The Cryonic Man
Chapter 4: A Damsel in Distress
A bit of foreword
This is my first story so please no flames.
I do not claim ownership to the rights to Mass Effect or its characters (sadly only Bioware and EA can claim that).
I do however claim ownership of the characters I create
Italics stand for thoughts and voices over an intercom
After Garrus and John left, they got in a taxi and headed to Zakera Ward. Once there Garrus gave him 10000 credits and the two talked a bit.
"Okay, if you head by a lounge, do you think you could try to find a bottle of Serrice-Ice Brandy? Doctor Chakwas said she had one in her private stores in the original Normandy. I was hoping to get a bottle for her as a present," said John.
"Heh heh heh, sure I'll try to find a bottle for your girlfriend," Garrus joked.
"Naw too old for me, she sort of reminds me of my mom before she died," John said with a bit of sadness in his voice.
Garrus stopped laughing and had a look of sadness on his face when he realized he had touched a sensitive subject.
"Hey man, sorry, I didn't mean," Garrus started.
"It's alright, you did make a pretty good joke," said John.
The two men shared a light laugh and went their separate ways.
Garrus took a look around C-Sec and went by the Dark Star Lounge. John on the other hand went on an explore and took a look at some of the shops. He stopped by the café to grab some more supplies for Mess Sergeant Gardner, he went to the souvenir store and purchased a couple books and some model ships, and headed down to Level 26 to see about some parts for his drone.
He headed into a shop and talked to the store owner.
"Hey there, I'm looking for some spare parts," said John.
"Anything you're looking for specifically," said the asari shopkeeper.
"Just some general parts if you have any. Specifically I'm looking for some parts for a drone," said John
"Alright then, let's take a look," said the asari.
After buying the parts and securing their delivery to the Normandy, he was about to leave, until he heard an argument going on.
"You know what quarians are like, Hoh. They take anything not welded to the deck, Hoh," he heard a volus say.
"Sir I'm going to have to ask you to calm down," said a C-Sec Officer.
John walked up and asked, "Is something the matter here?"
"I'm sorry, I'm trying to take a statement here," said the Officer.
"There's nothing to talk about, Hoh. She stole my credit chit, Hoh. Arrest her," said the volus.
"I did not! Just because I'm a quarian-," said a quarian girl whose voice sounded awfully familiar to John.
"I need you to stop and take a deep breath," the officer said to the volus.
"You're mocking, Hoh, me, Hoh, Earth-clan, Hoh! Just because the Vol-clan need, Hoh," said the volus.
"It was a poor choice of words sir, I apologize," said the officer.
John turned to the quarian girl and asked, "You say you're falsely accused?"
"I was walking to the used ship dealer when he barged into me outside of Sirta Foundation. He didn't stop or say sorry," the quarian girl told him, causing him to level a sharp look at the volus which made him back up a bit.
"A minute later, he runs up with C-Sec and accuses me of stealing his credit chit," the quarian girl continued.
"Is it possible that the chit fell out of his pocket when he bumped into you," asked John.
"I guess, all I know is I didn't steal it," said the quarian.
John turned to the officer and said, "I'll see if I can find out what happened."
"Sir, this is a C-Sec matter. We'll do all we-," the officer started.
"Hoh, Bah!," said the volus.
"All we can to resolve this. We don't need civilian help. If you do happen to find the chit, please let one of the officers know," finished the officer with a hint of annoyance in his voice about having to deal with this volus.
"I'll be right back," John said.
He then walked over to a store with a sign that said Saronis Applications and talked to the salarian clerk.
"Hello sir, what can I do for you," said the salarian.
"Did a volus come here and accidently drop a credit chit," John asked the clerk.
"Yes, actually. If you see him can you tell him we're holding it for him here," the clerk replied.
"Thank you," said John.
He walked over back to the trio where the officer told him, "Please move along."
John turned to the volus with malice in his eyes and said, "This woman didn't steal your credit chit, you dropped it in Saronis Applications. The clerk told me he's holding it for you."
"Hoh, Oh, Hoh, well, Hoh. The quarian could have stolen it," the volus stammered out, embarrassed.
"I'll close this event report. But I'll be watching you. Get a permanent residence, or I'll run you in for vagrancy," the officer said.
At that point John just snapped. After seeing so many blatant displays of racism, he was angry. No not angry, furious.
He walked forward and said, "Are you two serious?"
The volus said, "Hoh, WHAT?"
He pushed the volus down and said with anger, "You falsely accused this girl of stealing from you. And now that you've been proven wrong, you attempt to justify what you did by saying she "could have stolen it?"
"Now listen here, Hoh, this is assault," said the volus.
John then turned to the C-Sec officer, grabbed him by the collar, and said, "And you. This woman gets harassed, and you do nothing to help. You're an officer of the law, you're supposed to protect the people's right and all you did was falsely accuse her of vagrancy. It's people like you that make me sick."
"Back off or I will charge you with obstruction of justice," the officer said.
"Do it and I talk to Captain Bailey about what happened here. I had a bit of a chat with him before coming down here. He told me how much he hates racism and how it gives C-Sec a bad name. You try to falsely charge this woman, I'll have your badge, got it," said John.
The officer picked then snapped and punched John.
"Listen you little sh%*. This is my ward and you're not going to take it from me," said the officer.
He then proceeded to unleash hell on John until he had a several scratches, bruises, a bloody nose, and a black eye. The quarian woman tried to save the man who helped her but was quickly knocked down by the officer. At that point John began to fight back with his own fists until the officer grabbed him by the throat and began choking him at least till another man showed up behind him.
"Let the man go officer," said Shepard.
"Oh you have a friend, well that just makes this a lot more fun," said the officer while cracking his knuckles.
"You think you can take down a Spectre," said Shepard.
The officer's eyes widened, and narrowed and picked up the volus, then left muttering something under his breath.
Shepard helped John up and he dusted himself off.
The volus turned to John and said, "This isn't over Earth-clan."
John rolled his eyes and the volus walked away. Then he turned to the woman, softened, smiled, helped her up, and said, "Are you alright miss?"
"I should be asking you that you bosh'tet," the girl said, "Why the hell did you do that for me?"
"Simple, you were in trouble, and I helped you," John said with a goofy smile.
"You insane, stupid, idiotic, guh you could have gotten killed," the woman said, and then softened somewhat, "But, thanks for standing up for me."
"I'll be on the Normandy when you're done with the girlfriend," Shepard joked.
John and the woman looked at each other and blushed.
"Umm, so what's your name," said John.
"Uh, Lia, Lia'Vael," said Lia.
"Nice to meet you Lia, I'm John, John Desmond," said John.
"To answer your question, yes I'm alright," said Lia, shuffling her feet, "Um, are you alright?"
"Um, yeah, that officer couldn't throw a punch at all. So can you take care of yourself from here," said John feeling awkward.
"Yeah, I wish I could give you something more than just words, though," said Lia.
"Don't worry about it. Are things rough here," John asked.
"Well yeah, I… I came here thinking there would be a lot of work, but it seems no one wants to hire a quarian. Most nights I just eat nutrient paste in a turian shelter, but I'm getting by," said Lia.
John felt his heart break at this, "Is this what it's like for quarians?"
"Yeah, where have you been for the last 100 years," Lia replied.
John smilied, gave a light chuckle, and said, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
She laughed a bit too, which John found cute, and said, "Well I won't take up anymore of your time."
She started to leave when John stopped her and said, "Maybe I'm a bit of a softie, but are you on pilgrimage right now."
Surprised, she said, "Yes, how did you know?"
"I have a friend that told me all about quarian culture. But that's not the point. I serve on an interstellar frigate as part of the crew. You already met my Commanding officer," Lia was surprised that this man served under a Spectre, but said noting while he continued, "Well, how would you like to come with us? You could be paid for your work, and have more places to search for a pilgrimage gift."
"Well, um I don't know, um can I have some time to think about it," replied Lia.
"Sure, we're actually going to be docked for a few days while we resupply and the crew gets a little shore leave. If you like I can come by the shelter, get you, and you can have a look around the ship for yourself one of the days we are here," said John rubbing the back of his head.
"Sure it's a date," said Lia, though after realizing what she said, "Err I mean that sounds nice, sounds like a nice day, Heh Heh."
"Oh uh yeah sounds great," said John, "Well, I better get going, hope to see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, you too," said Lia.
"Well, looks who's finally back," said Shepard after John walked through the airlock, "Did you enjoy your time with your girlfriend?"
"Uhh err she's not guhh," John stammered out.
"It's alright, I know. What happened to cause that fight anyway," asked Shepard.
John then explained to Shepard what happened, from purchasing the spare parts for his drone, to walking by the argument, to finding the volus' credit chit, to losing his temper from the way the C-Sec officer and the volus treated Lia, to threatening the C-Sec officer with the loss of his job, and finally to the fight.
By the end of the story Shepard's fist were clenched and had a look of anger on his face. Not anger at John, but anger at the way the woman was mistreated simply because of her race, and by an officer of the law no less. Regardless, he felt a sense of pride in John for standing up for someone he didn't even know.
"Um anyways, I was wondering how long we would be staying here on the Citadel," said John.
"Well we need to resupply and refuel, as well as giving the crew some time to relax, so I would say about four days. Why, going to spend time with your new girlfriend," said Shepard with a mischievous smile.
"Actually yes, I invited her to come with us, and to come by and see the ship some time," said John with a smile on his face and his arms crossed.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," said Shepard.
"Okay, Dad," said John.
They both shared a laugh and John said, "So, are you okay with her joining us, well if she says yes?"
Shepard considered it for a moment. On the one hand he wasn't sure if they needed more engineers on the ship, then again it might be nice for Tali to have someone to talk to.
"As your commanding officer, you should have asked for my permission before recruiting an unknown person," said Shepard, which caused John's face to fall, "But, we could always need some new talent in Engineering."
This caused to John's face to light up and then he said, "Thanks Commander, well it's getting late, I should head off to bed."
"Night John," said Shepard.
John walked by Garrus and Kelly plus the rest of the crew then pressed the button to the Deck 3.
Garrus walked over to Shepard and asked, "What's got him in such a good mood?"
Shepard then told him about the argument John broke up, followed by the fight he had with a C-Sec officer, and so on and so forth.
"I can't believe how corrupt C-Sec has become," Garrus said with anger, "But, I'm glad John stood up for that woman, never thought a human would stand up for a quarian like that. Then again, John's been in this century for only 2 weeks so he hasn't really had any time to develop any prejudices."
"Maybe she's just the person he's been looking for to make this century home," said Shepard.
The two men smiled at the idea and went their separate ways. Shepard to his quarters and Garrus to see Kelly, and then down to Deck 3 to do some calibrations.
Lia sat down in her bunk and reflected on the day, from walking by the used ship dealership again, to being accused of thievery by that stupid volus, to being rescued by that man John.
John. A human. A human who defended her, a quarian. Humans she had met before had always treated her as a second-class citizen, a pimple on the face of the galaxy. But John had defended her, even though he barely knew her, and invited her to serve on a military vessel, to serve under a kind Spectre, and find a Pilgrimage gift that would impress everyone back on the Migrant Fleet.
"Why?"
That question was on the forefront of her mind. Humans, as well as the rest of the universe, hated quarians, viciously. Yet, John had been so nice to her, and asked for nothing in return. Under her mask, she found herself smiling at the memory of today.
"Lia, Lia, LIA!"
"Huh, oh hey Kara," said Lia, after being shaken out of her musings.
"Yeah, hey. I was just asking if you found any work yet," said Lia's friend, Kara'Zorel.
"No, same thing as always. No quarians, quarians not wanted, et cetera et cetera," replied Lia, "I also was nearly arrested by a volus who thought I stole his credit chit. Though the weirdest thing happened, a human actually defended me."
"What," said Kara in surprise and disbelief.
"Yeah a human named John Desmond found the volus' credit chit and defended me when the volus and C-Sec officer tried to shift the blame to me, he actively defended me. When things smoothed over, he didn't ask for anything in return. He just said he saw I was in trouble, and he wanted to help. He was so nice to me," replied Lia.
"Sounds like someone has a crush," said Kara in a teasing tone.
"What no, I don't, umm," said Lia, while blushing under her mask.
"Riiiiiight, so are you going to see him again," Kara asked.
"Yeah, he invited me to come with him as part of a crew of an interstellar spaceship. He serves under a Council Spectre, who helped break up a fight between the C-Sec officer and John when the officer attacked John for threatening his job for harassing me," said Lia.
"Be careful girlfriend, the more you talk about him, the more I want to steal him from you," the two women shared a laugh and Kara continued, "So what did you tell him?"
"I told him…I told him I needed some time before I decide," said Lia, avoiding her friend's gaze.
"What did he say then," asked Kara.
"He said that was alright since the ship was going to be docked for a few days while they resupply and the crew gets some shore leave. He said he would come by and get me sometime so I could see the ship. I don't know, do you think I should do it," said Lia.
"Well, you said the ship will be docked will be docked for a few days, right? Why don't you see the ship first, and then decide," replied Kara.
Lia considered this and decided that her friend was right.
"And maybe you can spend some more time with your new boyfriend," Kara said in a teasing tone.
"HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND," yelled Lia.
"Night Lia," said Kara after a light laugh.
The two quarians fell asleep in their bunks with Lia contemplating what would happen tomorrow, at least until Lia heard that there was a new message on her omni-tool. She opened her mail and saw that it was a message from John.
Hey, remember me. That idiot from today.
I was wondering if you would be alright with me coming by tomorrow, so you can come look at the ship. I talked to my Commander and he said it would be alright if you came by. So just reply whenever you feel like, and if you don't feel like it, it's alright.
John
Lia laughed slightly at the message and sent a reply.
Sure, I'll meet you at Saronis Applications at 9:00 tomorrow
Lia
Lia feel asleep that night with a smile on her face.
"She said yes! Woohoo," thought John, though he didn't know why.
"What am I doing, she's just a girl I met. But why does she sound so familiar?"
He looked at the clock, saw it was late, and decided to get some sleep.
"Big day tomorrow, might as well get some sleep," thought John.
He then fell asleep in his bed with a smile on his face.
(Author's Note)
Telling you this right now. The romance portion will start soon but the real romance won't start for a few chapters.
Announcement #2
After the Normandy leaves the Citadel, the next chapter will be used to advance the story of the game. And as such, the perspective will switch to Shepard and will shift away from John. Sound off in the reviews if you think this is a good idea.
#3
douchiesnacks, I understand your opinion about human/alien relationships. But honestly I like the story this way. Bioware has found a way to make me hate some of the human women of this game and like the aliens a whole lot more. So, I'm sorry but the relationships will remain the same.
New Romances
Zaeed/Chakwas
Possible Thane/Samara
More TBD
Do I seem like a review whore yet? Sound off in the reviews if you think so.