Chapter 15: Calm before the storm

The next morning after breakfast I went to check on how Ash was doing. I walked into the med bay, Ash was in the far bed next to Chakwas's desk. She turns toward me, as I walk down and sit on the bed next to her.

"How are you chief?"

"Well it doesn't hurt right now if that's what you mean." She says sourly.

I sigh. What do you say to someone after that kind of incident? What can I say? As my mind wrestles with that, we sit in silence. She's just staring up at the ceiling. Shepard walks in to the med bay after a few minutes.

"Hey boss." I say quietly.

He nods to me. "How are you Ash?"

"It doesn't hurt… for now." She says.

"That's not what I meant." He replies.

"I'm useless Shepard, what's a soldier without the ability to fight?"

"An asset on the homefront."

She lets out a hollow laugh. "Yeah, sure I don't know anything else Shepard."

"Then this is a good chance for you to learn." He states simply.

She doesn't say anything for a while.

"He's right you know. Where's that stubborn marine that I met on Eden Prime eh?" I say lightly taunting.

"I just… I don't know what to do."

"You can get a prosthetic on the Citadel, it may not be combat worthy, but I'm sure you'll figure out something to do." Shepard replies confidently.

"Yeah, thanks guys."

"Anytime Chief." I reply standing up to leave.

Shepard comes out with me.

"So what's next Jon?"

"The council will lock us down on the Citadel, wanting to wait for Saren to attack."

"Figures."

"Heh, but Anderson will help us break out, and then it's off to Ilos."

He nods slowly.

"Alright Jon, make sure you're ready."

I give him a salute. "Aye aye Boss."

He cracks a grin before moving off. I head over to the elevator and meet Liara just as she's about to get in. We step in together.

"Hello Jon, did you speak with Ashley?"

"Yeah, she's taking it pretty hard."

"Her family has a long line of military service correct?"

"Yeah, it's in her blood, I'm worried about her."

"We all are, but from the brief amount of time I've known her, I'm sure she'll be alright."

"She's too stubborn not to do something."

"Exactly."

The elevator door opens and I head over to my workbench. Nodding to Wrex as I walk by.

"Knight"

"Wrex"

I smile to myself before getting to work. Checking over all my weapons and armor, I find myself done less than an hour later. "Man, that used to take a lot longer." A loud bang and frantic cursing in an unfamiliar language catch my attention. I sidle over to the Mako that Garrus is currently lying under.

"Need some help bud?" I ask.

He pushes out from under the Mako to look up at me with a pleading face.

"Please."

"You know all you had to do was ask." I reply getting down on the opposite side of the Mako and crawling under it.

"I thought you'd be busy with your weapons, or Ash." He replies carefully.

"Ash is tough she'll get through." I reply.

"She won't be fighting with us anymore will she?"

"No"

"Darn, she's a damn fine soldier."

"Yeah, yeah she is, anyway what do you need me to do?" I ask.

He points out a few things, and I help out to the best of my ability.

"That was some pretty colorful language you used a minute ago." I say casually.

"Heard that did you? How much of it did you understand?"

"I understood that it was cursing, and very thorough." I reply with a chuckle.

"Well you're not wrong." He replies sarcastically.

We go on chatting amicably for a while, I even learn a few Turian curses, BONUS!

"I didn't realize this was how males bonded." At the sudden interruption me and Garrus both jerk and smack our heads on the underside of the Mako.

"ACH!"

"Rakk!"

I grab my injured fore head and look over to the front of the Mako where Tali is giggling.

"How long have you been there?" Garrus asks also holding his head.

"About 10 minutes." She replies calmly.

Garrus and I share a look before turning back to her.

"Uh, Hi?"

"What's up?" She says cheerily.

Garrus and I are a little put off by the bright and cheery Tali so casually bursting in.

"Uh we're working on the Mako, what's got you so cheery?"

"Me? Well Shepard gave me some Geth data to take as a Pilgrimage gift."

"Ah that explains it, so you'll be heading back to the fleet as soon as this is over with?" I ask returning to work.

"Yeah, what will you two do?" She asks.

"I'll probably head back to C-sec although that's not a very appealing plan." Garrus replies.

"I actually don't know what I'm going to do, maybe I'll get a job in one of the weapons shops on the Citadel."

"You got a place to stay?" Garrus asks.

"No, I figure I'll rent an apartment or something." I reply with a shrug.

"You can come stay with me, I got a big apartment because of my father, but if we share rent we'll both have more money." He says calmly.

"Really?" I ask pausing to look at him.

"Yeah sure you're one of the few good friends I've made in the past… I don't even know how long…" he says stopping to look me in the eye.

"You too Tali." He quickly amends, before she can get on his case.

"Well… thanks, that makes things a bit easier on me." I reply honestly.

"Heh, you'll be doing me a favor, that damn apartment is so large, it'll be good to actually use some of the empty rooms."

"I guess I should tell him then… Tali can back me up, and we won't be eavesdropped on under the Mako, I'll send a message to Shepard first." I think to myself.

I open my Omni tool and write a message.

Hey boss, I think I'm going to tell Garrus about Me. send.

He responds quickly. Are you sure?

Yeah, he just invited me to live with him after this mess, so I kind of feel obligated you know?

Fair enough, but do you need me to come back you up, or should I tell Chakwas to ready you a bed?

Very funny, no Tali is here, she can back me up.

Ok good luck.

I look over to Tali who has been chatting with Garrus while he works.

"Garrus, there's something I need to tell you now that I really know you." He looks at me with a slight look of confusion, Tali gives me a questioning look as well. I nod to Tali.

"Yeah, ok Jon what is it?"

"I'm not from this universe." I say trying to sound completely serious.

"Wha-… what do you mean that's not possible." He says with a slight uneasy laugh like he thinks I've gone insane.

"That's not even the craziest thing, the universe I came from is around 173 years younger, and all of this that's happening with the Reapers, and Saren, all of it was a video game."

"Is this a joke? Because it's not funny Jon." He replies a little bit angry.

"I wouldn't lie to you, it's true, don't ask me how or why, but it is."

"He's not lying Garrus." Tali says quietly.

"You believe him?" He asks incredulously.

"He told me a while ago, he knew things about me that no one else should know." She replies dead serious.

"Dr. Saleon, he was using people as living test tubes to grow organs to sell on the black market, but he got away, and now he's under the alias Dr. Heart, and you want to ask Shepard to go after him, am I right?"

He just looks at me thinking hard on what I said. "But… you… you knew what was going to happen to Ash, and you didn't try to stop it."

"In the Game either Ash or Kaidan Died, I told Shepard before we went to Virmire, so it wouldn't happen."

"But couldn't you tell Shepard exactly what's going to happen then? So we can be ready and-"

"Shep and I talked about that, the game isn't infallible, things are different here, because I'm here and because it's not a game. I'm not going to wear the plot like armor, all I can do is say what happened in the game and we can make a best guess from that."

"Hmm so who have you told? I'm not the last one am I?"

I chuckle. "No, so far it's just you, Tali, and Shepard."

"Mm, that's a lot to take right there."

"Yeah, imagine having it happen to you."

"I think a Turian would stick out a bit more, especially Garrus." Tali says sarcastically.

I start cracking up while Garrus shoots her a glare. I manage to calm myself after a few moments.

"Heh, I make due, of course knowing what was going to happen I couldn't just sit around, so I prepared, studied up on weapons, working out, and training, then did what I could to get in with Shepard."

"Well it worked, but you couldn't master something like gunsmithing in a few months, and you are really good at it."

"That's in with the parts that confuse me, the only explanation I've received for it is in dreams, so I'm not too trusting of it, but apparently part of the reason I was chosen to come here is because I'm 'resonant' with advanced technology."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't fully know, but it's given me a massive learning curve for picking up tech skills, and it's what allows me to use broken machinery. Remember on Therum when we were in Liara's cell but we couldn't figure out the controls?"

"Yeah, you went over to the console, yelped in pain, and then it released her."

"Exactly, it's happened a few times with tech that wouldn't respond, when I go to touch it, I get shocked and then it works."

"Why does it shock you, shouldn't something like that just happen, I mean Biotics don't hurt the user, and this resonance seems a lot like a tech version of Biotics."

LIGHTBULB

"He's right, she said many people are resonant with different things, I wonder if powerful Biotics are people who are resonant with Biotics."

"She?" Tali and Garrus both ask.

"The person who tells me about this stuff in my dreams." I say waving my hand. "Not important right now."

"Uh ok, but that still doesn't explain why it shocks you."

"Well she said she didn't know why either, just that it was some kind of synthesis error."

"Synthesis error? I get those sometimes when I'm working on a big gun like the Normandy's weapons, a synthesis error for that means that something isn't translating right, like power isn't being routed through the proper converters or something."

"For a biotic would that be like their amps or eezo nodes?" Tali adds in.

Garrus and I look to her to elaborate.

"Their power converter, the nodes convert electrical impulses from the brain into Biotics. A biotic without an amp or node has only the bare minimum control over their Biotics, do you think that's because they're missing their converter?"

"That's a good point, so Jon is missing a converter. But what kind of converter would he need?" Garrus asks.

"I don't know, something to convert impulses from his brain into technical code that a computer could read." Tali replies.

"Does something like that even exist?" I ask.

"Not that I know of." Garrus replies.

Tali just shakes her head.

"Well, enlightening none the less, I'd be lost without you guys." I say sincerely.

"Don't go soft on me now Jon." Garrus replies, I just punch him in the shoulder.

"Hehe, you should probably go talk to Shepard He'll want to know what we figured out." Tali says.

"I was just thinking that, so I'll see you guys later." Garrus just grunts in reply as Tali and I crawl out from under the Mako. I give Tali a casual two finger salute as goodbye as I head over to the elevator.

"So you think you're missing some kind of component, and that's why your abilities aren't working quite right?"

"Yeah, we aren't certain on how this works, it's all just speculation, but it's the best thought we've come up with so far."

I've brought Shepard up to speed with everything that we think we know in his quarters on the mid-deck of the Normandy.

"Hmm I guess we'll just have to keep our eyes open for anything like that."

"It's not important right now, we have bigger fish to fry."

"Indeed, when we dock at the Citadel, I'll take Kaidan and Wrex to talk with the council, I want you to Take everyone else and use all our funds to purchase some extra fire power, I'll make a list of somethings you should get, but I'll leave the rest of it to your discretion."

"Sounds good." I try to think of Ilos and the battle for the Citadel and what we might need.

"Demo charges, and more shoulder fired rockets."

"If we buy materials how much do you think you could make before we reach Ilos?" Shepard asks.

"It's what 11 hours or so from the Citadel till' drop? I should be able to throw together another launcher and plenty of rockets, with the two launchers we already have, and I've got about 12 rockets ready to go that should be plenty."

"Have Tali help you, the engines will survive the trip without her."

"Aye aye Boss."

After speaking with Shepard I quickly recruit Tali and we start preparing, making as much as we can with what we already have before we reach the Citadel. Sure enough Shepard sends me a list of things to get, including ammo belts, grenades, ammo mods, stim canteens, medi-gel, bandages, and then at the bottom it says 'explosives… lots of em'.

As we approach the Citadel I round everyone up Me, Tali, Garrus, and Liara all head off for the market. Shepard takes Kaidan and Wrex up to the council chambers, and Chakwas takes Ash to an actual hospital.

The shopkeepers in the market seem a bit worried about the amount of supplies we're buying and I have to keep reassuring them that we are in fact Shepard's crew, but we get everything we need and more and then start heading back to the Normandy.

Ping

"Hello?"

"Jon, it's Shepard, we just finished talking to the council."

"And?"

"The Normandy is locked down, and the council is just going to sit here."

"I could deal with them not doing anything, I don't really expect them to, it's when they're actively trying to screw themselves over that it bugs me."

"Heh,exactly, anyway we're heading over to Flux to talk to Anderson, did you get everything?"

"Everything and more, I think the shop vendors are afraid we're staging a coup, but we're almost back to the Normandy."

"Alright we'll meet you there."

"Aye, aye bossman"

We get back to the Normandy and begin unloading all the gear we bought. It's not long later that Shepard returns… minus one Wrex.

"Where's Wrex?" I ask.

"He got held up by C-sec, for yelling at the council."

"Well there will be plenty of action on the Citadel pretty soon." I say quietly.

"Yeah, is everything ready?"

"Yup, we got everything down in the cargo bay ready to go."

"Alright good, I'm going to go wait in the cockpit with Joker, Anderson is going to override the command from Udina's office."

"Alright I'll get to work down in cargo."

I head down and get to work, Tali comes over pretty soon after and she brought food.

"You're the best Tali."

She giggles. "Just making sure you're at full strength. Big fight coming up."

"Yeah, alright we've got work to do."

The next 11 hours are a mess of frantic preparation, Tali and I making ordinance, Garrus going over the Mako, Kaidan gets some of the extra gear ready. Shepard and Liara disappeared for about an hour, can't imagine what they we're up too…

Shepard comes down an hour before drop, and gathers everyone around.

"Alright everyone, this is it. We're going down there, and we're getting Saren." He stands up perfectly straight. "Of that I have no doubt, you are some of the best I have ever worked with, and I'm sure we'll all get dragged into some other charade after this… I look forward to it." He says cracking a crazy grin at the end. "Alright gear up we're almost there."

Most people walk over to the lockers to get their armor on.

"At the very least this is the most interesting crew I've worked with." Shepard says.

Everyone gets a laugh from that. From there it's armor on, weapons ready. Shepard, Kaidan, and Liara head up to the cockpit when Joker radios in that we've entered the system.

I finish loading all the pouches on my armor with thermal clips, re-check my weapons for the nth time, before just settling down. This is it the final fight of ME1. Heh, I wonder what everyone back home would think of this? I'm about to drop onto an alien plant to face off against an indoctrinated Specter, an army of Geth, and a Reaper. Well first off I would have to explain to them what all of that is. Then they would do … something, I dunno. I let out a soft chuckle.

"Something funny?" Tali asks sitting down next to me.

"Trying to imagine what my family would think of this."

"And?"

"I have no idea, there's no precedent for something like this!"

"Hehe, my father would either be proud that I'm doing the right thing, scolding me for doing something foolish, or be absolutely furious we just stole a ship."

That makes me laugh, a real laugh. After a minute Tali starts laughing too.

"You two aren't losing it on me are you?" Garrus says from his seat a few feet away.

We both stop and look at him.

…

"Pffft"

And then everyone is laughing, we manage to pull ourselves together after a few minutes.

"I think we're all going insane." Garrus says still trying to catch his breath.

"You're probably right." I reply. "You gotta be a little messed up to do this, or at least no sane person would."

"Normal is boring!" Tali pipes up with my motto.

I put my fist in the air. "To crazy adventures!"

Garrus puts his fist up. "To crazy friends!"

Tali puts her fist up. "To a crazy long rest after this!"

A few minutes later the squad comes back down.

"Alright everybody in the Mako." Shepard says.

I put my helmet on, grab my Widow and pile into the back of the Mako.

Here we go, onto the end of the Beginning.

A/N: Well there you go next chapter will be Ilos, I'm not sure if the next part will be one long chapter that covers Ilos and the Citadel, or if each will be their own chapter we'll see how it turns out. Nearing the end of ME1, I'm excited to get into the interim and then ME2, so I'll see you next chapter.

P.S. I think spell check is actively trying to make me sound stupid.

-Knight out