Aboard the Shadow (Third Person Perspective)
"What do you wish for the message to say?" asked Eva
Echo once more growled to himself, he really wasn't sure what he could say to the Leviathans to make them send him a messenger short of saying "I'll tell the reapers". Tapping the armrest on his chair a few times Echo eventually settled on a message he hoped would produce a response.
"Let the message say "I know. If you wish to contact me find me on the Citadel" and Eva, include a picture of me from the Tenno database"
"Understood Operator Echo"
After a few seconds of waiting Echo came up with something else to add to that message.
"Oh and Eva? Encrypt this message with every Tenno protocol you currently have available, make sure that it only decrypts itself when it reaches its destination"
"Encrypting…"
Sighing loudly Echo stood up and walked towards the exit of his ship only to stop and stare into the mirror 'This is it… if this goes wrong then we are in deep shit…' the thought was born from Echo's knowledge of the arrogance of the Leviathans, he was quite sure he could persuade them to assist them if only he could get in contact with them. If necessary he would travel to Desponia himself and speak to them directly.
Stepping out of his ship Echo started off towards the elevator so he could get up to the briefing before they started without him. On his way there he did give a few glances to how empty the armory actually is when no one is in here, it almost reminded him of the few times he would walk through the empty Grineer stations to check for survivors. The elevator trip was not as bad as Echo had assumed from his memory, which was a big plus in Echo's book. As Echo stepped out of the elevator he was met with the closed door leading into the briefing room, right before he stepped close enough to activate the doors he heard voices coming from inside, it however had nothing to do with the briefing.
"…not what I am saying. I simply don't trust him Shepard, something about him is way off"
To Echo's surprise it was in fact not Ashley who he expected would have some reservations about him, but Kaidan who was complaining about the newest addition to the ships ground team. 'So Kaidan has a stick up his ass over this? Interesting…' not that Echo really cared that much what the lieutenant thought about him, over the years the various people Echo had under his command had all slowly started to detest him due to his cold attitude. Echo opened the doors and stepped inside effectively stopping whatever reply Shepard was going to give, Echo gave one of his own instead.
"I really don't care what you think of me Lieutenant Alenko"
There was a heavy empathize on the word "Lieutenant" and no one in the room missed how Echo had spoken the word like it was an insult towards the person holding the rank. Echo himself simply walked over and sat down in the only vacant chair between Ashley and Garrus and stared at Shepard waiting for her to start the briefing. Before Shepard started speaking she did however give Echo a small stare of confusion over the comment but chose to ignore it 'I'll have him explain it later' she thought before she spoke.
"Okay everyone let's get started. Our hunt for Saren will be taking a back seat as we will be focusing more on stopping him in bringing back the Reapers, to that end we three different leads to track down, Saren has been sighted at the colony world of Feros and on Noveria so our job is to go and find out what he wanted on those planets. However according to Alliance intelligence the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Liara T'Soni a Prothean expert, is currently conducting an Archeological dig on one of the planets in the Artemis Tau Cluster"
"Artemis Tau? That is very vague Commander"
Shepard shook her head at Ashley's interruption.
"I am aware of that Williams. Back to the briefing" She gave a cold stare to Ashley who shrunk a little into her seat "Those are our three leads, any suggestions on where we begin?"
A silence descended on the briefing room as everyone was trying to think of which of the three leads would be the best to track down first. Echo himself already knew that going after Liara first would be the logical choice and when five minutes had passed with hushed exchange between the rest of the team, Echo simply lost his patience he gave a loud sigh before speaking.
"Start with tracking down Liara T'Soni, if she is Benezia's daughter then there is a good chance that she is allied with Saren and in the case she isn't the odds are very good that Benezia will try to capture her and make her join Saren like herself, if she really is a Prothean expert odds are that Saren will want her knowledge, better we get to it first. In case of the two other locations, Noveria is currently occupied by the Noveria Development Corporation if we go there we are sure to get involved in their stupid intercompany politics and that is really not a good idea. Feros is one of your colony planets and if their situation worsens we can always redirect to assist them should the need arise and in both cases it is but sightings of Saren, he will be gone long before we arrive at either destination meaning the evidence he left behind is still there"
The silence returned to the room as everyone was now staring at Echo, since the only ones that actually knew a little about him was Garrus and Shepard, the rest of the team was surprised by his logic and apparent knowledge. One member of the ground team had however already got it in his head that whatever idea Echo could come up with wasn't going to end well for the rest of them, but before Kaidan could manage to voice his displeasure at the idea Shepard made her own feelings on the idea known.
"Sounds good to me, any idea where to start inside Artemis Tau?"
Echo gave a shrug
"Four systems, anyone is as good as the other so just pick one and hope"
Shepard too gave a shrug and a nod before addressing the rest of the team.
"Anyone got any objections to Echo's suggestion?"
Kaidan waited a few seconds to see if someone else would make their displeasure known but to Kaidans annoyance it seemed like everyone else liked his idea so he decided to keep quiet, he was already on thin ice with Shepard as it stood no reason for him to make it worse. No one seemed to have anything against Echo's idea so Shepard simply gave a nod and a smile.
"Good" Shepard opened a com to Joker "Joker, start heading towards the Artemis Tau Cluster… let's start in the Sparta system"
"Aye, Aye Commander"
Inwardly Echo gave a rather loud groan, he really didn't mind that they were starting in the Sparta system but he would have liked to start out with Knossos and ensured they found Liara as soon as they could. Since they are starting in Sparta that can only mean that they will end up going by Edolus and that meant down to find the beacon and later a very unwanted encounter with Cerberus.
"Right, unless anyone has anything they wish to bring up you are all dismissed" spoke Shepard with authority
A few select nods was all Shepard got as people started making their way out of the room, Shepard did however walk over to Echo and right as he started standing up she put her hand on his shoulder and slammed him back down, she held him there until the room was empty she then turned towards Echo and with a look in her eyes that clearly showed her intent.
"Care to explain just why you have an AI aboard your ship?!"
Shepard's voice had risen as she was speaking and Echo himself was moving his own face further and further away from hers to try and keep the noise level to a certain manageable point.
"I do not have an AI on my ship Shepard"
"Bullshit, I heard her with my own ears she was definitely about to say your name when she stopped and switched over to saying Operator instead a VI sure as hell isn't capable of that"
Echo looked at Shepard for a few seconds before shaking his head.
"Eva is not an AI, rather she is a VI who is slowly but surely evolving into an AI"
Shepards eyes opened a little wider as she processed the information 'Evolving?' to Shepard that just sounded absurd a machine could Evolve… could it?
"How is that possible?"
The words were barely whispers and the confusion and slight fear in them was not lost on Echo as he leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees to help support his head.
"I don't know, I have had Eva as my partner for almost 76 years now and I still haven't figured her out completely yet. Partially I think it's because of all the information she has been allowed to access over the years, picking up a piece of programming here and a routine there eventually she managed to put it all together and become semi aware. She still isn't capable of having a conversation with anyone as far as I know, she doesn't understand basic concepts like sarcasm and she isn't capable of understanding jokes or the sort either"
Shepard gave a suspicious glance but eventually nodded and accepting the information though silently agreeing with herself that she would get him to say more later, for now something else was of more importance.
"Alright. You seemed pretty knowledgeable about our various locations, care to fill me in on how you know?"
Echo gave small shrug before seemingly staring off into space.
"Which one do you want to know about, Noveria or Feros?"
Shepard tapped her chin thinking it over 'I can always contact the Alliance about any needed information about Feros…'
"Let's go with Noveria"
Echo nodded in acceptance before he started to list what he knew about the planet.
"Well first of the planet is a small frozen terrestrial world, the NDC is currently leasing out labs to conduct research on the planet and as far as I know they don't keep very detailed records on some of the more shady people who rent their labs, if Saren has rented a lab there odds are we won't know unless we catch one of his subordinates in one of the labs and make them talk. As for the NDC itself they are a pretty big holding company and currently hold claims on various minor planets. One problem we will have when we arrive Shepard is that Noveria is not considered part of Citadel Space since it's a privately owned colony planet this means your Spectre rank means nothing down there, they do give special privileges to Spectres but down there you are not the law, they are"
Shepard blinked once, then twice and then a third time before she tried to speak only for empty air to leave her mouth as she was thinking about everything she had just been told and in truth she really only had one question after that pile of information.
"Where in the hell did you learn all this?"
A small but sly smile was on Echo's lips he really wanted to tell her that he knew everything and simply find ways to utilize it, but he also knew that too many changes to the timeline would cause some if not all of his knowledge to become useless in the time to come, so he settled for a more believable if not slightly more shady approach.
"Let's just say the Shadow Broker owes me a favor or two"
This brought Shepard right out of her stupor and immediately she entered Spectre mode, the Shadow Broker was a wanted criminal and if Echo knew anything about him then she was getting it out of him.
"You deal with the Shadow Broker?"
Her tone was angry and only a pitch lower than a yell but Echo just kept up the façade he really didn't care all that much what she thought about his "dealings" with the Shadow Broker
"Not really, I ask him for information and he gives it to me because he knows what will happen if he doesn't"
"And what is that?"
Echo's small smile grew from sly to downright evil and twisted it even caused Shepard to take a few steps back as that uncomfortable feeling started creeping back up on her.
"I'll bring his information network crumbling to the ground"
There was no joking tone or any hint of a lie in his words because Echo was speaking the raw truth, should the Shadow Broker ever prove to be a problem before he could have Liara take over he would happily bring down the entire information network and rip the twisted face of that Yahg apart. Shepard suddenly found herself shivering from being this close to Echo when he became like… well for the lack of a better word lets go with "murderous" though that doesn't quite cut it either, Shepard did however manage to stammer something out among the sense of dread.
"C-Could you tone down t-the p-presence or whatever?"
This shook Echo out of his little trance as he glanced over at Shepard and saw her shivering he immediately shifted his body back to a neutral position and let his "presence" as Shepard had called it subside.
"Thanks. What the hell is that anyway?"
Echo seemed to stare off into nothing again as he contemplated telling Shepard about his little trick, it was a rather boring tale after his own opinion but others might find it fascinating how he developed the ability after having it used against him… 'Sure why not'
"It doesn't have a name per say so "presence" is as good a name as any I guess. I learned to how to release this presence many years ago when I was having regular battles with one particular opponent, he was capable of releasing this presence at will and often used it against us Tenno to immobilize entire squads so he could take us all out efficiently. After having it thrown my way for over fifty years I eventually decided to try and learn it myself, it took the better part of sixty years but I figured out how to do it in the end. It is all a matter of your opponent's perception; it doesn't really work if your target isn't looking at you"
At this point Shepard suddenly realized that each time she had felt his presence she had actually been looking at him and she was quite sure if she asked Garrus he would only have felt it when he was looking at him as well, would explain why she could stand right next to him and seemingly not feel a thing.
"I am not really releasing anything, I am actually shifting my body a fraction of a millimeter in a certain way to provoke a fear response in the targets brain, you see Shepard despite everything we have all evolved with a basic survival instinct imprinted in our minds and this instinct is still there today. So by producing these small shifts in my body language I in essence trick your brain into thinking it is about to be attacked our otherwise threatened which is why you would feel as you did. So you see if my opponents are staring at me all I have to do is produce these small shifts and I can win a battle before it has even begun simply by messing with my opponents head. This of course doesn't function of beings like Geth or other synthetics simply because they don't have the same instincts as us"
Shepard stood in a stunned silence; she was seriously starting to doubt her decision about learning more about Echo because each time she learned something new about him she ended up with two more questions…
"That sounds… handy"
Was about all Shepard could really get out she wasn't sure what else to say, how does one respond to something like this? Boot camp didn't cover super soldiers!
Echo was staring off into space and waiting for Shepard to get hear bearings so he could leave, it was after all quite rude to leave while the other party probably wouldn't even notice.
"So… can it be taught?"
This had Echo blinking a few times, he really wasn't sure to be honest. He had taught himself how to do it while being exposed to it and even then it still took him sixty years to realize just what he needed to do to be efficient with it and more so the sheer amount of control you need over your body to do this is so near perfect that a regular human couldn't do it.
"Not really. As it stands right now your body wouldn't be able to make the proper subtle movements that is needed, that and you are shaking right now that basically stops it right there. You might not think you are shaking but your some part of body is almost always in some form of movement no matter how minimal, so if I were to try and teach you this it would require you to learn how to stand completely still which is something a normal human can't do. So no I can't teach you with your current body state"
'Maybe after you have resurrected and have half your inside replaced with electronics you can…' he added as an afterthought.
Shepard did look a little miffed that she couldn't learn it but she let it rest anyway figuring that it probably wasn't the safest thing in the world to attempt to learn with their current condition. Of course had she actually kept asking Echo to teach her she would have found out that Echo in reality wasn't able to teach anything, how are you supposed to teach someone something you were never taught and don't completely understand anyway?
"Right I guess that makes sense?" She really wasn't sure "We'll talk again later"
Echo gave a small nod before standing and making his way out towards the elevator and down to his ship once more.
Inside the elevator Echo stood alone he still hadn't pressed a button to go to any specific floor, currently he was simply enjoying being in a room where he was truly alone. After almost three hundred years of always being ready for battle there were barely any moments of true peace, Marc still didn't feel these moments today but he had found… less stressful situations, this was one of them.
Finally conceding to the fact that he needs to actually do something Marc presses the button for the armory and silently waits. As Marc stands waiting a pulse shoot through his body causing his eyes to shoot open and his hands to ball into fists 'Fuck' Marc tried to leave the elevator but stumbled and landed on one knee 'Not now…' Giving everything he has Marc stands back up and starts walking towards his ship, this was not going to end well…
A few near falls and miss steps later sees Marc walking up the ramp to his ships entrance, a fall sees him through the door and a second later Eva closes the door and locks it and the rest of the ship down.
"Is it time again Marc?"
"…yes"
It was barely audible but enough for Eva to hear it. Marc proceeded to crawl over towards his bed, hoping that he could make it before it happened again. As Marc manages to crawl over to his bed he is stopped right next to it by another pulse shooting through his body.
"ARGH!"
It was not a pained scream, it was raw anger and rage forcing its way out of his systems as he finally managed to pull his now shaking body up onto his bed, from there two hundred and fifty years of repetition made his body move on its own, placing both his arms and legs as well as his head in specific positions he gave the order.
"Eva, Engage the restrains"
There was no reply from the budding AI but the order was executed and five restrains shot out from his bed and held Marc's arms and legs and neck in place. These restrains were specially made to hold him down in these situations.
Eva initiated the final part of the procedure and completely sealed the ship, ensuring that no sound would ever make its way out during her Operators condition.
Marc's ears registered the sound of the ship being sealed and from there his mind shut down and that thing hiding inside Marc's mind was let out and it came out with an ear shattering roar and the restrains were put through their paces as they fought to keep the now struggling hybrid down, and hopefully prevent it from killing everyone on the ship…
Across the Normandy people had various reactions to Marc's episode down in his own ship, for those among the crew who had been around beings like him before felt it like a chill running down their spine and those few all raised their heads and looked around for a few seconds before just shaking their heads and ignoring it. The more experienced of the crew like Shepard and Garrus had been on the receiving end of Marc's "Presence" as well as in Shepards case been within a meter of him when he got riled up, those two felt it almost fully and there was no small shiver running down their spines, no they both froze dead in their tracks and started shaking from the feeling and neither was in doubt about where it was originating from, Shepard turned around and stormed down towards the hangar while Garrus who was already there simply looked at the ship that was giving him this feeling. Then there was Wrex… a Krogan who has lived longer than most any other of his kind and with that age came a wisdom that a few fellow Krogan and some Asari now share with him. Wrex recognized the way his blood started boiling, he knew it all too well from his own reckless youth and future rampages… someone on the ship was suffering from an ailment very few old Krogan suffer from they called it Battle Lust but to Marc who was currently suffering under it, it wasn't an ailment, that would suggest it could be cured, it was a side effect of having his DNA merged with that of a Tenno.
During Marc's time with the Tenno he never became capable of the same as his friends, they could all calm themselves and simply relax because they had gotten used to it, but Marc who was still half human and thus half of him wasn't used to the fact that he had to be constantly vigilant so when he finally tried to relax one could say his need to fight was building up as a side effect of always being ready for one and when that need had built up sufficiently it forced its way out resulting in what was now happening to Marc, his body is literally trying to find or start a fight so he can have an outlet for it. But since Marc has bound himself down that outlet has now become his rapid decline of his mind until he is nothing more but a creature looking for blood and when that creature finally gives up on getting free, Marc's mind slowly rebuilds itself and the circle starts anew.
Shepard had just arrived down at the armory level and wasted no time in running into the hangar only to see a shaking Garrus leaning up against the Mako and Wrex with an anticipating look in his eyes as he gazed at Echo's ship, she stormed up to Garrus and checked on him before he waved her off.
"I'm fine Shepard but what the hell is going on in there? This is the worst I have ever felt from him"
Shepard gave a nod in recognition
"Same here and I have no idea what is causing this" She looked over at Wrex who was now staring intently at the entrance to the ship "Wrex! Do you know what is going on?"
The old battlemaster turned towards Shepard with a strange smile on his face and walked over to them and gave a pointed finger towards the Shadow
"I only have a guess" Shepard nodded for him to go on "Some Krogan when they reach a certain age develop an illness we Krogan call Battle Lust, it causes the Krogan to bottle up their lust for battle until such a time when it forces itself out and the afflicted Krogan goes into a blood rage until his or her lust for battle has been soothed. I suspect he is suffering from something of the same, nothing short of that could make my blood boil and make my anticipation rise like this!"
The last part was said with a raised voice and raised arms as to indicate that Wrex was more than ready for battle. Shepard was rubbing her eyes and shaking her head at Wrex, was battle all that Krogan could think about?
"Is there any way to stop it?"
Wrex stared at Shepard for a few seconds before his deep roaring laughter filled the hangar, it was long and strong and seemingly kept going until he was out of air. When Wrex finally collected himself his smile was still clearly shown.
"No Shepard that is the beauty of it! You cannot stop a Krogan in a blood rage until he has drawn enough blood to be satisfied! … I cannot answer for the being in there though"
The last part caught both Shepard and Garrus attention
"Being? You do know that Echo is human right?"
It was Garrus who spoke if only to try and keep the secret Echo had trusted him with.
"Bullshit, I don't know what he is but human aint it"
Garrus let out a sigh before leaning up against the Mako and gazing at the Shadow, trying to come up with some way to help the man he slowly was coming to see as a friend.
"Best I can suggest is simply wait it out, he seems to have found a way to keep himself inside his ship so better leave him there until he comes out on his own"
Garrus shrugged and seemed just fine with that suggestion so he simply slid back down under the Mako and resumed his various repairs, improvements and beloved calibrations.
Shepard gave a long glance to the Shadow before sighing and conceding to the fact that it was the best if only idea she could see working. She gave a court nod to Wrex and started on her way back up to her room, hoping that this time she wouldn't be stopped meters from the door by a wave of "blood lust" as Wrex called it… this was going to be a long mission….
As the hours passed on the ship Shepard, Garrus and Wrex went back to their regular activities. Garrus kept working on the Mako and tried to ignore the constant pressure coming from the Shadow, Wrex had gone back to his stack of crates and had been standing there since then, no one could figure out what he was doing. Shepard had made her way up to her room and had sat down at her desk intended on finishing the last bits of paperwork that needed to be done. From there the rest of the crew simply went about their day as well and soon enough the night cycle of the ship came around and the majority of the crew went to bed for the night.
Echo stirred in his bed, his head felt like it had been split down the middle but then again he was used to that by now. The restrains keeping him down had been turned off hours ago when he had come down from his little rage trip. It was a very tired, beaten and mentally exhausted Marc who slung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up and stretched his body as far as he could causing multiple joints to pop and his entire body to relax a little. It took some careful steps for him to get over and sit down in the pilot seat but he made it eventually.
"…Eva how long was I out?"
A few seconds passed while the dormant VI came back to life.
"You were out for 8 hours, 34 minutes and 6 seconds this time Marc"
A low "Fuck…" escaped Marc as he sat a little straighter in his chair, the episodes were getting longer with each cycle soon he feared he would have to be restrained for a full day and he wasn't sure if he, even with his strong body, could survive that.
"According to the ship logs it is currently something referred to as "night cycle" aboard the ship, from my scans it would seem only the pilot and a few engineers are currently awake"
A low growl was all the response Eva got as Marc stood up and in a walk that best resembled a dead man walking made his way out of his ship and through the now dark hangar and armory, funny… Marc could have sworn that he saw images of his old friends as he walked through the dark 'Seems my mind is finally coming apart…' after that Marc didn't produce any more coherent thoughts as he made his way inside the elevator and pressed the button for the crew deck.
It was a very thankful Marc who stepped out of the elevator and made his way into the kitchen and quickly found something to eat, not the best selection was offered in the Normandy kitchen but Marc had eaten way worse in his four months away from the Tenno take the word of it, eating raw animal meat from random planets is not a good idea.
Marc put his food on one of the smaller tables and sat down in silence and began eating his midnight snack. He did listen out for anything moving but the only thing he could hear was the subtle sound of humming engine. More than once did Marc feel out and detect people with his ability but each time he felt just felt the same, a lot of sleeping crew members.
An hour went by with Marc sitting there and trying not to think about anything when a set of doors opened and a few light footsteps made someone's appearance known. Marc didn't even need to tap into his ability to know who it was, her presence was unmistakable.
"Shepard"
Said person stopped dead in her tracks and looked into the dark trying to pinpoint the voice, she was too tired to recognize who had just spoken and given that she had just woken up from yet another nightmare, she really wasn't in the mood for guessing games.
"Who is it?"
Marc did wonder slightly why Shepard didn't order the lights on like anyone else would so he corrected that himself with a simple "lights on" and then proceeded to wait for Shepard to look around in the now slowly brightening room until her eyes met his. The second their eyes interlocked Shepard saw something no one besides her would ever get to see, the burden the man in front of her had put on his own shoulders, Marc usually steeled himself so that his eyes would never betray him but coming up here tonight he really didn't expect to need it so he didn't realize what Shepard had seen before it was too late.
Shepard was a smart woman so she quickly realized that she would never speak of what she just witnessed unless spoken to about it first, with that in mind she didn't think it excluded her from probing Marc's mind about a few more details over a midnight snack…
It didn't take Shepard more than a minute to gather up her personal midnight snack that she had perfected over her time of service under Anderson and place herself across from Marc. After a few minutes of quite eating Shepard decided that to get some of those details
"So… care to explain just what the hell went on earlier today down in your ship?"
Shepard found it best to go right to the heart of her most important question and since Wrex had already given her a clue of what to go after she figured she would just get to it.
A shrug and a bite of food later told Shepard that he wasn't interested in sharing… so she decided to push a little…
"Wrex told us it might be something like a disease old Krogan suffer from, he called it "Battle Lust" supposedly it is when a Krogan keeps his lust for battle bottled up until it explodes out from him and he goes on a blood rage. Was he right?"
Marc looked up from his food and stared intently at Shepard for a few seconds before sighing 'it is not worth the trouble hiding it'
"Wrex was close, for Krogan it might be considered an ailment but for me it's a side effect of having my DNA merged with that of another species. You say Krogan bottle up their lust for battle? Well with me it's something of the same only it's my need for battle" Shepard looked confused so Marc pressed on "Over the years, Shepard I had to learn how to constantly ready for battle, eventually it got to a point that even if I tried to relax a part of me would still be ready to fight. At some point that readiness becomes a need for a fight and eventually that need builds and when it has built itself up sufficiently it completely takes over my body and actively goes searching for a fight, if it can't find one it will start one"
It seemed quite final for an explanation but Shepard had head a lot of things over the years and eventually she learned to hear when someone was indeed telling the truth but leaving out some of the more important details, like now.
"There is something you are not telling me about this…"
Echo looked up from his food and gazed at Shepard for a few seconds 'She's got a good mind, but perhaps not the best sense of survival…' it took a few more seconds but Marc let out a low sigh
"Yes there is and I suppose it is something you need to know about since it could potentially influence the mission" This caught Shepards attention and she was now sitting completely upright "When I have my "episodes" then I need to be restrained as to not harm anyone, but for each time I have an episode I need to be restrained for longer this time alone I needed to be restrained for over 8 hours, if the amount of time keeps rising as it has then there is a good chance I will not survive an episode once it reaches a full 24 hour cycle"
Shepard sat there with a stunned look on her face while Marc simply took another bite of his food like he hadn't just informed her that his life was effectively running on the clock.
"How long?"
It was all Shepard could muster right then and there but that didn't make the question any less significant, but to Marc who had already come to terms with his own death it really didn't mean much.
"If the amount of time I need to be restrained keeps rising at the same pace then I would estimate I still have a good ten years left before I hit the 24 hour mark"
It was a shock to hear that someone could speak of their own death like it really didn't matter that much, it truly shook Shepard to her core.
"How can you be so calm about it!?"
Marc didn't even bother to look up at this point.
"I have lived for 354 years Shepard, I am half human and half Tenno I have loved thrice the time of most any human and I have lost everything dear to me with the Tenno so I do not fear for my demise. When Death comes to claim what remains of my soul then I shall greet him like an old friend and face whatever punishment awaits me"
Shepard sat in silence her food long forgotten, how could a man have fallen so deep as him and still remain sane? The sense of drowsiness that she thought lost when she woke up came back to her as she reached up and rubbed her eyes in a very tired fashion, she had her own problems.
"Nightmares?" Spoke Marc's calm voice
Shepard gave a small nod "They have been getting worse ever since that damn beacon smashed those visions into my mind"
Marc gave a nod in understanding "I know what terrors a nightmare can wreak upon the mind"
This sent Shepard chuckling "Why do I get the distinct feeling your nightmares are a great deal more terrible then mine?
Marc didn't answer; he didn't have to because Shepard already knew. What she didn't know was that unlike herself who was haunted by many a past action Marc himself only had one nightmare, one memory that kept replaying… one scream that refused to go silent… one body that refused to join the others.
"I guess I'll see if I can get at least a few more hours" said Shepard while standing "You should as well we need everyone to be fully rested"
"Tenno only need to sleep once every third day or so" said Marc with a small smile "So I can stave off my nightmares a little longer than most"
Shepard stuck out her tongue in his general direction before giving a small laugh and going back to her food. After a few minutes another question popped into Shepards mind
"Mind telling me what your problem with Kaidan is?"
Marc looked up from his snack and stared at Shepard for a given few seconds before shrugging his shoulders and laughing quietly to himself
"I don't have a problem with him as a person; I guess it has something to do with military rank"
"Kaidan is a lieutenant some would say that is doing pretty well for yourself" was Shepards reply.
"Indeed, but if I had to rank him with the Tenno ranks he would be quite far below me" Marc noted with gesture towards Shepard
"Really? What rank would you be if you were Alliance?" Shepard was intrigued
"I guess I would be a…" Marc gave a thoughtful expression for a few seconds "Rear Admiral or Admiral would be my best guess, speaking strictly from a military history standpoint. If we include the various traits needed for the actual rank I guess I would be a Commander like you"
Shepard suddenly fell quite silent, it wasn't exactly every day someone claimed to hold one of the highest ranks within your military…
"Just out of curiosity what would you place me as if I was with the Tenno?"
"Speaking strictly from a combat standpoint?" Shepard nodded "… I would place you somewhere in the Master Rank, perhaps promotion worthy"
Shepard blinked a few times and looked utterly confused
"Mind you that the Tenno doesn't measure you for your leadership abilities and some of the other stuff that the alliance does, with us it is purely personal skill" said Marc
"I see… where would Kaidan be?" Shepard asked with a little caution
Marc once more looked thoughtful "If I need to be fair I would place him somewhere in the lower Hunter rank" this was followed by a shrug "If I have to judge on a personal basis I would class him as a high Disciple"
"I thought you said you had no personal problem with Kaidan?" Shepard said with a small grin
Marc gave a low grunt "Perhaps a small one then"
Shepard gave a good laugh before recovering
"How does the Tenno ranking system work anyway? And what rank are you for that matter?"
"I passed my Grand Master promotion test a few years prior to my departure for the citadel. As for our ranking system, I can only reveal that we have four ranks from lowest to highest they are "Disciple, Hunter, Master and Grand Master" unofficially we have a fifth rank above Grand Master which belongs to our leader whom we call "The Lotus" or just "Lotus" when talking to her directly, but since she is the only holder of the rank it is not exactly used"
Shepard gave a whistle 'impressive… I think'
"Grand Master… I take it that makes you important somehow?" Shepard asked a little hesitantly
"Not at all. My title as Grand Master merely means that I am a good warrior, our council is important but I could never make it on to that anyway" Marc answered with a flat tone
"How so?" questioned Shepard
"Because you need to have been with the Tenno for 1500 years before you can be part of the council and I will, given that the side effects doesn't kill me first, only live to see a thousand" replied Marc
Shepard snorted "Only a thousand…"
A comfortable silence befell the two sole occupants of the mess hall while they continued eating their respective midnight snacks. The silence continued until Shepard finished eating to which she stood up, put away her tray and headed towards her room, she stopped right at the corner and without turning around she spoke in a low voice that was barely audible.
"Why do you not let anyone close?" she turned her head slightly so only one of her eyes was visible "Even here tonight when I felt like we at least held a decent conversation, I could still feel you trying to distance yourself from me, why?"
"My reasons are my own" said Marc with a sad smile on his face "And shall remain as such for now, goodnight Shep… Sarah"
A small nod and smile was all he got in return as she headed into her room and left Marc alone with his thoughts. It wasn't many minutes later that Marc himself stood and headed down towards his ship. Come the next morning people would start wondering why the right armrest of one of the chairs was crushed.
Once inside her quarters Shepard got herself ready to go back to bed, it only took a few minutes before she found herself back in bed staring up at the ceiling slowly drifting off. The final thought that passed through Shepards mind before sleep claimed her was 'I want you to let me near…' Shepard bolted upright and sat staring off into the darkness of her quarters; she looked around for a few minutes before she shook her head wildly and turned and glared at the now very insulting piece of literature that was currently corrupting her nightstand, after a few seconds of trying to light the damn thing on fire with her glare she simply resorted to hissing at the damn thing
"This is your fault…"
She then promptly laid back down with a loud *thump* and glared at the sealing with a sullen expression her face, eventually she turned on her side and tried to fall asleep while ignoring the small blush she felt on her cheeks.
On the nightstand a small book lay closed with a bookmark placed a few pages after the halfway mark, it was a simple design that adorned the book it was completely white with the title written across in black
"Timeless Lovers"
The following morning two people woke up and had two very similar yet very different mornings, one woke up with a sullen look on her face which was focused on a book on her nightstand, the other one woke up with a splitting headache since Tenno was supposed to get a full 12 hours of sleep after three days and since the hybrid had decided to sleep only after two days and then somehow managed to only stay asleep for 2 hours his punishment was a legendary headache that only very few extreme drinkers had ever suffered. At the same time a book found itself violently thrown into the nearby trashcan followed by a few wild thoughts of lighting the trashcan on fire but those thoughts were quickly disposed of, lighting offending books on fire was a personal pleasure for another time.
Back down aboard the Shadow Marc gave a low grunt as he contemplated smashing his head into the nearest pointy object in an attempt to relieve some of the pain but alas he had more sense than that. It was almost a fight in of itself to get to a certain corner of his engineering department, from there he opened a small secret compartment and pulled out an automated injection system which was already loaded with a very unhealthy looking black almost slime like liquid inside. Marc put the injector to his arm and pressed the release and registered the substance enter his blood stream with a small grunt, soon his nanites would be working overtime to expel the foreign liquid and in turn they would run a full body restore hopefully ridding him of this headache, hopefully.
About the same time that Marc was injecting his anti-headache solution Shepard was stepping into the rather cold shower as Shepard felt like she needed to cool down a little. After allowing herself a good ten minutes of simply letting the water run across her body and leaving her to her thoughts she decided that enough was enough and it was time to start the day, however little she wanted to. Entering the mess hall Shepard made a straight line for the coffee machine, despite the incredibly poor taste of the brew it was a necessary evil for her to get up in the morning, to this day she is still cursing her father for getting her addicted to the stuff…
Marc had in the meantime decided to venture out of his ship with a lingering headache and simply hoped he wouldn't have to deal with any loud noises for now. Thankfully the trip over to the elevator had proven to be quiet with the exception of Kaidan scowling and huffing at him when he passed, luckily for Kaidan Marc knew that if he had called Kaidan out on that it would have turned loud… Marc didn't want loud right now. So Kaidan was left ignored while Marc stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the crew deck.
Stepping out of the elevator Marc made a direct line for some food with no real thought as to what he ate, any form of nourishment would only speed along the nanites in their work. After acquiring some food which looked questionable at best he sat down at one of the empty tables and started to eat, only to look up with first Garrus and then a few minute later Shepard joined him.
"Morning Echo" Said Garrus in a chipper tone
A low grumble was all the reply he received and it didn't pass Shepard by that he looked like crap either.
"What's wrong Echo?" asked Shepard
"I decided to go to sleep a day early; however I only managed to sleep two hours. Due to my condition this has basically given me what could best be referred to as a legendary headache" said Marc in a low tone
Shepard just started laughing at Marc's misfortune and over the irony that he had been so cheeky a few hours ago about being able to go three days without sleep only to be sitting here now and complaining about missing out on it. A small sound announced that the speakers had turned on
"Commander, we have a distress signal coming from Edolus, its alliance!"
Joker sounded frantic but this had more to do with it being a distress signal than anything else. Shepard was immediately alert and knew with herself that they were going down there, if there was even the slightest chance that they could save those marines she would take it. One look around the room told her all she needed to know about what team she wanted, Tali she felt wasn't needed on this mission, Marc was definitely out of the question with that headache of his, he seemed barely able to function right now. That left Garrus, Kaidan and Wrex and as far as she knew they were all okay.
"Garrus go down and get ready and tell Kaidan and Wrex as well" said Shepard
Garrus nodded and started towards the elevator. In the meantime Marc was running his mind over the mission on Edolus that Thresher Maw could severely fuck them over if they didn't get some clue about it but his dilemma was finding a way to get that information to Shepard… In the end Marc got up and managed to catch the elevator with Garrus down, neither spoke on the way down.
After hearing Garrus tell the two others that they were going down Marc noticed that Kaidan gave him a slightly smug look which he simply ignored, his target was Wrex. Marc walked over to the Mako and waited for Shepard to arrive and climb in first, once she was inside Garrus followed and then Kaidan. Marc then stepped forward and stopped Wrex in his tracks before he could enter
"Beware the rite of passage" said Marc in a warning tone
Wrex eyes shot open and he glare fiercely at the being that somehow knew about his kinds coming of age ceremony, but after staring into his eyes for a few seconds he realized that this was a warning for the mission and then his own instincts told him to trust this being so he gave a nod and a grunt before climbing into the Mako. Marc then left hurriedly and sealed the hangar and entered the elevator.
Stepping out in the mess hall Marc looked around at the gathered crew, most of them were still eating or just finishing up their breakfast and heading towards their stations for the day. Even Tali had something to do by helping out the engineers with the engine but Marc found that he had surprisingly little to do besides meditate or mess around with some of his unfinished projects in his engineering department, neither of which he wished to attempt with his headache still dispersing.
Out of the corner of his eye Marc noticed Chakwas go back into the med-bay to prepare in the case someone was injured down on Edolus, odds were that someone was going to be hurt down there. After a while of aimless wandering and thinking Marc came to the rather unpleasant conclusion that he no longer had Arck or Borth to talk with when he needed to get his mind off things around him… that could turn troublesome so he decided that he would try and talk with Chakwas, if anything simply to inform her of his unique condition.
Inside the med-bay Marc found everything to look just like in the first game, simply bigger. Chakwas was sitting by her desk looking over some files with a frown on her face.
"…damnit Sarah…"
It was lower than a whisper but Marc's sensitive hearing picked it up and his eyebrow lifted in curiosity, if Chakwas was cursing out Shepard then either she had done something stupid to get her recently injured (So very likely…) or perhaps she suffered from an illness, Marc thought the first one more plausible. Chakwas did eventually notice that someone was standing at the door and spared a glance only to do a double take when she gazed over a subject of interest for her.
"Mr. Echo, I must say I expected you to show up at some point" said Chakwas
Marc gave a low smile and gestured to the door behind him "Can you lock it?" a few button presses on the console in front of her and Chakwas had locked the door to the med-bay. Marc took a seat next to Chakwas and eyed her critically, this was the last test in his opinion, he wanted to trust Chakwas but he didn't know the doctor after all.
"Do you doubt you can trust me?" asked Chakwas
Marc's eyes opened a little wider and smiled at the woman, she had barely met him and already she was reading his thoughts.
"I trust no one Doctor" said Marc
Chakwas smiled slightly and nodded in understanding he wasn't the first one to say this.
"Well Mr. Echo I assume you have your own reasons for seeking me out, but I too have a few questions for you regarding your condition, I hope you can understand my professional interest in meeting someone like you, the very idea that your DNA is fused with that of another species is very fascinating" said Chakwas with a little pep in her voice
"Shepard talked about me I see" said Marc with a raised eyebrow
Chakwas gave a sly grin and nodded her head indicating that perhaps Shepard hadn't spoken completely of her own volition… 'Note to self: Try not to make Doctor Chakwas angry'
"Then perhaps we should start out with your questions Doctor, then perhaps we can tackle my own issues and I promise you there is plenty" said Marc with a very smile
'I feel like I am going to regret this…'
"Wonderful! Then perhaps we can begin with why you had your DNA fused to begin with?" said Chakwas with way more enthusiasm than anyone should have when talking about other people's bodies…
"You are aware of my age correct?" started Marc, Chakwas nodded "Good, I was only 20 years old when I ended up with the Tenno, shortly after I arrived an accident put me in a near death state and the doctors thought I wouldn't survive the night if something wasn't done" Chakwas was scribbling down every word Marc was saying "Eventually they decided the only way to save me was by injecting me with the same nanites they use" Chakwas lifted her head and looked with wide eyes at Marc
"Nanites, they perfected nanites that can survive in your system?" Chakwas managed to croak out
"One thing at a time Doctor" said Marc with a smile "After the injection they believed I would be okay, at least until the nanites recognized my Human DNA as a virus that needed to be purged, so the nanites started breaking down my body piece by piece accelerating my imminent demise" Chakwas stopped writing down his words and instead looked up and kept her gaze at Marc "In a last ditch effort to save me a Tenno freely gave a DNA sample that was to be merged with my own and this should in theory make the Nanites recognize me as a Tenno and thus start healing me instead of killing me. As evidence by me sitting here the procedure was a success and I have lived a healthy life since then"
'and suffered severe backlash from the procedure that could potentially kill me…' Marc didn't say that as he felt that was one piece of information he needed to keep to himself. Chakwas on the other hand was gazing over Marc with a curious glance, she was trying to identify any major difference between him and any other human male, yet with the exception of the skin color she couldn't see any vast difference.
"Could you tell me anything about the procedure itself?" asked Chakwas
"I was already unconscious by the time they even thought about it and even if I knew anything about it Doctor I wouldn't tell you, Tenno medical practices are of no use to anyone else since we rely on our nanites for a great deal of those practices" replied Marc
Chakwas nodded her head though with a slightly disappointed look on her face.
"Then perhaps about the nanites themselves then?" asked Chakwas a little hopeful
"Some of it" replied Marc with a smile "Our nanites primarily stay in our bloodstream to allow them quicker access to the entire body. When a Tenno is injured or infected the nanites will all move to those areas, they exit the blood vessels by making a small hole in the vessel itself, the amount of needed nanites then all move through that same hole, when the last nanites is through that nanite seals the hole in the vessel. From there the nanites simply move between our muscles and other tissue until they reach their target, they are also programmed to destroy any nonessential tissue to move through the body after which they repair it. Once the injury of infection has been healed or purged they then use the same method to reenter the bloodstream"
Chakwas was in awe, that technology was a dream for the Alliance but could never find a way to power the small robots in an effective enough way to merit their construction. Yet here was a group who somehow managed to do it, extraordinary!
"Then how do they retain their power?" asked Chakwas
"When a nanite runs low on energy they will attach to a nerve and simply recharge with the small amount of electricity that pass through our nerves on a daily basis" was Marc's rather stoic reply
"Doesn't that impair your movement?" asked Chakwas with a raised eyebrow
Marc gave a smile "Indeed it does, which is why when I am outside my Warframe it requires around double the amount of energy to move around normally. Inside my Warframe the battery inside my armor supplies the nanites with energy from its own cells"
"Remarkable…" Chakwas looked thoughtful for a second "Your brain's must be exceptional if they are capable of producing double the amount of energy needed"
"Perhaps, we have not conducted that many studies into that field or I haven't at least, you see I was part of the engineering department, not the medical department no that was my wife's area of expertise"
The last words were out of his mouth before Marc managed to think them over and a shadow passed over his eyes, this was not missed by Chakwas who hadn't missed the "was" either. Thinking that perhaps a drink was in order Chakwas pulled out two glasses and a bottle of Brandy, though not her favorite brand.
"A drink Mr. Echo?" she asked while lifting the bottle, a nod was all the confirmation she needed and she poured two glasses. Once both had their drink Chakwas took her first sip before she decided that perhaps this was as good as place to start with his problems, they could always return to his change later.
"Now then Mr. Echo I believe you came in here with something on your mind didn't you?" the smile on Chakwas lips was that of an understanding elder, it was a smile Marc had missed over the last year.
"Indeed I did Doct…"
"Please! Just call me Karin" interjected Chakwas
"Karen then. I came here with some intent yes, but perhaps simply to relieve my mind. So many things have happened in my 333 years of service to the Tenno and a great deal of it changed me" Marc's tone was somber and quite depressed
"Are you considered a veteran with these Tenno?" asked Chakwas after a sip of Brandy
"Veteran? Me?" Marc gave a loud snort "Had it not been for my unique circumstances and my brother I would still be considered a rookie, as it stands I hold the highest rank one can get within the Tenno but that is simply because I ended up throwing my life into my missions after my wife died…"
Chakwas gave out a slow sigh "Perhaps you should tell me about your wife? She seems like she is the basis of many of your problems"
"Perhaps" Marc looked thoughtful for a good minute before he let out a rather loud sigh and leaned further back in the chair while emptying his glass "She was so amazing Karin… she was the first person I saw after waking up with the Tenno and right then and there I think my heart had already decided that she was the one… Sivra was her name she had silver hair that seemed to dance even when there was no wind, and her eyes oh god Karin her eyes! I got lost looking into those golden irises of hers, I felt like she could stare into my very soul with those beautiful eyes…" Marc suddenly fell silent when the memory of those eyes closing for the last time flashed across his mind, his hands curled into fists in his lap as he kept remembering "Then she was taken from me… I held her dying body in my arms… I got to say goodbye Karin that is more than most Tenno ever get… yet I still felt cheated, like my reason for existing was gone I couldn't think of a reason to go on after that…" it was all he could manage to croak out, there was no tears, no they were long gone but the sadness in his eyes was still enough to make Chakwas get misty eyed.
"333 years… I cannot begin to understand how your mind survived it all" it was barely a whisper
"It didn't" said Marc with a dark tone "I snapped Karin… it was about a week after Sivra's funeral when I took my ship and left, I had tracked down a colony of our enemies and I believed that rather than grieve for Sivra like I should have, then perhaps the pain and anger would go away if I took it out on something…"
Chakwas stared intently at the man in front of her; she understood that what would come next was not pretty. She reached over and took one of Marc's curled up hands into her own and stared him intently in the eyes
"It's okay, I will not judge you for what you did in your grief" the words were filled with understanding and compassion, Marc could only nod.
"I slaughtered them all Karin… men, women, children… no one was spared I didn't care who I killed, to me they were all sinners, to me they were the reason she was dead. When I finally left it was only because I had destroyed everything and killed anyone who hadn't fled… since that day I only grew to hate myself and the Tenno more and more and in the end I left" the last bit was said in a half cheery tone "then I ended up here and eventually found myself going with Shepard"
Somewhere during his explanation Chakwas had removed her hand and now she was sitting in shock. She had expected it to be bad but not at such a scale! When she finally got her wits about her again the elder British woman could only manage one question
"How many?" her voice was shaky at best
"…432 men, 252 women and 105 children… 789 total out of a colony of 1000 people…"
When Marc raised his head to see Chakwas reaction there was such sadness in his eyes and yet Chakwas could think of only thing she could do. She stood up from her chair and gave the man that was 299 years her senior a hug that was filled with as much understanding as she could muster. To Marc who had not been hugged in quite a while and even then it was only by the Lotus sat stock still at the contact, yet somehow it was oddly comforting so he didn't move until Chakwas sat down on her own.
"Thank you" it was barely a whisper but Chakwas heard him "I think I will retire back to my ship for now Karin… thank you for listening to my ramblings…"
"Nonsense Echo. I sense you have many more troubles, anytime you wish to talk know that my door will be open" said Chakwas with a warm smile
Marc smiled and nodded before turning around to a now unlocked door, before stepping out he turned around and looked at Chakwas
"Oh and Karin, call me Marc in the future"
He then turned around again and walked out the med-bay leaving a smiling and amused Chakwas behind, there would be many interesting conversations with him in the future indeed. Marc did not waste anytime going back down to the armory and into the hangar and directly into his ship, perhaps he could catch some of those hours of sleep?
However the powers that be decided that sleep was simply not was Marc was meant to do, since barely an hour had passed since he fell asleep before the entire ship rumbled and Eva announced that she was sealing the ship due to the hangar bay opening. Marc made a few grumbling noises as he stood up and waited for the ship to unlock again, apparently Shepard was back from Edolus.
When the ship finally unsealed Marc stepped outside just in time to catch a furious looking Shepard storming out of the hangar towards the elevator. Garrus came out of the Mako a few seconds later and looked concerned but seemed to believe that he couldn't do anything since he started looking over the Mako. Kaidan then crawled out and hurried after Shepard, Marc shook his head at that 'He reminds me of a puppy at times…' and last but not least Wrex came grumbling out of the Mako and it didn't take long for the Krogan Battlemaster to lock eyes with Marc. Not a second after their eyes met was Wrex moving towards him at faster pace than normal and with an angry scowl on his face, when he reached Marc he spared no time putting his face inches from Marcs.
"You and I need to talk, now"