Author's note: Sorry for the delay in updating, Final Fantasy 14 latched its addictive claws into me... Hope you all enjoy :)
Chapter Three
"We don't normally do introductions this way, but since you've been traumatized and lost your memory, we were hoping that everyone gathering like this would be a little less stressful." Shepard went on to say as the two of them entered the elevator. Garrus had already made his way down. "Just know that everyone here is a friend and they are here to offer support. I know we are all strangers, but rest assured we are willing to help those who need it."
"That is a wonderful thought." Ashlyn replied with a smile.
The elevator stopped on the shuttle bay and the doors opened. Ashlyn was greeted by many faces. Most were human. A few were not. She immediately recognized Garrus, whose mandibles were flared into a smile.
"Alright everyone, this is Ashlyn. She's kind of lost right now so we are going to help her anyway we can. Understood?" Shepard announced to the crew.
Everyone stated their agreements.
Shepard then led Ashlyn down the line of the Normandy crew. "You already know Garrus and Doctor Chakwas so I won't waste an introduction."
"Waste? Shepard, I'm hurt." Garrus feigned an injured tone.
Ashlyn smiled as Shepard rolled his eyes at the turian. He moved on and Ashlyn was shocked to see a woman made entirely of metal. "This is EDI, who you already know through voice. This is her physical body."
"It's a pleasure to meet you again." EDI greeted with a slight bow of her head.
Ashlyn was comforted by the familiar voice, returned the nod and moved down the line to a blue-skinned woman with tendrils instead of hair. Ashlyn tried to hide her fear. Shepard did tell her that no one would harm her on the Normandy and so far everyone was quite nice, so she just had to gulp down the lump in her throat and try to smile.
"This is Liara, she is an asari and a biotic."
"Biotic?" Ashlyn asked.
"Goddess," Liara said in her wispy voice, "she really is missing a lot of information. A biotic is a person who can control energy to lift objects, protect others or even attack enemies."
"Like… magic?" Ashlyn was still confused.
Liara smiled with a hint of sympathy in her expression. "Sure, if you want to see it that way."
Ashlyn wasn't too sure if she was comfortable with Liara's level of pity, but she obviously didn't mean harm. She continued to follow Shepard to the next person in line; a human man with a beard and a baseball cap.
He didn't wait for an introduction. "Name's Jeff, but everyone calls me Joker. I'm the pilot around here and I hope you like being around awesome people, if so, head on up to the cockpit anytime."
Ashlyn chuckled. She automatically liked Joker for being able to get a laugh out of her. "Thanks." She replied.
Next person in line was another alien. She wore a mask and was covered completely in a suit.
"This is Tali, she's a quarian."
"Nice to meet you Ashlyn," Tali greeted in a thick, yet muffled accent.
"Nice to meet you too."
Ashlyn continued to meet the rest of the crew. Major Kaiden Alenko, a reserved human man and also a biotic, Lieutenant James Vega, an energetic, flirtatious muscle man, Samantha Traynor, the communication specialist, Engineer Adams and Lieutenant Steve Cortez, shuttle pilot and armor chief. There were many others and Ashlyn was beginning to lose count, but she held a smile throughout.
Once they were at the end of the line, Shepard commanded that everyone return to work and with a flurry of footsteps, they did. Ashlyn watched in interest as each person knew exactly where they belonged and headed there, no questions asked. She pined for that same feeling of knowing where she belonged, but knew it was currently impossible.
Shepard turned to her as the shuttle bay cleared out. "I let everyone know that they can talk to you if you want. The more you talk, the more you might remember so feel free to make friends while you're aboard, okay?"
"Okay," she paused as she wrung her fingers, "thank you for this Commander Shepard. I simply cannot express my gratitude."
He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a dashing smile. "Don't worry about it. Times like this, every person is important, even those who can't remember who they are."
After her tiresome introductions, Ashlyn headed back to the med bay and met with Doctor Chakwas. The Doctor gave her some juice and something called 'nutrient paste' to eat. Ashlyn gulped down the juice, but the paste was a different story. It was bland and had the consistency of glue, but it was supposed to be good for her, so she followed the good doctor's orders and forced it down.
Chakwas had left the med bay to get food herself and Ashlyn was ready to enjoy some alone time, but I was short lived when she heard the med bay doors open in a matter of moments after the doctor left. She turned to see Garrus.
"So introductions weren't so bad right?" He said as the door closed behind him.
"Still pretty shocked about being on a ship with aliens." She stated after taking a final sip of her juice.
"Well, wherever you come from, it can't be too far off from space civilization. You have a translator after all and an omni-tool." He continued as he moved closer to her bed.
"Wait, I have what?"
"A translator, it's an implant they put in your ear. You wouldn't be able to understand me otherwise. And I can see the sensor of your omni-tool." He pointed to her left wrist and then lifted his own left hand. It suddenly lit up with an orange glow and a holographic terminal appeared on his wrist.
"I have one of those?" She asked, lifting her left arm, inspecting it.
"Looks like it." He stepped to the side of her bed and placed his finger on the upper side of her wrist, just at the edge of her sleeve. A small designed was tattooed on her wrist. It was smaller than her pinky nail and in the shape of a square. "This is a sensor," Garrus explained, "they embed it into your skin and you can do just about anything. Browse the extranet, send messages and even use the energy it gives off as a weapon. You use your will to activate it, just use your mind."
Her eyes closed slightly as she imagined the omni-tool opening just like Garrus's. It an instant an orange holographic screen appeared over her wrist. "Wow," Ashlyn muttered.
"Here, let me link up mine to yours so you can send me a message if you ever need me."
Ashlyn smiled at the gesture of friendship Garrus showed. He held up his omni-tool to hers and his fingers moved over the terminal.
"Hmm," he said with interest, "it's not letting me. That's strange. Let's try on yours."
He leaned closer to her and Ashlyn could smell him. He smelled of his own distinctive musk blended with gunmetal. It was peculiar, but it was pleasant.
He instructed her on how to link their omni-tools and it seemed to work. Garrus's name appeared on the screen under her contact list. He was the only one.
"If you want, you can browse the extranet and maybe find some information that might help you remember. Or maybe you can learn about the alien species so you'll be more comfortable around us?" He suggested as he showed her how to search the extranet.
"This is pretty neat. I can't believe I didn't know I had this." She said, sounding helpless.
Garrus stepped back. "Well, I'll give you some time to play with it. But hey, don't beat yourself up if you can't remember. Whatever happened to you was probably just an accident. I'm sure Shepard will help you in any way he can." He moved past the bed to head towards the door. Before going out, he paused and turned back. "I'll help you too."
Ashlyn gave him a thankful smile as he left, then immediately went back onto her omni-tool. She followed Garrus's suggestion and tried to find something about herself, but unfortunately, there wasn't enough to go with. She tried her name, but it just brought up other people named Ashlyn, none of them were her. Then she tried searching the Citadel. She was frightened of it, but had no clue what it was. She was surprised at her findings; a massive ancient city in space, a neutral zone and home to billions of aliens and humans. It was filled with shops, nightlife, government and homes. Why was she supposed to avoid it? It didn't seem bad at all.
Her searching moved on to the known alien species of the galaxy. She read about Garrus's race, the turians. They were militaristic, stoic, plated bird-like creatures. Liara's race, the asari, were skilled in mind power, intelligence and could mate with any other species. Tali's race, the quarians had lost their home world in a battle against their own creations. There were also krogan, salarians, volus, batarians, so many more that her mind felt like I was about to explode.
Ashlyn wanted to learn more, but she was almost thankful that Doctor Chakwas entered the med bay and interrupted her.
"Hello, Doctor." She greeted.
Chakwas gave her a strange expression. "You activated your omni-tool?"
Ashlyn nodded. "Garrus showed me how."
"Hmm, I wasn't sure it was working correctly in the state you were in, but I guess it's a good thing. Have you found anything of interest?"
"No," Ashlyn replied solemnly, "just learning about aliens and the Citadel really."
"Well, you never know where you'll find the key to your memories, but for now I'd like to do a physical, make sure you don't have any more wounds on you." Doctor Chakwas told her.
Ashlyn immediately felt uneasy. "Um, sure, if it's for my health."
Chakwas pressed some buttons on her terminal and all at once metal shutters came down to cover the windows. "The door is locked and no one can peek in. Please, remove your bodysuit."
Ashlyn nodded nervously as she slipped out of the bed and pulled down the zipper of her suit. As it fell to her ankles, she looked down to see that she was in her undergarments. She also noticed the small bruises that riddled her body.
Chakwas moved closer and began moving her omni-tool over the front of Ashlyn's body, scanning every inch of her.
"Any pain?" The doctor asked.
"No," Ashlyn replied.
"The bruises seem to be healing at an excellent rate. You had a few scrapes, but most of those have scabbed over. Could you turn around?"
Ashlyn obeyed and heard a sharp inhale come from the doctor.
"Oh my," Chakwas whispered.
"What is it?" Ashlyn began to get worried.
"You have… a scar on your back. A large one. It looks like a surgical scar."
Ashlyn blanched. How could she not know she had a large scar on her back? "Let me see." She insisted.
Chakwas silently took a mirror from her desk draw and held it to Ashlyn's back as the young girl strained her neck to look in it. The scar was long and neat. It began at the base of her neck to her lower back. There was also a horizontal scar going between her shoulder blades. The scar was a slightly puffed cross that took over her back. It looked very well healed, but it still caused a tear to emerge from Ashlyn's eye.
"Looks like it was healed with medigel." Chakwas ran her finger along the scar and Ashlyn shivered and was struck with a sudden urge to vomit. "But it also seems that you were cut open more than once."
"W-what does that mean?" Ashlyn asked quietly.
Chakwas sighed. "I don't know. It's difficult to tell the age of this scar. It could've happened when you were a child or even less than a year ago. Medigel accelerates the healing process."
Ashlyn felt another tear fall.
"I know it's stressful, my dear. How about you get dressed and we'll talk with Shepard about finding you more suitable quarters." Chakwas patted her shoulder softly and turned back to her terminal as Ashlyn slipped her bodysuit back on.
"Shepard," Liara sighed with a slow blink of her crystal blue eyes, "if she's even the slightest risk, why keep her aboard?"
"Please, Liara, I don't need you doubting every decision I make. She was in trouble." Shepard leaned against the frame of her office's door as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"I know you enjoy rescuing damsels in distress, but her symptoms are puzzling. Chakwas sent me her scan results, something's not right."
Shepard shifted his weight. "Why didn't Karin come to me if she thought something was up?"
The asari turned to her terminal and her fingers flew over the controls. "The thing is, Chakwas figured everything was normal, she even thought it was strange that I would ask for them, but what I saw was a little too normal."
"How can someone be too normal?" He asked, mimicking her emphasis.
"Usually a med scan will bring up something, anything, but in Ashlyn's case, she was perfectly healthy." She brought up the screen which held the doctor's results.
Shepard glanced at them. "And that's bad?"
"It is when she's been malnourished, thrown around the inside of a box in space and has significant memory loss. I think Karin was being too confident in her treatments, but I just think it seems strange that these scans have come up empty handed."
"Well, what do you suggest?"
"I won't ask you to throw her off the Normandy, Shepard, just be wary." Liara replied with a playful smile.
"I know the risks of allowing her onboard, but thank you for your concern." He straightened himself and cleared his throat softly. "Have you thought about melding with her to try and dig out those memories?"
Liara's hands rested on her hips. "I don't meld with just anyone Shepard, besides, it could be a danger to her mind if I did. These things need to happen naturally. If I force them out, it could make her lose her grip on reality. She won't know the difference between memory and the present."
Shepard grimaced. "That's happened before?"
She shrugged. "Not to anyone I've been with, but I've heard about things like that."
"Alright," he sighed, "thanks for the input Liara."
"Anytime, Shepard."
Ashlyn's heart was doing somersaults as she followed Shepard to her new living quarters. She could barely contain her excitement and her overwhelming feeling of acceptance. She wondered if this meant a more permanent home on the Normandy and the thought made her giddy. Though the aliens onboard were still surprising, she was beginning to like them, especially Garrus. They all seemed so nice and she was eager to get to know them all.
The room Shepard led her too wasn't too far from the med bay. It was just around the corner actually. The doors slid open as they approached it.
"I hope these quarters are suitable."
Ashlyn gazed into the room admirably. She could see the stars out of the window and it was extremely soothing. She continued to inspect the room, seeing a small cot in the corner and a small, sleek couch that was positioned in front of the window. "It's perfect." She breathed. She turned back to Shepard and threw her arms around his neck. "I can't thank you enough."
Shepard was caught off guard by her gesture of appreciation. It took him a moment, but he finally returned the hug, feeling a flutter in his chest. "No need to thank me. I asked EDI to come by and help you find something to keep you busy."
She separated and smiled at him. "I'll do anything Commander!" She replied with enthusiasm.
He chuckled. "Just call me Shepard."
"Alright, Shepard."
To be continued...