickling from a cut on her forehead. She broke away from Garrus and came over to our table.

"My head's fine, Commander." I said before she could start talking.

"Wasn't going to ask," said Sheppard, "Dr. Chakwas tells me you're asking to be cleared for missions."

"Yes, I want to contribute to the mission," I said honestly.

"You have contributed, your visions are still our best bet at finding Saren."

"Yes, but…"

"No buts, we'll talk about this later. If you're really concerned about contributing, go talk to Pressley about finding a place on the duty roster."

"Yes ma'am."


Later turned out to be the next day. We were underway again. Rumor had it that we had already received another mission from the fleet.

"Deputy. I wanted to talk."

I whirled to find the Commander behind me. "Alright," I said.

"Walk with me." We walked a slow loop towards the cargo elevator. "I just wanted to let you know, I understand how you feel about being sidelined. I've been there, after the Blitz. They pinned a medal on my chest and sat me out. I was so mad; I wanted to get right back in there, just like you. I'm going to tell you what Captain Anderson told me back then; stick it out. I know from your perspective we're holding you back, but you can do more good for the team by resting up until you're ready to give 110% than rushing back onto the field and getting yourself killed."

I nodded, "Thanks Commander, I understand."

Shepard smiled. "Good. You've got potential, Liddle, don't ruin it by overstraining yourself."

The Commander was right, of course. The headaches still hit pretty regularly, which on the battlefield could be deadly. I spent the rest of the day looking for ways to influence events outside of simply going down on missions. A flash of insight hit. I ran off to find Tali. I found the quarian engineer talking to Dubyansky.

"Hey Tali, could I talk to you in private?" the two gave me strange looks.

"Um, yeah, I guess." Tali said. "Hold that thought Alexei, I'll be back." She followed me back to the hold. I checked to make sure no one was in earshot.

"Michael, what is this about?"

"Alright, say I wanted to send a message to Alliance command, or a specific Admiral, but I don't want it traced back to me, or the Normandy. Theoretically, of course."

"Well, theoretically, you could set up a program to dump the message into a comm buoy with some code to hold it for about a week, that's how long it takes for the buoys to dump their tracking data to prevent overflow. After that the message could shoot off and the furthest they could track it would be the buoy you dropped it in. But why do you ask? What are you up to?"

"If I told you, would you help me out? It's important."

"Maybe," Tali sounded nervous, "Tell me what you're doing."

May as well.

"It's about the Thresher Maw, back on Edolus. Something didn't seem right, so I did some digging. It's happened before, on Akuze. Same M.O., marines responded to a distress call, Thresher attacked, and the whole thing covered up."

"You should tell Shepard about this," Tali said.

"I can't, this whole thing stinks of an inside job. The Commander's a Spectre, she has to make full report to the Council and the Alliance, there's too much chance for interception."

Tali mulled this over. Eventually she started to speak. "Alright, I'll help you, but I don't like this. Shepard did both of us a huge favor when she took us aboard. She put a lot of trust in us that a lot of captains wouldn't even contemplate. I don't want to betray that trust."

"Thanks Tali. I promise, once the right people have been warned, I'll tell the Commander everything. I get it. We're both lucky to be here. Trust me, I don't want to ruin that any more than you do."

"You better. I have to get back to Alexei, we'll talk later." I watched the Quarian leave. I left for the barracks. Once there, I set about drafting a warning to Admiral Kohoku. In the game, there was no chance to save him, but here I had a chance. A couple of hours and many revisions later, I had what I hoped would be an adequate warning.

Admiral,

I know that you are investigating the events on Edolus. You have no doubt discovered the connection to Akuze, and to Cerberus. I want to warn you. Cerberus knows about your investigation, and they won't let you continue. You have to find somewhere to hide, somewhere they won't find you.

-yellowjacket

I looked at the signature. Hopefully the Admiral would draw the connection to Cerberus' black and yellow and believe I was some Cerberus insider. The doors to the crew berths opened with a swish. Dubyansky came in, accompanied by Tali. The two were deep in conversation. As they passed my bunk, Tali slipped me an optical disk. I loaded it up on my Omni-tool. The program looked like the Omni-tool's default text processor, but in the usual 'send' function's place was a simple black box. I copied over the message and addressed it. The text was replaced with the word 'sent.' I deleted the original message, no reason to leave any evidence.

Another task ticked off my list. Perhaps being sat on the bench wouldn't be so unproductive after all. That just left one thing. Shepard's words were still echoing in my head as I climbed the curving stairs up to the Normandy's command deck. Which each step, I felt a little less sure of myself. Since coming aboard, the crew deck had been my home, the cargo hold the closest equivalent to my workspace. This unbidden breach into officer country felt somehow wrong. Maybe it was the way the marines around me treated being called 'upstairs.' Maybe it was the way going to talk to Navigator Pressley in his domain below the glare of the holotank felt uncomfortably like interrupting one of my professors while they were lecturing.

By the time I'd finished my ascent, my heart was hammering. And not just from nerves. A week of bedrest and I was already back to college slob fitness. I'd have to find a quiet place to do some jumping jacks. But exercise could come later. This afternoon, I was on a mission. The doors swished open, letting out the roiling noise of the ship's underway chatter. The frigate must have been at all hands for the combat operation down on Tuntau, because every station was filled. Luckily for my courage, no one looked up at me as I stepped out onto the bridge. Pressley himself was bent over his station with a datapad in his hand, thankfully alone. I took a deep breath, let it out, steeled my nerves, and walked forwards.

"Excuse me, XO," I said slowly, very careful not to let my voice quaver.

"Can I help you, Deputy?" the Navigator replied, not looking up from his plotter. From my vantage point, it looked like he was hard at work setting our next course.

"I was, well I was thinking." Pressley looked up, fixing me with a piercing stare. I swallowed on a suddenly dry throat. Come on, Liddle, get a hold of yourself. "What I meant to say was, I want to join the duty roster. You know, pitch in since the Commander has let me tag along..." I drifted off.

"Pitch. In." Pressley intoned. It didn't sound like a question, but I felt compelled to answer the statement.

"Yeah, you know, like helping out around the ship. I don't want to be a freeloader. And I figured, since other passengers like Tali were helping out in the engine room, maybe I could join the duty roster like the other marines." That it was mostly to get them to stop teasing me was left unsaid.

"Okay, Liddle, let's see," Pressley said, unbending to his full height. He swept up his datapad and started thumbing through whatever was displayed on the far side. I let hope well up inside me. "The duty roster. Let's start with the maintenance division. Are you cleared to check the interior or exterior hull for microfractures?"

My hope diminished, along with my smile. "I, uh, no sir."

"Okay, scratch that off the list. Do you know how to safely scrub the life support filters?"

"No sir."

"I see. Maybe maintenance isn't for you. Let's try the Mess Section. Have you ever completed training on the preparation of Alliance regulation shipboard provisions? Or run an M-313 military sanitizer?"

"No sir," I replied. My cheeks started to burn. Fortunately, the dedicated bridge crew remained professionally locked to their stations.

"Security, perhaps? No, I don't see the necessary clearance or training in your file. Same for bridge watch, engineering, medical. Frankly, Deputy Liddle, I do not see a single qualification here for a spot on the duty roster of an active duty posting. And, I have no one spare to train a total novice. This ship runs, Deputy, because every member of the crew was carefully selected to be here. There is no waste, there is no slack. And there is no space for untrained civilians trying to 'pitch in.' You want my advice, you keep out of my crew's way and run off back to the cargo bay to dream up new and creative ways to break our ground transport. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir." I spun on my heel and bit my tongue. I marched stiffly to the doors back down to the safety of grunt country. The marine on station at the door offered me a sympathetic look, but I was sure that the tale of my dressing down would make the rounds before long. The burning embarrassment did not disperse until I was safely cocooned in my bunk for the night, at which point I was too tired to dwell on it further.


The next morning, we arrived over the planet Klendagon. The Commander called us all to the meeting room for a briefing.

"I know you've all heard the rumors. I want to clear up everything right now. There's a situation down on the planet that Admiral Hackett needs taken care of, there's a commune of biotics led by a former Major Kyle. Our intel suggests that the Major is abusing his position, and has turned this commune into a cult. Alliance negotiators sent in have disappeared. The Admiral wants this dealt with quietly since Kyle is a veteran of Torfan, so this doesn't leave here, understood?" We all agreed. "Good, now I'm going to take down a small team, Alenko, you're an officer and a biotic, and Williams will accompany me in the Mako. Garrus, I need you to drive." She fixed me with a look, as if to quell any protest. I made none, if things went sour, I really didn't want to be in a compound full of angry biotics.

"I'll make the preparations immediately." Garrus turned and left the room in a hurry.

"Do we have any other intel?" Kaidan asked, "What drove the Major to do this?"

"Alliance psychologists seem to agree that Major Kyle suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, though they didn't realize the scope until he disappeared with a handful of disturbed followers and started calling himself 'Father Kyle.'"

"That's it? He's just crazy? That's the best they could come up with?" Kaidan didn't look happy with the prognosis.

"The fighting on Torfan was brutal, I've seen people come back messed up from much less." Ashley chimed in. "Sometimes they just can't handle it."

"Any other questions?" Shepard asked. "No? Dismissed." The team shuffled out. I found myself at the back of the bunch.

"Michael?" I stopped and turned to face the Asari. "I hoped I could talk to you. About the visions." She shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"Yeah, alright. What's up?"

"I don't think I properly apologized for the pain I put you through. I want you to know that it wasn't my intention to have you sidelined."

"Wasn't your fault, I was the one who leapt in front of the beacon in the first place."

"Yes, I heard you pulled one of the marines out of the beacon's path. That was very brave of you."

"Yeah, a lot of good that did me." I said half-heartedly. "I'm starting to regret jumping into the beacon at all; I should have pulled away when I had the chance."

"Really? I find it fascinating," Liara responded, "You were marked by the beacon on Eden Prime; you were touched by working prothean technology."

Now this sounds familiar.

"It sounds like you want to dissect me in a lab or something." I said, following the script. Liara's face went wide with shock.

"What? No, I didn't mean to insinuate… I didn't mean to offend you, Michael, I only meant that you would be an interesting specimen for an in-depth study. No, that's worse."

"Hey, relax, I was just teasing. I'd be happy to talk about the Protheans with you, you know, without the brain…thing."

"Oh no, I'm afraid I'd bore you. I've only really spoken about the Protheans in academic circles. It's all very dry." She looked away.

"Dr. T'Soni, I've got a message from a long dead race wound up in my brain. You're one of the leading experts on this long dead race. That message isn't going anywhere, so I might as well try to understand it."

"I wouldn't say leading expert." Liara said shyly, "But you make a good point. All right, I'll tell you whatever you want to know, on one condition."

"What condition would that be?"

"Call me Liara, only the Matriarchs at the university called me 'Dr. T'Soni.' I've been staying in the lab behind the medbay if you want to talk now."

"Alright, Liara, lead the way."

It didn't take long to realize that Liara wasn't just obsessed with the Protheans, she idolized them. It was kind of sad actually, knowing what massive jerks the Protheans would turn out to have been. Liara talked at length about the ruins she had found, her work trying to translate the prothean language, and some of her wilder theories on why the all died out.

"Although I suspect that I'll have to admit that I was wrong to the University if these Reapers actually show up." She said at the end of her theory that the Protheans had undergone a massive civil war.

"Hopefully, we'll never have to find out," I said, "If the message is anything to go by, the Reapers took the Protheans down hard."

"Yes." Liara looked over to the clock on her desk. It read 4:30 ship time. "Oh, it's so late. I won't keep you any longer." We both stood.

"No, no, it was definitely time well spent."

"Perhaps we can do it again some time. Your theory that the Protheans were actually a multi-species empire was certainly worth looking into. Goodnight, Michael."

"Night." I slipped out through the medbay. A few marines lay snoring on the berths. I was careful not to wake Dr. Chakwas. The night watch eyed me critically as I made my way back to the barracks. Opening the door elicited a few annoyed groans and more than a few snickers. I rolled thankfully into my bunk and went straight to sleep.