Disclaimer: BioWare owns Mass Effect. 20th Century Fox owns the Alien franchise. EA owns Dark Space.
Hades Nexus Cluster, February 23, 2177
A/N: Yet another name ripoff of George R.R. Martin's 'A Clash Of Kings'. Pretty sure you'll figure it out, especially if you read Mass Effect vs. Aliens: The Siege of Hadley's Hope.
"What, in Good God's holy-fucking name, were you thinking?!"
1st Lieutenant Jane Shepard winced as she stood there, at parade rest, a string of abuse directed right at her by Master Chief Stacy Valentino, her Aunt giving it to her as good as she could. The Human Specter had heard the phrase 'pin your ears back', and now she knew exactly what it meant; she was pretty sure that Val could be heard throughout the entirety of the ship. It was an impressive volume, ranking somewhere between a very large explosion and a spaceship taking off, and that was just the volume. The words themselves turned the air blue, somewhere in the neon range, as Shepard stood there silently, her body and eyes locked into place as the N7 dressed her down expertly. She wasn't going to say a word; it wasn't a two-way conversation.
"I won't even ask if you were trying to get your dumb ass killed, because you fucking did!" Her Auntie Val screamed right at her face from less than an inch away, their noses almost touching as Shepard felt spittle hit her face, forcing herself not to blink or wipe away the spit that flew from Val's lips. "Just how fucking Goddamn stupid can you be, walking out in space with shit for air than is needed to make your next destination? Facing bugs by yourself? Throwing yourself out of an airlock? Do you have a deathwish?"
"No, Master Chief." Shepard replied, her eyes and body never moving as she answered simply, knowing good and well when to reply and when not to. Anyone who spent five minutes in the military learned when to answer simply, and when just to shut the fuck up.
"You could have fucking fooled me, Lieutenant!" Stacy screamed at the top of her lungs, somehow even louder. The Master Chief stared at her for a long moment, and to Shepard's surprise, her Auntie Val wrapped her arms around her and hugged her fiercely, and she could feel the N7 trying to stave off crying. Val… crying? Now she really felt like shit. She'd rather see her Aunt screaming at her at the top of her lungs than to see her cry. "Goddamn it, Janey… you're the closest thing I've ever had to a daughter, and you're running around, reckless and regardless, trying to be a hero. And I think I know why." The N7 pulled away enough so that she could see Stacy's brown eyes, tears still slowly sliding down her cheeks. "You spent your life around N's, and it shouldn't be any surprise that's what you wanted to be more than anything else. We raised you, and you wanted to be one of us. But you didn't realize then is that we're forged from years of military training and experience, having lived through and survived shit that people generally don't, to include friends and battle buddies we've had. You see us for all we are, but you never got to see the things we suffered, both before and after, to learn what drives each and one of us to reach this point. I can tell you know it isn't to be the best; those fuckers are the ones that fail N1 course. No, Janey, each one of us finds a reason to succeed that isn't selfish. Don't believe me? Ask Vrataski. Ask her why I call her the 'Full Metal Bitch'. She's got a story that trumps yours and would make a rock cry.
"You don't have our restraint, you don't have our experiences, and you certainly don't have the understanding we do when it comes to such things like this." Val continued, her voice soft, shaking her head sadly as she continued to hold Shepard." Your decision? Your team over yourself? Proud of that, kiddo. That was grade-A heroic bullshit. I would make the same choice for the same reasons. The difference between you and me? I'm not Humanity's First Specter." That had Shepard stop short her thoughts. "Think of it this way; if a Turian Specter gets killed doing what you did, the Counsel just shrugs its collective shoulders as the other thousand or so do what it is they do everyday. Same with the Asari, same with the Salarians. You… are our first. Ever. You get yourself killed with some stupid reckless stunt like that? Counsel thinks Humanity as stupid and reckless, like we're a pack of retards. Next Specter might not be for a long time coming, and Humanity doesn't have the voice it needs. You're on top, Jane Catherine Shepard, and you earned your way up there. Now you need to make sure that you stay up there, pave the path we need so that we can be a little less afraid, a little less angry." She frowned at that, but Gods help her if she didn't know exactly what her Auntie was talking about.
"Kids and soldiers are going to look up to you, Janey; they're going to want to be you. Your at the same level as Jon Grissom, David Anderson… and your Mom and Dad. Fifty years from now, people are still going to know your name, first ever Human Specter, the highest office a human being could hope to achieve with the exception of… I dunno, if the Counsel ever decided to have a fourth seat and have us in on it. Which I doubt." Val snorted and shook her head at the ludicrous thought, making Shepard smile at the preposterous idea as well. "Janey, I want you to succeed, I want you to do well. I don't want to see you die for any reason, no matter how noble or grand. With a few exceptions of friends, no one's going to remember me. A lifetime of fighting for humanity, and I'll die on some airless rock that makes Uranus look nice, and I'll soon be forgotten. I'm okay with that; I was there when it mattered most, and made a difference. You? You are our Julius Caesar, our Napoleon, our Nelson. Your name will shine for centuries. You need to make sure that when people say your name? They aren't comparing it to some retard or mass murderer. I love you, kiddo, and I don't want to be the one that carries your casket and flag. That heroic bullshit? It looks all well and good on paper, but when that person is gone… they're simply gone. What would you do just to see meet your father? To see your mother once more? Think they would turn in every award and accolade to see where you're at right now? In a motherfucking heartbeat." That hurt, but Shepard understood what Stacy was trying to tell her. "Be the hero we need, not another forgotten flag hanging on a wall with a plaque. We got plenty enough of those."
"Okay, Auntie." Shepard held Master Chief Stacy Valentino tight, embracing the woman she had known for almost a decade, the woman who had been a second mother to her. She understood what Val was trying to get at, trying to tell her. "Love you, Val."
"Love you too, kiddo." They pulled away for a moment, and Stacy held Shepard's chin, peering into her green eyes. "Leave the stupidity to me and Royce from now on, okay? That's why we're N7's; to do the dumb shit that only we can pull off and still be breathing afterwards."
"Well, dumb shit aside, we're still stuck on a ship filled with bugs, and now I know for a fact that there's a living Queen here." Shepard explained, finally looking over to Teams Dingo, Cowboy, and Ghost, everyone having finally linked up in the topmost section of the Engineering Section of the Ishimura. Master Chief Valentino, Captain Royce Mason, and Specter Instructor Cavius Reminion had been trying to fix the communications relays and the computer drives of the ship so that they could send a signal out, as well as look for any survivors. Why the Computer Core was located there, as oppose to the Bridge, Shepard had no idea, seeing it as a design flaw. Still, at least they weren't registering any contacts. "There was a hunting party after us, Val. One hundred bugs in the Bridge section. Any of you gotten any contacts?"
"Nope." Captain Royce Mason replied, having already admonished the Specter for her stupid space-walking stunt earlier. He hadn't been pleased, either. "You'd think they'd go after one of us, being in smaller groups. It's not like you guys were moving about. Were you?" Shepard groaned as she thought upon the possibility. She had moved around by herself… right towards the Flight Deck. Hadn't they seen the most signs of Xenomorphs on the Flight Deck? Acid scorch marks? One bug by itself in the Maintenance Bay? She thought it through, thinking on how while they never saw the actual Queen on LV 426, they knew that she had to be under the reactors of the terraforming complex. So where would a Queen go for a ship? Someplace defensible, someplace she could control. "Janey? I asked you a question."
"Huh? Yeah, I found a Shadow Broker terminal." Shepard replied, her thoughts still on the Queen. She missed the look that Royce, Stacy, and Cavius exchanged with one another. "The Queen is going to want someplace she feels safe, somewhere where she could bring in all the personnel on the ship, right? What's the largest portion of the ship she could control? The Cargo Bay? Mining Deck? Hydroponics? If you were to kidnap a thousand people, and keep yourself safe, where would I go?"
"Care to explain the 'I found a Shadow Broker terminal' part you just mentioned." Cavius Reminion asked, his flanged voice a little off, one of his mandibles twitching. Shepard wasn't really paying attention. Where would she hide if she were the Queen?
"Found it during our search for Stacy's Tram doohicky thingie. It was in the ladies' room, behind a toilet." Shepard lied, still mulling over the location. "Activated it, got him to send some assassins to come and kill me. We shuffle them loose the mortal coil and steal their ship. So, ride issue is getting solved." Someplace warm, dark and steamy, that was what Private Trevor Wierzbowski had said back on Hadley's Hope. For all they knew, Ski had hit it on the head; maybe it was the ideal location for the Xenomorphs. They sure hadn't been effective in space, even if they could survive it for the Gods knew how long. Hydroponics seemed like a good choice, but that was on the other side of the ship from the Helm. Why send a hundred bugs when she only went to the Flight Deck, which was in the upper middle portion of the planet-fracker, not a the rear bottom where Hydroponics was located according to the Ishimura schematics. No, not Hydroponics.
"You contacted the Shadow Broker, and asked him for a ride?" Stacy Valentino asked, her tone disbelieving.
"No, I insulted him. Called him a coward, testicleless, a weak crying Salarian bitch… I don't remember all of it." Shepard was still mulling it over. Mining Deck didn't seem likely; they hadn't been that far either. "Said he was going to personally see me dead. Told him to fuck off." Dark, probably? Warm, possible? But Mining Decks were filled with all sorts of dangers and moving machinery, probably not something a semi-primitive species would want to be at. Mining was scratched off.
Wait… what had the original distress call said?
Shepard brought up her red Omnitool, and began going through files, remembering the message that Executor Kryus Contenus had given to her back on the Citadel in the Office of Special Tactics. She remembered something that she had heard there, the first broadcast for help. There had been the man's voice that had given off the distress call, and a bunch of background noise that were the alarms… to include the ship's emergency broadcast system! That was what she was trying to remember! She queued up the file and played it again. "Mayday, mayday, mayday!" The man's voice called out, the panic in his voice obvious. Shepard could hear the emergency klaxon going off in the background, along with some emergency broadcast. "This is Engineer Temple! We're under attack by some… I don't even know what the fuck they are! But they're capturing or killing everyone! If you can hear this… send somebody! The Ishimura's taken a lot of damage, and most of the systems are off-line! And if you do come? Bring lots of guns, 'cuz these things love to stick the the shadows and ambush you. Temple out." She began fiddling with the audio adjustments on her Omnitool, trying to limit Temple's voice and the klaxon that practically drowned everything. She played it again, making a few more adjustments until the klaxon was almost completely washed out, and the Engineer's voice was subdued. This time, she could hear the emergency broadcast.
"Warning!" The voice of SHODAN was unmistakeable now, calling out through a ship-wide announcement."Biological contaminate detected, Medbay! All personnel, evacuate the Medical Deck! Quarantine! Quarantine! Quar.." The message ended with Temple's ending the transmission, but Shepard heard all that she needed. A part of a Specter's job was to investigate, and she had done just that; she knew where the Queen was.
"Fucking bitch went and set up shop in the Clinic." Humanity's First Specter declared, looking at both N7's and her Specter Instructor, who looked at her without saying a word. "Why grab the food when it can come to you? She found some spot in Medical to start laying eggs, and all the sick and injured walked right into a trap. A few facehuggers later, and she got drones to start doing the dirty work for her. She probably got a good chunk of the personnel on the ship before anyone realized there was a problem, just like on LV 426. That's why they went after us; the Flight Deck and the Bridge are right next to the Medical Section. We've mostly stayed to those sections, so the Queen was trying to collect us. Now we know where we need to go."
"Okay." Royce grabbed at the bridge of his nose, obviously trying to quell a headache. "Aren't you the least bit concerned that the Shadow Broker is sendin' people to come and kill you?"
"What? No." Shepard waved it off as she shut off her Omnitool. "We're on a broken ship in a decaying orbit over a cracked planet in the middle of dead space. Between the asteroids and the bugs, I'd say a few pieces of the scum of the galaxy trying to come and get me are rather low on my list of concerns. I'll go MiB on their ass when the time comes. Then we can steal their ship and get the fuck outta dodge so I can send this thing straight towards Ground Zero on Aegis VII. Soon as we're confident that a rescue isn't feasible or possible, I'm dumping this thing for a one-way ticket for a crash collision. CEC can fucking bill me. Besides, just how dangerous can the Shadow Broker be? I've got Specter weapons, armor, and equipment. Plus, he probably thinks that I'm either alone or have a small team, so more power to us. Even Krogan can't be that dumb."
"No. Just Human Specters." Stacy growled, shaking her head. "I guess it's too late to stop the idiocy train now. Let's hit up Medical to see if we can find ourselves the Big Bad Bug." The N7 looked at Shepard with an intense glare. "Any other moronic decisions you've made in the past ten minutes that we should know about? You didn't call up the Batarian Emperor and schedule tea time, did you?"
"Only if I get to sip tea out of his skull."
"Shit, chica, you look like hell."
"Thanks, Vaz." 1st Lieutenant Jane Shepard replied sarcastically as she took the Gunner's hand and clasped it hard, bumping shoulders with Corporal Jeanette Vasquez, glad to see her friend. "Val give you any shit?"
"Please! That puta gives everyone shit." The Marine replied with a shrug of her shoulder, her heavily-modified M56 Marshal slung in a carrying configuration. "You just had to go and wax some bugs without me, didn't you?"
"There's about a thousand more to go, Vas; plenty for everyone to share." Shepard smiled, as she looked over to Sergeant Dwayne Hicks and Corporal-Technician Bill Hudson, the four last remaining members of the 343 Mobile Infantry. It made her think of what Master Chief Stacy Valentino had told her before; what would she give to have her platoon back? Or the original members of Team Dingo? They had died heroes, but they were dead, and never coming back. She could still remember their screams as they died. "Queen's in Medbay; I'd put good credits on it. Into the Lion's Den we go so we can sink this ship and scuttle it."
"Fuckin' A, Lieutenant, what's up with you and destroying everything?" Hudson asked, shaking his head as he planted his Stryker Assault Rifle onto his hip. "I'm ready to grease some bugs so we can get the fuck outta here."
"Yeah, but first we gotta set the reactor to overload…" Sergeant Hicks began, his tone faux-suffering.
"Then we gotta go pick up the El-Tee's dirty laundry…" Corporal Vasquez jumped in, resting her arms on her Marshal, giving off a sigh of resignation as she looked towards Hick, giving him a knowing nod.
"And then we footrace a supernova or some shit…" Hudson popped in, a swanky smile on his face.
"While shooting everything in sight…"
"Fistfighting a Krogan…"
"Lighting a cigar with a flamethrower…"
"Makin' the Counsel cry…"
"Punch a reporter…"
"Stealing a Frigate…"
"You guys are fucking impossible." Shepard exclaimed, throwing up her hands in frustration, looking at her former squad, the smile creeping up on her face as she began to laugh, the mood infectious. She had missed the shit-talk, and it did wonders for her mood. "Well, don't come crying to me when all of you get transferred to some bitch unit out in the outer colonies, humping it on some Venusian hellhole, hotbunking it with some fat, sweaty guy that never showers." Hicks chuckled at that as Vasquez rolled her eyes. "If we don't do this now, we're going to get ambushed sooner or later. We take the fight to her, whittle her numbers, and leave some nasty surprises. If there are any survivors left, we won't be able to find them if the Queen thinks she can fuck with us whenever she wants. Show her we're a threat, and perhaps we can get her to leave us alone. Or, she hunts us down like no other."
"Shit, man. Bring 'em on." Vasquez smiled, pulling up her heavily-modified Marshal, slapping the receiver bolt. "This bitch is blood-thirsty, and I'm tired of playing hide-n'-seek. Let's go wax some motherfuckers." Hudson gave off a hearty hoo-rah as he hoisted his Stryker Assault Rifle, the maniacal gleam in his eyes bright as the Marine bro-punched Sergeant Hicks' shoulder, making Dwayne nod with a smile. They were ready.
"Time to give someone the Big Green Pickle." Shepard smiled.
"N-n-now arriving (ing); Medical DECK." SHODAN spoke through the Tram's intercom system, Captain Royce Mason, Master Chief Stacy Valentino, and Specter Cavius Reminion's teams able to make some repairs to the Computer Core to where they could access some more of the ships' systems, one of them unfortunately being SHODAN's ability to garble at them.
"SHODAN? Give me a list of what's wrong with the Medbay, minus the critical faults with the ship. We already know those." 1st Lieutenant Jane Shepard asked the ships' VI as the doors to the Tram opened, revealing the Tram Platform for the Medical/Science Deck. There were a few bodies on the platform that were lying there, and as Naor the Bull covered the door leading to the Medical Deck with his four auto-targeting Spitfires on his back, various members of Specters and humans went to check on the bodies. There were eleven in all on the platform, each with their chest burst open; an obvious sign as to what happened to them. Bastila Shan looked positively sick at the sight of a Xenomorph's birth, and Shepard couldn't blame here; it was gruesome to see the inside chest cavity of a man or woman. What bothered the Human Specter was that she didn't see any eggs or facehugger corpses. Perhaps they scurried off after knocking up the personnel to die somewhere else.
"W-w-warning (ing) (ing)." The VI spoke, its voice modulation still damaged. "Medical (cal) Deck under quar… quar… quarantineeeeee# &$! Biocontaminates (taminates) present in Medbay. Biocontaminates presentSENT in Science Lab (Lab). Ishimura Personnel under lockdown (lockdown) con-con-conditions. Warning. Personnel are with-with-without lifesignnnnzzzzzz… Unknown personnel prezzzzent in Medbay."
"How many 'unknown personnel' are in Medbay?" Shepard asked, curious. That didn't sound like 'biocontaminate', an obvious descriptor for the Xenomorph. Perhaps there were survivors!
"T-t-t-ten unknown personnel, to (to) include four membersssszzz of the Ishimura." The VI replied.
"Survivors. Fourteen survivors." Shepard breathed out, looking over to Tela Vasir and Captain Royce Mason. "SHODAN? Have the personnel been in contact with any biocontaminates?"
"Ne-ne-negative, Lieuten(ten)ant."
"'Bout time we got some good news." Uncle Royce breathed out, all smiles. "Probably stuffed themselves inna locker or an airlock. We get 'em out first before we go toe-to-toe with Queen Bitch. We'll split some of us up to lead 'em out of here. Perhaps they seen some thin's that might tell us what happened here, or where the Prothean doohicky is at." They hadn't even begun to look for the Prothean device that was the whole reason they were there. With the introduction of the Xenomorphs, any search would be hampered by constant attacks and ambushes. Before they could look for the device that the Ishimura had picked up, they would have to play exterminators first. That suited Shepard fine; she wanted the bugs dead. Bugs… how had they gotten aboard a planet-fracker in the first place. "We'll start with the heavies first; Naor can take most anythin' on, and we'll flank him with Vasquez, that Elias bloke, Hudson with his explodin' gun, Val and myself. Janey? We secure a beachfront, and you lead a team towards the Medbay itself for the survivors. Take who you want, and we'll button up the first thin' solid. We search the place low and high, inch by inch. Gotta hand it to ya, kiddo, seems like this should be the place. Annapolis gave ya' some brains, jus' gotta remember to use 'em from time to time, sheila."
"Thanks, Uncle." Shepard replied sarcastically.
"What I'm here for." The Australian man replied with a smile. "Bull? Ready those Spitfires! We're openin' the door to the lockdown, and you're the first one in with the nasties, so go in hot 'n heavy. Vas, Korvan, Hudson, Val, get ready to get live. If one of you chaps be so lovely to get the door for us?" The six of them got ready as Shepard went to the door leading towards the Medical Deck, her Specter Gear HMWAR Mark VII ready in her right hand as she put her back to the wall, looking to the six companions as they readied themselves to assault forward. With a nod from Royce Mason, Shepard pulled the mechanism that would open the door, stepping away from the opening by a few feet as Naor the Bull lumbered forward, the Elcor Heavy Weapons Specialist clearing the hallway with his four Spitfires. Corporal-Technician Bill Hudson was alongside the Elcor, his Omnitool on and tracking program running while Corporal Vasquez stood to the other side of the Elcor, her M56 Marshal leveled for combat, the latino woman poised ready for contact.
"Negative contacts. Fifteen meters to the next door." Hudson called out softly as Shepard peered inside, seeing a hallways that terminated at another door. "No readings beyond."
"Secondary team, move up." Shepard called out, motioning Captain Mason, Master Chief Valentino, and Specter Recruit Elias Korvan forward. Both N7's had their M-99 Sabers at the ready, while Elias had his T-24 Phaeston Light Automatic Support Rifle in his talons, the Turian Specter Recruit's mandibles wide in anticipation. They stood at the ready behind the Elcor and two Human Marines, ready to provide flanking support and secondary fires if necessary. They didn't know how bad things would be if they went inside the Medical Wing. With the potential of a Queen, that meant Xenomorphs, probably wall-to-wall bugs. There was also eggs and facehuggers to worry about. "Hicks? You, Vakarian, Drang, get ready to support if necessary. Biotics, you're next on the list; time to see if space magic works on bugs." Sergeant Hicks, Garrus Vakarian, and the Drell sniper Kya Drang readied themselves by the door of the Medical Bay, readying their weapons; Hicks with his Disciple Shotgun, Turian Specter Recruit Garrus Vakarian pulling out his Turian M-55 Argus Battle Rifle in lieu of his M-92 Mantis Sniper Rifle, while Kya Drang swapped out her Armax Arsenal Punisher Sniper Rifle for her modified M-9 Tempest Machine Gun. Behind them were the three Asari Specters; Tela Vasir, Asha T'vara, and Ulla D'veora. Each had smaller weapons ready; Tela had a Specter Gear HMWP Mark X Pistol in one hand, while both Asha T'vara and Ulla D'veora had A-33 Ardat sub-machine guns, giving them the ability to access their natural biotics while being able to fire at the same time. "Rahe, myself, and Jondum Bau will hold the hallway and protect our escape route if needed. Cavius? Have everyone hold a defensive position in the Tram Platform, ready to defend, move, or beat retreat as needed. We could be opening the door to a hornet's nest, so be flexible people." The Turian Specter Instructor nodded as he began moving people into position, their weapons ready to use if necessary, both Dr. Liara T'soni and Bastila Shan glowing slightly blue, readying their biotics as necessary. "Royce? Let's give the door a knock." Shepard called out through her communicator.
"Right you are, 'gel." The N7 replied, his tone pleased; this time, they were the hunters. "Val? Knock, knock."
"Geez, Royce. That was lame." Aunt Val replied, her tone suffering as she moved forward to the next door, just as Shepard had. "Let's see who's there."
The door opened to the Medical Wing, and all hell broke loose.
A/N: In the game Dead Space, the computer core is actually where Kendra Daniels is located. I moved it because Issac can't access it in the game.
While I'm not hugely versed in the Aliens Universe, I believe that the Xenomorph can survive just about any environment their host can survive, and facehuggers themselves are quite virulent. One of the purposes of knocking a host up with a bug was to gain their environmental adaptability to whatever planet/area they were on. As for them surviving the rigors of space, I will expand on this a little bit later on, as the movies have suggested that the Xenos might survive space for short periods of time.
Big Green Pickle - a military euphemism for getting fucked by the military. Usually means your luck sucks.