The escape pod stank of rot. It was the first thing to hit me when the pod reopened. Smoke stained the cramped interior, a faint layer of blood and grime making all surfaces slick to touch. My eyes trained to the back of the pod, but three corpses on the floor separated me and the boy. One had several bite marks on it. 2 weeks stuck inside a small tube with no food. No one would blame someone for trying.
Gideon, bless him, was a skinny looking thing. Black and brown stained his skin, masking his true skin colour from sight. He must have been of pale completion, however, since his hair – while filthy – remained pale enough to question. He stared at me, wide eyed, the sea of green-blue hiding the miniscule pupils. God knows what matted his hair into thick clumps. Washing may not save it, a shave may be in order. Whatever colour his shoulder length rag was, two weeks in a pod had stained it grey. Bones jutted out, his collar bone causing more concern than not. Sunken cheeks clung to what little fat remained. Bony fingers clutched a battered pistol to his chest. With care, my eyes never leaving the trembling boy in the back, my leg stretched over the three piles corpses, edging my way closer to the human boy.
"Hey there, Gideon," I said. "How are you?" Every muscle froze when the fingers tightened around the trigger. The exact model escaped me, but no one had looked after it for years. My knees lowered me to the ground, trying to keep my composure. He swallowed, every muscle exposed on his malnourished neck. "Where were you travelling on that ship?"
"I-I dunno," he said, the gun trembling in his hands. "T-The batarians captured me like everyone else,"
"Why would the batarians capture you?" I asked.
"Slaves more often than not," Val called, his sensitive hearing picking up every word. My eyes swivelled over my shoulder. Gideon's body seized. "Something to do with their hierarchy system. The more slaves you have, the higher ranked you are," My jaw popped, anger shuddering my frame. "Well, to be fair, you almost fell into a similar situation on Illium-"
"Don't remind me about Illium, thank you very much, Commander Autillin," I snapped. The turian grinned. He would never let me live that down.
"W-What is he saying?" Gideon demanded, trying to hold the tough man appearance. My gaze returned to Gideon, the anger vanished.
"You can't understand him?" I asked. He shook his head. "Mustn't have a translator… don't worry, we'll get you a translator, then maybe you can tell me what the heck is going through his head. That turian makes no sense. I think he was dropped as a baby," My frown aimed back at Val. He scowled, although his finger remained on the trigger of his SMG. "That's Valérien, one of my commanders. He's a pain in the ass and was telling me why the batarians may have wanted you," Gideon swallowed. "Come on, lad, let's get you somewhere cleaner, hmm? Some hot food, a hot shower, a soft bed, some clean clothes. I might even let you headbutt a krogan if you feeling brave," I added with a grin. Gideon shifted his gaze, the gun twitching in his hand.
"N-No one will hurt me?" he asked, the feigned man faltering back to the boy. My hand stretched out, smiling.
"Anyone hurts you, I'll hurl them out the airlock," I said.
Gideon sat there, curled up at the back of the escape pod, his whole body trembling. The smell alone drag consciousness from me, imagining staying here for two weeks… Jesus, how could anyone cope with that? Gideon licked his lips, bringing the gun up to his chest. His eyes scanned the crowd behind me, Whether the other two humans on board, Alice or Henry, stood behind me at all buzzed in my mind. Any human may be a welcome sight to a distraught child. As much as I wanted to reach out and pull him free from his confined trap, he had to come himself. And he looked so young! He only had a bit more knowledge of the galaxy than I. Then again, it was impossible to know without asking him. My arm ached as the lactic acid built up, but it refused to drop. He had to come, he had to show trust if we were to help him. Gideon glanced at the pistol, shifting his gaze to mine. A tremor rattled down his spine, but his eyebrows twitched down for a heartbeat.
He freed the clip from the pistol, switching on the safety and shoved it down the waistband of his ragged trousers. His teeth nipped his lip as a shaken, bony hand reached out. My hand enclosed around his. His grip tightened as another shiver took him. With care, my knees pushed me up, easing him to his feet. He shuffled beside me as we edged him towards the exit, towards the corpses. After a quick glance down, my legs stepped over the pile. Gideon hurried after me, not afraid of the rotting pile of flesh. At the threshold, he shuffled behind me, eyes flying around the vast cargo hold, to the array of aliens waiting outside. With a gentle tug, he stumbled out of the pod. Utren closed the pod once we were clear.
"Seal this thing up, mark it as searched and hurl it back out. We don't have the facilities to deal with this thing. Someone to get a meal for this kid sorted out. If there is nothing else to do here, get the Starquake back on course. I'm taking Gideon to the showers. Also, if someone can get me a translator, I would appreciate it. I'll also need some spare clothes if anyone has some,"
"Aye, aye, Captain," the cry sounded. My jaw tightened as one of Gideon's hands clutched my top at the lower back. The trembling only worsened. Determined to get Gideon somewhere quiet, we made a hasty retreat to the elevator. Maybe he would calm down once away from all the strange new people. On the crew deck, a sigh slipped free to see the floor empty. With everyone still on high alert, everyone would remain in the CIC and engineering decks. We left the elevator, U-turning towards the bow, the bathrooms looming up before us. With great reluctance, the doors to the male bathrooms opened.
The small, empty room still held the hot, humid air from the morning showers. While small, the showers still had plenty of room for 5 krogans to stand shoulder to shoulder and not worry about personal space. Gideon refused to release me as my hand reached up to prepare a shower, testing the water. A hidden panel clicked out, letting me grab someone's soap. I checked to ensure it was levo-amino friendly. Soap didn't matter as much as good, but some people had some severe allergies. Better not test it with Gideon in his current state. Gideon quivered as my hands rested on my knees.
"Do you need some help or are you going to be ok?" I asked. Gideon glanced around the small room, swallowing. A quivering hand reached up and took the offered soap. "I'll be right outside if you need anything. Now I need to go track down some clothes for you, and a translator. May need to get a shaver though, I don't think that hair will clean itself out," I said, turning one of the matted locks in my hand. It felt like cotton wool. My fingers flexed when I freed it. Away from the showers, my hand pushed another secret panel, revealing towels. Two landed on a bench below it. "Give me a yell when you're done, ok?" I said with a smile. He trembled but nodded. He stared after me when I left, the quiet was calming him.
"I was thinking pancakes-" Indira said.
"Your pancakes are green... and you make them from leaves," Alice frowned. "And taste like soil,"
"You humans. So picky!" Indira scowled. "It's just some extra fibre! You're always going on about it," My head shook as my elbows leaned on the kitchen worktop. Indira bounced at the counter while poor Alice, our asian human, stood by the cooker.
"Commander," Alice said, voice strained. Time to intervene.
"She's joking, Alice," I said, grinning at the drell. Indira stuck her tongue out.
"Spoil sport. I had her going!" she sulked. Alice stared between us, jaw slack. Laughter bubbled up as the drell bounced back and grinned. "And here I was getting ready to offer to make a triple chocolate curry!" I frowned at Indira, turning the idea in my head. A triple chocolate curry? Chicken with chocolate?
"That... huh. I'd try that," I pondered. Indira's face ignited. Blood rushed to my toes. Thanks mouth, thanks very much!
"I know what to get you for your birthday!" she smirked, the gears in her head turning at full speed. All she needed was the twirled moustache to complete the mastermind appearance. The image formed, laughter erupting from me. Halloween would be spectacular this year. Indira frowned, wondering if my sanity had cracked. My hand waved, dismissing her as my attention turning to Alice.
"Do you know if anyone has any spare clothes? Gideon will need some until I can get some on order," I asked. Alice shrugged.
"We're scrapping something together, Captain. He'll be fine for a day or two," she said. The soft spoken woman kept her gaze on the hob. Whatever she was cooking, it made my stomach rumble. A flush rose to colour my cheeks as my head shook. A day or two. How fast was express delivery in space these days? A sigh slipped free as my legs carried me away from the kitchen before my stomach ruled my decisions.
The next hour passed while waiting for Gideon to call me in the bathroom. While waiting, new orders for the Starquake occupied my time; food, clothes and such like. The crew filled the room, the danger now passed. A mental note reminded me to ask Mat'al to see how everyone mobilised. Every second mattered for when we came under attack. Henry, the dark skinned human male built like a tank but held a sweet personality, wandered over at some point. Henry dropped off a pile of spare clothes. He even let me borrow his shaver to deal with Gideon's hair. He didn't even see my smile as he tore off towards to fridge. My eyes rolled, body builders and their obsession with food.
"Well, you look a little happier. You don't look like you'll murder a puppy," a male voice laughed. A glower swamped my expression.
"I was wondering when we would have our next little chat. And you are still being a pain in the ass, Val," I grumbled. The turian chuckled as he took a chair opposite me, a turian beer in hand. "And I wouldn't murder a puppy," I added with seething growls. The turian fluttered his brow plates and grinned.
"Well, you never know with you these days, poor Aergus and Iona. Even I've been wary about tripping over you. And you know I go out of my way to annoy you," Val said. My glower snapped into a glare, head shaking as the datapad in my hand dragged my attention back. "But seriously," Val's tone dropped, forcing me to glance back up. "How are you feeling?" Val's brow plates drew down, mandibles clamped to his jaw. My shoulders rolled back, pondering how best to answer.
"Like I don't want to murder a puppy anymore," I said. Val scowled, mandibles freeing as tension trickled away. My laugh only made his scowl deeper.
"Hilarious," he grumbled.
"Yes, yes it is hilarious," I said, dumping the datapad on the table before stretching. "I feel like I've just crawled out of a nightmare and tasting sunlight for the first time in years," Tea wafted up my nose, my lungs basking in the scent. Val smiled. His eyes shifted to the bathrooms at the back of the ship.
"So, aside from babysitting, what are we going to do with the kid?" he asked. The tea vanished from my thoughts, Val's question dragging me back to earth with a crash. What did you do with a stray kid?
"I'm not sure. I don't want to put the kid in danger, but if my experiences with trying to get something sorted out when you have nothing are to go by, they'll strand him on Earth..." I said, a hand running down my face. "And we cannot go to the Citadel regardless. They'll arrest me on sight,"
"We can't keep the kid with us, he'll get in the way or get hurt or something. This isn't the place for little kids, regardless of how stubborn you humans are," he said. A frown creased my face.
"You'll thank this stubbornness one day," I grumbled. Val smirked.
"Wanna bet?" he drawled. My eyes narrowed, studying the turian, teasing apart the calculating stare in his eyes. "1000 credits that your stubbornness gets you hurt or worse,"
"Fine, 1000 credits my stubbornness saves someone's hide," I growled. Val held out his hand, clicking his mandibles. Mine took it, my expression haughty. "May the best alien win,"
"Oh, he will," Val answered. My hand raised the mug, primed for throwing. Val yelped as leapt back, but his feet tangled with the bars under the table and he landed flat on his back. My laughter thundered above the din, Val's flushed face glaring at me from his place on the floor. My hands pulled the pile of clothes off the table, smirking at him as my eyes returned to the bathroom ahead. I My free hand knocked, my calm face plastering my expression.
"Gideon? You alright, lad?" I asked. Nothing. A bubble of unease stirred in my stomach. Did he hurt himself? "Gideon?" I called, louder. My hand touched the hologram, fingers shaking as they typed my captain's code. In my chest, my heart fluttered as the door popped open. My feet stumbled across the threshold, peering through the humid haze. "Gide-" I began, stopping dead once his form clouded through the mist. A tense breath slid from my lungs. The boy curled up on a bench, wrapped in towels. His soft snoring rang in the air. My fingers closed the door behind me, kneeling down beside him, shaking him. He moaned. "Gideon, this isn't the most ideal place for a nap," I whispered.
"Mleh?" he mumbled, fluttering his eyes open. The bundle of clothes in my arm shuffled, dreading his reaction. As suspected, upon seeing me, he froze solid. He breathing laboured. The clothes found themselves on a dry patch on the bench.
"These will be too big for you, but it'll do for now. We have food for you too before you fall asleep," I said with a smile, keeping my shoulders from tensing. Gideon swallowed hard, skin snow white as he nodding. His wide eyes darted. My hands touched his hair, realising the mats were too far gone. Gideon followed my hand as it reached into the bundle, pulling the shaver free. His eyes bulged. "I'm afraid you will have to get a haircut, the mats are too bad to wash out," I said. Gideon quaked, bony arms wrapped around his chest.
He clung to my trousers, eyes squeezed shut as the shavers started up. With tender care and a slow pace, the shaver got to work. When the first few mats dropped free, Gideon felt brave enough to pry an eye open. His scalp was in terrible condition, sores broke out under the largest clumps, black dots soon made my skin crawl. Great, he had lice. Or something worse. He needed a trip to Saere to make sure he was ok. Despite the infestation, and my desire to shudder and flee for my life, I pressed on. The final mat dropped to the ground, revealing tufts of blond hair. Gideon's eyes tracked me as I carried the shaver to the shower, trying to clean them as best as possible. My finger reached for my ear, summoning Saere with a rundown of the situation. She arrived within minutes. Gideon's trembling shook even the bench.
"Oh yes, that's lice," Saere sighed. She passed me a spray. The bottle turned in my hands, curious. A few squirts inside the shaver and some running water, lice tumbled free. Dead. Jesus, this worked quick! My jaw still flopped as my gaze turned to Saere. She looked over Gideon's scalp, the boy huddled into a tight ball. Saere smiled when she saw my expression. "Military grade medication, Captain. It's at least 1000 times stronger than consumer brands,"
"Great… I'll spray down the bathroom then," I coughed, shaking the can. "How is he?"
"The sores aren't infected, so I'll apply some medicated cream. Need to get rid of these lice, however," she said as she shook up a second can. Gideon whimpered, hands turning white from clutching his knees to his chest.
"You're alright, Gideon," I said, spraying down the area around him. "This is Saere, the ship's doctor. You have a few injuries on your head so we're just making sure they don't get worse," Gideon pried an eye open, pupils shrunk. I rubbed his shoulder as I sprayed down the floor, taking a shower head off the wall. We took about 10 minutes to get the place cleaned up, but Saere was content my excessive spraying had dealt with the immediate threat of spreading. She left then, leaving me to help dress Gideon. With Saere gone, Gideon calmed, although he still trembled.
The déjà vu smacking me in the face watching him floored me. That was me once upon a time, cowering at my shadow. My teeth bit my lip as I slipped the t-shirt over Gideon's head. Val was right, he couldn't stay here if we got neck deep in Reapers. The danger was off the scale. Gideon shuffled, the hanging clothes masking how little muscle or fat the boy had. He shuffled at my side. His anxieties vanished, however, once he sat down with a plate before him. He hurled the food as fast he could down his mouth. Saere oversaw the portion size. He was starving, the poor thing. The green-blue eyes fixated on the food, tracking all who carried anything edible. Note to self; teach him about dexto-amino acid. He did not need to be in med bay in his condition. His portion was tiny, but we couldn't shock his system. The history lessons from WWII provide the reason for being cautious.
To give him some privacy and somewhere quiet to sleep, the spare officer's room on the top floor was a good choice. He didn't make it as far as the bed. His eyes landed on the sofa, his curiosity pulled him closer. A second later, he was out like a light. A smile spread over my face, pulling the duvet from the bed to cover him. This was better than trying to move him and risk injuring him. He didn't even give me a chance to introduce him to Marshal. Speaking of said drone, Mar bounded around my head, beeping as I entered my room. A sigh sounded as he whirled around me, that beeping grinding on more than a few nerves. He hadn't done that before... My hands snatched the drone out of the air, holding it still.
"Mar, what is it?" I grumbled, arms jittering as he tried to bounce. A small holographic screen appeared before him, an icon blinking with a name afterwards. "A missed call? From Liara? Why didn't my omni-tool go off?" I asked, scurrying towards my computer, dropping on the chair hard as my fingers reached for the hologram.
Why would Liara call me? My tongue clucked, brows furrowed together as my finger touched the re-call code. Had Liara found more work for us, had she heard some disturbing news, did she need help? The thought of Illium put a sour taste in my mouth, my back tingling as the shiver ran. Only Liara in danger could drag me back to Illium. We would never have gotten this far without her. If she needed help, then she'd get everything we had. Although, maybe this was her way of paying me back for helping her get some info from the Shadow Broker. The call connected.
"Ah, there you are, Dell. Your drone answered last time. I assumed you were busy," Liara said, greeting me with a warm smile. Her smile infected me, a tired grin pulling free. It snapped down when Mar bounced beside me.
"Mar answered? Dammit, sorry. Maybe Lanster forwarded to here for Mar since I've been otherwise preoccupied," I said, running my hands through my hair, scratching the roots. Liara tilted her head to the side. "Let's just say I'll be smelling 2-week old corpses for a while,"
"I can only assume you answered a distress beacon. No survivors?" Liara asked.
"One. A young human boy. We think it was a batarian slave ship. How a human with no translator got onto it though..." I muttered.
"A Saboteur in the guise of a child to slip past your defences, perhaps?" Liara suggested. Every hair stood on alert, my mind melting as fear overloaded my skull. I hadn't thought of that. Fuck! We had just gotten over one Saboteur attack! This could have been another! Maybe that was why no one had answered it! The Reapers had been waiting for me to come around! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!
"I want to shoot a Reaper up the ass," I said, wheezing at the repercussions of a child being a Saboteur. It wasn't happening. This just wasn't happening. Gideon could be a Saboteur... No, no, no. Why would they use a child as a Saboteur?!... Fuck that, that was a good idea in terms of infiltration. Shit!
"You may well get your chance to, Dell," Liara said. Her words snapped me free from my bubble of terror, gaze transfixed to the alien before me. "I've been doing some digging and I found a derelict Reaper,"
"A derelict... Liara, are you serious? Please, please for God's sake tell me you aren't pulling my leg," I pleaded. My nerves, frayed from the thought of Gideon being a Saboteur, rocketed alive at the thought of studying a Reaper. A dead one, but a Reaper.
"I am not. It's in the Hawking Eta cluster, within the Thorne System. You'll find it orbiting Mnemosyne, I don't have an awful lot of data for you, I'm afraid. I don't know how it is being held in orbit, I don't know what killed it either," she sighed, the air rushing out in a ragged, angry gush. "I'll see what I can drag up,"
My fingers danced until a galaxy map flared to life, plotting in the system into the map. When my eyes found it, they popped open. My luck was not this good. We had been on our way to Ilos, in the Pangaea Expanse cluster. Hawking Eta was closer than Ilos. And on the same bearing we were heading in, well, more or less. My body quaked, the nerves leaping until my muscles twitched. My gaze returned to Liara.
"Liara, I have no words. Thank you," I wheezed, my voice collapsing from the emotion. Liara's expression did not share my exaltation.
"How soon can you get there, Dell? Cerberus will be there soon," Liara asked, folding her hands together. My joy paused, a frown growing at Liara's change.
"Cerberus?" I echoed.
"How soon?" Liara pressed. My skin flinched at her words.
"We were en route to Ilos. We can be there in about 2 weeks or less," I said. Liara released her breath.
"I would not recommend hanging around. Cerberus are en route themselves. I dread to think what they will do to you if they found out you had Reaper tech inside you," Liara said. Who the fuck were Cerberus? Well, that was something to research while we travelled to Hawking Eta.
"We won't. Thanks, Liara. I'll pay you back one day," I said. Liara smiled, although it was too taut to spread.
"Let us call it even, hmm? Please, tell me what you find. Anything would be of great use in trying to defeat the Reapers when they come. However long that may take," Liara said.
"Of course. You may need to come and pick up a copy of the data though, I don't trust data transfers. The Saboteurs have infiltrated the STG," I warned. Liara's expression stiffened, turning blank.
"I see. We can rule them out as potential allies then," the murmured.
"Until I shoot 'Captain Rolidin' up the ass, of course," I grumbled. Liara scowled.
"First you were ripping spines out, now you are shooting up the ass. What's next, strangling them with their intestines? ...By the Goddess, Dell," she sighed, rubbing her eyes when my expression brightened. I loved winding this girl up, she still had to learn when humans tugged on her chain. "I'll do some research into Rolidin for you, I'm already investigating Saria T'Spia,"
"Send me anything you find. I have a personal bone to pick with her," I said, anger burning in my bones. Her 'rescue' haunted my dreams still. The alarms, the fire, the death... watching people die to keep my little 'murder' a secret. Also being shoved into an escape pod and blasted into space before could get into a harness was the single worst experience in my life. Liara raised a brow, but otherwise kept silent.
"I'll gather what I can. Good luck, Dell. I hope I am not sending you into a trap," Liara smiled, straining.
"They can try. They are not getting their Advocacy while I breathe though," I said. "Stay safe, Liara. We'll talk soon," The call cut short, leaving me to chew my lip. With Reaper tech, anything was possible. That could have been my last call to Liara.