After the call ended, everything continues smoothly. Briar is asked to use the vacant desk in the shitty CIC, that some nutcase welded into rear end of the bridge. He declines and says that is a spot only suitable for a Commander. Daar can't refuse, because he is still in the middle of his conference with several Admirals over the commlink.
Briar walks along the ship and searches its nicks and hiding places. It is a large ship, but the two, enormous cargo decks are filled with tanks, filled to the brim with Element Zero. Apparently, this is the biggest haul of this stuff since the first excavation operation on Mars. Humanity is developing its military.
According to the Treaty of Faraxin humanity, as a Council species, can now freely build the dreadnoughts, they were planning. They already exist, but the Treaty specified that the dreadnought is about over one kilometer long, and armed with heavy mass effect cannons. Humanity took to building so-called "Ultra-Heavy Cruisers", which are 990 meters long and equipped with intermediate mass effect cannons, heavy railguns, rocket batteries and torpedo tubes. Now according to the new promotion of humanity, the heavy mass effect cannons are installed and new frigates are being constructed according to the Normandy patterns.
When Briar walks through the crew deck, towards the mess hall, he meets the Asari again. They five of them are lost. The eldest is adamant, that they should go left. An Asari with this sniper look, offers in a calm, almost serene voice to go left. The tall Asari is practically roaring about asking the crew for directions, which everyone else in the group outright refuses. Briar taps his cap as he walks past and heads towards the mess hall. For a moment he ponders, whether he should let them get lost, or show the way. Briar decides to show the way. He approaches them again and asks kindly: "Excuse me?" All five Asari scan Briar from head to toe. The tallest catches on first and says: "Yes?" "Are you headed to the mess hall? I have a few questions about your positioning in the guard schedule." The Asari jump at the chance and follow Briar. He brushes ahead and talks over his shoulder, until they reach the mess hall.
Some of the Marines, which are off duty, have gathered around tables. One of the tables directly next to the officers' table is unoccupied. The Asari sit down and wave to the cook. The man is surprised, but returns to his job, without reacting. The oldest Asari mutters: "Bad service. Just bad." Briar smiles and explains: "This is a canteen. You have to go to the counter and pick, what the cook offers." The Asari are confused. "Is that a human thing?", the tallest asks. Hell yeah, it is.
"We do that to spite other species except for the Turians. Their best restaurants are like this."
Briar walks up to the counter. He knows the fat man behind the pot and calls: "Hey, you fat Briarass! This is where you ended up? Couldn't afford to work on a space station, where you fit behind the counter?" The cook looks at Briar and claps back: "I came here to never see your scarred face again. Man! Your voice is as annoying as ever." The cook waves with his giant knife, but drops it and comes around the counter to hug the Briar. The Asari are again surprised.
Most of them have experienced a human greeting before. All of them were very formal or distanced. While Briar and the cook bond over their experiences in the past, the Asari try to communicate the best course of action. The team leader steps up and growls: "We wanted to get some food." The cook looks at her and then laughs: "Do you consume meat? Cause we're fresh out of vegan meals." The fat jolly man uses a light Texan accent, when speaking even a little. The Asari have a hard time understanding, what the overweight human is saying. The apparent seductress is first in understanding and tries her job. She approaches the cook and asks in a warm voice: "What are you making?" The cook reacts on point. He turns bright red and stutters: "I m- made pork for the crew and everyone. Are you interested in the food?" The crew and the marines grin and exchange money for a bet. Most of the Marines are a little disappointed.
Briar looks at the board on the wall. There is a section for bets. The newest is very obvious: How long will it take for the Asari to get one of the officers under their spell. Briar can see his own name. Most of the Marines are placing him second, after the cook. One of the mechanics from the ship's crew has an entire monthly salary running against him.
The Asari are sat down by a flustered 'chef de cuisine' at the table next to the officers'. He actually serves them on plates, while everyone else is stuck using steel trey with dents and scratching in them. The utensils are still the same. It always reminds Briar of how his mom and the other Marines would sit together and how Briar, that unkempt ass from engineering got a knife in his hand after touching the butt of the XO. She just turned around, slammed the trey into his face and when he stumbled and grabbed a table to not fall over, she jabbed the knife through his hand, pinning him to the table. Briar was eight at the time and got to watch all of it. His mom keeps saying that apparently yelled: "Strike!" Actually, Briar forgot that part, because he can clearly remember, how the CO was raising hell afterwards.
The food is good, if one accepts the fact, that the food either has no spices at all or enough to set the stalls on fire afterwards. Today is very bland. The second Lieutenant Commander sits down on the other side of the officer's table, facing Briar. She got herself a full serving. She uses the regular conversation starter on Briar: "So, why do you have two surnames?" Briar looks up and asks: "Huh, oh yeah, that. Jackson is my second name. My mom's maiden name is Mason. She divorced my dad as soon as she found out that she was pregnant with my smart ass. Jackson is, according to her the first name of her grandpa, who I never met in all my time. Why are you asking?" The Lt. Commander looks at her plate and states matter-of-factly: "There are way too many people asking you that, am I right?" Briar laughs: "No. That's not a problem. I am used to people asking that. It's better to ask right away, right? The awkward stares piss me off even more."
The Lt. Commander leans in and asks: "Are you a good shot?" Briar looks up from his food, puzzled. She goes on to explain the question: "I heard about you. You are the only survivor from the moon of Elysium. Heard you're a decent shot, from some report about you on the moon." Briar drops his fork and leans back. Then he looks at her smiling: "You mean the report by Diana Allers? You're one of the few Marines that remembers more than Miss Allers face and her view from the profile. Well, I am no sniper, but I can do with pistols and sub machine guns." She waves with her spoon and asks: "Are you a vanguard? Like with heavy tech armor and all the other stuff?" "Nah, I don't do the biotics part. My mom couldn't afford an amp and there is nothing in it for me. I am a norm after all. My support is a tech armor, and several tech-gadgets. And you? What do you do?" She smiles dryly: "I was trained as an infiltrator. Tried to get into special forces, but failed. So, I stayed a Marine. Easy as that. I heard you disappeared from regular operations." "That stuff is classified. Let's just say, I got to meet a lot of people", Briar answers.
The talk leaves the topic of military career and turns to boring small talk about vacation, gossip and stories from basic training. They both had the same drill instructor.
"The fuck, you draggin' your feet Private?" Briar was on Titan for the first time. He had left the shuttle with his unit, but had stopped to observe the beauty of Jupiter in the sky. A drill instructor, named Gunnery Sergeant Platt caught the recruit and chewed him out for this transgression. In the eyes of the recruits Platt was the meanest man on all of Titan. "Are you marbled? Huh?", the drill instructor bellowed, "Are you Private?"
Briar snapped at attention and yelled at the top of his lungs: "No, sir!" "Well then drop and give me fifty!", the instructor yelled. Briar wanted to drop his pack before doing so, but Platt yelled again: "With the pack, don't drop your stuff, unless specifically ordered to do so." Briar dropped and did his best. He could do almost 200 pushups, without extra weights, but right now the gravity was higher and he was carrying almost 40 kilograms of weight on his back. Briar barely managed 50 pushups, before standing up again and falling in line with the other recruits. He didn't moan at all and from then on did his best to achieve all of the goals in his basic training.
Platt was harsh, but fair. He did his best to train them. Nothing appeared to be done with sadistic intent. Platt always wore the same uniform. It never seemed to get swetty or dirty, no matter what he did with the recruits. Platt even kept his US Marine Corps hat, which he wore everywhere. He even put it on top of his helmet during space drills. That thing was scary. The worst punishments Platt could think of usually started with him throwing that hat.
Platt had only one great weakness: He was a huge fan of the new series: 'The Marine & The Fleet'. The installments of this movie tell the story of a Marine, that was wounded on Shanxi and brought aboard a Turian frigate, where he falls in love with a young female tactical officer.
The third movie hit the cinema during Briar's basic training. Suddenly the crew had an entire evening off. Because they didn't know what to do, Briar and three other recruits left the base, by climbing over the fence and went to the only cinema on Titan. They actually got seats in the premiere of 'The Marine & The Fleet', because one of them knew the owner.
When the four took their seats, they were right next to Gunnery Sergeant Platt. He noticed the four at the end of the movie, when Briarmie, the idiot of the unit, got up to clap. Platt was kind enough to wait until they were outside, before asking, whether the four of them went AWOL. When they were awkward about it and didn't want to answer, he chuckled and gave them a ten minutes head start to get to their bunks and look like they were there all evening. The four of them ran like hell. Briar got undressed and hit the shower. Briarmie got a wet sweaty muscle shirt and started running. Joanna sat down in the mess hall and pulled out a book, she and read before. The fourth, the squad leader just dumped himself into bed, falling asleep right away. When Platt came back, he laughed his ass off.
Damn, Briar misses the man and his special tone.
Lt. Commander Joan Wilkins talks about her basic training. Apparently, Platt did not change at all, which was the bane of Joan's squad. Platt even kept throwing the hat. Joan was the problem of the unit. She got into trouble during every training. She almost died during a vacuum test, because she accidentally touched an uninsulated power line. She tells a few sob stories about the fights, she got in with other recruits, but smiles, while she shows the scars from a knife fight.
Briar enjoys the meal, until one of the patrol units contacts him on his omnitool. The soldier murmurs: "We found traces of unregistered guests aboard the ship. We have tracked them down to the unused emergency hangar at the end of the ship. We require assistance in clearing the room."
Briar jumps up.
Briar responds on the Alliance channel: "Standby- teams, prepare for your engagements. We have uninvited guests." Briar quickly activates the combat protocols of his omnitool and walks out on his meal and the others with an abrupt: "I'll be right back." Outside the canteen he starts to run. The ship is almost 600 meters long, and this emergency hangar is located at the rear end of the ship, between the massive thruster arrays. Briar brushes past several small groups of technicians, soldiers and flight crews. The standby crew joins Briar on his way to the destination. The twenty Marines are armed and ready. The biotic's fingers have a light blue shine to them, the sniper switched to an assault rifle to deal with the enclosed space. One of the two Corporals brought Briar's Tempest and shield generator. While walking, he clips the generator to his belt and sticks the gun into his pocket.
The patrol has gathered in front of the hangar. The Corporal of the squad greets Briar with a quick summary: "We have seven suspects in the hangar. We diverted the power away from the escape pods, to prevent them from using them." Briar asks: "Life signs?" "Of six of them. One of them is Geth", the Corporal answers. Briar hangs his head and grumbles: "If that's a joke, you'll be running around the ship for hours." The Corporal shows the scanning results, revealing several superior weapons and a Geth. Briar takes a step back and holds his forehead, while planning. "Okay. We try to overwhelm them. Two entry teams, non-lethal ammunition and a shock drone. Entry after a flashbang. Prepare an overcharge for the Geth just in case." The soldiers nod in agreement and split up into two groups.
Briar quietly counts to three and opens the door. Two soldiers toss a flashbang into opposite directions of the room. Twenty men charge into the room, followed by a shock drone and Lt. Commander Mason. The passengers in the room are overwhelmed by the flash. Before they regain composure, the soldiers overwhelm them quick and hard. One of them grabs his rifle, but is struck with a stun baton by a sentinel. The Geth tries to throw a punch, but a technician zaps the Geth, taking him out. A young woman screams surprised, when three rifles are aimed at her, an Asari gathers biotic force, but can't gather her power, before the assault squad biotic, slams her into the wall. The last three in the centre of the room raise their hands. When all is done and the smoke clouds dissipate, all seven passengers are in custody.
Three of them unconscious or deactivated, four are under arrest. The group of three people, that have surrendered right away looks peculiar. One of them is wearing a white bodysuit and a black coat. She has long black hair and looks like the genuine reincarnation of a goddess. The second is wearing barely anything. Her entire body is covered in tattoos. There are a few stubbles on her head, but she is mostly bald. The third is a black man wearing an old alliance uniform in black and white, with square shaped holes cut into the chest area and on both shoulders. Cerberus. The geth has a hole in his chest. The woman that screamed, wears a standard clothing and looks almost as perfect as the reincarnated goddess. The stunned man is a Turian, wearing blue C-Sec standard armor. His gun flew through the room and hit the knocked out Asari on the head. The spot is already turning a darker shade of blue. She is wearing a red armor. While cuffing her, a Marine chuckles: "Red versus Blue: 0 to 1."
The tattooed woman snorts a laugh, but immediately grows serious again, when a soldier with handcuffs approaches her. She starts yelling: "Stay away you fucker! I am not going back to jail!" Then she jumps up and tries to attack the Marine. Briar reacts as quickly as possible and throws a cryo charge at her. It makes contact, causing her to slow down enough for the Marines to jump her. The biotic pulls out a suppressor and places it onto her neck. When activated, it should stop her from using her biotics. The other passengers do not resist. They are all cuffed and sat down against a wall after being searched.
Briar looks around the room. The hangar is stuffed to the brim with supplies. Most of it is food and water. Only one crate of thermal mags and four grenades. Apart from the girl in civilian clothes everyone is carrying two different weapons. The Asari wakes up and looks at Briar perfectly serene, then says: "I am forced to comply for 24 hours, then I will continue my journey, as the code requires. Then I shall continue with my journey." "I'll hope I have you in a shuttle destined for Thessia by then. I don't like trouble and while Daar, sorry Commander Daar is getting his ass kicked, I have to take care of this situation", Briar answers. He almost instinctively offers her a hand to shake, but stops himself just in time, in order not to look stupid. Briar introduces himself: "I am Lt. Commander Mason. Now what in the hell are you seven doing on my ship? Especially with a Geth, that I should have blasted?"
Daar's voice is audible from behind: "Your ship? Lt. Commander, thanks for the notification." Briar darts around and salutes: "Yes, Commander." Daar answers the salute in a sloppy manner and gives the order: "Search for explosives apart from those grenades over there. Have them take all of them onto the cell level with the our very good friend Duchamp. Sit them down there and ask a few questions. I'll ask the Captain about them. I am very sure, that that ass knows something he isn't telling."
Briar is surprised. Damn he is right. Although Briar has no idea about the Captain, but kind of believes his superior in the assessment. The arrested can't have sneaked aboard. The ship never landed on Illium. Someone must have brought them on board and that someone must have been an influential crew member.
Briar nods in agreement and spreads the orders. Experts are to search through the crates in the hangar, look under the beds, open every suitcase, if necessary, rip up the floor and wall panels. Brain orders seven soldiers to accompany him and the caught to the prison cell, which is way too small to hold eight people. Briar knocks against the door of the cell. Duchamp hisses at him, to which Briar responds: "Be nice, or we'll pile those seven over here into that shitty room. The demoted Lt. Commander shuts up and pouts towards the wall. Briar turns to the seven arrested and explains: "If nobody gives me grief, we can solve the problem at hand and we all can continue to enjoy our stay aboard this line of Trans-Eezoo airways. I am going to ask questions and I want an eazy answer, or I'll hurt you. Are we clear?"
All of them answer: "Yes." Most of them answer quickly and appear to be cooperative. Only tattooed girl shakes herself and licks her frostbitten fingers. Briar likes to do the interrogations quickly, when gets the feeling, that the people have no evil intent, so he asks: "Why are you aboard a ship that is heading towards Earth?" The Turian answers: "To visit a friend." "Couldn't you have just booked a flight on a passenger ship?", Briar asks. The reincarnated goddess shakes her head and answers: "That wouldn't work. Former operatives of Cerbures don't have it easy to get anywhere near our friend." Briar holds his forehead and asks in a clear tone: "What the hell? Now I have a Cerberus gun team on board?" The tattooed woman pipes up: "You got a team of heroes on board! I don't work for Cerberus, nor does bird man over there or Miss Blue here. And definitely not our little flash light over here."
Briar laughs in disbelief. "A team of heroes, hiding like puny criminals as stowaways aboard a ship. I am really sorry; I didn't bring the kaviar and the champagne." The civilian girl looks up and asks: "Really?" "No."
The Turian starts laughing. Okay that went well. "Names?", Briar asks on.
The white body suit says: "My name is Miranda L-Larsson and this is my sister Ori Larsson." The civilian smiles a greeting.
The tattooed girl volunteers: "Jack. Just Jack. Fuck the names." Briar murmurs: "Jack. Non-compliant in relation to her surname. I guess she never took one."
The African American answers: "Jacob Taylor. I will cooperate." Briar writes it down.
The Geth says: "We are Legion."
The red-dressed Asari introduces herself: "I am Samara of the Justicars."
That's a wakko team. How can they cooperate at all?
"Should we drop you off somewhere?", Briar asks. Miranda jumps at the opportunity and asks: "Would the Citadel be acceptable?" Briar nods and says: "I'll talk to the Captain. Anywhere else?" The team looks at each other and with their eyes decides: "We'll take the Citadel." Only the tattoed woman sits still.
Daar shows up and orders: "Open the handcuffs. These are guests of the Alliance and have received immunity for their cooperation with Commander Shepard against the Collectors. We are to take them wherever they want to go." Briar looks at his notes: "Well, they all want to go to the Citadel." The Marines open the handcuffs and walk away. The group looks worried. Then the tattooed girl asks: "Are we still staying in the hangar?"
"Yes, angry tattoo lady.", Briar answers. The woman gets up in his face and hisses: "It's Jack." Briar suppresses the urge to take a step back and answers: "That's cool." She takes a step back and laughs heartily. Then she slaps his face lightly and laughs: "I like this guy." Then she follows the others back to the hangar. He turns towards Daar and asks: "Do they actually work for Commander Shepard, or do you just feel lazy, right now?" "They actually did. And some deal ensures their safety and transfer to the Citadel. I saw it and it was confirmed by Ambassador Anderson. Let's hope for the best", Daar answers and leaves.
In the evening, two hours, before reaching the Citadel, Briar is lying on his bunk and is reading his new, favorite book. He just got to the good part, when someone knocks on the door frame. He looks up from his book and asks: "What? I'm off duty." "And you're reading very mature literature. You might want to spare a moment, before I start wrecking shit", the voice announces. Briar looks up and notices barely dressed legs and lots of tattoos. "Okay, okay you got me. I'm coming", he announces and stands up. Although he is off duty, he is still wearing his uniform pants and a t-shirt with his unit's designation on the right chest. It reads "I4". "Oh god, it's the tattooed lady. What may I do for you? Some casual fist fighting, rough sex or a murder charge?" Her body lights up and she lifts the Lt. Commander off the ground with her flaring biotics, while yelling: "I have a name!" He turns pale. Damn that hit a nerve. "Okay, okay, sorry. ITWONTHAPPENAGAIN!", he blurts and nods his head affirmingly. She smiles and offers: "Call me Jack please."
He tries to move his hand to great her, but the biotic field around him blocks him from moving at all. "Would you mind sitting me down please?", he asks. The woman, Jack, drops Briar to the floor, where he tries to get his stretched-out tendons to work properly again. She waves him over to sit outside the shelter. When he comes outside and sits down, she sits next to him and asks: "How do you plan for a future?" What?