Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, save the OCs you will encounter in this particular story. It will not merely be a re-telling of the ME story as we know it, so expect changes and (hopefully) surprising and enjoyable twists! This story is rated M for a reason and will contain future scenes of violence, gore, sex, and various other mature situations. There will also be copious amounts of wonderful, wonderful angst. Please consider yourself warned.
For those of you who are curious, the inspiration for my Eira is 'Nastya Zhidkova'. Check out her pictures in a Google search and you'll see where the idea of Eira was born.
Any and all reviews are appreciated! A big thank you goes out to everyone who has added this story to their alerts and/or faves :) I apologize for the delay, I've been super busy at work and have hardly had any time to think let alone write. I hope this chapter makes up for my tardiness! – Fallon.
Chapter Five
"Brave men are all vertebrates; they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle" – Lewis Carroll
Consciousness returned to her slowly, the fog of confusion lifting from her as if a shroud was dissipating around her.
She tried to open her eyes, but they fluttered closed weakly. Her head throbbed with a fierceness that called tears to her eyes and she covered her eyes with her hands, rubbing the moisture away.
Her eyes squeezed tight to keep out even the smallest ray of light, she relied on her other senses to gauge her surroundings.
She could hear voices, the grunt of a man in pain, and the gentle hum of machines and computers. That hum was familiar to her. On the station, in the room that had been hers, the hum of the vents had often lulled her to sleep. In the medical exam room, where Corrine had run so many tests on her, it had been the soft thrum of the scanners so often run across her body.
Her mind immediately reached out for what was familiar and she found herself worried that she would be late for one of her lessons with Corrine. But the events at Nafna Station began to worm their way back into her mind and she remembered, with a heavy heart, that Corrine and that life had been torn from her.
Eira opened her eyes only to be blinded by the fluorescent lights that hung about her. She moved her hand to shield her eyes and, squinting, she made out the shadows of two figures in the room.
"Commander, please, you're not making this any easier!" An older woman with short grey hair chided. "Surely this isn't the worst injury you've suffered?"
The man she was speaking to grunted and shifted on his feet.
Eira rubbed her eyes to clear the blur that obscured her vision. Tentatively, she tried to better make out the figures.
The man was shirtless, wearing only armoured greaves and boots from a hard-suit. He was extremely fit, his arms and chest tight with well sculpted muscle. Pictures decorated his left arm from shoulder to wrist and while she couldn't make them out, she could tell they were very detailed. His dark hair was cropped closely to his head and his face was…
The man, having felt the weight of her gaze on him, looked up to catch her staring at him.
Eira blushed and immediately averted her gaze, chewing fiercely on her lip.
Just as his lips parted to speak, the older woman finally worked his shoulder back into its socket and the man shouted a cursed and winced, his handsome features twisting in pain.
The woman gave a warm smirk and patted the man's uninjured shoulder, "There. Now that wasn't so hard was it, Commander?"
He reached for his shirt and began the slow, painful task of putting it on without aggravating his shoulder too badly.
He hesitated, wringing the shirt in his hands and staring off into nothingness, before shaking his head.
"Not the worst, no."
His voice was quiet and solemn and Eira had a feeling his response was more to himself than the older woman.
"Our guest is awake," the man said with a grunt, nodding in her direction, "Get your questions ready, Doc."
The woman turned around quickly and smiled, clasping her hands together as she took a step toward her.
"Wonderful," she fetched a data-pad from her desk and started looking over the readings on the screens hooked up to monitor Eira's vitals, "You had us worried there, child. I am Doctor Karin Chakwas and you're on the SSV Normandy." The Doctor looked over her shoulder to the man, who had finally succeeded in donning his shirt. "I believe you have already met Commander Shepard. He and his crew got you off of that station."
The man she called Shepard was tentatively rubbing his sore arm. His discomfort was written plainly on his face, but as he sat down on the table across from her it seemed like he had pushed it to the back of his mind.
"Oh, we've met," Shepard gestured to his bad shoulder, "You threw me across the hanger, remember?"
Eira gasped, "I…oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to!" She hung her head, "I wasn't sure who you were, but it wasn't you I wanted to hurt…I just…"
"Couldn't control it," Shepard finished for her, "I know, and it's alright. Like Chakwas said, this is hardly the worst I've been dealt."
Eira looked up and saw that he was smiling, his lips quirked in a small smirk that made her insides twist into a tight bundle in her stomach. Growing up in relative seclusion on the station, she'd only ever been surrounded by the same distant group of technicians. To many she was next to invisible, to most she was merely a test subject. It was silly, and the very thought made her feel like a blubbering little girl, but he was the most handsome man she'd ever seen.
"Well…all the same, I'm very sorry." She brushed her hair out of her face, sneaking a quick rub of her cheek to try to banish the flush she knew still lingered there. "If I may ask, w-why were you on the station in the first place?"
"To find you," Shepard said, his tone growing more serious as they got to the matter at hand, "The Illusive Man said you might be a benefit to our mission and after what I saw on Nafna I'm inclined to agree."
Mission? Whatever it was, Eira could tell it was serious. All sense of friendly warmth the commander had been emitting not moments before had vanished, now he was all business. His talk of missions made her nervous. She was no one special, regardless of what Corrine had insisted all those times. Her biotics were strong, yes, but she knew nothing of the world outside Nafna Station…what real benefit could she have to these people?
Eira cleared her throat and reluctantly found her voice, "Mission?"
Shepard leaned forward, his elbows propped on his knees as he looked at her.
"I'm assembling a team of mercenaries, scientists and assassins to take on the Collectors. We have reason to believe they are working for the Reapers and have been systematically abducting human colonies along the fringes of Terminus space. I want you on my team, Eira."
Eira blinked repeatedly, struggling to take in his words. She was shocked by the seriousness in his voice and confused by the weight of his words. What was a Reaper? Or a Collector for that matter?
Shepard evidently saw her confusion.
His brow furrowed and he slowly shook his head, clearly in disbelief. "You don't know what I'm talking about, do you? You don't even know who I am?"
Eira hesitated, slightly embarrassed that she was so clueless, but ultimately shook her head. "Until now I've never been off of the station you found me on," she explained, "Corrine never let me use the…extranet, I think you call it. I only knew what she told me." She gave a small shrug and looked meekly up at the commander, "I'm sorry…clearly this is all important and something I should know but…"
Her voice wavered and tears welled up in her eyes.
"Everything's changed," she stammered, her chin trembling as she spoke, "Corrine is dead…"
Chakwas sat down her datapad and reached out to her, tenderly rubbing her back. "I'm so sorry, dear. This has been terrible for you."
"Corrine," Shepard said softly, "Was she the dead woman in the hanger?"
Eira nodded, "Doctor Corrine Knowles…" She roughly brushed her tears aside, "She was in charge of taking care of me and conducting my training, as well as a bunch of tests I never fully understood." She shook her head, trying to shake the horrible feeling of dread that was looming over her and make sense of the events of the past twenty-four hours.
Chakwas shared a look with Shepard before speaking, "Can you tell us about her, and of your life on the station, Eira? Why were you secluded?" She kept rubbing circles on Eira's back, "Do you truly know nothing about the Reapers or…well, anything other than that station?"
Eira shrugged, "Corrine said I was special, I never fully understood why exactly. I was born on the station; at least…at least I think I was. I've never been anywhere else that I can remember. I was allowed to read, but like I said, I wasn't allowed to use the extranet." She wracked her brain for answers and insights she felt were on the tip of her tongue, "I read about different species and planets. About the asari, turians, ancient races, human history and the discovery of mass effect fields, but nothing about 'Collectors' or 'Reapers'. When I wasn't studying, Corrine ran tests and simulations. I think…maybe she was preparing me for something, I don't know what though."
Shepard sighed, "Eira, look at me," when she did he continued, "I'm going to fill you in. It'll be a lot to throw at you, but you need to know what's going on. Let me speak, and then Chakwas and I will answer any questions you have."
Eira looked back to Chakwas, and upon receiving her smile, turned to Shepard and nodded.
"Fifty-thousand years ago, the race known as the Protheans was whipped out."
That much Eira knew. She'd read about them in one of the books Corrine had provided her. They'd built the mass relays, gigantic machines able to propel ships all over the galaxy at lightning fast speeds, and something called the Citadel which she understood to be a massive spaceport. All that was left of their empire was ruins now, ruins which Eira had always dreamt of seeing.
Shepard went on, "We never knew what had destroyed them, until nearly three years ago when I encountered a beacon on Eden Prime and was shown a vision. They were destroyed by the Reapers, sentient machines which exterminate the most advanced races in existence every fifty-thousand years. Three years ago my team and I stopped an attempt to open a gateway for them from dark space." He paused, as if unsure of how to continue, "And then, two years ago, I died."
Eira's eyes opened wide. She moved to speak, but Shepard raised his hand to silence her.
"Cerberus recovered my body. They gave me my life back. In return I agreed to look into the rash of missing human colonies for them, and ultimately discovered that the Collectors were responsible. Now, we're all convinced they are working for the Reapers, but we need to go beyond the Omega 4 relay in order to find concrete answers and stop them at the source. No ship has ever returned from a trip through the relay, but I'm assembling a team to do just that."
Eira tried to hurriedly process everything he'd just said. It all seemed so farfetched, that conscious machines could be attempting to do what he claimed. Honestly it sounded like something out of one of the 'make-believe' stories Corrine had always chastised her for reading so obsessively.
"That's merely the abridged version of course," Chakwas spoke with a heavy sigh laden with sadness, "It's hard to sum up everything we've learned these past few years."
"Files will be made available to you," Shepard continued, "As well as my reports going back to Eden Prime and everything we've got on the Reapers. I don't expect an answer now. Get up to speed and then we'll talk about your place on this team."
Chakwas rubbed Eira's shoulder and gathered up her long, loose hair, pulling it back out of her face and tying it back with what she could only assume was a rubber band. She looked back at the woman over her shoulder and saw her punching something into her omnitool.
Eira choked on a sob. It was a simple act, and a motherly one.
She wanted to be back on Nafna Station, back with Corrine in her old life; a life where such threatening beings didn't exist and her days were dreadfully boring.
She felt a warm, strong hand cover her own and turned back. The commander was looking at her, his hand unmoving from its position atop hers. He seemed to understand where her mind was wandering to and though she couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze, she gave a small nod to acknowledge his gesture.
Chakwas broke the silence.
"I have a few more questions for you, dear, but I need to start with a scan." She explained as she raised her omni-tool. "The Normandy recorded energy outputs from the station, namely you. We need to get a better understanding of your biotics."
Eira blinked away tears and looked at the doctor, "Why?"
"We need to know what type of implant you have. If you have an L2 for instance, then we have to make sure you don't over-exert yourself or you'd be risking a serious neurological injury."
Shepard pulled back, giving Chakwas the room she needed to work.
Chakwas waved her omni-tool over Eira, circling around her numerous times before a chime signaled that the scan was complete. It was only when the chime sounded that Eira allowed herself to breathe again. She'd always felt…exposed whenever a scan was being conducted of her. Corrine had done hundreds on her and while Eira was never sure what she was hoping to learn from them, it had been obvious enough that something important rode on them.
Eira looked down at her hands and began wringing her fingers nervously.
Chakwas was focused on her omni-tool, so Eira looked to Shepard.
"That man that killed Corrine…"
Shepard's gaze snapped back to her. "He said his name was Doctor Nikolai Marin."
"The things he said…" she paused to steady herself, taking a deep breath to calm the shiver that ran through her, "Do you know if they were true?"
Shepard shook his head, "The files Cerberus provided me on you were full of holes. Truthfully, you're one hell of an unknown, kid."
Confused and unsure of his meaning, Eira frowned, "And that…angers you?"
"It's frustrating," he admitted with a sigh, "I'm in charge of this mission, of this team. I need to have absolute faith in every member of that team if we're to stand a chance of succeeding. You're strong and that's just what I need for this mission, but…" his voice faded out and she could tell something was weighing on him. He shook it off, "But we've got a lot more to fill you in on; then we'll let you make the decision for yourself."
Just as Eira was about to respond, Chakwas gasped and stepped between them, forcing a datapad into Shepard's hands.
"What is it?" Eira asked tentatively, wary of interrupting but unable to fight the urge, "Is there something wrong with the scans?"
Shepard's eyes were glued to the information before him and Eira couldn't tell if the surprise on his face didn't very well contain traces of anger too.
She looked to Chakwas, "What –
Shepard stood, thrusting the datapad back into Chakwas' hands and making for the door.
"Commander!" Eira slid off the table, "Did I do something wrong? Please, tell me. Is there something wrong with the scan? Something wrong with me?"
Shepard stopped, sparing her a glance over his shoulder and the very hint of a sympathetic smile. "No, kid, you haven't done anything wrong. Just stay with Doctor Chakwas, I'll be right back."
As he left, Chakwas began yet another scan.