12-31-2183 1139 hours (Citadel standard time)
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Shepard's bones ached and throbbed from the intense workout. He could feel the veins on his knees popping. His spine felt as if it was being crushed and his entire body screamed for rest. His eyelids were heavier than they'd ever been. He looked to his right and saw that Ramirez felt they same way.
When they had arrived two months earlier they were told they would be prepared to fight the greatest threat to the galaxy. Of course many that were gathered in the court-yard thought of the Reapers, others like the huge Krogan that who knows where they got him from seemed as if they just wanted to fight. After the speech given by Morak, the Prothean general he told them to go to their barracks to rest.
And that's how Shepard ended up fighting a Prothean in hand to hand combat and it had only been two hours.
Their primary physical exercise, combat training, and military classes was all personally selected by General Morak. He told the top military officials that in eight months they would go from a rag-tag group of some of the deadliest in the galaxy to the most deadliest team in the galaxy.
"Remember! Each of you is dangerous alone, but together you are deadly." General Morak told them as they started to run and try to capture a flag on General Morak's personal Jaguar. Each time a member would get close, he would accelerate the vehicle and leave them in the dust. This usually continued until one of the team would collapse. In short , General Morak was the devil to each to the operatives.
General Morak told them that the next eight months would be a living hell, so fighting the Reapers wouldn't be. And at this rate General Morak seemed to be right. What made it even worse was that this exercise was considered easy by General Morak's standards. It seemed only Javik was the one most able to handle the rigorous exercises.
After another six hours of exercises the General allowed them to get food at the mess hall. Immediately Shepard and Ramirez ran to be the first ones in line.
Of course this wasn't the case as the large Krogan simply walked in front or more likely shoved the two Titans out of the way.
"Hey we were here first." Ramirez said in protest.
"You were." The Krogan, whose name was Grunt, told Ramirez.
"Listen pal-" Ramirez began before he was lifted into the air and shoved right next to the food.
"I should kill you right now. If you are strong then you would provide an excellent challenge."
Shepard cut between them in hopes of diffusing the volatile situation. "Look we don't need any infighting. If you want Grunt you can cut in front of us. I'm sure Ramirez won't mind would you?" Shepard asked Ramirez.
With a scowl on his face, Ramirez replied "No I won't."
Grunt got his food and sat down on a table. Ramirez and Shepard got their own food and sat as far as away from Grunt as they could. They were soon joined by the rest of the old Normandy crew.
"That was interesting to watch." Garrus told the team as he sat down with his food.
"Interesting isn't the word I would use." Ramirez said with venom. He glare at the Krogan from afar.
"Lucky for you Captain Shepard was there to save you." Kaidan teased Ramirez.
"I didn't need any saving!" Ramirez basically yelled, earning him a few looks. Noticing the attention he had gotten, he said "Whatever I'm eating in my room."
'His' room was actually his and Shepard's and the team noticed how Ramirez said it almost with spite.
"Sorry Shepard didn't mean to get him upset." Kaidan apologized.
"Don't worry about it Kaidan. He's just upset that's all." Shepard told him.
"Yes, but even after two months. I would have figured that he would have been over Daro by now." Nyreen said.
"C'mon let's talk about something else guys." Shepard said trying to change the subject.
Suddenly the new arrivals showed and an also sat on the table. Shepard had met each one and was on friendly terms with each one and mentally went down the list of the new recruits.
Miranda Lawson was the powerful biotic and deemed 'perfect woman' by most men on the ground team. Often times they would sneak looks at her curves and that made the women in the group quite jealous. She was the daughter of the famous Hendry Lawson, who was the owner of Law Technologies and was an immense supplier of weapons and armor exclusively for the Alliance. She was similar to her father in terms of ambition, high standards for others, and always expecting to get the job done.
Jacob Taylor was an ex-Alliance A.C.S trooper. Having served deployments on Torfan, Chilium, and fought on Eden Prime during the second assault. His team was responsible for seizing the Capital. It was said it would take two weeks to take the capital, Jacob and his team did re-took it in two days. He even managed to stop a Batarian terrorist attack on the Council, earning him praise from every government.
Zaeed Massani was a life-long trooper turned mercenary. Other than being the most ruthless and badass mercenary there is, he was a simple guy to get along with so long as you don't do something stupid.
Thane Krios. The infamous drell assassin. If you ever saw him, chances are he would be the last thing you would ever see. Not much is known about him, but what is scares the shit out of the regular Cerberus personal. There were rumors that he personally assassinated Gorv Hign, the ex-ruler of the Batarian Hegemony.
Samara, an Asari justicar. Her biotics were some of the strongest Shepard had ever seen. He didn't think that anyone could ever beat her without using clever tactics and probably using her own code against her. She reminded Shepard a lot like Thane, though a more black and white version of him. She had a strong moral compass, so it would be best not to be deceitful when she's around.
Jack a strong biotic with a temper. She was an ex-Ascension teacher at the Grissom academy. While her methods for teaching were 'unethical' no student of hers ever failed the yearly B.T.C (Biotics Training and Certification) test. She even had tattoos on her and wore even more questionable clothing than Miranda.
Javik the commanding officer to the Prothean field army. Little is known about him as he hardly socializes with anyone aside with Grunt who seemed to have a sense of personal respect for each other.
Mordin Solus, brilliant Salarian scientist, ex-STG member, and all around walking galactic encyclopedia. When he starts talking everyone pays attention as he usually has crucial information to say. He is the teams field medic and scientist and coordinates all medical efforts with Dr. Chakwas. A valid warning would be never to get on his bad side. Currently he sat with Grunt at the other table.
Grunt, the perfect Krogan super soldier. Personally tank-bred by Okeer on Tuchanka. He reminded Shepard of a younger, angrier, more reckless version of Wrex. Slightly shorter than most typical Krogan Grunt made up for this with above average intellect and immense strength. Ever since the training began he and Ramirez had been constantly at odds with each other, though it seemed Ramirez was more at odds with him than Grunt was with Ramirez.
Sitting on Grunt's left was Legion, an actual friendly Geth. How Cerberus ever managed to acquire a live Geth he would never know and probably never won't want to. He or it, Shepard supposed was extremely intelligent, second-only to Mordin and the two along with EDI, the Normandy's new AI.
Originally Joker was upset at having to leave to the Normandy, and by upset Shepard meant absolutely crazed. After refusing to leave the Normandy, Cerberus personal were forced to yank the pilot chair off the cock pit with Joker on it. He responded by yelling profanities at them, and if Shepard was honest it was quite comical. Even Ramirez seemed to get a good laugh.
Finally there was Kasumi, the galaxy's most efficient thief and self-proclaimed best there is. Looking around Shepard noticed that she wasn't around. Shepard assumed she was cloaked as she normally is and would reveal herself if she wanted to be seen, which was hardly never. This did cause some form of paranoia and caused many people to lock their doors for the good it did.
"Good afternoon, everyone," a deep, calm voice echoed from the doorway, and they turned to face the dark shadow that revealed General Morak. He wore the dark crimson uniform that Javik wore. "I'm pleased at how far you've come and as such I will ensure that you are pushed to your limits from here on out. You will give me a hundred percent each day or none at all, am I understood?"
"Yes, sir," they all immediately answered. Standing up straight and saluting the General.
"Welcome to your new family and you will no longer have dual rooms as you will no longer be living on the base's barracks."
The news caused murmurs to circulate among the crew members. With a hand, General Morak silence them. "You will no longer be living in the barracks as you will now live in your new home a ship in order to prepare yourselves to the environment you will experience. If you will please follow me."
As they all filed out, General Morak ordered a Cerberus guard to find Ramirez and inform him of the news.
They came upon a hangar deck and everyone was stunned to see the corvette, if it was a corvette, docked. It was a beauty, retaining the old Normandy's design, but incorporating added features such as improved broad side cannons and thicker armor. Its size was noteworthy as well. Shepard guess its length was over 320 meters about twice larger than the original Normandy.
Motioning to the grand ship that stood before them, Morak said "This is your new home and transportation. Make sure to treat her well, now let's see the inside."
Stepping inside, they were amazed by the immense technology and engineering put into the vessel. The room was illuminated by orange lights that seemed to display the ships as a piece of art not a war machine.
"Keep in mind that until your training is complete, the ship's AI has strict orders not to fly and many security measures have been put into place in order to avoid any accidental lift-offs. So for your sake I hope there is none." Morak warned the team.
Ashley spoke up and asked "Is there a specific place where you want us to drop off our gear?"
General Morak replied "That has already been taken care of, however we will visit your quarters first so that you may be acquainted with the rooms." Leading them he said "Follow me." He led them through a maze of hallways and decks further along the ship and had to take an elevator to reach their destination. Some of the hallways had windows, others had steel and titanium panels, cold and unfeeling. Morak talked about the various schematics of the ship, how many personal were onboard the ship, their various facilities, etc.
"These will be your personal quarters for the duration of your stay," Morak beckoned to the doors. "Your names are temporarily posted on the door of your assigned rooms, and each one is meant of house one occupant." he explained.
Morak then gathered them up again like cattle and lead them down the ship. As they traverse deeper and deeper into the ship, there was an absence of windows. They passed by the training room, the gym, the mess hall, and a swimming pool. Mordin stared at the equipment surrounding the ships was very anxious to get to work immediately.
They were finally lead to a dark room with desks, with four chairs apiece that faced towards a large projector board. Morak instructed them to take a seat and they all did as ordered.
Miranda sat upfront with Mordin and Legion. Ramirez moved towards an empty seat, followed by Kasumi who sat next to him. Grunt and Zaeed at in the back. Garrus sat next to Shepard, Jacob, and Kaidan after Ashley and Liara had taken seats next to Nyreen. Thane and Samara took seats in the middle row next to each other. Jack and Javik each took their own separate seats.
Once they were all seated, Morak said to them "As most of you know, there is a great threat to this galaxy and each of you has been chosen for your unique talents and abilities. Most of you are the finest soldiers that I've ever seen, others of you are experts in your fields that many both respect and fear you. There will be numerous tasks and missions given to you and as such there is a real possibility that some of you may not survive." Morak paused, letting the severity of his words sink in to the team. Each one came to the same conclusion and accepted the risks in order to insure the survival of every race out there.
"There is no excuse for poor performance in the project and I hope I never have to remind you of that," Morak continued strictly. "As said before you will try your best with everything you do here. Now before you are dismissed, there is still sunlight left so we will continue with our exercises."
"Yes sir!" voices rang through the class room, and they stood and filed out the door towards where they came and proceeded to walk off the Normandy, except for Joker, and they began running laps.
The rest of the day was spent in rigorous exercise. What time wasn't spent running, working out, performing acrobatics, much to the discomfort of Grunt, was spent under the ever becoming louder voice of Morak and his Colonel Hik. Morak reminded them constantly that the training would only get harder as time progressed.
Four hours, until the moon was high in the sky, the team worked harder and harder pushing their limits. Once they were dismissed, they limped towards their barracks and it only took seconds for each of them to fall asleep, well for Grunt it took minutes.
"Well….they're doing better than expected." Came the voice of the Illusive man as he reviewed the training footage of the team.
The team worked together constantly helping each other as a team, they progressed. He saw it only took forty-five seconds for them to execute a plan of attack and defeat the regular Cerberus troops.
"Yes, but they have much to learn. They must entrust in each other with their lives if they are to succeed." said General Morak through a terminal.
"Don't worry with Shepard as their leader, I believe they could do anything." The Illusive man took a puff of his cigar.
"Perhaps, however at this rate I believe they will be ready earlier than expected."
"By how much?"
"Two months earlier or less, depending how much each member of the team contributes. I believe I must inform you that the soldier they call Ramirez is not performing at optimal performance."
"Ah yes. Woman issues I believe. Not to worry, being surrounded by woman eventually he will have a relationship with one and he'll be back to normal."
"I hope you are right."
"I am. Keep me posted." With that the Illusive logged off, leaving Morak in the darkness.
"Stupid primitives. Why can't they be more like the salarians and keep their sexual urges under control?" Morak questioned to no one in particular.
He then walked to his own quarters, thinking that if he doesn't prepare the team for what's to come they are all doom. With the thoughts in mind he fell asleep in his bed.