Arias: Hey guys, Hunter here with another chapter of Engineer effect!
Kyon: and another chapter of me being completely hated by Shepard, and Kaiden. By the way, who the hell is Michael, I thought this was supposed to be my story?
Michael: I'm in the commentary you know?
Grant: Same here.
Kyon: *Looks at the two* Why are they here?
Arias: Because I wrote them into the intro, and you can't do anything about it...
Kyon: Oh yeah? *Pulls out laptop and logs into , then erases Intro*
Arias: To late, the chapter was already posted.
Kyon: Damn it!
Arias: *Chuckles* Michael, would you like to say our disclaimer
Michael: Agent-Wyoming Hunter owns nothing from Bioware, or the ME series, hell he doesn't even own this computer.
Arias: That's harsh.
Grant: I think it was supposed to be.
Michael was standing in front of an equipment locker, and started organizing his equipment. There was his custom sniper-rifle, twin pistols, and a secondary Omni-tool that was given to him by Samuel, made specifically for combat purposes. It would only last about ten months before it would become useless, but it would be more powerful than the ones that his enemies would be using. He took one final item out of his equipment bag, and laid it in his locker. He took off his visor and replaced it with a pair of sunglasses, hiding his synthetic eyes from the others. He put the visor in the locker and closed it, a light tap on the floor next to him.
The spec-op agent turned and saw Urdnot Wrex standing next to him. Surprised that the krogan would walk over to him, he nodded. Wrex took it as a sign to talk and took a breath "You carry a sword human, interesting," he crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly.
"And you are a silent krogan," Michael smiled slightly and leaned on the locker. "I'm Ares."
"Urdnot Wrex," he grunted back, his blood-red eyes piercing Michael's, an intimidation tactic if Michael had to guess, and that meant that he was testing him to see how good he would react under tension, "pretty confident for a human, usually you meat-bags piss yourself." Wrex smiled as he uncrossed his arms, and leaned on his locker, the metal groaning under his weight.
"I've been through more than most humans, though your infinite wisdom far surpasses mine," Michael tells the much older krogan, it was a tactic in order to get Wrex as an alley, hopefully prevent him from going ape-shit when the team got to Virmire. After a few seconds of thinking, Michael noticed that Wrex let out a deep chuckle."
"You seem wise yourself," Wrex retorts, standing up and uncrossing his arms, "working with you might be... interesting," Wrex walked back to his spot by the crates, leaving Michael to plan their next conversation.
Michael was an interesting person, planning every move before going into a battle. It was one of the reasons that the corporation that was held under his name, Arias Medical Munitions Organization or AMMO by the public, was one of the most successful businesses in the galaxy. His knowledge of the future also lent a hand in his rise in the financial sectors. After a few moments of thinking, Michael closed his locker and turned towards the elevator.
When Michael reached the elevator, Kyon came walking out of it. Before they passed each other, Kyon waved, "How you doing?" he asked in a macho voice, one he never pulled off well.
Michael stopped to look at Kyon, "What year were you born?"
"nineteen..."
Michael stopped Kyon from talking after that by pushing him into a wall, "Shut up and listen to me," he told Kyon in a commanding voice, making it look like he was berating Kyon, "You'll do everything Commander Shepard tells you, and you won't argue or I'll throw you out the airlock, and you'll address her and me as sir. Understand?" Michael gently shook his head so that only Kyon could see.
Kyon looked around, everyone was looking at them and he knew he couldn't take this guy in a fight, "Yes sir..." he told him with a glare, hoping that this would be the only embarrassing moment today.
"Good, now when you have a free moment, I want to talk to you privately. It's about your unique situation aboard this vessel," Michael let Kyon go and walked into the elevator, closing the door before Kyon could respond.
Kyon watched as the elevator doors closed, and was speechless. Not a few minutes ago Michael had been a relatively nice guy. He shook his head and started walking towards the weapon's bench where Ashley was working on fixing his problem. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Wrex watching and glaring at him from the left.
"That's my job you know," Kyon told Ashley as he sat down next to her, watching as she rapidly put the guns together, then put them in their corresponding crates.
Ashley finished putting the gun she was working on together, and puts it down, "Sorry," she responds a bit roughly, "but I do this to blow off steam. The fact the guns were already taken apart was a plus," she took a deep breath then looked at Kyon, "need anything?"
"Yeah, how do you clean a gun?" Kyon asked Ashley, she was about to laugh until she remembered that he wasn't military trained.
Ashley shakes her head at the notion that she was basically training Kyon, then realized that if she wanted him to survive the hunt for Saren, she would need to teach him about being a soldier. She didn't think she would be training another rookie so soon after Eden Prime. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. The wounds were still fresh in her mind, and she wouldn't be able to get over it very easily if Kyon was a constant reminder. Despite her reservations though, she decided that keeping him alive would atone for her failure at Eden Prime, and that would mean training him in weapon combat, "I'll show you," she answered after a deep internal argument with herself, "Now watch closely."
Michael walked out of the elevator, and turned into the mess hall. There he saw Kaiden Alenko, one of his least favorite crew members aboard the Normandy, but that just meant that he would have to deal with it, his mission was to improve Shepard's chances against the Reapers, and keeping her entire crew alive was one of the objectives he would need to complete to achieve his goal.
Michael walked over to Kaiden, "Lieutenant Alenko," he said as he stood in front of the counter, "I'm operative Ares."
"Operative Ares," Kaiden says in his strained voice, more so than usual from the headache he got from Kyon throwing him into a wall a day prior.
"I am evaluating the ground team," Michael told Kaiden as he took out a data-pad, "Do you think you are clear to go on the mission to Therum?" He asked, trying to make it seem that he was completely impartial to Kaiden at the moment.
"No, I don't think so," Kaiden answered truthfully, "my migranes are getting worse, and the contusion I got from hitting the wall yesterday have really been wreaking havoc on my head. I might have to sit Therum out,"
"I understand," Michael says, "if you are not feeling better by tomorrow, I will take you off the ground team for Therum," he explains, "it wouldn't help us if you got killed because you couldn't think strait,"
"Understood," Kaiden saluted Michael, his body going rigid with formality
"At ease." Kaiden went back to his former duty, "Saluting me won't be necessary," Michael told him before putting the data-pad on the counter next to them, "I have no formal rank, and answer to the commander. Unless I am given permission, I have no power over her subordinates."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Kaiden chuckled nervously, obviously embarrassed about saluting Michael. He reached his hand out, "Call me Kaiden if there are no formalities."
Michael takes it, "Alright, Kaiden." He let go of Kaiden's hand and picked his Data-pad back up, he turned on his heel and started walking away from the mess hall.
After an hour of cleaning weapons Kyon puts his head on the table, "Thank you, spirit of the dragon," he says.
Ashley looks at him, "That's an odd thing to say, care to elaborate?" she asks.
Kyon turned to look at Ashley, and smiled, "Well, my mother was Japanese, and she always went on about the great spirit of the dragon, he was the wisest of the twelve zodiacs according to her, and he always provided guidence. I didn't like the idea of someone controlling my life so to spite all the christians trying to force me to convert, I started following my mother's religion."
Ashley raised her brow, "What about those that respected your choices?"
"I respect them, they aren't the insane ones that deny ever doing anything wrong."
Ashley chuckled, "Yeah, I heard about those types, glad my father wasn't one of them."
Kyon stretched his arms as he thought about what Ashley was just said. She probably followed her father's religion, which meant that talking to her about religon wasn't always going to be a shiny subject. He decided that he would end this conversation and go talk to Tali, "I'll talk to you later."
"Sure thing. Later."
Kyon starts walking towards engineering. He saw her walk into the deck a few minutes ago. He saw her engrossed in the terminal, her fingers hitting the holographic keyboard a little faster than most people would type. It either meant two things, one, she was really fast all the time, or two, she was upset about something. He walked up behind her, and put a hand on her shoulder, "Tali, you okay?"
When Tali felt the hand on her shoulder, she nearly jumped. She turned around slowly. Once she saw it was Kyon, she took a deep breath, "It's nothing big," she says, "just some bosh'tet that doesn't know anything about quarians," she told him, failing to hide her frustration.
"And who would the person be?" Kyon asks, as he raises his eyebrow.
"Ashley," Tali answered truthfully, then remembered them conversing as Kyon was cleaning the weapons. She crossed her arms hoping that he would understand why she was mad instead of siding with Ashley automatically because they were the same species.
To Tali's surprise, Kyon started laughing lightly, only just enough for Tali to hear so that they didn't distract the other engineers in the room. After he stopped laughing he patted Tali on the shoulder, and smiled.
"What's so funny?" she tilted her head slightly, confused about why Kyon was laughing.
"Nothing really," Kyon says, "but if she doesn't know anything about quarians, then why don't you enlighten her?" he asks as he adjusts the goggles on his head.
Tali's body language was only dumbfounded, "Umm..." she says, "I didn't think of that," she says, "it's just she just made me so mad..." she curls up her fists, "I guess I should be used to it, I am a Quarian after all." Tali tilts her head towards the ground, a little ashamed about herself.
Kyon lifts her head back up so that he looks into her eyes, "What's so bad about being a Quarian?" Looking into Tali's eyes, Kyon thought they were wonderful. Because Tali had been the only Quarian he's met since coming to this time. She was unique to him, and he loved unique things.
"Most people think of us as scavengers, and thieves, because we don't have a planet," she answered, blushing deeply under her helmet. This was the only time she could remember being glad that her face was hidden behind her mask, and she didn't really know why?
Kyon let go of her and smiled, "What's so bad about that?"
Tali's blush disappeared for a look of scrutiny, and she crossed her arms, "Did you ever pay attention in xeno-history?" she asks.
"Not one bit," Kyon was telling the truth, even if he had taken the class he wouldn't have paid attention, the past wasn't important when dealing with people on a personal level. He lived by 'Live for yourself, not your ancestors.' He shook his head a little, "I was asleep through most of it."
"All right," Tali says as she puts a hand to her mask, then looks at Kyon and explains the Quarian history.
After a long Q&A session with Tali, Kyon shakes his head, "So, the council doesn't help you, then you get kicked off your home planet, have very little of a population, and then the council decides to forbid you from colonizing other planets," he says summarizing the bullshit that the quarian people have been through, "that's just plain cruel," he says.
"Thanks for being sympathetic towards the Quarian race," Tali says.
Kyon's stomach grumbles, "Damn," he says, "I swear I just ate a few hours ago," he says as he shakes his head.
Tali laughs, "Must be a biotic," she says, "heard they have to eat a lot," she then shakes her head, "you should go eat."
Kyon nods, "All right, talk to you later."
Kyon walked out of the engineering deck, and called for the elevator. It wasn't long before he was inside of the mess hall again, and grabbing a nutrient paste. He looked over at Kaiden, "Sup Elvis," he jabbed before beginning his nutrient paste. Kyon heard footsteps behind him, and turned to see Michael walking towards the mess hall. Kyon glared and watched Michael sit next to him, "What do you want?"
"I asked to speak to you when you had some free time," Michael said in a calm voice. He looked at Kaiden, giving him a look that told him to leave for the moment. After Kaiden left, Michael put a small device on the table. "Kyon, you have to be a little more careful about what you tell people. If people know that you are from the past, they'll think you are either crazy, or hold the secret to immortality."
Kyon's eyes widened as Michael started a conversation he never expected to hear from another human being, "Wait... What?" Kyon was baffled by this turn of events and was ready to throw in the towel in the fight for understanding.
"You aren't the only one from the past, actually, you are the fifth one by my count, but I don't know. There could be more. Anyway, try not to tell anyone what your actual birthdate is, or they'll think you are insane. Nice talk, if you have any questions, send me a message." Michael put his contact information on the table, stood up, and grabbed the device on the table, walked away, and left Kyon to ponder what had just happened.
Kyon finished his nutrient paste, and through it away. He almost forgot about the contact information, but remembered right before he left the mess hall. He was going to have a lot of questions for Michael next time they talked in private.
Michael's Omni-tool beeped as he entered the stairwell, and he looked in both directions making no one else was inside. He sealed the doors and opened the message he received from Sean, one of the other 21st century dimension travelers.
I found Grant, and you are not going to believe this...
Where is he?
Grant is on the Normandy, and ET is currently on the flotilla, but he'll meet with us when we call him.
I understand, we'll all be together after Shepard dies if everything goes according to my plans.
You know what they say about best laid plans. I just hope you've accounted for everything.
So do I. So do I.
Michael shut off his Omni-tool and took off his glove, revealing his skin. It was covered by a diamond-hard blue substance that was slowly growing. It had been stagnant for the past few years, but now it started up again. Michael knew what it meant, his time was coming to an end. That meant that there was one path left for him, and it ended sooner than he wanted it to. Michael unsealed the doors and walked onto the bridge.
Arias: Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because I sure hated writing it.
Kyon: Then stop writing.
Arias: No, then you wouldn't be the star.
Michael: I thought I was the star, isn't that why focus shifted to me?
Grant: Everyone knows I'm the star in this outfit.
Kyon and Michael: You weren't even in this chapter.
Arias: Calm down you idiots, you might scare the audience away. Anyway, if you liked this don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. If you didn't well, I can't do much to change your mind can I? Anyway, until next time.
All: EE crew out!