"You know….. God got a sense of humor too….. It's sick as fuck…. But that motherfucker got one. He operates in weird ways, but I have long since started sensing when something will go down. The SSV Normandy was no exception."
4/4 2183
Citadel ambassades
The human ambassador Donnel Udina sat at his desk in his office, looking over the reports of several alliance soldiers. Sitting in front of Udina was Hackett and Anderson, they had been discussing possible human candidates for the Spectres. They had been through a dozen different folders at least, but Hackett and Anderson had turned them all down. They had one specific man in mind. Udina took the next report lying on the table and skimmed the text.
"Well what about Mads Romanov? Earth-born but no records of his past or upbringing" Said Udina, he was impressed by the file in front of him.
"It's an alliance secret, but he was raised to be one of the best" Said Anderson with pride in his voice.
"He proved himself during the blitz, singlehandedly held of enemy forces until reinforcement arrived" Hackett added.
"He is the only reason the colony is still standing" Anderson said, it was clear they were pushing for Romanov to be the candidate.
"We can't question his courage" Udina said.
"And his skill" Anderson said.
"I'll make the right paperwork then." Udina dismissed Hackett and Anderson, and quickly got to work on getting the right permissions. A task that was no match for someone of his power.
9/4 2183
St. Petersburg, Russia.
Mads groaned as the ring tone of his omni-tool went off by his bedside. The hangover was already in full effect as Mads moved his arm to grab the damn thing. He heard someone shift beside him, and quickly looked over to see a pretty little thing still sound asleep. He tried to remember the night before, but his mind refuses to cooperate. He coughed a few times as he gave fire to his cigarette. He finally answered the call. A small hologram of Anderson appeared, looking mighty disappointing.
"Romanov! I have been trying to get hold of you for 3 hours! What the fuck have you been doing?" He asked.
Mads looked at the clock and saw it was a little over noon. He took a drag of his cigarette, before he tried to answer in a raspy voice.
"You have been out drinking again, haven't you?" Anderson asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"I thought soldiers were allowed to do what they wanted on their leave." Mads replied, and his voice was quite hoarse.
"Jesus fucking Christ. -" Anderson was interrupted from the woman sleeping on the other side of Mads' bed. "Can you turn down the volume a bit?" She asked in an irritated tired voice.
Anderson simply shook his head in a 'I fucking knew it' motion. "Go take a shower." Mads ordered. "Fine." She replied, once again annoyed.
"What's up Anderson." Mads finally asked.
"Big news. We have transferred your ass to a new ship. The SSV Normandy, top secret stuff, I'll tell you more when you get to Vancouver." Anderson answered.
"Vancouver?" Mads asked confused.
"Yes, that's where we are docked right now. Your ass better be here by the 16th or there will be trouble. The alliance will pay for the flight fee." Anderson ordered.
"The 16th? I thought I was on leave until the 25th, or did I misunderstand that?" Mads asked in a really tired voice.
"New orders. Get your sorry ass moving." Anderson said, and promptly closed the call. Mads groaned loudly at the new information. He could hear the shower running in the background. He went over to the window and rolled the curtains away. The sun blinded him, and annoyed his sensitive eyes to no end. Mads quickly finished his cigarette and put it out in the ashtray. He went over to the fridge, and pulled out the morning essentials, a protein bar and a bottle of beer. With a quick smash over the counter, the bottle cap yielded. He gulped it down greedily.
"Stay strong pal, we got a long way to go." Mads said as he patted the spot his liver was located. He sat down in the couch and turned on the TV, but hardly payed any attention to it. He took another sip of the beer as the door to the bathroom opened.
The woman (Mads couldn't remember her name) looked around the apartment for something. Finally she asked: "Have you seen my ear rings?"
"Doll, I can hardly keep my own balance right now." Mads replied as he took another sip of the beer.
"Nice tattoos by the way." She remarked as she searched endlessly for the ear rings.
"Thanks." Mads swiftly replied.
"Are they omni-tattoos?" She asked.
"No, it's real ink. Something most people are too pussy to do nowadays." He answered.
"But it also means that they are permanent." She added.
"True, which makes them mean more." He said.
"So I'm guessing that this is one time thing?" She asked, changing subject.
"I'm going back on active duty in a week. I'm hardly the most stable contact." Mads replied. She chuckled.
"Just know, I greatly enjoyed our night together." With that statement, Mads really regretted not remembering her name. She finally found her ear rings and bid him farewell. Mads let out a large sigh as he relaxed back into the couch.
16/4/2183
Alliance Dry dock, Vancouver.
It was raining as Mads stepped out of the cab. He quickly paid the bill and sent the cab driver on his way. The docks in Vancouver were big to say the least, and the city was quite a beauty to behold as well. He quickly cleared his way through security with a flash of his ID and walked towards the hangar Anderson had disclosed to him. He found it after some searching, and quickly went inside to escape the rain.
It was huge in there, and when he saw the vessel that they called 'The SSV Normandy' he could see why Anderson said it was a nice vessel. The shape, and the general size seemed quite fitting. Granted, it was not the largest ship out there, it was a frigate after all, but it still looked like a good ship. After watching over the eye candy for a bit, Mads saw Anderson approaching out of the corner of his eye.
"Glad to see you finally arrive." Anderson greeted.
"Yeah, took some time to convince security at the border that this was my service weapon." Mads replied as he patted the holster that hosted his 44. Magnum.
Anderson hummed in agreement. "Yeah, they are pretty strict about that." He remarked. "You like what you see so far?" Anderson asked.
"It's a nice sight, but why the smoke and mirrors?" Mads asked back.
"She is top secret. She is a project we have been working on for quite some time…. With the Turians." Anderson answered.
"You mean to tell me you got the birds to play all friendly? Okay, I'll bite, what is the reason for the secretary?" Mads continued his row of questions.
"The answer lies in the drive core design. It is capable of state-of-the-art stealth, becoming 'invisible'."
"Hold the phone, what are you on about?"
"It can store the energy the drive core admits in heat sinks, and thereby avoiding detection by other ship's scans. They Normandy wouldn't be cloaked, they would still be able to see it through a window, but in the vast emptiness of space, that doesn't count for much. But it can fool all scans tools the enemy might have for a few hours." Anderson explained.
"I'm not gonna pretend to understand any of that, but it sounds mighty useful. But, what is my role here? You never did clarify that." Mads asked.
"Well, since you were promoted to Commander, I would think the title as Executive Officer would be quite fitting." Anderson replied.
"Really?" Anderson nodded. "Okay, that's rather cool. Let's go meet your crew, Captain." Mads remarked.
"With pleasure." Anderson replied.
They entered the ship, they were still doing some repairs on it. Fitting in the last details. The baby had already had its fair share of test runs. The interior design was certainly not human by nature, but Mads would give it the benefit of the doubt for now. The walked to the cockpit, where a man was endlessly typing away at several consoles.
"Commander Romanov, this is Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau." Anderson introduced, the pilot didn't even look back.
"Nice to meet you." Mads held out his hand, but the pilot was too busy typing in commands.
"Call me Joker, everyone else does." He replied swiftly.
"Okay." Mads replied, a sour taste formed in his mouth, but he ignored it. Before Mads could leave, Joker called out. "By the way, where are your wings?"
"What do you mean?" Mads asked confused.
"The red eagle. Don't tell me you are not some mythical creature." Joker replied, Mads looked at him confused.
"He is fucking with you." Anderson clarified.
"Ahhh, I see. Well Joker, my wings only unfold to those who truly believe in the myth." Joker laughed at that, Anderson joined in as well.
"Come on, let's meet the others." Anderson ordered.
The met several interesting people as they passed along. A lot of them were career veterans, who had a lot of experience in the field, which made things more comfortable. It was clear that the Normandy was made to be a success story, which could be paraded around. Which was probably why Mads was there as well, a decorated war hero.
Mads spoke with Dr. Chakwas, and found her to be a good doctor. She seemed to know her stuff, and the English accent would probably help ease the nerves, should he ever wind up there. Kaiden seemed like a good kid as well, but he had some emotional baggage he dragged around. Guess they could bond over shared trauma, should Mads ever feel like slipping what happened to him, which he did not plan on.
He was introduced to his sleeping pod, which looked less than comfortable, but it saved space. Although Mads had envisioned himself in the navy when he was a lad, he grew out of that dream and found being in the army a lot more comfortable, but the logo on his paycheck read 'Alliance Navy', so this was the reality he found himself in.
After that, Anderson left. Mads went to his personal locker to take the things out of his luggage. It included several things personal to him. A pocket bible from when he confirmed his Christian faith, a photo album he had recovered from the currently living Romanov family. There were other books and such, but he noticed his omni-tool was ringing, so he packed the rest up quick.
"Mr. Romanov, just wanted you to know your prediction was correct. The recent reveal of the new lines of products has sky rocketed the stock of Defetic industries. How do you do it?" Not many people knew it, but Mads had started a company in his free time. It was kept real hush-hush, considering it was not allowed by Alliance rules. The main purpose was stock advice, since Mads found the current market very easy to predict.
"A gut feeling. Did you buy into them like I requested?" Mads asked. The hologram nodded. It was the managing director.
"I did indeed. Do you wish to sell now?" The man asked back.
"No, give it 3 days, then sell. Transfer the usual amount to my account." Mads ordered.
"Understood, do you have an E.T.A on when you come back?" The man asked.
"Not at the moment now. I suspect three months, but we'll see. Scout the stocks and updates of the ExoGeni Corporation, and give me feedback by the end of the week." Mads requested.
"You got it boss. I'll be in touch." The call was ended, and Mads smiled to himself. No one could complain about the amount of credits in his bank account, but this was his way of using that education he got. A little capitalism never killed anyone.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that pal. Doesn't change what you have done.
Another side effect. Weather it was PTSD or his brain backstabbing him, Mads did not know. But he had been hearing voices every now and then. Sometimes he could pinpoint the voices to people he once knew, other times he couldn't. His dreams were not safe either. He couldn't recall having a good night's sleep in a long time.
Mads shook himself out of it. He didn't want to dwell on it now. There were bigger things coming. His gut feeling had never let him down before, so he would almost always follow it by instinct. Things were about to change, something would happen. Only time would reveal what that would be.
"I consider myself a prime example of someone who got fucked over. The Normandy was just the beginning, and it would mark a new chapter in everyone's life. Rich or poor, good or evil. It didn't matter. This time, everyone was fucked."