Four :::
The Return: Part II
"When it happened… it happened swiftly and without mercy," survivor Karin Chakwas explains to the examiner in the room with her. "I don't think anyone onboard saw it coming. Happened so fast…"
"…There is nothing that in my lifetime, will ever measure up to the sheer terror I felt and saw." Karin continues to explain, deeper into the interview. "It was like hell itself had followed us through that Relay." Her gaze becomes distant and she falls silent for a moment, before taking a shallow breath. "Now, I was never thought to be a very religious person… or a firm believer of… God. Some omniscient figure of the universe. After going through this, however..." she shrugs innocently, crossing her legs. "Well, I can afford to be a little impartial…"
02: 51 hours
Normandy SR-2 medical center
Time seemed to slow down for Karin Chakwas as she stared upon the sea of wounded in her vicinity. The med-bay was choke full of wounded and she knew there were about four dozen more sitting out in the galley being tended to by the three other ship docs. For the most part, they were maintaining themselves quite efficiently given the poor line of circumstances that have came their way. If being kidnapped by aliens that supposedly don't exist wasn't bad enough already, the wellbeing of the colonist was another factor on its own.
The med-bay was fogged with the heavy scent of sweat and the putrid stench of open wounds boarding infection. It was unbearably hot too, like being trapped in an oven, even with the lines of propeller fans blowing the air in every direction in hopes of creating a more tolerable climate. It worked, to a certain degree. Now if only there was something to reduce the lack of supplies onboard the vessel.
They were running low on medi-gel, of which Karin sent the Quarian, Tali, down to crew storage to fetch some more. Truth was, there was hardly any left in storage as well. There was hardly anything left besides dust and crumbs. They've pretty much burned through the reserves in healing colonists harboring life threatening injuries. It seemed like everything they needed the most wasn't preset at the moment.
"Doctor."
Karin heard her title being called by a familiar, accented voice. She didn't stir her concentration of evaluating a patient as Tali approached, standing opposite of the patient's sickbed.
Tali went on to speak, "we're at the minimum quality of any medical supplies in storage. But… I was able to distribute drinking water for the wounded. It isn't enough, but still… better than nothing."
"Pretty soon we'll have nothing at all," Karin replied, somewhat repulsive. It wasn't directed towards anyone but herself. Caught in her own emotions. Noticing her behavior, she brought her attention to Tali, "I'm sorry, it has nothing to do with you…"
"Oh, no—please doctor. I understand," Tali reconciled. "You're doing your best. And it's the Collector's fault that we're in this mess."
"Yes well," Karin sighed. "It's our job to make sure everyone makes it out alive. That'll be payback enough, wouldn't you agree?"
The groans emitting from the patient in Karin's care grabbed her immediate attention. "Good, he's gaining consciousness." Karin quickly stepped over on the other side of the patient's bed, prompting Tali to take a step back, allowing the doctor to tweak an overhanging device that monitor's the patient's bio readings.
"Alright, brain activity looking normal… body temperate's a bit high… but shouldn't be an issue…" Karin paused from her musing and stared down at the patient. His eyes crept open slowly and he stirs sluggishly upon the cot.
"Wut… wh-where…" he began to mutter incoherently.
"It's alright, be still. You're okay," Karin comforted, gently nudging the patient back down on the cot. His cloudy eyes connected with hers, a wave of confusion behind them. His eyes then begin shifting, taking stock of the immediate surroundings.
"Wut… where… where am I?" Asked the patient.
"You're in the Normandy's med clinic," Karin told him, speaking consistent enough for him to understand. "Do you know where that is?"
The patient stared at her with a looked contorted in bewilderment. It was normal that abductees exhibited massive memory gaps, yet only for a few minutes—no longer than fifteen minutes after waking. Karen should know, she didn't recognize a corner of the ship's interior when she was brought back onboard till twenty minutes later.
"The… Normandy?" Recalled the patient in a total confusion.
Shaking her head, Karin knew it'll take time for the patient to recollect. In the meantime, she managed to coax the still shaken patient to remain still in the hammock while instructing Tali to bring over some water.
"Do you remember your name?" Karin questions while shinning a pinsize flashlight into the patient's eye. She noted that his irises hadn't retracted. Normal, in relation to the circumstances.
"My…m-my name. K-Kenneth. Kenneth Don—Donnelly."
"Very good, Kenneth," Karin said flashed him a smile in which he returned a weak one.
At that time, Tali returned with the canteen of water. Karin took the water and held it to Kenneth's lips. She eased the man's head up and allowed him two quick sips before handing the canteen back to Tali.
Kenneth eyed the canteen, when his gaze flowed up to the Tali. A look of bewilderment came across his face, "a Quarian?" He looked back to Karin cracking a weary grin, "ya sure we're on da Normandy?"
Karin looked up at Tali, and knew the young Quarian understood where Kenneth's misconception was coming from.
"I can assure you," Karin began to tell him. "This is the Normandy. Now lie down, Kenneth, you need you're strength."
He complied, easing himself in the hammock and settled in.
That's when she heard her name being called, this time from one of the shipboard medics who stood at the doorway of the med-bay. A dismay look sprawled across the medic's face along with the solemn shake of the head sent a pit in Karin's gut. She knew what this meant, and she bellowed a deep sigh prepare herself for what she has to do next. As she began to step away to attend to the matter, Tali held out her hand, preventing Karin from walking away.
"I'll handle it, doctor," said the Quarian.
Karin gave her a brisk nod, thankful and bit ashamed. Then again, she had to admit to herself, she was getting sick and tired of seeing dead people.
Another one had died. There was a pattern beginning to form: three would die every hour. Tali had lost count on how many have died so far, and she wasn't going to trek down to deck four where she knew the dead were staking up.
"Which one?" She asked the medic in a morose tone.
Tali followed the medic, stepping over the wounded sprawled out before the floor of the galley. The medic wordlessly points to a hammock occupied with a motionless body of a female Human—no much older than Tali herself.
For an extensive moment, Tali stared at the corpse belonging to the colonist. Her eyes were still open, starring up at the ceiling with a ceaseless emptiness. Tali stripped her gaze from the corpse and stood at the foot of the stretcher while the medic got on the other end. At the same time, the pair lifted the stretcher waist high then navigated it over near the short corridor leading to the lift.
Gently setting the corpse down, the medic quickly departs to check up on the others, leaving Tali to hail Garrus, Legion and Mordin. The nonofficial corpse gathers.
She snatched the handheld device off her hip and brought it close to her mouthpiece in her mask. "Garrus…?"
It took a second for the Turian to answer. When he did, he released a lengthy sigh, apparently knowing what the call was for.
"Please tell me you have something good, for a change?" Came his sharpened voice.
As much as Tali wanted to tell him something good, there was nothing pleasant to speak of that crossed her mind. Everything was bleak— falling apart, slowly and painfully. She stared back down at the dead Human, finding her gaze being swallowed up by the stillness of corpse's eyes. She forced herself to look away—at anything. But all her eyes could gaze upon was more suffering.
After she hadn't spoken for a moment, Garrus' voice traveled back through the receiver of her hailer.
"Tali? You there?"
"Yes—yes, I'm… I'm here," she told him, regaining her composure. "There's another by the lift gate."
Garrus went silent before replying, in a low mutter, "be there in five." His hailer immediately went to standby mode, ending the call. Tali couldn't blame the Turian, she hated bad news, and it seemed like the only thing that wasn't in short supply.
She took a moment to recollect herself, leaning against a wall and momentarily closed her eyes. With some effort, she was, for a short while, able to filter out the constant aches and groans coming from the sick and injured around her. It was like the Collectors were just the start of it all. When Shepard recruited her along for this mission, he did state that there wasn't a good chance they were coming back, but at least they spared the galaxy from the alien threat being controlled by the Reapers. Too bad they couldn't save themselves.
Dragging Tali back to the endless torment, a constant cough reverberated in her encased helmet. She pinpointed the source of it emitting from a patient laying in a cot nearby. Stepping off the wall, she approached the cot, only to discover the intense coughing coming from Zaeed. His body jolted and cringed from each rapid cough, urging Tali to fetch the canteen she left in the med-bay. It was less than the halfway mark at that point, meaning she had to ration it appropriately. She second-guessed giving Zaeed a drop, but his continued coughing episode forced her to return to him.
"Here, drink this," she offered, knelling at his side.
Zaeed shook his head, refusing the water, while still coughing his lungs out. The bloody wound to his abdomen was still visible, though the medi-gel was working its wonder.
"You need this!" Tali said with more emphasis.
"I'm not… takin'… dat wata," Zaeed hoarsely croaked. "It'll only go to waste."
"Don't speak that way," Tali said, carrying a steeliness to her voice. "You took a hard hit, but that doesn't mean you're going to die."
"Fokin' insectoid bastards… blew a damn hole right thru my ass…" Zaeed began coughing again, twisting in his hammock. Ceasing his cough a bit, he turns upon his back again, "thanks for not… leaving ma sorry ass out there though…"
Tali felt a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She never thought much of Zaeed, when she first met him. She didn't trust nor like him in the least. He was just another muscle-head scumbag Shepard had recruited for the mission, in her eyes. Nevertheless, she had to admit, over the course of time, Zaeed began to grow on her. He usually kept to himself— she often caught him talking to himself from time to time. Despite his odd and aggressive behavior, she gave the man a chance, for she knew there was more to him than just hatred and pain. And she was partially right, at least.
"Yes well, Grunt did most of the lifting," Tali said to him, trying her best to suppress a smile. It's not like anyone could see it, but she didn't like the fact of smiling while everyone around her was in pain.
Zaeed coughed a slight laugh, "damn near… dislocated my shoulder yankin' me along. Fokin' Krogan."
"At least you're still in one piece," Tali said standing back up. "Now sit tight and try not to do anything stupid."
Zaeed shrugged, grinning through the pain he must've been experiencing. "I'll try."
Tali shook her head turning away from the man. There were other, much dire tasks she had to attend to.
It was believed that Garrus hated the job that fell unfortunately upon him. He may also had been sure, Mordin and even Legion to some sense hated it too. Again they were called to take out a colonist who had suddenly and mysterious died while in recovery. It was the eighteenth fatality thus far, and Garrus was getting tired with keeping track with the statistics.
"Damn… so young," Garrus said with the shake of his head as he stared down at the female Human corpse.
"Unfortunate," Mordin muttered; the Salarian wasn't even looking at the corpse, but at the holographic screen of his Omi-tool. "Sad, death is. However, natural order for organic lifeforms."
"This isn't natural," Garrus said. "Something is killing these colonists. This is like the twentieth body we had to pull out of medical."
"See a pattern developing, yes?" Asked Mordin, though the question sounded more like aloud thinking. "Ah… yes. You're correct. Not natural. This thing is. Body count too high—deliberate, these deaths are."
"Did you come up with that all by yourself?" Garrus replied, clearly making his sarcasm noticeable.
Mordin seemed to have ignored it, or didn't hear what the Turian had said altogether. The Salarian toggled his Omi-tool and finally looked down at the corpse set between Garrus and himself. Again, he sprung his Omi-tool active, quickly making calibrations with the speedy type of his fingers then swept it over the corpse.
By that time, the lift gate doors parted ways allowing access to the fourth deck of the Normandy. Standing immediate at the foot of the open door was Legion. The Geth's mono optic eye swiveled down from its slender head and landed on the newly arrived corpse.
"Turian ally—Salarian ally," Legion addressed them, in his usual Geth way of identifying them. It took Garrus some getting used to when they reactivated the Geth onboard the Normandy. That, along with the reason on why they had a walking talking Geth onboard the ship in the very first place. "Shall I obtain the decease Human female and transport the remains with the remainders?"
"Not just yet," Mordin said, now deeper intrigued with the body. He crouched down, practically putting his face within inches of the dead body's face. His large, dark eyes studied the face with intensity. "Thoughtless of me, should have detected this before."
"Detected what?" Garrus asked.
Mordin didn't reply straight away. Instead, the Salarian squatted down near the body, still lying fresh in its stretcher. Mordin drew something out his coat pocket which Garrus identified as a swab with a cotton end probe. He watched Mordin trace the bottom eyelid of the dead colonist, not seeing anything in particular. Then, Mordin takes the swab back, where a mucus like substance clings like a web to the end of the swab from off the corpse's face.
"What is that?" Garrus questioned in a waivered voice.
"Something to consider," Mordin replied, twirling the swab with two fingers, gathering as much of the strange substance on the cotton end till it builds into a clear, mushy mass. He dug out a plastic bag from his pocket and puts the gooey content into it. Mordin quickly stood back up, smacking his hands together as if dusting them off. "Something out-of-the natural order of things—these deaths are. Immediate blood samples must be taken of the decease and of breathing patients in med-bay. Evaluations must be made in determining root cause of unfortunate deaths."
Without another word, Mordin stepped back into the lift and ushered the body out. Garrus helped, bringing the corpse into deck four's central corridor. It was empty besides themselves, most of the colonists were another deck below, occupying engineering and the habitable wing of the sub-deck.
"Do not put this body with the rest," Mordin told Legion. "Do not want the factor of a vacuum destroying possible vital evidence we can obtain from it."
"We can't just leave her out in the open," Garrus said. "If a colonist comes by and sees this…"
"Then don't allow them to bear witness," Mordin said immediately after.
Breaking the stiffness of their conversation, Garrus' hailer chimes off. The Turian dreaded that the call was from Tali regarding another dead colonist. A chill swept through his body when he clicked the answer button.
"Tali, this better not—"
"Garrus, I need to speak with Mordin immediately," the call was from Miranda. "Is he with you?"
"Yeah, he can hear you."
"Something isn't right about the colonist," the human woman said getting straight to the point. "I've just heard you retrieved another corpse from medical?"
"Yeah," Garrus grumbled, "we're lookin' right at it."
"Good, you didn't store it along with the rest. Get Mordin on evaluating the dead, I don't think these deaths are coincidental."
"Ya don't say…?" Garrus said almost mockingly.
"Just get on it," came Miranda's tired tone. "And be discreet about it. I don't want any of the colonists knowing what's going on."
"I'm already on the matter, Ms. Lawson—and I seemed to have emanated on—"
"Less talking, more working." Miranda said, cutting the Salarian off from his usual lip dribbling. "It's hard enough to breathe in here as it is. Don't need to make it any worse."
Garrus picked up on her exhausted tone. He knew how sensitive Humans are to thin oxygen levels. Him being a Turian, he barely noticed at all of the progressive decline of breathable air onboard the ship. But within hours, he'll soon be feeling it very much.
"Aye Miranda, if you aren't feeling so good, maybe you should—"
"I'll be fine," she came back defensively. "Just do your jobs… and keep your hailer on. I need to bring this to Shepard—Lawson out."
Miranda's hailer switched to standby mode, ending the conversation and leaving Garrus, Mordin and Legion in a brief silence.
"…And, breathe out," Karin instructed one of her patients in medical as she pulled the needle out the patient's arm. She had just extracted a vial of the patient's blood. "Okay," she sighed turning to face the counter behind her. She added the glass vial to the other blood samples nested in a test-tube holder. She then snatched off her elastic gloves and quickly disposes them. Turning back around to her patient, Karin plastered a smile. "That wasn't so bad now was it?" She asked the patient, sitting up in the sickbed.
The patient, of which Karin would later identify as Gabriella Daniels, was one of the systems engineers that served onboard the SR-2.
"I always hated needles," Gabriella said while massaging a hand across the bandaged covering the small prick the needle made.
"Yes well, you did just fine, my dear." Karin assured her. "Better than most."
Karin turned her back to Gabriella once more, and proceeded to write the engineer's name upon a labeler. She then stuck it onto the respected blood vial.
"If I may ask, doctor Chakwas," Gabriella began to say. "Why are you taking people's blood?"
It was a question Karin wasn't prepared to answer. She was informed by Lawson, that everyone who were captured by the Collectors—including Karin herself, were at risk of some strange pathogen that has killed twenty people thus far. Though, she couldn't tell Gabriella that, of course. So she had to cook up something that sounded reasonable enough.
She twirled around to face Gabriella, still pondering on what to say "we're… taking precautions," she began, "the Collectors had you all in these vats. There's no telling what they did to your bodies at that time. For the most part, there haven't been any drastic issues regarding everyone's health—but we're just monitoring everyone's vitals to be on the safe side."
With a little mix of truth, Karin felt a bit at ease with her cover story. The less her patients knew what was really going on, the better.
"So was there anything that stuck out?" Gabriella questioned. "Anything odd that you came across?"
Karin shook her head and maintained a neutral look. "Shouldn't be nothing to worry about. Though I do advice that you remain in your bed, you may feel a bit lightheaded, yes?"
Gabriella held a hand to her forehead, "I do feel a bit woozy."
"Completely normal, given the circumstances," Karin told her. "Now rest, Ms. Daniels. It'll be a while until your strength returns."
The engineer lied back in her cot and eased her eyes close. At that moment, Karin exhaled a sigh, easing the tightness that developed in her stomach. Her eyes ran across the dozens of patients resting in their cots in the med-bay. One of the medics was making rounds checking up on them. It gave Karin an excuse to leaving out into the galley where more wounded were placed.
Exiting the med-bay, Karin looked out across the sea of people lying on the ground. Across the galley space, she saw the Commander conversing with Miranda and Jacob. They were too far from earshot, though Karin believed Miranda was getting the two up to speed as to what was going on. Before soon, she watched the three depart, where Shepard stopped and looked around as if searching for something. The Commander then looked down and approached someone lying on a stretcher on the floor. Karin watched him for a while, now talking with this person. Karin didn't pay it any mind, until she found herself walking in the Commander's direction. That's when she made out who Shepard was talking with, Zaeed.
As she got near the talking pair, she saw the extensive bead of sweat dotting Zaeed's forehead. He was one of the most severe of the wounded. It's been a while since Karin checked up on the man during her rounds. She guessed it wouldn't hurt to evaluate him.
"How are you feeling, Mr. Massani?" Karin asked knelling down near Zaeed.
"Like a ray of sunshine," the wounded man grunted out.
Karin observed Zaeed's vitals under the care of her Omi-tool. She discovered that he was in stable condition.
"He's stabilizing, Commander," Karin said to Shepard. "Be on your way, I'll watch over him."
Shepard gave her a brisk nod, then walked off, regrouping with Jacob and Miranda before the three turned the corner heading towards the elevator.
"So when are you… gonna start being real with me?" Zaeed began to say to Karin.
"What are you talking about?" Karin asked dismissively.
"Don't be coy with me, doc," Zaeed spat out. "I'm not dead yet. And me lyin' down here doesn't hinder my eyesight one bit." He painfully turned on his side, so that his entire body is facing Karin's direction. "I saw you… talkin' with Lawson. And I know… whenever that woman has something to say… it ain't neva 'bout anything gud."
Karin gave him a skeptical look, deactivating her Omi-tool. "She just wanted blood samples of the colonists and Normandy crewmembers that were taken by the Collectors."
"Bull. Shyt." Zaeed heaved out. "I saw you pull those stiffs outta medical…"
Karin's felt her eye twitch, a silent indicator all Zaeed needed to know the truth behind what was really going on.
A drowsy grin formed on the man's now reddish turning face, "we're fucked… aren't we? There's no saving this ship—the damn… Collectors or whateva made sure of dat when we blew their fokin' home to smithereens!" He coughed repeatedly, falling flat upon his back again.
Karin drew a clean rag from her pocket and patted it across Zaeed's moist forehead.
"You're dehydrated," Karin remarked. She took a quick glance to find any of her staff members nearby.
"Don't need no… wata…" said Zaeed between coughs.
Karin rolled her eyes, "oh shut up already! You're not dead, remember? It's time you've started listening to your own words for a change."
The commotion brought Tali over to their side. "What's the matter with him?" Asked the Quarian in a worrisome tone.
"He needs water," Karin said, keeping Zaeed's head prompt up with her hand. A side effect of a large quantity of medi-gel being administered to a single patient, often made blood cells permeable. In other words, the water drains right out the person's body. In Zaeed's case, he needed water fast, or his condition will steadily decline.
"The canteen is all but empty," Tali stuttered. "We're clean out—and… I-I don't think…"
"Go check storage—hurry!" Karin ordered her.
The Quarian took off in a dash. Karin remained by Zaeed's side, watching his face turn a sickly blue.
In a scramble, Tali searched the near empty storage room for anything that could help Zaeed. It was futile, since she knew there was absolutely nothing of value left.
"This is hopeless," Tali sighed to herself.
As she was turning to leave out, Tali was startled by a lone figure which stood leaning against the doorjamb directly in her path. It'll later be verified that the person may have been Kasumi Goto, a handpicked operative of the Lazarus Cell.
"I hate when you do that," Tali said to the short, Human woman of which possessed skilled on coming up on people when they least expect.
Kasumi gave Tali a small grin from behind the cloak of her hood, and didn't say a word after that.
Tali rolled her eyes and brushed her way pass the woman. That's when she felt Kasumi's hand grasping her arm preventing her from walking away. "Looking for these?" The stealthy Human brandished two pairs of half-filled water bottles in her other hand.
"Where'd you get that?" Tali asked, now facing Kasumi.
"It's surprising what a broken ship can provide," the woman suddenly tossed a bottle for Tali to catch. Tali clumsily caught the bottle with both hands and clutched it close to her breastplate. "I wouldn't drink that right away, of course," Kasumi warned. "It's full of icky contaminates, seeing that it came from the runoff of the busted air circulation system. You'll have to filter it somehow before any of the colonists' lips suck at it."
"Why didn't you just bring it to the med-clinic yourself?" Tali questioned.
Kasumi's gaze fell a bit. It was hard for Tali to read this woman's body language, since she was pretty much stoic and often distanced herself from the rest of the group. Much like a female version of Zaeed, minus the recklessness.
Kasumi handed Tali the other bottle, "you best hurry with that. I think someone definitely needs it."
Before Tali could say another word, Kasumi had gone down the corridor. Tali lingered for a moment, reflecting on Kasumi's odd behavior. She then realized that Kasumi was right, she had water, now it was time to help Zaeed and others who needed it. As she was making her way back down the corridor, she caught herself from a near fall into the wall. The constant hum of the mass effect core winded down before being all but silent.
Thane's eyes flashed open and the Drell's senses peaked. "We've stopped," he muttered.
"Good!" The hulking Krogan in his company bellowed. "Hopefully that means we'll be landing soon. Tired of being trapped on this forsaken ship."
"Agreed," Thane replied.
He and Grunt took up residency in the sub-deck, along with twenty or so colonists that were in somewhat good condition. Thane was more or less calm since the end of the Collector base assault. He was very aware of the thinning atmospherics onboard the vessel, so he had shortened his breath intake and kept dialogue at a minimum. Conserving energy was key, and nobody liked being trapped onboard a failing space vessel for almost three days.
So Thane remained below deck, laying on the floor, back against the wall, staring out through the low lighting of the deck. There wasn't anything to see besides a web of piping that snaked through the entire deck. Grunt continued to sulk back and fro, impatient to touch ground.
"Commander, you have to see this…"
Joker's words echoed in Shepard's ears as he, Miranda, Jacob, Jack and Samara rode the lift up to the CIC. They've only been FTL for no more than an hour and all of a sudden they've stopped. Something was right.
Shepard stepped out as soon as the doors parted ways and marched onto the deck making a beeline towards the pilot.
"Joker, what the hell's going on?" Shepard demanded to know.
The pilot held out on a reply, and Shepard and company will soon discover what had Joker occupied.
Shepard's attention was brought to the holographic display, showcasing a scaled module of a ship with the wording USG Excalibur below it.
"What's happening, Joker?" Shepard asked standing beside the pilot's chair.
"Just… listen to this…" Joker pressed a nearby button which began a crummy transmission. A frightened voice came through over the loud speaker.
"…any vessels in close proximity. This is the USG Excalibur, unknown hostiles have taken over our vessel. They're picking us off one by one… I don't think… we need help—I repeat we need immediate assista—"
The transmission abruptly ended, leaving Shepard along with his comrades in a state of silence.
"The fuck was that?" Jack's voice severed the quiet
"An SOS," Joker replied. "It's been on a continuous loop for over five hours. The ship's long range transmission arrays managed to intercept the frequency right when we jumped into FTL. I tracked down the message's origin and plotted a course for it."
"You made course corrections without notifying me first?" Shepard questioned.
Joker swirled around in his chair facing the Commander, "look, I'm sorry, okay. But I did my homework on this one." The pilot went back around facing the consol. His hand went to touch the holographic image displaying the USG Excalibur where a stream of written data scrolled the length of the dashboard. "While we were FTL, I ran an assessment analysis check on the ship," Joker began to explain. "Commander, all their essential onboard utilities areoperating at peak capacity. To be honest, sir, I've never seen a ship in such top-notch condition, a cargo craft at that."
"And your point is…?" Miranda urged on.
"Check this out," Joker expanded the readings of the Excalibur's life support systems. "I did the math...both the Normandy and this ship's life support systems are compatible. All we have to do is run a coupling line from one ship to the other… swap out the bad air we're currently suckin' in, and bam!" Joker clapped his hands together for emphasis, "we can restore our atmospherics, and then EDI can come off the hamster wheel that's keeping the lights on and we'll be good to go."
Shepard had to admit, Joker had outdone himself with this one, in a good way that is. He meant well, but Shepard saw too many faults in this plan.
"What about these hostiles that boarded their ship?" Jacob asked.
Joker shrugged, "who knows…pirates, slavers—I mean, it's the Terminus systems after all."
"This is all very informal," Miranda began to say, unenthusiastically, "but we couldn't help them anyway. We're ill-equipped and we have problems of our own to attend to."
"Okay," Joker heaved. "Sure, we're screwed, but that doesn't mean we get to pass this up. I mean, they could have supplies—of which I know we're running out of. And their life support is like a bucking bronco. I mean, we tap into that that bad-boy… shiiiit, we'll have restored the Normandy's life support tenfold…"
"We can't," Shepard declared, interrupting Joker. "We can't… help them." It pained Shepard to say that, but it was the truth.
Joker swiveled around in his seat, his eyes darted across each of their faces. "Okay, someone tell me what's going on?"
"There's an aggressive infection spreading throughout ship," Miranda spoke up when no one else did. "It's killed twenty people thus far, and we believe everyone might be infected."
Joker sat froze for a moment and his face went pale behind the shadow of his hat.
Miranda continued, after taking a sigh, "it may also be airborne. Even if we could, by some miracle board that ship… kill whomever had taken it over and rescued the occupants… we'll had infected them all with this pathogen."
Joker's lip quivered before speaking, "so this virus, or whatever—it only infects organics, right?" His eyes shifted to Shepard looking for some input. "We could send Legion in to help them out—he's inorganic, he'll…"
"Yeah, great idea…" Jack mocked. "Send the Geth…"
"Okay, that was a little dumb," Joker admitted with a scrounged face. "But I don't see anyone else coming up with any ideas! So what—we're just gonna leave them hangin'?"
"Joker, we have no other choice," Shepard said to him. "There are too many things that can go wrong and I don't want to risk adding more fuel to the fire."
Joker sighed, taking his hat off his head and scratched at his hair. "Thought this was a win—win for all of us. Sure as hell was better than limpin' it all the way to the Sowilo System."
"Wait, what?" Miranda recalled. "The Sowilo System?"
"I gave Joker an order to plot a course for that star system," Shepard explained narrowly.
Miranda gave him a narrow eyed stare.
"It was before I knew there was a killer virus on the loose," Shepard added.
"Well we can't board the ship, without getting everyone infected," Joker began to say taking count on his fingers. "And we can't revamp our atmospherics… without getting everyone infected. Well that only leaves us with the most obvious choice… we wing it all the way to the Sowilo System and hope we don't all pass out and die by the time we make it there."
"That's not going to happen either," Miranda stated. Her tone taking on a darker matter that makes everyone look to her questionably. Miranda was a hardass, that everyone knew, but this sounded and felt different from her normal behavior.
"This vessel isn't moving an inch," she went on, easing back on her tone just a bit. "Not until we receive confirmation from Mordin's analysis."
"And how long will that take, Miranda?" Jacob asked, stepping up to the woman. "Remember, before we hit Horizon… it took him an entire week in figuring out how to counter the Collector's tailored weaponry. We don't got a week this time. Our best bet will be what the Commander and Joker said. We get to the Sowilo System and figure it out from there."
"Finally!" Jack exclaimed. "Best goddamn thing I've heard all day."
Jacob's words seemed to have reached Miranda, for her harden body language had relaxed. Shepard took that moment to turn to Joker and said, "reset coordinates for the Sowilo System. Vamp the mass effect core for maximum output. Let's just hope she'll hold together. "
Joker shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "aye—aye Commander," he muttered. "What about the cargo ship?"
Shepard gave it some thought, but before he could say anything, the unexpected happened.
Miranda pounced onto Joker, wrapping a hand around the pilot's throat. It all happened in the blink of an eye.
"Back away!" She spat at Shepard. "All of you—get back!"
"Miranda!" Jacob bellowed.
"Don't take another step, Jacob," she warned, keeping an iron grip on Joker's neck. "Or I will kill him."
"She's lost her fuckin' mind!" Exclaimed Jack, shimmering her biotic abilities. Samara soon joined her.
"No—No, stand down!" Shepard shouted to them. "Jack—Samara stow it…"
"Not till princess does first," Jack said, flaming electric blue.
"And she will," Shepard said in a stamper matching the acceleration of his heart thumping hard in his chest. "But we'll all be no good if any of you set off a biotic grenade in here! Now, ease up."
Finally, listening to the Commander, Jack and Samara decelerate on their abilities. Shepard didn't have time to relax, he turned to face Miranda just a few seconds away from killing Joker; the lifeline to the Normandy and everyone onboard.
"Now I don't know how we stooped this low," Shepard began to say, raising his hands in a nonthreatening matter. "But the Miranda I know wouldn't do something like this. The Miranda we know," he nodded over to Jacob, Jack and Samara to his right standing by the airlocks. "Would find an alternative solution to guarantee the safety of her crew." Shepard attempted to take a step forward, in which Miranda responded by digging her thumb into Joker's Adams apple. The pilot gargled in pain, the veins in his head began to show.
Taking the hint, Shepard stepped back, keeping his arms raised and a calm demeanor, "alright—alright. You're in control…" Shepard coaxed.
"You move again—any of you…" Miranda graveled, her eyes bulging with malic. "I won't tell you again."
"We know, Miranda," Shepard said. "We're on your side… no one's against you here. Now, if you just let Joker go… then we can come up with a plan on which we all get to move on from this together."
Shepard watched her expression carefully. Her once, enraged behavior takes on one of bewilderment, but it only lasted a moment. "We aren't moving this ship," she made finale. "Can't risk spreading whatever this shit is we've contracted from the Collectors across the galaxy. Our lives are worth the risk rather than a hundred billion."
"And you're right," Samara spoke up in her usual low, soothing tone as if they were discussing the weather. "Ever since I joined the crew of the Normandy, I've come to notice that each and every lifeform onboard this vessel were willing to make sacrifices for others. Did make sacrifices. Such an act of valor restored my faith in organic life. And maybe the aggressive aliens we'd done battle with did somehow deliberately infected us with a terminal pathogen to spread amongst the populations of our many people; maybe we should give our lives so that others may live."
"Please tell me you're fuckin' joking?" Jack asked chillingly, reflecting Shepard's exact thoughts.
"However," Samara continued. "I'm not so haste in meeting my demise when there may be ways in delaying it. We made it this far together. And if the Goddess wanted us earlier on our journey… She wouldn't had hesitated in claiming us."
"And there is a way we all get what we want out of this," Shepard said to Miranda, tailing on the end of Samara's words. "We vector to the Sowilo System…we request that the Normandy be quarantined in a docking birth on land, that way we get to cycle in clean, fresh air and Mordin will have all the time in the universe to figure out what exactly the Collectors did to the colonists. But we won't be able to do any of that if you kill Joker, Miranda. He's the only shot we got in getting through this thing alive. We didn't come this far only for the Collectors to beat us."
A wave of uncertainty came over Shepard. He felt his blood chill waiting for Miranda to release her death grip around Joker's windpipe. Miranda's tense look began to mellow out and before soon, she finally lets go of Joker all together.
The pilot inhaled a gulp of air then flopped back in his chair panting heavily. Miranda hastily left the scene, starting down the dim lit CIC. Jacob attempted to follow her, though soon changed his mind and instead went to check on Joker.
"I'm good," the pilot gasped out, rubbing a hand down the length of his throat. "I'm straight."
"You sure?" Shepard double checked.
Joker nodded his head, clearing his throat, he added, "I can… I can still fly this ship… Commander."
Shepard patted the pilot on the shoulder, "alright then," he said, exhaling a tense breath. "Then get us out of here, Joker."
Joker blinked the tears from his red, puffy eyes then proceeded to typed away at the controls, prepping the Normandy to jump into FTL. Pushing down on the throttle handle, the mass effect core zinged with force. The familiar tremoring of the floor plating returned… and then, it all but folds back into silence.
"Not… good," Joker hoarse voice cracked.
"What the hell is it now?" Jack groaned out.
"Think we… over stimulated the… mass effect core," Joker panted. "Not… goin' anywhere… till we… restart the drive core."
"Shit…" Jack shimmered a laugh, slapping a palm to her face. "If it ain't one damn thing it's another."
"Relax," Shepard told her. "It's a quick fix. All we have to do is flip a switch and the core'll spit right back to life. Only thing is... it needs an engineer's touch."
"Bullshit!" Jack spat. "If all we have to do is flip a switch than anyone of us can do that."
Shepard sighed, dropping his head.
"He was speaking figurative, Jack," Jacob said, speaking for Shepard. "Truth is, we'll have to reconfigure the ignition sequences. One false move, and the system could collapses on itself… vaporizing anyone in the engine room."
"Oh," Jack chirped.
"Engineers Donnelly and Daniels are currently recovering in the medical clinic," Samara informed.
"Yeah, assuming they weren't the victims of this outbreak," Shepard said. The Commander sighed, he hated allowing his pessimistic side to dominate his view, especially in these series of unfortunate circumstances. "Only one way to find out…" About the time he went for his hailer to the contact medical, the power suddenly cuts off, casting the CIC in total darkness.
