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I honestly never expected Liara to ask to me write one of these bullshit chapters… But here I am writing one of them. I guess you could say it was jealousy but I doubt it. I'm just that irresistible... That's a lie.
I'm not a good person and never will be… But I try to be better. Every single day and I guess that's why she asked me to write this. Not because I survived but because I came out a better person...
Aedon is a good man. Who saw something in me that I never thought I would see in myself but he saw it. Through either his experience or faith he saw it and I will never be more thankful.
This chapter is dedicated to the moment in which he began to right my path. To change the die I had cast; to make me a better person.
-Excerpt from The Chronicles of the Normand, Guest Author Jack
*POV: AeTorch*
When we left the Citadel I couldn't help but feel at least a little sad. Only because Iris wasn't here with me; having her with me for over a year really made her imprint on me. Not having her around the Ship felt… empty. Like it wasn't meant to be without her. That being said I spent my time working on my guns and eating when I could.
Still, this did not stop the crew from approaching me at times. Most of them were annoying for no reason and the others just observed. It pissed me off at times as I wanted to just enjoy the silence I had to myself but they wouldn't let me. At least when I called Tali I didn't get any interruptions. From what I could tell she was on another Top Secret mission for the Admirality. At least she answered my call; as short as it was, it was nice to talk to her.
However, that was the most peace I've had in the last couple of days. We had been traveling for four days and I still had no idea where we were going. Shepard hadn't told me anything and when I tried to hack Miranda's omni-tool to see what was going on EDI blocked me. Not something that I appreciated in the slightest but it was a part of her protocols so I couldn't really blame her.
As for everything else that's happened in those four days it amounts to mostly nothing. However, Jack and I have butted heads on several occasions. She liked causing as many problems as she possibly could when she went out of her little hidey hole. For either her own entertainment or because she hated everyone here I didn't know but it was grating on my nerves.
I've tried to talk to her a couple of times with absolutely nothing to show for it with both her attitude and how she was treating everyone. I abandoned that course pretty quickly all things considered and pointed Shepard at her. As much as I wanted to beat her down it wasn't going to happen outside of the sparing ring; as she was right now she was a waste of my time and energy.
Still, that didn't stop me from trying. I don't know what it was but I saw myself in her. Someone who was angry at the galaxy for the hand the galaxy dealt them and screaming out against it. For some reason, maybe it was because I knew she could be better from the games or I truly believed, but I kept on trying to get to her. Though, I was going incredibly hard on her without any plus side, that was a mistake but it didn't stop me from trying to make her better.
With that down the drain I've just been training and maintaining my equipment when I could. When I wanted to spar too I would either spar with Shepard or Garrus but the exception was today apparently. As I jumped into the ring in the cargo bay to progress into our usual spar Garrus was grabbed from behind and roughly thrown out of the ring.
My immediate concern was to see if Garrus was okay and he gave me a feeble thumbs up from where he laid on the ground. Taking that as a good sign I looked to who had replaced him. In his spot stood Jack, sporting a pissed off visage and looked to be baying for blood. Guess this was her time to prove to herself she was better, too bad it wouldn't happen.
"I'm gonna beat your ass you piece of shit," she snarled at me. I didn't respond to her at all besides readying myself for a fight. If she wanted to be schooled in close quarters combat than I was more than happy to be her teacher.
Barely a second after she made her declaration she charged at me with her right hand raised to deliver a devastating right hook. Something that I simply raised my left hand and guided around me with minimal effort before punching her in the throat and kicking her in the stomach. She stumbled backwards a few feet before regaining herself and standing defiantly against me.
Jack might have been the most powerful biotic in the entire galaxy but she was still an amateur at fighting. She relied so heavily on her biotics to overpower her opponenats that anyone who could reliably counter them would destroy her. That's not even to me either; Garm and other experienced biotics could definitely do it if they were in a fight against her. Though, Garm was dead now so he didn't particularly count.
She snarled at how I adverted her attacked before coming at me fervently. I simply dodged around her fists and guided them around me when I could, her coordination was trash. When I saw her start to get tired I retaliated without remorse and unleashed a barrage on both her stomach and joints. Starting at her knees and working my way up until I reached her face and clocked her across it.
To her credit Jack shot straight up after I deliver that combo but I wasn't about to let her rest. As soon as she shot back up my fist was waiting for her and it caught her right in the middle of her eyes. For those of you who don't know there is a nerve cluster there and hitting it will put anyone out. So when I put a good amount of effort into that punch and hit exactly what I was aiming for she got knocked the fuck out.
As she laid on the ground I grabbed the middle of her bra strap and dragged her to the edge of the ring before depositing her out of it. Once I did that Garrus jumped back into the ring only to be biotically thrown out of it again. He didn't utter a sound as he was thrown out but I could tell from his face that he was absolutely done with it.
Who replaced him was again Jack who woke up from her impromptu nap. She didn't bother saying anything this time and just stared daggers at me again. Still, she rushed me believing that her biotics would save and she introduced a few combos I had a little trouble blocking. That being said I simply jumped out of her range before countering back at her.
I was brutal in my counter attack and hit every single possible pressure poing on her body starting from her ankles all the way up. Starting that low opened me up from a counter from her but I just powered through it. Jack was an especially powerful biotic but when her concentration was disrupted by pain she just swung blindly. I honestly expected more from her; it was disappointing.
"Is this really the best you have to offer Jaquelyn. I expected more from the infamous Jack," I mocked her and it had the desired effect. She got back up and immediately charged me with reckless abandon. A simple dodge and shoulder throw and she was back on the ground where I punched her in the stomach knocking the wind completely out of her. Hitting her across the face to daze her again I pinned her arms before leaning down and whispering into her left ear.
"Power means nothing without control," I then decked her across the face again and she was efficiently knocked out this time. She may have been the most powerful biotic in the galaxy at the moment but that meant nothing to me and would mean nothing against other experienced biotics. Power can only get you so far.
Grabbing her again I threw her out of the ring and again Garrus joined me in the ring. However, this time he was joined by Shepard and Miranda. All three of which gave me shit eating grins telling me all I needed to know. They were planning on beating the crap out of me for humilities sake at the very least. Though I suspect it was more personal for Miranda.
That being said when they came at me it became abundantly apparent that Shepard was only really needed. I've gotten better in the last couple years for hand to hand but Shepard hadn't missed a single step after waking back up. The man was a machine and made me feel like a child when I fought him. Not to mention that both Garrus and Miranda got in on it as well. It wasn't even a fight, they kicked my ass.
Once they were done putting me through a clinic Shepard helped me up and announced that training for the day was over. He was taking Jack and Miranda on a mission, one that he confided in me should be a milkrun.
So with that I spent the rest of the day chilling in my room working on my weapons and maintaining them. That was the plan at least until Mordin barged in about two hours in and demanded to have more blood for testing. Seeing nothing against it I let him have some more blood. Still, wouldn't tell me what exactly he was testing it for which was annoying but he promised to let me know once he was sure he was right.
An hour after that Joker decided to do some crazy ass maneauvers with the ship, all of which I was unprepared for. Subsequently I got thrown about my room; as did my weapons. Which did not please me in the slightest. After I made sure my weapons hadn't been damaged I stormed up to the cockpit ready to tell him off at least a little. However, when I got there I got to see him looking at another erupting volcano.
"Two for two huh," I spoke out loud to him. He didn't even bother turning around to respond.
"You know it."
I left him to do his work and made my way back to my room. On my way there though I passed by Miranda as she stepped out of the elevator. Her hair was frayed in every direction and she looked thoroughly pissed off. Mumbling about never riding with Shepard driving again. I chuckled and went to the cargo hold. Sitting in it was the Hammerhead, the floating Mako. It looked cool, not gonna lie.
The next day when I was eating my breakfast Jack stormed up to me and looked like she wanted to start a fight. However, before she could do so Shepard's voice came over the PA system and told everyone to meet in the briefing room. Upon hearing that she snarled in frustration before turning to me.
"This isn't over," and then walked away. I just shook my head and put my food away, she really needed to learn to control herself.
After I put my food away I made my way to the briefing room where everyone was already situated and waiting. As soon as I walked in Garrus and Shepard gave me nods, no one else acknowledged my presence. Once I sat down Shepard started the briefing by looking to Miranda and gave her the go ahead to start.
"A Cerberus research base has gone dark. Reasons as to why it has gone dark are still unknown but from what I do know the base was researching the Geth and how they communicated. It's very possible that the Geth found out about it and are in the process of destroying and pilfering it."
"Why should we give a shit about this base? The Geth have nothing to do with us," Jack sneered out at Miranda. Miranda scowled in response and went to respond but Shepard beat her too it.
"Because the Geth worked with the Reapers and it's probable that they still are, in at least some capacity. Whether you or I like it we'll need that research from the base and at the very least there may still be survivors. Our job will be to get in and recover any data we can; anything we recover will be sent back to the Alliance, not Cerberus," Shepard stated resolutely. Miranda looked like she wanted to argue that last point but decided not to and continued the brief.
"We don't know the force we're walking too but the most likely scenario is that we'll be facing Geth. If it isn't them it's pirates. Regardless we'll be entering the area at three separate points all dropped off from the Normandy. Whoever took over the base put it into lock down before doing anything, the distress call was able to get at least that out before they were cut off," the board turned on showing four separate points on the map.
Our names then popped on the three separate points surrounding the one in the middle. Shepard was with Garrus and Jacob, Miranda was with Zaeed and Kasumi and finally it was just Jack and myself. I sighed at the sight, this would be a headache, I could already tell. Plus I couldn't remember anything about this mission, wonder if it was from the game.
"Shepard, Myself and Wynne will be the team leaders for this mission until we regroup with the Hammerhead dropped off with jobs will be to manually release the lockdown of the base at these locations. Each key should be located in the control room at each point. After that we'll regroup and Shepard will take the lead. Any questions?" no one had anything to say.
"First drop off will be in three hours. Aedon and Jack will be first, then Miranda's team and mine last. You're dismissed," Shepard explained and with that we all left the room.
I grabbed my gear from my room and made my way to where Jack stayed. Getting there she was quietly going over a datapad that, I assumed, had Cerberus documents. However, when I got closer it became apparent from the video playing that it was about me. The video being the one where I drained Garm.
Knocking on the wall and letting the sound reverberate through the area she glanced up from the datapad to look at me. There was no fear in her eyes when she looked to me and instead there was a challenge. She wanted to prove herself to be better than me; to prove that even though I was her most natural counter she could still beat me. It was respectable if it wasn't for the fact that we would need to work as a team.
"Any questions for the mission?" I asked making sure to cut her off before she could say anything. Something she didn't seem to appreciate.
"Just stay out of my way and we'll be fine. I don't need any help," she growled out as she stood up and walked to me. Trying to intimidate me; it didn't work in the slightest.
"Follow my orders and I will," again a snarl from her.
"I take orders from no one. I am not your bitch to order around."
"No, you are not. However, you are under my command for the mission so you will follow my orders until we regroup with Shepard."
"Fuck off," then she stormed passed me and shoulder checked me on the way. I simply sighed before turning and following her. I may have to be more proactive in beating some sense into the woman. This isn't a game, she might actually get someone killed if she isn't careful.
Sighing I followed her to the cargo hold and sat down on one of the crates while she paced around. Watching her pace for a few minutes I shook my head and switched to sitting donw in front of the crate so I could lean my head back. A few minutes later I passed out and woke up a couple hours later when Shepard shook my shoulder as he offered a hand up.
Taking his offered hand he pulled me up to my feet. Shaking off the drowsiness of the nap I did a few stretches and got ready for the mission. Checking over my weapons and gear to make sure everything was ready I gave myself a green light on everything.
Walking over to where Shepard was with his group I tapped on his shoulder and made a motion with my hand. Nonverbally asking how much time was left until I dropped. He responded with two flashes of all five of his fingers. 10 minutes left; nodding I left and walked over to Jack.
"Come, we drop in 10," she gave me a contemptuous look but stood up to follow me.
By the time we got to the edge of the cargo bay the hatch was already starting to drop down. Grabbing a side rail I patiently waited for us to be give the go ahead. Jack did no such thing and stood in the middle of the and stood defiantly in the middle of the room at the edge of the hatch. I made sure Sam was recording.
"Okay, first drop point coming in 30 seconds. Seems like some of the AA has come back online from the base so we won't be staying long, be ready," came Jokers voice over the PA system.
When he was done talking I tightened my grip on the guard rail and patiently waited. Again Jack just stood in the middle of the hatch waiting. Guess she wasn't used to how Joker would pilot in these situations.
Just as I hoped too Joker played Toyko Drift with the Normandy upon getting us to the drop zone. Meaning that everything and everyone that wasn't tied down or bracing got jostled and thrown about, Jack included. She went face first into the ground but was barely able to stop herself from implanting her face in the Normandy. Instead her arms did and she protected herself biotically from any real damage. Entertaining nonetheless though.
Once Joker had stopped I let go of the guardrail and ran to the edge before jumping off to the ground 10 feet below. Upon impact I rolled with landing and brought my gun up in one smooth motion scanning the area. A couple second later Jack impacted the ground behind with a biotic landing sending vibrations through the ground. Great.
Knowing that if there was anyone in the area who hadn't noticed the Normandy had definitely noticed her little landing I sent out a pulse. I got nothing back and grunted before checking the nav point for where we would have to go. It was little over a half mile away.
Looking over to Jack she was looking around the area with a Claymore shotgun in hand. Whistling to get her attention her eyes snapped over to me. Getting her attention I motioned for her to follow me not bothering to check her reaction to that we made our way to the nav point.
We didn't run there, much to Jack's displeasure, but instead made a methodical pace on the way to the point. I didn't know what we were walking into and this was not an environment that favored my usual close quarters weapon tactics. It was a wide open grass planet and if I was being honest reminded me a lot of the plains I would drive by when going to school in my past life.
Grass as far as the eye can see but there were mountains as well lining the edges of our area but they were too steep without any clear perches for snipers so that was nice at the least. As we walked too we passed the occasional animal. Most were four legged things that resembled cows in a way but they weren't in heards and were at least several feet taller than the average cow. They gave us a wide berth whenever we got close.
"Ya know, I don't think I've ever seen this much grass in one area," Jack softly spoke a few feet behind and too my left as we were walking to the destination.
"Been a long time since I have… It's nice," she didn't respond to that and we kept on walking for a few more minutes when I finally saw the place we were supposed to go.
Motioning for Jack to get down to the grass I layed prone hoping she would too. Once I laid down I heard rustling coming from where she had been and turned slightly to see her crawling to me. Opening the radio I told her that I spotted our target and would get close to see if they had any real defenses like turrets or the such that would mess up our day. She didn't exactly like the slow approach but stopped when I pointed out that there was basically no cover for either of us. If there was a turret we'd be screwed.
So I slowly approached by crawling through the grass and examined the outside of the place. When I saw that there were no turrets in the vicinity and radio'd it to Jack I immediately regretted that decision. As all I heard was "finally" and Jack was sprinting past me. Her biotics fueling her the whole way and she ran in a dead sprint at the place.
There were a multitude of problems with what she just did but the one that was glaring to me is that there was no actual security outside the place besides the big ass door blocking the entry. Something Jack took quick care of as by the time she reached the door she had more than enough power and momentum from her biotics to literally tear a whole through the door as a human wrecking ball.
Hell, if I wasn't pissed about losing the element of surprise and sprinting my ass off after her I would've been incredibly impressed at what she just did. Getting to the entrance she created I had to dive out of the way immediately as a rocket flew the entrance. Staying low to the ground I grabbed a grenade with one hand while keeping my other hand on my gun.
Popping up on my knees I instantly spotted some loki mechs and threw a grenade at them. It exploded in the the middle of a group of three but either these ones were incredibly sturdy or I was unlucky. Two of the three fell to the ground while the third stayed upright continuing to fire at Jack without missing a beat. The other two were on the ground with their legs blown off but were crawling their way to me, each firing their gun along the way.
Taking a quick glance around the open room I saw that there were at least 30 other mechs in there and two one YMIR mech in total. Though every single one of them was sporting green facial markings instead of the usual red. Plus, all of them seemed lethargic at best. Even with more attention on me now they were almost all missing their shots and the YMIR was focusing on Jack.
Pushing all that out of my mind I brought up my Mattock and started firing. The two crawling towards me were the first to go, a single shot through each head doing the trick. The third one that had been caught in the grenade also took a singular bullet from me before collapsing.
Seeing as the rest of the mechs were starting to notice me it wouldn't be long until I was pinned from sheer force of fire even if it was inaccurate. Either way I had to make a move so I ran into the room and slid into cover next to Jack. She didn't particularly look to be happy seeing me but I didn't much care.
"I had this," she snarled out at me just before a rocket from the YMIR hit our cover and knocked the both of us back.
Getting back to my feet in an instant I grabbed the back of her strap and dragged her over to another piece of cover while firing at the mechs with my off-hand. As soon as we were in cover I let got of her and went to grab another grenade only to stop when Jack jumped up, whirled around hit me dead in the chest with a biotically infused fist. It sent me sprawling backwards throwing me out of cover and I lost the hold on my grenade.
"Never fucking touch me," I heard her growl out and this was not the fucking time for this horse shit.
Discarding the grenade as lost I pulled out another one and threw it into the mechs as I ran for new cover away from Jack. The grenade went off in the middle of five but I didn't bother looking at them and grabbed two more grenades and throwing them around the area at the mechs. The three had a devastating effect on the mechs and ripped a few to shreds but most survived.
When they survived though they were broken pieces of metal crawling towards us. Having the bright idea of trying to get their self destruct to go off I hacked on of the mechs only to get repelled from it after barely a two seconds of having access to its coding. Knowing that wasn't normal for these 'cheap' mechs I attributed it to the green markings. Maybe they had upgraded coding.
Either way I instead just kept firing into as many of them as I could and ignored Jack. Who was doing the best she could but with her shotgun she couldn't do much at a distance and the mechs were still mostly focusing on her. Which meant the more I thinned the heard the easier it would be for her to get to the YMIR and take it out.
I kept firing at the mechs keeping up a near constant barrage on them as they kept trying to close in on Jack and myself. Even though they were tougher they had shit aim and were slow, easy targets to hit. Eventually, after a few minutes of this type of fight there were only 12 total mechs left including the YMIR. Jack took that number as the one she wanted.
Running out of cover she became wreathed in biotic power before charging at the YMIR mech near the wall. I covered her as she ran as best I could and when they all started focusing on her it was really the first time I wished I had a automatic rifle in a long while.
Pushing that out of my mind I kept her covered as best as possible and switched between targets like a man possessed not missing a single shot as I didn't have to worry about return fire. After a few mere seconds all 11 of the mechs had holes blown through the front of their head. Apparently the back of their heads were extremely vulnerable.
I then got to watch take down the YMIR with a few well placed Shockwaves and Warps. She was systematic in the way the did it and to finish it over she ripped it's head off of it with her bare hands. Again, if not for the recklessness of her actions recently I would've been impressed. Instead I quietly walked up to her before grabbing her shoulder, spinning her around and decking her across the face.
She made to get back up but my foot slammed into her chest pinning her to the ground and dazing her as she hit her head. I then leaned down and grabbed her shoulder with my augmetic cutting off her biotics. Not making a sound we stared back and forth between each other; her anger almost palpable and mine was as well.
"I'll say this once Jack. I do not care what you think of me. I do not care what you think of our mission. However, while we are working with Shepard we are a team. We communicate, we work together. We don't go in half cocked without a plan which could've gotten you killed. And most of all we don't hit our teammates in the middle of a fucking firefight. Be thankful no one else from the team was here because if you put any of them in danger… sans Miranda and Jacob, I would've put a bullet in your head instead of having this talk."
"Fuck you," she growled out, a snarl on her face as she raised her head defiantly off the ground.
"Do you understand Jack?" I asked again.
"Fuck yourself, you don't control me. You don't know me," at that I finally snapped. I was fucking sick of her anger and attitude.
I took my augmetic off her shoulder and grabbed her neck with it hoisting the smaller woman up before slamming her into the wall. Ripping my helmet off I stared at her dead in the eyes.
"Don't know you? Don't know you?" I snarled out releasing a cold chuckle with it. "Jack, I was you. And I know exactly what you are. A child screaming out in rage against the galaxy for everything that's happened to you and who refuses to try and better themselves. However, I also know that beneath all that venomous rage after digging within all that malice and anger, lies a broken person wishing to see the light again."
After a few seconds of silence I put my helmet back on and let go of her neck. She dropped to the ground and rubbed her neck for a few seconds before looking at me but didn't say anything. She then brushed past me and went to pick up her shotgun. I watched her the entire way and once she had her shotgun I spoke again.
"C'mon. Let's get to the control room."
I then lead the way through to the door and walked the corridor. The corridor was empty and silent as we walked it. I sent out several pulses looking for any signs that something could be waiting for us. However, nothing came and no one was left. We did find a few bodies that looked like they belonged to the people who worked here. It was hard to tell though, they were all shot to hell.
Glancing back at Jack a few times as we walked she looked like she was thinking. About what I don't know but hopefully on the words I had said to her. I meant them, she'll need help but she'll get it. From me, Shepard, whoever, she's a part of the Normandy now and we always look after our own. No matter what.
Finally reaching the control room nothing was waiting for us as had been the course on our walk. After looking around I found the control switch that unlocked the base for us and hit it. When I did however a face appeared all around us. A green pixelated face but one nonetheless. It seemed eerily familiar but I couldn't place it for the life of me.
It did nothing but scream in some demonic binary before shutting off. When that happened Jack and I exchanged glances before we both shrugged and left the room. It wasn't our problem anymore and we had done our job. I radio'd Shepard and told him as such. Said he would pick us up in the Hammerhead in once he picks up Miranda's group; so about 15ish minutes.
While we waited Jack and I retraced our steps through the corridor before we walked out the hole she had made in the beginning. Once outside I leaned against the the part of the door that she hadn't broken through. Jack sat down crossing her legs and had her shotgun between them.
Almost exactly on time as I guessed we saw the Hammerhead appear a few hundred meters in front of us after about 15 minutes of waiting. Getting up we started walking out to meet them. Shepard, doing his usual driving, stopped by drifting about 10 feet in front of us before popping open the door.
Looking inside I got to see a thoroughly disgruntled Miranda and Kasumi. Zaeed looked indifferent and Jacob looked to be barely holding onto his lunch. I just laughed before gesturing with my head for Jack to get in. She did so without a comment and I piled in behind her.
Time to find out what was happening around here.
There ya go folks. Hope you enjoyed. :)