"Are you sure she is mentally sound?" a muffled voice swam through my ears. My eyelids fluttered.
"I am sure. She was fine until she saw Garrus. Everything spiralled out of control after that," a more familiar voice said. My face scrunched, trying to force my eyes to open. It wasn't happening. Garrus? Why was that name... wasn't that the... ah shit. A moan sounded as the alien rose to my mind. And that other one too, the turtle thing. The chatter stopped. Soft footfalls sounded, my muscles tensed as someone approached. Someone pried my eyelid open, a bleary mess awaiting me. My eye swivelled to focus on the face of Dr Chakwas. The tense muscles eased although refused to relax.
"Endellion?" she called. My moan answered back. "Well, you are awake, at the least. Any pain?" The fight to open the other eye ended, victorious as it surrendered and opened. She released my eyelid, letting me blink for a few minutes.
"Cold?" I said, although my senses made little sense to me. Too many conflicting signals. Dr Chakwas pulled a scratchy blanket over my frozen body. A shudder rocked me, my skin warm up and not rub my skin raw.
"I know you are, you have had a nasty fright," she leaned back from me, turning to stare at something else. "She is confused, Commander. Perhaps another time would be best," Something tapped nearby, a foot? A sigh sounded.
"Maybe she hit her head in the crash. How else could she end up on Xawin? There was an escape pod nearby, she may have escaped the ship," a male voice asked.
"But her name is not on any record relating to the ship. The MSV Majesty's manifest states about 10 people were on board. Unless she was a stowaway," Dr Chakwas responded. As my vision cleared, my eyes caught sight of a dark form against the wall,
The tall human male frowned; tanned skin, piercing blue eyes, and a buzz-cut of dark, short hair. The bulky muscles sent shivers down my knees, the well-defined shoulders and the scar across his nose. A frown painted his face before he noticed my staring. The muscles relaxed, the frown eased as he grinned. It brought me little confidence. He straightened his shoulders a touch, the black armour clinking as he unfurled his arms. His right arm had a strange stripe, white framing red, running the length of his arm. That much remained from the blurry blizzard. My body quaked as my gaze dropped. They diverted to Dr Chakwas.
"When she has recovered, we can question her then. However, her lack of records are concerning me. I cannot see how someone can escape Earth or any of the colonies without even the most basic of vaccines," Dr Chakwas sighed. "She will need vaccinated against everything to be sure," she grumbled as she strode back to her desk, deep in thought. She typed on her orange screen at the desk. That opened me up for this new male to approach. My body trembled.
"You certainly are bundle of trouble," he said, grin wide on his face. Nothing stopped the recoil from his words, despite my preparation for it. He stared down at me while my large eyes quivered back. "So then, where did you come from?"
"K-Kinlochleven," I said, stuttering over my voice. The man raised an eyebrow, the grin slipping.
"And that is?" he asked.
"S-Scotland, United Kingdom," I asked.
"Earth," He crossed his arms, dropped a hip under his muscular weight. 'Earth' meant there were other planets. My stomach dropped at the thought. Oh God, why was this happening to me?! "How did you get on the MSV Majesty, then? Stowaway? Paid the crew?" My mouth floundered.
"I-I don't know..."I said.
"Uh huh," he started, He sighed. "Kiddo, we can't help you until you tell us what happened. What were you trying to run away to the Citadel to find something better? Are you trying to reach family?" My hackles rustled,
"S-Sir, I-I'm not a kid," I said. "I-I'm 25," Why was that so difficult? C'mon Dell, speak! "W-Who are you?" I asked. The man dropped his crossed arms again, standing straighter.
"Commander John Shepard, Alliance Navy and Council Spectre," he responded.
Alliance Navy? Council Spectre? What were these things? Were they special 'space' divisions- Actually, it'll be better to not think about the whole space thing. My spine quivered under the commander's gaze. He must be in charge of the ship... the spaceship. My expression flattened as he moaned. He walked away from me, diverting from the door to speak to Dr Chakwas. The tension eased from my shoulders as he parted. The doctor scowled at the door before she returned to my side. Needles in hand. My eyes flew to hers.
"The blood tests reveal that you have received no extra-terrestrial vaccinations, on top of missing a few vaccinations from Earth; malaria, cancer, typhoid. I would report your doctor for improper administration of vaccinations," she scolded. A flush stained my cheeks, my voice struggling to free itself.
"W-Will do," I lied. It was impossible to tell if she believed me or not.
As my mind wandered from the stinging pain of needles, it gave me the time to collate the information together. From what my sluggish mind could calculate, it had been about 170 years since my last memories. A heavy breath rushed out, listening it to shudder. Everything... Everything had changed. Aliens. Spaceships. Alliance Navy. No. No, none of this made sense! My eyes squeezed shut at a sharp sting. Without fighting, I would not survive this. Family, friends, boyfriend, my life. All long dead. Long, long dead. What to do? What was the commander planning to do with me?
"D-Dr Chakwas?" I asked, wincing when another needle jabbed me in the hip. Goddam that hurt! The greying woman made a sound in her throat, focused on the task at hand. "W-What will happen to me?" Dr Chakwas glanced up from her work, to stare me in the eyes.
"We are on course to the Citadel. I believe the commander will pass you over to the Human Embassy and let them take care of you. We are on too important a mission to be distracted for long. Once there, the embassy will decide what to do with you, depending on what you say," she explained.
"I-If I can do anything to help-" I offered. The doctor smiled at me.
"All you need to do, darling, is rest," she leaned away from me, syringes empty. "I'll finish the treatment later, your body has suffered enough trauma for one day," she dumped her gloves in a bin. She turned back to that blasted hologram on her arm. It looked painful to read from. She nodded. "Well, vaccinations aside, you are otherwise healthy," she closed the screen, the orange glare vanished from her face. "Now, let's get you something to eat. Try to rest, you'll need it once we arrive at the Citadel," she added a firmness to her voice for that last point. My eyes dropped as she departed the room.
My stomach felt too unsettled to eat anything right now. What kind of food did they eat in the future? One way to find out. My eyes cast skywards... starwards... up! My moan mimicked my pain, soft sounds of distress. Even correcting my directions made my head hurt. Dr Chakwas returned after I rolled onto my back, a tray of food with her. The meal was adequate, for military rations. They were rather tasteless, a touch dry. My heart shattered at the sorry excuse for a 'dessert'. The chocolate sponge was a solid rock. Although, the meal settled my stomach. Or did it make it worse? Dammit, it was too hard to decide!
My saving grace was the med bay. Here, the other aliens couldn't reach me, not without going through Dr Chakwas. The hours passed, the doctor had left the med bay for some well-deserved rest and restlessness settled in my bones with each passing moment. Eventually, my need to move crushed my fear, my common sense. With tentative care, my legs tested their ability to hold me. Aside from some numbness and stinging pain, they held well enough. My attention wandered to the door, curiosity rising to the surface like a nervous fish. My teeth nipped my lip.
The door loomed before me, my eyes looking for a handle. There seemed to be no clear way to open it, the keypad looked nothing like the 21st century keypads. It opened like it had a sensor every time someone approached it. Alas, it stayed shut for me. If there was a sensor, it wasn't in a familiar form and touching it did nothing either. My lips turned into a frown as the red keypad came into view. Had it not been green earlier? The keypad didn't look too difficult upon further investigation. A finger raised to press a button saying 'unlock'. My legs leapt back when the pad changed green and the doors slid open. My muscles tensed, expecting Dr. Chakwas to be outside the door, arms crossed. The doorway was empty. Ok, good start. my head poked around out the door, watching out for aliens. There was a corridor in front of me with stairs leading up at both ends. A wall split it apart from the rest of the room that vanished out behind me. With no threats nearby, I shuffled my way to the window, breaths quick and every muscle twitching. Any sound would send me skittering away. Once near the window on the far side of the ship, the stars captured my gaze.
The vast emptiness engulfed me. The stars specks in the expanse before me, glittery on black card. Nebula gas coloured in the distance like smoke. A sun appeared as the ship banked. An arm flew over my eyes to shield them before realisation dawned that the glass had inbuilt shields. It let me gawk at the burning ball of plasma, watch the convection flow and ebb on the 'surface'. It was a yellowish sun, similar to the sun back home. What did I expect, a red giant? A B-class star, even a binary? A Neutron star? White dwarf? My body flushed, my thoughts turning incoherent. That was when the planet passed by.
My hand reached out, touching the glass, my skin tingled at the sight. It radiated a red hue, but lights sprinkling the dark side of the planet. Life. Large fractures rupturing the surface, radial cracks from a large impact, the crater invisible due to the planet's rotation. The sea lit up with a magenta hue as ocean life gave colour to the darkness, the ice caps domes of white at the poles. It held me, helpless to look away. The Normandy sailed past it but there was no sense of speed. My fingers tightened the bar on the wall. Don't leave, I pleaded. But the ship departed, the planet disappeared out of sight. My eyes flew across the darkness, jolting up and down to peer around the ship. This was a solar system, there must be more planets. The sparkling stars revealed nothing, nothing more than a coloured speck. My heart ached with each passing second, chills running down my skin. Had my mind wished for Earth, for something familiar? Or was this the exhilaration of experiencing space?
"Hey," a voice ruptured the silence.
My heart crashed against my chest, leaping a mile in the air, spinning around. The tall alien, the turian – Garrus? – stood in the kitchen, but even in the low light, no one was invisible. The quivering returned. He remained where he was, studying me from a distance.
"Breaking out of the med bay, eh?" he chuckled. My voice tried to muster sound, but only small sounds of... something burst free. He grinned. "Don't blame you, smells weird in there. How are you feeling?" he sounded... concerned. Yeah, go with that. The alternative was not as pleasant. My throat constricted.
"B-Better. T-Thank you," I managed. His mandibles flared, a flash of pointed teeth. My vision warped as my body trembled.
"Words!" he cheered. My grip tightened on the railing. "We're getting somewhere," My knees shook as he approached. My eyes searched for an escape route, my heart racing in my chest. He reached the window, gazing upon the stars as he leaned on the banister. Blood drained to my toes. Oh god, he was more than a foot taller than me! "Guess you never saw space properly, huh?" My lungs pleaded for air, my throat remained tight. My eyes turned away from him, to the stars. Everything swam as my vision failed, my legs weakened. "Commander Shepard said you hadn't left Earth until recently. It must feel so strange. To be on a planet for so long and then sail the stars. Dizzy yet?"
"H-Ho-Homes-" I said. A breath forced its way down. "H-Homesick," My gaze twitched towards the massive alien. The dark muscles around his winter blue eyes relaxed, his gaze softening.
"Yeah, I can relate," he turned to the darkness. After a moment of silence, he held out a finger… talon – oh fuck, he had talons! – pointing to something. "See that nebula? The pink purple spot just to the left," My eyes glanced to it. It was faint, suppressed by much nearer objects. "That's the Apien Crest. Palaven is there, my home planet. So close, yet so far," he shook his head. He then pointed to something else. "See that purple one? The one with the black stripe to the right of the Apien Crest?" A frown creased my face. It was much closer, more defined. The shape was easier to distinguish this time... "That's the Local Cluster... Earth is there," My heart thundered, focusing on the purple smudge. "We're only one relay jump away from it but we've got an emergency call to the Exodus cluster. After that, then we'll jump back to the Citadel,"
"So close..." I murmured, forgetting myself.
"But still so far," Garrus smiled. "You'll go back soon, once we get you sorted out at the embassy,"
"I don't... Nothing is left there," I said, shivering as my toes curled. There was nothing; my family was dead, my degree useless, everything. Even if they were alive, they would have thought me dead or worse... Garrus opened his mouth, but stopped himself. He sighed, turning to the stars again.
"We'll figure something out, keep your chin up," he pushed himself off the railing, attracting my attention. My body tensed. He held out a hand. "Garrus Vakarian," he said. "Glad to finally have spoken to you," My eyes scanned his hand for a moment. My mind struggled to stay rational and a cold sweat coated me, but the gesture was so human. My hand reached out, enclosing my hand around his three-fingered hand. His grip was soft, noting the return of my fear now my mind turned away from Earth.
"And just what are you doing out of the med bay, little lady?" a female voice called. My arms secured around me, flinching, staggering away from the voice, backing away to the window. A new alien approached while the tur-... Garrus distracted me.
The petite looking creature, wearing a full body suit with a purple colour helmet, carried their hands on their hips. Only bright sparks marked their eyes. Just where their mouth was, the metal shaped into a circle with a light in the middle that lit up whenever they spoke. A purple hood covered the top of her head, swirls of lighter purple patterned it. There were more swathes of the material draped over their chest, it also hugged their hips at the sides of their thighs. Their hands were the same as Garrus' only thinner. Their legs also were similar in shape, it was like they had an extra bone just after the knee, kicking the leg back in a dog-leg bend. Unlike Garrus, they walked flat footed on two toes.
"Good to see you, Tali, although why are you awake? Wrex snoring again?" Garrus joked. The new alien sighed.
"He is always snoring, bosh'tet," she cursed, glaring at the door at the back of the room. "Dr Chakwas said you were to remain in the med bay. Are you alright?" Well, my voice fled again. Garrus gave this 'Tali' a long look.
"She's never encountered aliens before. She's not used to us yet," he explained.
"I can tell, you are hardly helping our cause," she joked. "Do you need anything?" she turned to me. My voice clogged like a drain, refusing to free itself despite encouragement. Garrus gave me a careful pat on the back, trying to reinforce the friendly demeanour he had showed. The pat froze every muscle in my body.
"She got cabin fever in the med bay," Garrus explained. Whether that was true or not remained to be seen. "She wanted to see the stars," Tali's posture softened. There was no reference to judge her expression at all.
"Understandable. It must be so strange for a planet-bound person to be among the stars. You never do quite get over the awe,"
"Just what I said," Garrus chuckled. Tali may have raised a brow, she dropped a hip. "Less eloquently, of course," he added with humour.
"Obviously," Tali said. She turned to me. "Try not to stay up too late, we don't want Dr Chakwas to find out," her tone sounded mischievous, but it made my bones rattle. A weak smile and stuttered nod followed. My blatant fear was evident, she wished to leave me in peace. She half turned to face Garrus as she walked away. "Now, Garrus. Stop scaring her with your bad jokes and get to bed. You're going down on Eden Prime with Shepard to speak to the science teams working on that beacon," Garrus clipped a mandible, lips upturning.
"I know, I know," he grinned at her. "So pushy-"
"Move, turian!" Tali scowled. Garrus laughed before moving away from me, towards the door at the back. Tali smiled, maybe, before disappearing soon after.
Alone once more, the quiet hum of the engines powering their way through space radiated through my toes. A held breath released She... was nice? My hand rubbed the back of my neck, my thundering heart calming to a normal pace. Was I that easy to read, so easy people knew to evacuate? It wasn't hard to read me, smothering emotions wasn't my strongest trait but still. The stars lured me, the glittering dots that made my entire situation insignificant in comparison. Earth was so close, but even if it was within reach, nothing could help me. I only had my degree, dated 170 years ago. Who would believe it was me if I told them I was born in 1990? And what would happen at the Citadel? What was the Citadel? Was it a place on Earth? A newspaper headline flashed before me; young human dumped on Earth claims to be time traveller. My hair swayed as my head shook. How long before they realise that my so called family on Earth were dead?
All these thoughts ran through my mind, unable to stay on a question long enough to come to a coherent end. By the time my brain had had enough questions for one day, a headache had sprouted. My brain had given up and to be honest, Dr. Chakwas scolding me was the last thing on my list. The safety of the medical bay surrounded me. Again, the door challenged me with the unfamiliar interface. Once in, and the door secured in case any aliens wanted in, the heavy bed beaconed, lying down on the hard plate of a bed. Sleep didn't come easy.