Chapter 4
I do not own Mass Effect 1,2,3 or the Legendary Edition
I do own my own life and likeness
Story Start
With the Normandy coming in Kaiden and I each grabbed an arm to carry Shepard to the nearest landing point, which thankfully wasn't that far away while Ash walked nearby with her assault rifle at the ready. Soon the Normandy roared overhead, when we got to it's landing point we climbed on board with Shepard through the cargo bay.
As we were climbing on board a team of marines were moving to disembark. Behind them, coming from the lift were the familiar faces of Doctor Chawkas and Captain Anderson as well as another two marines, one male and one female.
"Lay her down." ordered Dr Chakwas before doing a quick scan of Shepard with her Omni-tool "Have you noticed any symptoms? What happened?" she continued quickly
"The beacon activated and did something to her before exploding." answered Kaiden
Turning off the omni-tool "You said that something about brain trauma?"
Stepping forward I answer "Yes Doctor, the way beacons were supposed to work is a direct transfer to the brain sort of like an asari mind-meld. Unfortunately, they were made for prothean minds, not humans so I felt it was best to ask if you could treat brain trauma." I answered
"Good thinking, if we didn't have the equipment that we do then it would have been likely the Commander would have been better off at a local hospital till we could transport her to a qualified hospital." said Dr Chakwas sincerely before turning to the marines "Take her to the med bay."
Stepping forward each marine pulls out what looks like two short rods stuck together, turning to face each other they push the ends together for a few seconds before pulling away. When they do an orange rod appears between them connecting them together as they walk away from each other, when they are nearly two meters away from each other they pull the rods apart, revealing an orange, cloth-like substance. It is only after this I realise what it is, an omni-stretcher, I mean it made sense, omni-tool, omni-blade, omni-bow, etc. Even with the invention of medi-gel stretchers would still be needed to move wounded people to one place from another and having one you could carry around in your pocket would be incredibly useful, though if I had to guess they also used more traditional stretchers or futuristic gurneys with real material in places that would regularly need them.
As the marines gently lay Shepard onto the omni-stretcher and began to carry her out with Dr Chakwas about to follow something occurred to me.
"It's not my business but it might be a good idea to set up a camera to record everything, as said before the prothean downloads information directly to the brain so it might seem like a dream and she might say something that she won't remember later." I suggested
Looking at Captain Anderson for a moment for confirmation, Dr Chakwas receives a short nod.
"With the beacon destroyed that's a good idea, now...?" asked Captain Anderson
"Callum, Callum Maclean." I answered
"Well, Callum I'm going to need you to head up and wait in mess. I need Lieutenant Kaiden and...?" asked Captain Anderson
"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams at your service sir." saluted Ash
"Will need to be debriefed on what happened, I'll need you to remain on board to answer any questions that I may have." finished Captain Anderson "Also I'll need you to drop off your weapons and armour to the man near the lifts, you'll get them back before you leave."
Being dismissed I headed for the lift, stopping to give someone that I recognised as the requisitions officer my bow, pistol and scavenged assault rifle and chest piece before boarding the lift. However, because the doctor and marines had already left with Shepard I had to wait until came back down and then I could get in.
...
It was just as slow as I remembered.
...
Exiting the elevator I have a brief look around, much of it looked the same as what it did in the game. I decided to start calling my old life mentally OR as in other reality because if this was real, which long since believed it was then BioWare somehow made a game that mirrored what was happening now in the future. I still didn't really know what was going on but alternative/multiverse was the only thing that really made sense at the moment, well other than a coma and since I don't remember being in a car accident and I didn't want to start asking myself Inception-like questions like if dying in a dream will wake me up because that was one coin I wasn't going to flip. Sitting down at the table I realised that I'd hadn't eaten all-day. Turning to the sound of a nearby door opening I see the one of the two marines that carried Shepard to the lift exit the med-bay.
"I don't suppose I could have some food?" I ask "Sorry but I just realized that I haven't eaten for a while."
"It's fine, though we don't exactly have the best grub around." said the marine going to a nearby cupboard and selecting some cannisters "Beef flavour okay with you?"
"Yeah, but I guess that means its not real beef?" I ask making him snort
"Basic rations? Hell no." said the man grabbing me a tray, cutlery and then twisting the ends off two canisters, one brown the other green. When they hit the tray the gunk seems to expand before hardening.
"Here you go." said the marine passing me the tray before doing the same thing again for himself "My names Tristan, Sergeant Tristan you said your name was Callum right?"
"Yeah." I replied, having some of the meal, it looked awful but the taste wasn't bad, it was like a almost tasteless beef paddy while the green tasted like a mix of mashed potatoes and peas.
"So what are you? I thought that you might be part or some security detail but if that was true then you'd be being debriefed with Lieutenant Kaiden and I think I heard her name was Ashley?" asked Tristan
"That's correct and I'm just a farmer that got caught up in everything." I answered
"Sounds that you got lucky when you ran in the Commander and Lieutenant." said Tristan
"Speaking of that how's it looking in there." I said gesturing towards the med-bay
"The Commanders fine, Dr Chakwas already did a detailed scan of her brain and said she should wake up in a few hours or more. Jenkins however..." trailed of Tristan
"Jenkins?" I asked
"Yeah, he's a friend of mine. He went on mission with Commander Shepard and Kaiden but got taken out soon after, if it wasn't for the quick thinking of Kaiden with a biotic pull he would have died. As it is he's in a serious condition and will have to be dropped of at the Citadel when we get there. We would have dropped him off at the local hospital but Dr Chakwas wanted more time to stabilise him before handing him over. Besides the Citadel does have better equipped hospitals and any hospital on Eden Prime are likely to be busy in the near future." explained Tristan
'Well that explains why Shepard and Kaiden didn't turn up when I thought they would, they must have been carrying Jenkins at least partway back to the LZ.' I thought to myself as we finished the rest of the meal in silence.
"Huh, looks like we're leaving Eden Prime."
"How can you tell, and what about the marines that left when we climbed on board?" I ask
"Even with modern dampening you can pick up on small telltale sensations that your taking off or landing if you serve on a ship long enough, if its a fast take off or the pilots not that good it makes it easier to pick up, not that the latter is the case here and those marines will act as reinforcements for the local garrison until further reinforcements arrive from elsewhere. Now I need to get back to my duties, its been good talking to you." said Tristan
"Good talking to you too." I said
Once he left I started to write an email to a Dr Bryson, the guy who was looking for Leviathans in mass effect 3. In the email, I explained what I saw, a picture of the reaper, a picture of the floor layout of the Citadel Tower and that a friend of mine once saw a rock painting while they were rock climbing that looked identical to it on a planet named Namakli. It took me some time to track down the planet that his daughter went to but I eventually managed it. I also remembered enough of him that hopefully what I wrote in the email would spark his interest. I knew the council would likely dismiss Sovereign as a reaper just like they did and I needed to make sure that changed or at least a few species started to prepare for the upcoming invasion, when the reapers did finally come a lot of people finally started to find evidence of there being reapers. If I could bring that forward then things would start to look a lot better, but I still have a lot of work ahead of me.
For the next half-an-hour to an hour, I made use of my time in whatever way I can, after the email was written, an email that I would only send after I reached the Citadel just in case the Normandy could intercept or record anything I sent. After that I did some reviewing of the galactic map trying to find anything that sparked a memory, my greatest hope is that I'd remember where the dead reaper was but for the moment all I could remember was that the Keplar Valley was made by the same weapon that killed it.
Eventually, I hear the elevator behind me open and I see Captain Anderson heading to his quarters, ten minutes later he came back out with a data pad in his hands. Sitting down opposite to me he started talking
"Callum Maclean, born in the galactic year of 2157 on Earth day the 23rd of May in Australia. After finishing high school you went to university to study environment and agriculture, four years later at the age of 22, you finish your degree. A year later your parents Leigh and Joseph Maclean died in a shuttle accident, shortly after that you try to join the Alliance but were unsuccessful due to a history of sleepwalking when you were a child. After that you left Earth behind and moved to Eden Prime where you worked as a farmer ever since." said Captain Anderson, reading from the data pad
"Is this going anywhere? Sorry but I'm not sure why you spent so much time looking me up." I was curious where this was going and a tad worried, did I stuff up somehow and made people suspicious?
"I'd like you to join Shepard, at least for now." responded Captain Anderson
"...What?" I asked completely surprised, I hope I could join the Normandy but I'd expect the invite to be coming from Shepard not Anderson
"I won't go into details until you've said yes but we're about to go after a dangerous individual called Saren and we're going to need all the help we can get."
"And you think I can help?" I ask confused, I just didn't see this conversation coming
"For someone who hasn't fought or trained as a soldier you showed remarkable talent and combat awareness. Both Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko and Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams were impressed with your abilities and remarked how much they helped during the course of the mission." said Captain Anderson, eyeing me carefully before continuing
"At first I was sceptical and thought they were just exaggerating or you somehow got lucky and they gave you more credit than deserved. But with their service records that didn't make sense, and as their report continued I felt that it was less and less likely. Moreover, the marine's ground side have confirmed a number of geth and husks that had seemingly been dealt with by arrows rather than mass effect rounds.
Also, according to Kaiden you also used your biotic abilities in ways he's never seen or heard of before, that biotic field that you used to protect yourself and Kaiden long enough to get to the bombs to disarm them and save the colony is just one example. Normally in order to protect themselves biotics either have to use a barrier around themselves, just over or under their kinetic barrer or create a biotic shield around themselves and anyone near them. The later however requires a someone to have greater than average biotic strength, at least for a human that is in order to keep it up for more than a few seconds. Even then it's nearly impossible for them to move around while maintaining it, even if they're not under fire.
You however used something completely different, that not only protected but Kaiden as well, allowed you to move quickly and held up under the fire of mulitple geth." stopping for a moment Captain Anderson eyes me carefully
"You also listened and obeyed orders when needed, took out threats quickly when you saw them, were able to fight cohesively with people you only knew for a short time and were able to provide solutions for problems in stressful conditions. I think you have a lot of potential, potential that would be wasted as a farmer so I'd like it if you joined us."
"Are you sure?" I asked before I could stop myself, I'd expected to have to ask, nay beg to be able to join the Normandy team in any field I could. Hell, I would have been happy if they kept me as staff cleaning the floor or polishing armour.
"Callum...I think it's obvious what you did." said Captain Anderson seriously
"..."
"When your parents died it lit a fire in you, that fire caused you to train yourself and get yourself ready for the Alliance, when you failed to join the alliance and came to Eden Prime you kept that training up, abet at a reduced level. It's clear to me that you watched every marine training manual and read every book that you could get your hands on in the hopes that you would someday make a difference." said Captain Anderson
"And if I join, what exactly do you want me to do?" I asked, he may have the wrong idea, but not by much.
"The same thing that you did before, you'd become a private and act as a niche combatant if you will. Your bow seems unusually effective against the geth, normally I'd not let you use a bow let alone a sword for combat. In fact, I'd normally make you switch to an omni-dagger and sniper but as I just said you make them uncommonly effective in battle and you've made it apparent that some old technology can still hold its ground against it's modern equivalent. At least in certain situations that is, if you join you'd be acting as medium to long-range support as well as supporting lieutenant Kaiden with biotic abilities, speaking of which I'd like it if you taught him those biotic abilities I mentioned before and anything else you learned or taught yourself."
"In that case I accept." I said, no way am I going to let this opportunity pass "So what can you tell me."
"We're up against a unique enemy, a spectre which means he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants as long as he has the Council's approval and delivers the results which will make it hard to bring him in. You might remember his name from earlier...Saren."
"That's the name that Commander Shepard found written in blood." I said playing along
"Yes it is." confirmed Captain Anderson "He's a council spectre, one of their best but because of that I'm doubtful that they'll listen to our side of the story."
For a short time after that we continued talking about anything I noticed one Eden Prime that the others might have missed as well as any other questions Captain Anderson had. After that he left, suggesting I go have a shower before I get some sleep and telling me to grab spare sleep clothes, pointing where I could get them.
Heading further into the ship, past the sleep pods. Some were upright others were laying down and pulled into the ship giving whoever was resting privacy, opening the door at the end of the corridor that was either a wall or a door you couldn't open now though I could. Entering I come to a small room with 4 shower stalls on the left, 3 open with the fourth being covered with what looked like darkened glass while on the right there were 3 toilets and one urinal. Just as I was noticing this the taken shower stall door rolls into the side of the stall wall and out steps a woman dressed in military sleep wear, her hair slightly wet. Giving me a short, confused frown she passed me and hoped into one of the sleep pods.
Entering one of the stalls I see a small area for my clothes before I get to area where I would actually shower. It took me a few seconds to work the panel controls to close the door but I did and when I did a timer appeared on the inside
3 minutes of shower time remaining
Undressing I put my clothes in the assigned area I climb into the shower area I see the touch screen buttons, six in total. Two are blue and red respectively and in the middle of them is a plain black button in the middle with a temperature reading above it, two had picture of a shower with bubbles and the other just had a shower, the last just had a picture of air flowing. Placing my hand on the hot and cold buttons I change the temperature to what I think I'd be happy with before turning the shower on. When I do so I hear a beep behind me, turning around I see
2 minutes and 58 seconds of shower time remaining
Getting under the water I found the pressure was quite nice, I make small changes to the temperature before pressing the button with bubbles. Almost immediately the water changes were felt, there must have been some sort of soap in the water. After washing myself I hit the plain shower symbol and finish my shower with 30 seconds to spare. Pressing the button that had flowing I become buffeted by warm to hot air until I was dry after that I got dressed in shorts and pants before getting some sleep. Many hours later I would get an email from the producer I sent my fast and furious knock off with an offer eventually after some haggling we settled on a price, especially when I mentioned I was already writing on a sequel and had ideas for more. 12000 credits in total, a good chunk of that money would be going to getting my pistol made, some of the rest will be used to fund Doctor Bryson's trip whatever remained I would sit on for now until I could do something with it, maybe better armour but that would be a long way off with my new Private salary.
Many hours later in the med-bay
"Ahhh, fuck! My head." groaned Shepard as she woke up
"Doctor Chakwas it looks like she's waking up!" exclaimed a voice nearby
The voice turned out to belong to one Ashley Williams with Dr Chakwas nearby
"Please keep it down." asked Shepard as she propped herself up "I feel like I just woke up from a drinking game with every Alliance marine out there before going on and when that was done I went to get some ryncol to out-drink some krogan."
"Commander ryncol is not recommended for human consumption." said Dr Chakwas disapprovingly
"That's what the upside-down floating fairies said and I've paid them any mind." replied Shepard, much to Dr Chakwas annoyance
Before Dr Chakwas could say anything the door opens and Captain Anderson enters
"I hear our patient is up."
"Yes and she is already making light of her situation." said Dr Chakwas, pursing her limbs much to the amusement of Captain Anderson and Ash, even if the Captain hid in much better.
"If she wasn't that would tell me more than anything how serious the situation was." said Captain Anderson before turning to Ashley "Please wait outside."
"Sure thing Captain...Commander." farewelled Ash
"True." admitted Dr Chakwas "Now I need to attend to my other patient." she continued going over to the other medical bed
"How is he doc?" asked Shepard serious, all her previous light-heartedness gone
"He's stable but he's got a long road ahead of him. It could have been a lot worse though, if the Luitenant had been a few seconds slower with his biotic pull then he wouldn't be here now, I'd say the broken rib he got from that was worth it." answered the doctor
"When we get to the Citadel shortly they'll be a shuttle waiting to take him to the Huerta Memorial hospital where he'll be provided with the best care they can." added Captain Anderson
"Good, but why are we heading to the Citadel? And what happened down there and how long was I out for?" asked Shepard "The last thing I remember was throwing Ashley away from the beacon and after that..."
"You dreamed?" Anderson half asked/half stated
"Yes...how did you know?" asked Shepard curious
"Our newest recruit said that Prothean Beacons were made to transfer information directly to the mind so he said that it may appear as something like a dream or vision." answered Anderson "As for how long you've been out for its just shy of fifteen hours, as for the reason why well the beacon exploded, Nihlius is dead and the Council want answers. Unfortunately, the one being it all a Spectre named Saren which will make things hard."
"New recruit...you mean Ashley? I was wondering why she was here."
"No, I mean Callum, though I've had Ashley Williams also assigned to the Normandy." clarified Anderson
"Ash I don't have a problem with, she's a fine soldier but even with all his help Callum's still a civilian, are you sure you want him?" asked Shepard
"If he continues to perform as he did on Eden Prime yes. But I want you and the others to keep an eye on him any time he's groundside, if I've made a mistake I'll rescind my decision and have him shuttled back home but I don't think that will be necessary." stated Anderson
"No, he did seem unusually..well not calm exactly but definitely collected during the fighting. Very well, I'm not exactly happy with it but he could prove helpful but if he does indeed get out of line I do want him removed." said Shepard seriously "Now what happened after I threw Ashley out of the way ."
"No problem. After you pushed Ashley away the beacon transferred something to you, what that is we don't yet know. When it had done that it exploded and Kaiden and Callum carried you back to the ship." said Anderson
"What, no local hospital?" snarked Shepard
"Trust me Commander the treatment I can give you here is much more than you can than nearly anywhere, espisially at a small colony. Although Callum did make sure I could scan and treat brain trauma before you went anywhere." spoke up Doctor Chakwas
"Hmmm more good thinking, do we know why the Beacon exploded?" asked Shepard "And if we know who's behind it why is there a problem? We have a witness, abet not a very reliable one and Nihlius literally wrote his name down in blood before he died."
"We've got a dozen ideas but no real clues. It could be the fact that it was old, maybe it was designed to do that after any data was transferred, maybe some sort of security protocol was engaged. Kaiden suggested it could have been sabotaged, why else leave it there? The point is we just don't know" asked Andersons said before Saren is a spectre, spectres get a lot of autonomy to do what they want as long as they get the results needed, the Council will often look the other way in most cases. It takes a lot to convince them of a spectre's miss conduct and getting such evidence is quite often hard, Saren though is their top agent and the Council will be that much more reluctant to act." said Anderson
"He attack a human colony and tried to wipe it out, how many fathers lost sons, how many daughters lost fathers, how many sisters lost brothers? How many many sons lost their mother? They can't just sweep it under the rug." said Shepard with some anger
"And we won't let them, now what do you remember from your dreams?"
"If you can even call them dreams, its all mixed up in my head and I can't make much of it out but it was about death and destruction." said Shepard thinking hard
"Anything else?" asked Anderson
"Yes, I think it was a war between organics and synthetics but not geth they were...much older."
"Does the word 'reaper' mean anything to you or 'harvest'?" asked Anderson
"They do feel familiar, like something scratching at the back of my mind why?"
"You mentioned those two words nearly side by side while you were out. Do you remember what they mean?" asked Anderson
"Nothing good." replied Shepard
"Hmm, well we're nearly at the Citadel. Go tell Joker to bring us into port." said Anderson
With Callum
After a good amount of sleep I woke up, there was still number of hours before we arrived at the Citadel so I made myself busy writing more of the script for the Star Wars franchise. At this point I wasn't sure whether to start it in the chronological order with Anikin or have is start with how they were released with Luke so I'd written some of both. As we got closer to the Citadel I headed up the stairs to join Joker in the cockpit.
"Your Callum right? The new guy?" said Joker
"Yes, you are?" I asked, already knowing the answer
"The best pilot in the galaxy, but you can call me Joker. I have to say it's not like the Captain to just recruit someone out of nowhere, whatever happened on Eden Prime must have really impressed him. Anyway, you must be here for the show, we're about to hit the mass relay." said Joker before we hit the relay
As we were shot forward we were joined by Shepard, Kaiden and Ash joined us
"Huh, you nearly got here too late, we should see the Citadel any second." said Joker
And indeed we did, the first look was particularly beautiful. That beauty however was married by the fact I knew exactly what it was and the horrors it represented.
"Just look at the size of the Desting Assention, we're how many clicks out and we can still see it?" said Ash in wonder
"Well it is the pride of the asari and flag ship of the Citadel fleet for a reason." remarked Kaiden
"Well, size isn't everything." said Joker
"Why so touchy Joker?" smirked Ash
"I'm just saying you need firepower too." defended Joker
"Are you joking? The main gun of that beast will rip through any barrier in the Alliance. What you think Callum?" asked Ash
"I'm thinking what would happen if someone tried to fly through the centre...hey Joker want to make 50 credits?" I ask
"Don't even think about it." warned Shepard
"No seriously, what do you think of it?" repeated Ash
"I think it looks more like a designment piece of an oversized starfish rather than something that should be used in battle. The amount of open surface area it exposes to fire is ridiculous. I much prefer the turian and alliance ships, though I have to admit I do like the design theories from Star Trek and Halo." I said, honestly if I could I would try to have some of their ships made, their design but be more useful against the Reapers but not only did I think it nearly impossible but there wasn't enough time to try.
OMAKE Red and Blue Effect
Shepard was...well she didn't know what she was only that it wasn't happy. Jenkins was dead, the colony was under attack and and in front of her were three men in advanced armour with Nihlus down with lump the size of her left tit being tended to by a dock worker.
"Okay one last time...what happened?" she asked as calmly as she could
"Well after the blue guy left." started the guy aqua armour
"Dude that's racist." Interrupted the guy in yellow "You can't do that shit, you should just call him the second FAG."
"What the fuck! That's even worse man, you can't use labels like that assehole!" exclaimed the aqua guy angrily "And I'm wearing blue armour motherfucker."
"What Freaky Alien Guy?" asked guy in yellow
"...Okay where did you come from?" asked Jane "Your not alliance and as far as I know there isn't any mercenary force on Eden at all let alone matching your description."
"What! Where in Eden, we must have travelled back in time to the days of the bible!" said the guy in red
"What? No! Eden Prime is the name of the planet!" said Jane
"The Garden Eden is the size of a planet? Wow you do learn something every day just like my great gan pappy said." continued the guy in red
Thankfully the dock worker decided to take pity on her
"There was another turian here, it seemed that they both knew each other and this guy called him Saren. Anyway he turned his back and this Saren guy was about to shoot him in the back but before he could this blue...portal I guess you could call appeared and that ground vehicle came out and after a moment opened fire driving him away."
"Then how did Nihulus end up in a coma?" asked Jane angrily
"Wait we don't know he's in a coma." protested the yellow guy "For all you know he's just knocked out."
"Have you seen the size of the lump on his head?" asked Jane bewildered "I didn't even know turians could get lumps!"
"Oh we can answer that...he went nuts." answered the aqua guy
"Let me get this right...Nihlus, who buy the way is a Specter, a elite and well trained agent of the council...went nuts?" said Shepard with disbelief
After looking at each other for an extended period of time the yellow guy answered
"Yeah that about sums it up."
"As the highest ranked officer here I'd like to volunteer to take this Nihlus's place and rank...whatever that is." said the guy in red
"...you knock him out and now you want to take his place? Who the hell even are you?" asked Jane
"I'm Sarge, this is Tucker and Grif." gestured Sarge
"Hey lady, how about you and me take a ride in my warthog?" sleezed Tucker, putting an arm around Ashley
Ashley's response...a kick in the groin
"Worth it!" wheesed Tucker
"Cut it out! Now is your rank sarge or is that your name? Oh and Ash...kick him harder next time." added Jane
"Both, though, if I want to be technical, is Super Colonel Sarge, but you can call me Sarge little lady."
'Holy shit no wonder Nihlus went mental...now keep it together Jane if you can handle 5 older brothers you can handle these assholes.' thought Jane to herself
And she did...at least for the moment
After a lengthy conversation about how they would follow her lead and how Super Colonel Sarge wasn't a real rank (neither of which Sarge seemed to understand) they crossed the tram where the guys surprisingly could hold there own against the geth. However at the end of tram ride they encountered a problem
"Shepard we've got a problem! Four of them to be precise." said Kaiden pointing at what was undoubtedly a bomb
"Shit, we need to disarm them now before they wipe out whats left of the colony. Any ideas?" asked Jane
"If you can distract them long enough I can disarm them. Thankfully it looks like they weren't expecting anyone so no failsafe were added." informed Kaiden
"I've got an idea." offered Sarge
After a moment thinking about ignoring the offer Jane chose to hear the idea out "Okay what are you suggesting?" and immediately regretted it
"We send Griff up there and while the robots are busy killing him we think up a plan!" remarked Sarge as if he thought of the best idea ever
"...Yeah no, okay this is whats happening. The Sarge and I will go first with Tucker, Griff and Ashly behind us covering Kaiden understood? Okay go." asked Jane without waiting for an answer
It all went well until the fourth bomb
"Shit Kaiden needs to pick up the pace, you wait here while I head back to see whats taking him so long." ordered Shepard to Sarge
Less than 20 seconds later Jane was back with Kaiden while Ashley, Griff and Tucker stood look out
"I'll have to hurry." Started Kaiden "We've got less then a minute to disarm it."
"Don't worry I already did." said Sarge cheerfully
"...what?" asked Shepard fearfully
"I already did it." repeated Sarge "You were taking too long so I decided to have a crack at it."
"Oh shit! Kaiden!" ordered Jane
"On it!" responded Kaiden working furiously on his omni-tool only to stop short "Its...disarmed?"
"You've disarmbed bombs before?" asked Jane surprised "Why didn't you tell me? How much practice have you had disarming bombs?"
"Just once during train but poor Buckshot lost his life, I also helped talk down a bomb from exploding...does that count?" asked Sarge
"Wait, if it was training how did Buckshot die?" asked Jane
"Bomb exploded." said Sarge simply
"It was a real bomb? You used a real bomb for training!? But if you disarmed it why did it go off?" asked Kaiden shocked
"Disarmed, I never disarmed it."
"But you said you had prior experiences." said Shepard
"I do, but I never said anything about successfully disarming them." corrected Sarge
"How many bombs have you disarmed without killing someone?" asked Jane
"Does today count?" asked Sarge
"...yes?" asked Shepard with a great amount of worry
"Then one." came Sarges reply
"What?! You disarmed a bomb with no instructions, no training and no guidance?" asked/bellowed Kaiden
"Listen son all a real man needs to disarm a bomb is aluminium foil, duck tape and a kettle drum." said Sarge wisely
"..."
"..."
"...what?"