It was a flurry of activity once we were aboard the Normandy. Shepard had remained quiet when we were piled into the shuttle. The Quarian and Turian followed the Commander's example and kept their lips sealed tight, but that didn't stop the Turian from looking every single one of us over. I could see his mandible twitch in thought. They were slightly raised and extended a bit from his face; he was looking over us as a threat. When we disembarked the shuttle, Shepard barked out orders to have us checked out by the ship's doctor. We took our packs off and neatly stacked them into a small pile, although we didn't hand over our weapons. At Shepard's order I flicked my eyes to Adam and he seemed to understand. We wouldn't be what they were expecting with some of the enhancements and… set-backs from the experimentation.
"Excuse me Commander Shepard!" Shepard stopped and turned to Adams. "Having us looked over won't be-" Well that wasn't the message I was trying to get across.
Shepard cut him off. "You came through a battle zone with civilians and children. Besides the fact that any of you could be seriously injured, you are still a security risk. There are those that have been indoctrinated and do not show signs until it is too late, and that is not mentioning the fact that there is a human faction that is fighting against us. I will not take that risk because one of your people saved my life and that you have Alliance clearance."
Adams opened his mouth to speak but closed it. Shepard was right of course. The Turian and Quarian had stayed in the cargo bay possibly because leaving Shepard alone was not an option to them. There was also a very buff, somewhat handsome Hispanic man near what I would call a 'Weapons Cage' and of course the dark-skinned man who piloted the shuttle. He kept up with the Commander and left the area of our group quite quickly. I sighed and glanced at the Turian. He was overlooking Sam. Sam was intimidating by all accounts; 6'4", giant muscles and a face that screamed he had seen combat before; but Sam, as cliché as it was, wasn't one of the people that we would put on the front lines. Not that he couldn't handle his own, he could, but he stayed back to act as a protector for the children and the 2 elders we had with us. I glanced down at the sniper rifle I still held, I needed to get rid of this and so did the rest of the group. Adams was still trying to explain to Shepard that the doctor would find, 'abnormalities' with us, and unfortunately for Adams Shepard wasn't budging. I moved myself away from Jenny, one of the other females, and walked over to Sam.
The Turian's gaze snapped to watch my movements. I kicked Sam's booted foot, claiming his attention before I continued past his a few steps and put down the sniper rifle. I then removed the pistol and assault rifle from my thigh and back, and placed them in the pile as well. I hesitated for a second before removing the 2 knives from my calves. I turned around and looked back at Sam who nodded his head. He walked over to those who still had their weapons and grabbed them. They protested until he glared, pointing to me, and then resorted to grumbling quietly and removing the rest of the weapons from their person. I slowly walked towards the Turian, staring at him; head slightly tilted to the side. He gazed at me carefully, his mandibles barely flicking in response. I stopped when I was a couple feet away from him, a semi respectful distance although I was sure that staying further back would have been better. It did however show that I was attempting to remain a non-threat. I'd never actually seen a Turian up close like this- I mean a few of the Doctor's had been Turians when our species became allies (although it took a lot to get them there to be honest) and there had been the vids… but seeing one up close was different. I turned around slightly and caught Sam's glance and nodded at him. He nodded in return and I turned back to look at the Turian looking him over. From what I could see, his skin was grey with a slight tint of brown, reminding me of concrete somewhat; from what I could see of his exposed neck it was mostly more brown in color. Half of his face was heavily scarred but clearly held together well. While a visor covered his unscarred eye, his other eye was a light blue. I was partially unsure whether or not his eye had lightened because of the trauma or not but that was not something at the top of my list to figure out.
"Adams, stop trying. O'Reilly said she'll demonstrate." Sam voiced. I could see Adams turn and stare at me.
"A demonstration of what?" Asked the Turian, his gaze never leaving me. Clearly he understood that I was the one who would be demonstrating.
"O'Reilly?" It took him a second to realize what I had planned but he understood. "Wait!"
I cut Adam's off. The surprise that the Turian expressed came with a chirp like noise that ended in a raised pitch, the sound would have been lost to anyone else but of course- my ears were slightly heightened and trained to pick up those sounds, those that ranged below our standard frequencies and those we could hear as well as their context meanings.
"You could call them abnormalities. Are all Turians as tall as you?" I asked curiously standing on my toes quickly to evaluate his height. I wasn't short by all means but he did stand over 6 feet. He watched me carefully, probably trying to figure out what exactly had happened and why I was being so nonchalant about this. He never answered my question, though that was probably because he radiated confusion. My voice sounded just like his, a more human tone to it of course, but there was no denying the fact that I sounded similar to a Turian. The Turian trilled which turned into a something of a short 'huff' out his nostrils; I don't believe it. I responded to him with a snort, the context obvious to almost any species; get over it.
His mandibles flexed out and his mouth slightly parted; this was pure shock. Turians were hard to read in general but that expression was clearer than day, he didn't even bother to guard it. Shepard stepped forward staring at me for a second before his eyes flicked between Adams and the rest of the group and the Turian kept staring down at me, his mouth still "open". I kept observing him, awaiting any more reactions.
After the First Contact War in 2157 scientists were still very interested in the Turian anatomy, especially our scientists since ours were always brought in at some point or another. These scientists would always send in applications to see what extra tests they could ask to run on us based on information they had gathered, learned and heard about concerning the Turian enemies, even though they were allies and information could be found on the Extranet any person could figure out the rest.
"Female, young. Voice is similar to that of a Turian. Addition to anatomy in her own voice box? A new voice box perhaps? Human? Turian? No way to know unless looked over. Only conclusive reason to have something like this done was for testing. Experiment. Human testing." I turned my head slightly and looked in the direction of the new voice. Salarian. Male. He was semi old and scarred over. He was followed by an older woman, both carrying a medium sized case of which one would assume to be filled with medical supplies.
I sent a smile to the Salarian as well as a quick wink, "Aw you think I'm young?
"O'Reilly, keep your mouth shut." I rolled my eyes and turned around completely to look at Adams.
"They're going to find out when they look us over."
"Looking us over is not needed. Shepard, please understand that we can explain the general idea of what has happened to us."
Shepard continued to look at me and never removed his gaze. I could almost see the wheels in his brain turning, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Are you just stupid then?" I asked Adams.
"O'Reilly!"
"Shepard explained it very simply- he doesn't trust us. And with what's going on, especially with the fact that I've made it clear there are 'modifications' done to me, it's reasonable for him not to." I lifted my left arm up and brought up my Omni-tool.
Continuing: "As always, it is a choice of yours to refuse but it is a choice of mine to explain about myself." After finding my electronic file I looked to Shepard. " Commander Shepard, with your permission I would like to go over a medical file concerning what has happened to myself, as well as to clear up any confusion and answer any questions you may have pertaining to my own files and what is on the data chip."
"And what does this gain you?" the Turian finally asked.
I thought for a second before answering. "Honestly? It will at least ease the tension that's already rifting between us;" Shepard raised an eyebrow, "it will also give you an understanding of the predicament that the others are faced with as well as answers. Plus, if it gets me any closer to the possibility of talking with your Turian squad mate and, well mainly getting to the Citadel all the better" I shrugged my shoulders just a bit then chuckled lightly. "That and Adams would blow a gasket and I can't pass up a chance to do that." At this Adams glared at me; called it.
Shepard smirked but covered it up in an instant. "Terms accepted. Although any conversation you want with Garrus would have to be alright with him."
I nodded my head at this, "Naturally."
"Mordin" Shepard called and the Salarian walked forward. "The file?" he asked me.
"All yours." I replied. My Omni-tool made a small noise notifying me that it had found the Salarian's and Shepard's Omni-tools and was ready to transfer the information.
"O'Reilly, you cannot-" Adams took 2 large strides and put his hand on my shoulder with a hard grip. "-do this! We were given strict orders not to divulge any information to anyone unless it was needed."
It was an almost natural-yet-unnatural reaction; to be honest I couldn't control the responses my emotions conveyed through my voice box, because I legitimately growled. A very low tone that I'm not sure Adams even heard. I surprised myself really but caught myself all the same. That was new I thought but internally shrugged it off. Nothing I hadn't heard before but that was definitely different feeling.
"Adams, you're not my CO, especially since I'm just a Government project- still Private Sector." I snapped back.