A day and some hours later
"Commander." Shepard held up his hand to pause the conversation he was having with Garrus in the cargo bay about getting some new weapons or mods at the least. They had just finished a simulation.
"What is it EDI?"
"You told me to notify you if Austin was causing harm to himself or the crew. He is currently starting to cut himself with one of the knives available."
"Where is legion?"
-
I watch the blood run down my arm, fascinated by the sight but strangely numb. I felt the knife slice into my skin. I felt the pain. I felt the blood rush to the wound. I didn't get the feeling of waking up that I thought I would. All I felt was numb. Hollow. I rested the tip of the knife against my thigh just so I could feel the pricking sensation. What I did feel was calm. The second thing I was hoping to accomplish. I found by accident that whenever I get hurt, enough to bleed a bit, I become calm.
I never have thought of cutting myself before. I knew that I would relive the moment over and over again. A slow motion of the cut happening again. When I've been cut by accident, later I would swear that I could feel every fiber, if you will, getting cut. I knew this was the only way I could think of at the moment to help me focus. I twisted the knife gently around until I felt it pass though the fabric of my pants then lift it a little and repeat the process. The blood had stopped by now. I knew it would stop pretty fast. It was a shallow cut on the top of my forearm.
Whatever had happened to me this was now my world. I had to find a niche in a place that I knew almost nothing about. Well at least they're taking me to earth, a good place to start as any. Maybe I could even get some closure about my family.
"Human." I jerked in surprise followed by a flash of pain. I just stabbed myself in the leg. I let go of the knife trying not to move it any more than was necessary. Looking at the opposite side of the med bay I saw a robot with one glowing eye just looking at me.
"You are injured, allow me to assist." The thing started walking toward me with measured even steps. I could almost find a rhythm in them. I found myself forgetting about the pain while my whole focus was on this machine in front of me. Its eye focused on my leg. One three fingered hand rested on the handle of the blade. I flinched. It froze all motion.
"Legion, what happened?" A man rushed into the room with turian and Mordin at his back. The robot named Legion stepped back when its eye saw Mordin.
"Commander Shepard, he stabbed himself when I made my presence known."
"He hurt himself as much as he could before you stopped him?" I saw Mordin smirk.
"No," he cut in. "Legion surprised him. He has never seen a turian or asari before. I assume he was all that more surprised upon seeing Legion." As he talked Mordin moved over to me. He ripped my pants to allow better access to the area around the wound. Before I could as much as blink he expertly withdrew the knife from my leg. As soon as the knife cleared my skin he lathered on an almost clear gel that immediately numbed the area. I watched in awe as my skin slow knitted itself back together. After about ten minutes all that was left was a scar and even that was starting to fade.
"….can't head to earth. A mission just came up as top priority. We are headed to Omega to meet with Aria to enlist her help." Shepard was saying.
"Wait why would enlist Aria's help be top priority?" The turian in blue asked.
"Normally it's not but we missed one of our recruits on omega. I thought we might as well see if we can get Aria to help us when we get back from our mission past the omega four relay."
"If we make it back." Blue muttered. He threw his thumb over his shoulder at me. "What about him? It's not like we can just take him with us."
"Going to have to. I want you to do what you can with him. I'm going to take him down to Omega with me to see if we can even use him." With that Shepard spun on his heel and strode out of the med bay. The Turian mutter a few things to himself. I looked over at Legion and Mordin. Legion was studying me as far as I could tell. Mordin Put a hand on my shoulder, I felt a little prick.
"This is to monitor your life signs while Garrus is working with you."
"Why?" I ask. My voice was rough from nonuse. He Smiled.
"Think of it as a remote physical." With that explanation he walked over to Garrus said a few things then left. Legion was still studying me, hadn't moved an inch. A little creepy to be honest. Garrus let out a huge sigh.
"Human. What is your name?"
"It's Austin."
"Austin." I never noticed but he was having a hard time saying my name. I wondered if all turians had trouble with my name.
"You can call me Tex if you want." He said it and it sounded like it slid off of his tongue a lot easier than my real name.
"Tex. Short, simple, and easy to say. Alright follow me Tex. Legion if you're not doing anything, come with us."
"Yes." Legion said with a single sharp nod. We walked out of the med bay and in a few short steps were in front of the elevator. It took a few minutes but it finally arrived. After getting on Garrus tapped the bottom most rectangle on the right side if the elevator. The elevator started it's decent. After a couple of minutes I got bored.
"Is the ship really that big?" I wondered out loud.
"What?" Garrus asked.
"This is taking a little bit, is the ship that big." Garrus chuffed.
"No it's just slow as a drunken Hanar." There was a moment's pause. "So Tex, you have anything you want to tell us about your people?"
"What?"
"Nothing." He said waving his hand dismissively in the air. We sat in silence for the rest of the ride. I took the rest of the time to check out my 'wound'. I say 'wound' because nothing was left. As if I didn't even stab myself in the first place. I poked the previously afflicted spot.
"Medigel makes it possible to heal small lacerations, such as the one you suffered, to be healed fairly quickly." Legion stated. I guess him studying me made it able to read my mind.
"Right. I Hope there are a change of pants for you in the hold." Garrus voiced looking at the tear in my pants.
"In weapon locker 117. The pair of pants will be a little big but there is a belt available in locker 343." EDI said out of nowhere. I looked around the elevator trying to find out how she heard or even saw our conversation. The only thing I could guess might be a camera was a small hole where the wall meets the ceiling on the right side of the elevator.
The doors finally opened to the cargo bay. Garrus hung a right.
"Legion can you go get the belt?"
"Affirmative." Legion headed left.
I followed the Turian so I could get my new pair of oversized pants on faster. He opened locker 117 and pulled out a pair of black cargo pants. I couldn't help but smile. I love cargo pants. I was always told that people looked down on cargo pants or some bad vibe, social something. I think I was one of the few people that used all the pockets in my cargo pants I owned….used to own. Just as I started to get depressed again Garrus tossed me the pants. He looked at me expectantly.
"Um, is there a place to change?"
"This is a military ship, now is a good time as any to break that sense modesty you have."
"Why would it matter? From the way you were acting up stairs you don't think I'm going to be on this ship very long." I said a little defiantly.
"You're right. Look at you. You have little if any muscle. You are a little flabby around your middle. I bet you can't even run very far. I'm not going to babysit you." I looked him in the eye, hurt by what he said. With his eyes I could see something very different from what he had just said. What he was really saying was he didn't want another death on his hands. I met his eye as I took off my torn pants and put on the new ones as calm as I could. Legion came up behind me silently handing me the belt. The pants weren't all the overly big but big enough if I was running they would eventually fall down. Once Garrus was satisfied that I was set he tossed me something. I caught it without any trouble. It looked like a pistol. Actually I'm pretty sure this was a real gun.
"Why would you hand me a gun?" Blue motioned to the rest of the cargo bay.
"This is what Shepard wanted me to test you on. This is where we set up the simulator. You are going to go through several scenarios and tests. Your enemy is going to be the collectors. That is who we are fighting right now. That gun in your hand is the M-3 Predator standard issue pistol. It has fifteen shots before you eject the heat sink. You have six heat sinks in reserve. Since this is a simulation the only way to get more heat sinks is to pass your gun through one of the many floating ammo crates. You eject a spent heat sink by hitting the left side of the pistol. It will kick out the spent heat sink and load a fresh one automatically. This is true with any gun you use, keep that in mind. For these tests you will only use that pistol. Depending on how you do we may let you use some different guns, not likely. Your gun is a part of you. Take care of your gun and it will take care of you. The ammo you are using now is what we call stun rounds. They are not real. Now step up to this line, Legion come back by me for now. Shoot the drones until you feel comfortable." I gave him a mocking salute.
"Right away Sarg." I got into a comfortable position. "Ready when you are." The drones started to spawn.
-
Up above Shepard looked down into the cargo hold watching Tex. He was a little slower then what he expected but once he got the hang of the gun he progressed rapidly. Especially with Garrus down there to coach him along the way. Chakwas stood next to the Commander in silence for a few more seconds before she broke it.
"Commander I still don't think giving him access to weapons right after he just had a mental breakdown is a good idea."
"Noted. I knew the moment I looked at him that he just needs to be kept busy."
"Are you serious about keeping him on the crew?"
"The next few hours will tell." After a few minutes he added. "To be honest I thought Garrus was going to teach him how to choose the right sniper." Chakwas gave a little snort.
So here I am drinking my Apple-mango Martinelli and listening to all the random music my shuffle can mix up. I have gotten a couple of comments about getting a Beta. And those that have thought or left a comment are right. A Beta would help but there is one problem, my impatience. I tried a Beta once. It lasted a grand total of one day. I sent him the chapter, an hour later I was buggin him to finish it. He had just gotten to it. I said screw it and posted it after I read over it a couple of times. I find I want to post ASAP. If I don't then I am going to forget about it. So that's the story of why I don't have a Beta. On a totally different thought, did anybody get some of the references I made?