"Commander, Are you sure that data's genuine?"
Joker could hear Pressly's nasally voice all the way from the CIC. He was in the freakin' cock pit and he could still hear the dude.
Ugh...cockpit.
God did he hate that word.
Alliance ships have bridges. Asari have cock-
Pressly kept ranting, elaborating on his complaint to Shepard. Joker liked Turians as much as the next guy but the dude had a serious distrust for aliens, especially with the ones Shepard had brought aboard. To be honest, he kind of just resembled one of those lunatics over at the Terra Firma Party. But unfortunately, Joker was pretty sure the rest of the crew felt that way too.
"Pressly, the transmission logs Tali'Zorah recovered ARE genuine. I saw the Geth data core she retrieved them from with my own eyes."
That seemed to quiet the Navigator. Although you'd have to be a mad man to really challenge Shepard's decisions.
The grizzled voice of the Fifth Fleet's admiral came back over the ship's comm next.
"There have been sightings of the Geth in the Armstrong Cluster. But we thought they were just lone wolves. If these logs are anything to go on, then the Geth are actually planning to stage a full scale incursion right in the middle of Alliance space. We need to further verify this information...but if its true...Commander. If we didn't catch this, a lot of good people would have been lost."
"That's why I thought this should be brought to your attention sir."
"And I'm glad it was. As soon as Command approves it, I'll send in the Fifth fleet to mop up whatever operations the Geth have set up in the region. And Commander...Good work. A lot of people owe you their lives today."
"Thank you sir."
"I do have another favor to ask Commander. A mission that I'm only willing to trust to you."
"What's the Op?"
"Hey Joker!"
He flailed when he heard the voice. In fact, he thought he might have snapped one of his arms with how strongly he jerked it back. He slowly turned around, leaning out of his chair to face her, not failing to nurse his arm as he did so.
"What."
Rosey looked back at him obliviously. "Can you take a look at our internal compensators? I think I just saw some spikes there but it might be something else entirely…"
"Ugh," Joker groaned, quickly turning off the comm-link tuning him into the Commander's brief. He just had to do everything around here didn't he?
Why do you think you had to do that?
I banged my head against the elevator wall.
So stupid. Agh, that whole thing was stupid. I regret everything.
The whole mind meld plot hadn't really hit me until I had already taken a seat in the conference room.
Could an Asari read minds when they embraced eternity with you? Do they even go through your memories when they do?
It was an extremely high risk to take. The whole thing would have been a big no-no. I can only thank god Liara didn't ask for one. From me or Shepard. And thankfully no one mentioned that I had received the vision too.
Don't need her thinking I was insane or vice-versa if she ever did that to me...which she won't.
Then my mind wandered back to the experience I had just moments before. And I cringed again.
Offering to walk her to Chakwas had been a split second decision. She had fainted and like a gentleman, I offered to help her down. Obviously because I'm the walking spirit of chivalry of course. But it turned out to be a horrible decision. We didn't say a single word to each other on the way down, or not until we actually got to the Med bay at least. In fact, the walk down was so silent that I had to check back a couple times to see if she was still behind me. Then, once we actually got there of course, Chakwas started chastising me for sneaking out of the room and tells me to get back in bed like I was a child.
So not cool.
Super uncool. And then I immediately turned around to leave right as Liara asked me what my name was. I literally stopped in the doorway when I heard her finally speak. I stood there for a good awhile, paralyzed by indecision for what seemed like an eternity. Awkward stuff I'll tell you hwat. Although it was honestly more like five seconds. Though that is still a pretty long time. So anyway, there I was, awkwardly standing in the doorway of Chakwas' med bay, with the old woman telling me to get back in bed, and the other simply asking for my name and not receiving an answer. So what did I do you might ask? I just decided to pretend like I didn't hear either of them and sprinted on out. Sprinted.
I should have said it. Why didn't I say it? Why did I just walk out? Why? Why'd I do that? Such a weirdo move...you weirdo. Oh my god.
I hit my head against the wall again as I ran back over the scenario. Offered to walk her down for a medical check-up to get away from Shepard's mission briefing. Walked down in complete silence to it. Get lambasted by an old woman as soon as I walk in. Then walk back out when she tries to learn my name. Hell, she probably thinks I'm a racist-
Or speciest?
-Human like the rest. Her first impression of me was probably worse than the one I gave Shepard back on Eden Prime.
And oh my god. When Shepard gave me that grin. She looked like she was about to go ape shit crazy. What did I even say to her?!
I honestly couldn't even remember. All I could really remember now was that creepy ass smile that had crept across her face. How insidious it looked. Like something from a horror movie. I rolled my shoulders anxiously, still waiting for the elevator doors to open.
Is this elevator even moving?!
I took a quick look around the room before groaning. I realized I hadn't even pushed the elevator button to go down. I rubbed my temples with one hand as I actually pressed the button with the other.
Maybe I do need to get back in my head. Bed. Get back in bed. Oh my god.
A couple minutes later and the elevator doors slid open. I let out a sigh of relief too as I found the garage empty. Although I had taken a short detour after leaving Chakwas' office, it appeared no one had beaten me down here yet. I thanked my luck as I wasn't quite in the mood for dealing with anyone else at the moment. I was most assuredly certainly not in the mood to beg Ashley on letting me borrow her weapon bench either. She spent most of her time on the ship there, working on our weapons almost religiously, rarely leaving anyone else space to do their own thing on it. Now was probably the only time I had to use it.
Leaving the elevator, I did notice someone present in the hangar on my right.
Oh, just Requisitions Officer Dan...he practically lives in that corner. Just like Ashley does at the bench...Just like they both do in the game.
He currently had his back turned to me, digging through some of his crates. I decided to leave him be, continuing on to my destination.
Stopping in front of the bench, I unclipped my predator from its holster and placed it down on the table. I then unfastened the cartridge on my belt, laying it to next to my gun. Now, with both components on the table, I pulled up my Omni-tool and searched "How to mod your gun". When Kaidan informed me what I had picked up from a crate back on Therum was for modding rounds, I had been itching for the chance to use them.
Armor Piercing rounds. They would make killing Geth so much easier than it already was. And I could really use the edge. Any edge.
I looked down at my Omni-tool as it finished its search on the Extranet. Just several hundred million results. I clicked the first one.
"Step one. Get gun. Step two. Come to Moglan's store and purch-"
*click*
"If you want to modify your gun like a professional, learn how by buying this easy five step-"
*click*
"Armax Arsenal Stores will help you acquire whatever you need and personally mod your firearms for just-"
*click*
"My coworkers laughed at me. My mate said I couldn't do it. But with Daenus' Urban Arena Che-"
*click*
"Ooooh, put your mod right there-"
*click*
I closed my omni-tool. I stood and stared at my pistol and the tungsten coating cartridge sitting next to it for a good long while.
Well then...now what.
I decided to pick up my gun and look for any spot a mod could fit in.
This was so much easier in the game. You just had to push square. Mods switched out instantly. Took one second to do. Just like that. Boom. One and done.
Examining the pistol, I couldn't even see where the screws might be...if they even still used screws in the 22nd century. I put it back down on the table and scratched my stubbled chin.
Guess I'll just have to wait-
My spidey senses suddenly tingled, and I looked over my left shoulder in response. I found a face inches away, staring back at me.
"GAH," I said jumping.
"Woah, didn't mean to make you shit your pants," Ashley said stepping back with a grin.
I narrowed my eyes at her in response. "Yeah thanks for that," I muttered.
"No really. Didn't mean to sneak up on you. Just wanted to see-" She peeked over my shoulder again. "-what you were so focused on over here."
Hm...I GUESS it couldn't hurt to ask.
"Hey...Ashley...could you say that you're good with...guns?"
She crossed her arms. "I can take apart any Hahne-Kedar model you give me and reassemble it in under a minute. With my eyes closed," she boasted.
"Oh...Well. In that case, do you think you could lend me a hand with installing this mod because..."
She pushed me aside and took a look at the pistol laying in front of me. She picked it up and lifted it towards the ceiling.
"What type of model is this?" she asked turning it around.
"M-3 Predator," I replied. Then I realized it was ahead of her time. About two years ahead.
She definitely won't know how to take that apart. Or why my weapon has technology that won't be seen until two years from now. WAIT. Why DO I have technology two years from now?!
That revelation hit me like a freight train.
"Not familiar," she said continuing to inspect it. "What's this port here?" she asked again, pointing to the rectangle in the gun's side.
"Oh that? Uuuuhh...that's where the heat sink's ejected from."
I glanced around nervously.
She then turned her attention away from the gun. And the look on her face was really judgmental. I didn't care for it.
"It ejects its heat sink?"
"Uhhhhh, yeah."
"Why the hell does your gun eject its heat sink?"
"Yeah. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
The new voice consisting of gravel caused me to jump. Again. I turned around to now find Wrex walking toward us from the Mako.
Where the hell did you come from?!
"Woah, where did you come from?" Ashley subsequently asked. "Didn't Shepard want to see you?"
"She was in the middle of a call so I decided to take a nap in that sorry excuse for a Tomkah until she was done."
"You were sleeping in the Mako?" I asked with disbelief.
"Your beds are too small." He looked around. "And I'm not sleeping on the floor. I'm a Krogan. Not a Varren."
"Uh-huh," Ashley replied skeptical, although I don't know what of. Then she turned back to me. "So why haven't you fixed this yet."
"Fixed what?"
"Your shitty gun," Wrex said for her, although I didn't really appreciate his tone.
"It's part of the design," I said in my defense.
"What? Part of its design to get you killed?" Wrex said dryly.
"Yeah, didn't that Krogan back on Therum almost end you because your gun overheated?" Ashley decided to point out.
Wrex's reptilian face scowled at the mention of Janok.
"That's because I forgot to reload," I admitted while sheepishly rubbing my neck.
"With a real gun, you don't need to reload," Wrex replied coarsely.
"And you never let your gun overheat in the first place," Ashely said, not failing to add her own two cents.
They were really bashing on my shitty gun. And I wouldn't stand for it. Only ME fans can bash on ME2's shitty guns.
You mofos didn't even give the slightest objection to swapping this shit for every gun in existence two years from now.
"Well that was the point of the gun's design," I said starting to get annoyed.
"It was made to overheat?" Ashley scoffed.
"Uh yeah-"
"What the hell is the point of the gun if it can't even shoot?"
"Well-"
"Why the hell would you want to eject a gun's heatsink?"
"To-"
"It's like you want to be killed."
"No, its-"
"How do your hands not burn without a built-in heat dispenser? Doesn't four shots generate like 100 C° for the standard sidearm?"
"If you guys let me finish, I could tell you!" I shouted, cutting off Wrex who was just about to say another smart ass remark.
"I mean who the hell would even make a gun like that?" Ashley decided to continue.
Ooh. Good question. Well...when in doubt-
"The Shadow Broker. And before you two start again, I just want to make sure that you realize the limitations of a conventional rifle. You said yourself that a trained soldier would never let their gun overheat in combat right?"
"Yeah..." Ashley affirmed.
"So even though you have unlimited ammo, you still only shoot a couple shots at a time because if you spray and pray, you'll just end up a sitting duck."
"What the hell's a duck," the Krogan said irritably.
"Uh...a defenseless creature...like a Pyjak."
"Ah."
"Right. So..."
Argh, what was my next poin-oh right!
"And you guys noticed how the Geth back in that quarry were pinning you guys down right?"
"...yeah. I still don't know how they kept up that fire-"
"Because of this!" I said taking my gun back and tapping the hole. "The Geth use these dispensable heat sinks too. That's where the Broker got the concept," I said adding to my lie.
"And when exactly did you guys come across Geth weaponry?" Ashley questioned.
"...it's a secret," I said waving it off. "ANYWAY, the entire point is that instead of using your ammo in short, disciplined bursts, you can spray away. So once your gun overheats, you can immediately just pop out its heat sink, let it automatically reload, and keep firing."
"Hmmm," the Krogan guttered thinking this over.
"And what happens if you run out of those heat sinks to use?" Ashley asked.
"Well...yeah, then you'd be out of luck," I said conceding that point to her. I had been thinking about that constantly after our fire fight. From my current prediction, the Predator only had about 10-14 shots per clip.
I grabbed 5 clips and used one before entering the mine. Then I fired at least 11 more times after I unloaded the one I used on that Krogan. Now if we don't run into Geth again anytime soon, that means I'll have-
"So you'd be defenseless," Ashley said, cutting off my train of thought , still not convinced.
"Well, the same you'd be if a regular gun overheated. It still gets a higher rate of fire though with little to no backlash if you're keeping track of your shots and ammo."
Which I wasn't.
"I think I'll stick to my standard issue kessler," the marine decided.
"A dispensable heat sink huh..." pondered Wrex. The guy was definitely lost in thought.
Well. They almost made me forgot what I came down here to do.
"In any case. Ashley. Think you can still help me with getting this mod into my gun?" I said, picking the mod back off the table. "Don't have the slightest clue how."
"Well if that thing's insides aren't too different from a Kessler, I might be able to."
Good enough.
The sudden thought of losing my first and only weapon though made me rethink about asking her for help. The worries became moot as she took both gun and mod out of my hands and immediately started disassembling it. And I then decided I could only hope for the best. Wrex grunted in response to the conversation's end and began to walk away. While Ashley did me this solid, I realized now was my chance to simultaneously get close with the guy.
Do I really want to though? What the hell's the point if I'm going to be gone by the end of the game?
...Because I'm bored.
"Hey Wrex," I said, choosing to catch up to him.
Also because something happened that wasn't in the game. And it hadn't even concerned me. That needs serious investigation. How the hell did Wrex know that Krogan? And what had it been talking about. And I guess I want to talk to Wrex because he's also a badass bitch. I mean...Motha Fuckin' Urdnot Wrex. Clan Urdnot Mothafucka!
It was as good a time as any to start building a rapport with him. It might even help with avoiding whatever could go down on Virmire too. With my remark, he stopped and turned back around.
"Shield."
"If you don't mind me asking...how did you know that Krogan working for Saren?"
He bared his teeth at the mention of him. "He's dead. It doesn't matter now."
"I'd still like to know all the same."
He let out an animalistic growl in response. "You don't need to know and I don't quite feel like sharing."
His intimidating scowl almost deterred me from bugging him some more.
Sooooo ok. Weird...this is like when I asked Kaidan about BAaT earlier too...Was it because I'm not Shepard? They gossiped like high school cheerleaders in the game whenever you asked them about this crap. Was it because it was Shepard talking to them they decided to open up? Oh my gosh...was it?!
I tried to continue pressing my luck regardless.
"He said something about Saren being 'the salvation of all Krogan.' Do you have any idea what that was about?"
"No. But Tanok was always an idiot. Whatever Saren told him and the other Krogan following him is probably just a lie. They're just stupid enough to believe whatever he's saying."
I'm pretty sure you came close to believing that on Virmire dude.
But with that comment, I was dead sure that the salvation Vanok referred to was Saren's cure for the Genophage. Couldn't be anything else. But we'd cross that bridge when we came to it. I like to live in the here and now.
"I'm surprised that you killed him. You don't have any reservations about killing someone you know?" Ashley said suddenly butting in. She sounded pretty critical of him, but instead of team dynamics, I was more worried about the fact that she was no longer working on my modded gun.
"I didn't know him. And besides, whoever we fight is either on Saren's payroll or an idiot. Killing the former is just business. Killing the latter is a favor to the universe. Luckily for us, he was both."
"Heh." Ashley let out a chuckle. "True."
"Williams. Wrex. Shield." I wheeled around to face Shepard who was just stepping out of the Normandy's elevator. "We're arriving at Sol in a few days. I need you all ready to go by then."
"Yes sir!" Ashley replied while saluting her.
A new mission already? How-wait. Did she just say Sol?!
Several Hours Later.
Grabbing a tray of provisions from the meal cart, I walked back to the dining table and took a seat. Besides Kaidan busily tapping away at his console doing god knows what, the mess hall was empty.
"That's him."
Or it had been. I was content to just eat my food in peace before two guys decided to plop themselves down in front of me. I figured they weren't here for lunch and shifted my attention away from the unappetizing meal below me.
"Uhhhh-"
"So you're Rod right?" the Asian looking one asked first.
"...yeah. I guess that would be me."
"So. What kind of stuff do you know about us?" the other one with auburn hair and a large grin across his face asked next.
"...I'm sorry?"
"You're the guy who works for the Shadow Broker right? The dude who can tell someone their life story from the top of his head?"
"...I guess?" I meekly replied seeing where this was heading.
"So...what do you have on us?" the first one who had spoken up asked.
"...I'm gonna have to know your names first," I lied hoping to get some clue about what I going to say next.
"Raymond Tanaka," he responded.
"Serviceman Robert Felawa, First Class," the red-haired guy to his left replied with pride.
"You're both...in the Alliance Military?"
"Dude how'd you know!" Felawa responded with a smile on his face.
"Really," Tanaka said plainly, obviously not as amused.
"I'm gonna be honest with you guys," I started to tell them. "I don't know everyone's story aboard the ship. I only know about people who've made enough of a...wave, I guess you could say. Most people don't get the Broker's attention unwarranted. To look up a specific person, I would have to have access to the network. Which I don't."
"Did you say...a wave?" Tanaka asked with skepticism. "Then how'd the hell you know so much about Joker? There's no way he's accomplished anything remotely close to be considered that."
"Well he is a reallllly good pilot," Felawa reasoned.
"Being just a 'good' pilot wouldn't get the attention of a man who deals with galactic leaders on a regular basis," Tanaka argued.
"I think stealing the Normandy kinda put him on the radar," I decided to say.
"He WHAT?!" they both exclaimed in unison.
"What, you didn't know?" I replied cheekily. "I'm sure if you ask him, he'll tell you. It's actually pretty hilarious. You see-"
"We've got about ten minutes left before our rotation right?"
"Yup! More than enough time!"
Felawa shouted a "Thanks!" as they jumped back up and ran around the hallway corner. I let out a sigh as they did, going back to quietly finishing my meal alone. There's more than just the crazy aliens to talk to on the ship I guessed. A couple more crewmen walked by but they weren't as interested in conversation, with most of them just stopping by the med bay to check on Emerson and Fredricks who were still in 'ICU'. I had seen Fredricks back when I was heading to Shepard's mission brief for Therum. His stomach looked ghastly. I had almost vomited seeing it. Emerson's wound was a little tamer and I could hear that he was already conscious from the room behind me, but it would probably be awhile before he was actually back up and walking.
I thanked whatever being that was watching over me that I hadn't ended up like them. It was miraculous how safely I had made it through my first mission. And with how dangerous it had been at that.
Besides the bullet wound in my right shoulder that is. And my arm. And the fracture in my skull-HOLY SHIT.
I started kneading my head. I went over my scalp several times before I was confident I didn't have any permanent damage. It didn't feel caved in. And I didn't feel like I was mentally stifled in any way.
Or is that what someone who's mentally impaired would think?!
I dismissed the thought as nobody else seemed to really think there was any change. Although that might be an insult if there was. In any case, the right side of my body felt fine despite the gunshots. And so did my head. No throbbing headaches after waking up or any serious migraines.
Weird.
I didn't put any points into first aid so that had nothing to do with my recovery. Then I wondered for a second what that category was even for.
How hard could it possibly be to apply medi-gel?
In any case, I came to the conclusion that I apparently had an x-factor like Wolverine. Back when the Beacon apparently fractured a couple of my ribs, Chakwas said I would be fine within the week. How's that shit even possible? A fracture taking a week to heal? And I could tell there were no scabs from where I had been shot. Hell, I didn't even feel any discomfort from the wound. I'm pretty sure Doctor Chakwas hadn't given me any Vicodin before I left her office either.
...spooky. I'll probably have to talk to Chakwas about that.
Then I remembered that Liara was currently staying in the room behind the med bay with her.
...hm. Naw. It can wait.
Author's Notes:
Length of chapters vary. I know. This one only clocks in around 3,500 words. Should probably have split the last one with how monstrously long it was but I feel like the chapters should end on their 'arc' rather than word count. Tell me if you'd like them a little more piecemeal though.
Also, was able to recover the chapter that got deleted so finished the rest of that as soon as I could. Will release since these have been long overdue :) Happy Tuesday Morning gang and enjoy the rest of your week! Or whenever your read this. Ah who am I kidding. No one reads the Author Notes.
In the Next Chapter: There exists an area so unfathomably large that Humans simply refer to it as "space." And guess what? I'm in it suckas.
Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!