The sound of stamping feet echoed down the hall. My teeth gnashed as blood boiled, stinging every muscle. Fucking Council, fucking Spectres, fucking everything! ARH! My warpath marched me down the hall, working my ass off to stop my fist smashing the turian face striding behind me. A second turian called directions beside me as we meandered around the maze of corridors of this 'private docking bay'. It looked the bloody same as the normal docking bays of the Citadel! A grumble rolled in my throat, the stung glare at my back impossible to ignore.
"Marruns, if your eyes don't divert now, I'm punching your face in," I said through my teeth. The sandy turian straightened his back, plates drawing together. He snorted, raising his chin to stare over my head. The dark blue-silver turian with vivid red marks beside me tutted.
"That is not the behaviour of a Spectre, boy," the blue turian said. Marruns glared, but only the natural turian order kept his mouth shut. Drutus Barahatus was a retired admiral, a Spectre on top of this, but the Council drafted into my crew to keep order among the four, yes four, Spectres forced upon me. Although, the admiral needed time to get used to taking orders from someone of lower rank, in this case me.
Marruns was one of those Spectres, despite my protests. Marruns whined like a baby for hours with the Council once he learned of my release from prison. He wouldn't shut the fuck up so the Council, to keep him out of their hair, passed him onto me. When I protested, the Council shrugged and promised a little extra funding as compensation. It wasn't enough, but they shoved me out the door. This would not go down well with my crew... The third Spectre was an asari, Rosmeni Fa'Ano. A young Spectre, determined and talented but too much on the merciless side for my liking. She had an impressive service record, since 283 was still young for an asari. The blue asari had red marks blocked over her eyes, tentacles and forehead. The final Spectre was a brownish skin-toned salarian, Sitoln Noverok. His record was impressive, more so than Rosmeni. Ex-STG and damn good at stealth missions. The quiet alien smiled at the curses from both Marruns and me, amused by the antics.
"Down to the left, Shaik. We've arrived at the dock," Drutus said.
"Thank fuck, the sooner I get away from here and get 5 minutes of peace the better," I muttered. The long metal hallways ended and we burst out onto Dock PT25. A quick scan locked my legs, the air frozen in my lungs. My jaw dropped.
The Starquake lay before me, rotary turning. But it had ripped apart! It had only been about 8 or 9 months since the Council decided to re-create the crew, it couldn't be finished by now, not in that time frame! She looked… off, like something wasn't sitting right. A frown formed, my head tipped to the side. She retained her fanned plates and rotary system but something was off, didn't fit the familiar view. My legs stumbled forward move, heart bursting in my chest. Closer to the ship, appreciation dawned as the differences surfaced. She had an obvious paint job; the edges of the plates, a broken fan design that curled on the tail and a long strike down the side stained the ship in a bright lavender colour, matching our previous uniform code. A dark grey stripe streaked the flanks of the Starquake above the purple stripe. Behind the rotary on the dark stripe, the word 'STARQUAKE' decorated the side in white. She had her name on her now! Then the fanned plates had more colour, the dark stripe spreading towards the bow while lavender mimicked it on the bottom. The pronounced bow boxed out. Just after the first layer of fans, the belly of the Starquake swelled down, and there was only 3 layers of fanned plates instead of 4. The windows had been re-arranged on the cockpit too. And the engines, oh dear Lord they put new engines on her! The black engines had a metal plate on the top, 'RSS-2' painted on them. The same code painted the dark grey stripe on the bow below the airlock.
My feet stumbled to a stop at the bottom at the ramp to the airlock, the sense of homesickness easing. My eyes stung as her gleaming paint job nurturing a bubble in my chest. Oh God, she was a magnificent sight for sore, jailed eyes! What did the inside look like? Was it the same? Desperation blinded me, legs powering me up the ramp. What had the Council done to her, was she the same?! My feet hesitated at the airlock, a spike of fear chilling my blood. Unease crawled along my spine, teeth nipping my lip. The survivors awaited me on the other side of this door. Did they blame me for the crash, for the chase around the galaxy? How would they respond?
"Are we going in or what?" Marruns asked with a grumble. My head snapped around, eyebrows snapped down, wishing I could summon a robotic growl to scare the shit out of him. Nyryntha wouldn't co-operate though, I knew that.
"I have been inside a tiny box for 10 months knowing full well half my crew is dead and my ship destroyed. Now, one is back. So shut up!" I snapped. Marruns pinned a frown to his face, shoulders rattling in fury. With the four pairs of eyes on me, my back straightened and my hesitation vanished and my feet crossed the Starquake threshold with new vigour.
The bright interior surprised me, they altered the dark interior of the old ship into something more airy. Blue-purple lights shone up from the floor, a gradient of light diming the glare of the silver walls. The hall split after the airlock, but something pulled me to the right, towards the mull of noise. The bridge appeared beside me, glass separating the room from the hall. They kept the two floored room design, the upper decks darkened with holographic camera feeds. The walls gleamed, all clean metal. It pleased the eye. Although, toilet paper covered everything, dangling from the upper balcony, and drinks and food remains scattered the floor, and… was Valérien on my chair? The asshole was in my fucking chair! My hackles rattled as the copper turian leaned back on the captain's chair, tossing an old drinks can on the floor with his long legs stretched out to rest on the console beside him in the Control Ring. My jaw popped as a door reared up on the left. The noise! It was borderline riot levels! And who the hell put heavy metal music on of all things? Stairs in the corner of the room caught my eye, just beyond the door between 3 sets of computer panels. My hands grabbed the railings as my legs powered up the stairs towards to walkway, my entrance ignored through the noise and mayhem. Nothing could hear anything over this bloody 'music'. Above the chaos, the full scale of the mess below revealed the train wreck. Why had they let this ship go to such bad shape? Dammit, everything would be sticky, and the smell! Dammit, this whole ship needed a coat of bleach. We stopped in the middle of the trash infested walkway, frowning at the mess. My omni-tool lit up my arm, using the codes the Council gave me to access the Starquake's servers. The music died, the camera feeds cut and lights lit up the walkway floor, words forming in my mouth.
"AUTILLIN!" I thundered. A smirk formed as he yelped, tumbling out of the chair in surprise. His eyes turned skywards, mandibles flared wide. "Keep your ass out of my fucking chair! Goddam it, how can you piss me off in less than a minute after not seeing your ugly mug for 10 months?" The silence hit me, weighing heavier on my shoulders more than expected. So many unfamiliar faces… A shudder rolling down my shoulders. "Line up people! C'mon! We've got work to do! Everybody in here! Hustle, hustle, hustle!" I ordered, clapping my hands for good measure.
It spurred people into action. People scrambled from their lounged positions, forming straight lines of random people before me as Val scrambled on the floor to reach an intercom. His voice cracked throughout the ship. 'All crew to the bridge, all crew to the bridge. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. All crew to the bridge'. A ringing bell trembled through the air. Within seconds, people thundered into the room, pouring out of all the crevasses in the ship. Mat'al strolled in, confused at first as he cast his eyes up, noting the upturned heads of the line-up. His step quickened. It only took about a minute but the whole crew waited, a full complement to top it off. A full crew of 85 people, some to run the ship rather than working as part of the team I was more familiar with. So many unfamiliar faces. This would be a long few months… They waited, hands behind their backs. A few deep breaths dissolved my earlier nerves.
"Long time no see, my friends. Glad to see you're still kicking," I said. Reassuring smiles popped up. "As you may have guessed, the situation has changed, all thanks to you so thank you for the prison break. I am resuming my position as captain...although I wish it was under healthier terms," my frown aimed at the turian behind me, Marruns glaring at me. "I am unsure what you know but I'll keep this brief and have a report prepared with the full details at a later date, we have a lot of work to do.
"First to my original crew members; the Council has waved all previous crimes you may or may not have committed. The death of Saboteur Saria among those, as are all of my previous crimes. In return, the Council have employed us as a specialised Reaper strike team, known as the RRTF, the Reaper Repulsion Task Force. We will receive all funds, equipment and expertise we require when we need them so we won't be in a similar situation as we were a year ago. We won't need to do any mercenary jobs for the near future. To my new crew, while I understand this is all… unusual, I look forward to working with you all for the future. Also, please accept my advanced apology should I forget any of your names over the coming months. I'm sure the others can tell you how long it took before. Now we can kick Reapers in the ass," I said, my voice loud in the quiet bridge. "XO, Commanders, step forward," I called.
To my dismay, 3 unknown people stepped from the masses. A brass coloured male turian with angular, vivid purple marks saluted, yellow eyes sharp and posture tall. A male red salarian with teal coloured eyes, red spots stroked in black and patched yellow flakes under his eyes and lips saluted, eyes straight although his posture wasn't as tight as the turian. The final was a dark but vivid asari, dark dots at the corner of her eyes and a tear drop between her brows. She saluted with experience. My head turned, jittering like rusted clockwork, to Drutus. He secured his hands behind his back under my gawked gaze.
"When they brought the crew back together, the Council reshuffled the command structure," he said. A single blink answered him, gaze returning to the three people. A quick scan of the crowd behind showed my original crew appeared indifferent or off-put by the change. One or two seemed pleased not to have Indira and Shayan there. My shoulders hackled.
"Yeah, how can I run 4 teams with 2 commanders? They'd be worked off their feet!" I exclaimed. "Second, and I mean no insult to those before me, but I need people with experience in Reapers in my meetings. I can tell you right now that none of the three before me have faced a Saboteur or a Reaper or even their servants,"
"The Council-" Marruns began. His words snapped me to him, finger jabbing him in the chest.
"Put me in charge. I am un-shuffling the reshuffle. This is my ship, my crew and my ass on the line! I am the captain! This is my decision. To my old XO and Commanders, get down to the front! There is no bloody way the Council is dictating how I order my crew," I snapped.
Raisha and Mat'al shared a look, smiles flicking over their faces. Mat'al chuckled, eyes alight as he strolled forward. Raisha raised her chin, a wide smile on her face as she patted Shayan on her way towards me. The quarian jumped in surprise, stammered in response. Indira grabbed his arm and dragged him down the front, the quarian crying out for help as he fought in her grip. Val snorted, a grin creeping on his face as he pulled himself out of the line to join the others, head high. His presence upset a particular turian, a turian I was yet to be familiar with.
"Are you kidding me?" he gaped. Val turned stiff, keeping his eyes ahead as his plates fell rigid. "You're putting him in charge? But he's barefaced!" he thundered. Every muscle froze, eyes locked onto Val's expression. His plates held themselves still, eyes dead ahead on the wall before him, shoulders tense. My eyes twitched to the side, towards Drutus. My hand snatched the pistol at his side and fired without second thought. The bullet soared past the new turian's head, crashing into the floor. The turian stood frozen, the new crew members screamed in surprise and stepped back in horror. My original crew blinked, a lazy movement, a few even laughed.
"Ever," I muttered. "Insult anyone in my crew with such a bullshit stereotype again, I will blast your fucking brains out. Do I make myself clear?" As frozen as he was, he mustered a stiff nod. Turian training, one good point about the damn thing. I straightened my shoulders "Good. Valérien Autillin is Commander of the Combat team. End. Of. Discussion,"
"A-Aye, aye, Captain," he stuttered. My hand shoved the pistol back to Drutus, Drutus smirking at my actions.
"Commanders, XO, to the war room. We have things to discuss. Oh and Lanster," I called. Lanster glanced up, a grin on his face. "I want all requisition orders in within the hour. I want the Starquake flying ASAP. Also, for the crew," My hand picked up a sheet of toilet paper on the railing, allowing it to flutter to the ground. "I want this ship spotless; not a flake of dirt or grime, not w whiff of rot or whatever the hell you have lying around. We should have plenty of bleach. I will do a full inspection later this evening. I want out of here tonight. Dismissed!" The room cried 'Aye, Aye Captain' before they thundered in all directions. The brass turian left without question, the salarian and asari were more reluctant to leave.
Back down the walkway, my eyes trailed those on the floor, keeping my commanders and XO in sight as they disappeared into the door at the back of the bridge. Once down the stairs and out that door, hesitation stuttered my step. How much change had the Starquake seen? Despite my attempt to keep my pace steady and confident as people swelled around me, my scrambled attempt to make it look like I knew where to go failed. Instead of an elevator greeting me, the first hall curled around the bridge. A new corridor, wider than this one, stretched out ahead of me after another door. The Spectres remained on my heels like sharp needles jabbing my back. My feet crossed the threshold of the door before me, the wide corridor surrounding me as new rooms with glass half-walls appeared on both sides. The new layout disorientated me. Shit. Any fears of becoming lost vanished when a welcome face grinned at me further down the hall. My face lit up as she pushed herself off the wall as we approached.
"Thought you might get lost, Dellion," Indira winked. A snort escaped.
"You know me well, Indira," I said, grinning. The drell skipped backwards a few steps before turning.
"On the port side you'll find your new CIC, now separated from the bridge. On the starboard side, we have the new Ground Operations, so we can keep a better eye on those on the ground. Then further down on the port side we have the Network Ops to keep in touch with all the other militaries should we need to pass through 'otherwise restricted space'. Then we have storage, just now occupied with some spare battle systems and such like for the combat team. And that's the Combat Department! Then through these doors," Indira drawled, skipping through the door at the end of this section of the corridor. "We have bathrooms on the far port side with the medical storage room next to us. The new Med Bay is to the starboard, complete with operating room, long stay and short stay rooms, and Saere's office and general care. Then through this door!" She led us into the door into another hallway. This time, the elevator stood in the middle. Wow, they shunted it back! "We have the new war room on the port side, and the Intel department on the starboard. The server room is also here. Science is through the doors on the other side of those doors. Don't look at the drive core for too long, you might go blind," she winked, darting through a door on the port side. My gaze tore away from the blue haze illuminating the labs, entering the new war room.
The war room had received an upgrade. It had stripes of wooden panel separated by metal ribbing around a massive wooden, oval table with a hollowed middle, a circular table projector glowing in preparation. A table big enough for 48 people… Jesus, would we ever need that many? Well, come Reaper war time, it may be necessary depending on how things go. Raisha and Mat'al stood near to the door, Shayan lowered onto one of the high backed chairs and Val leaned on the table itself. My arms snapped around Indira's neck, yanking her into a hug. The drell laughed, before breaking out of my grasp and bear hugging me. My lungs pleaded for air.
"I've missed you, Dellion! It's been so quiet! Oh prison was horrible, the food! Oh it tasted like mud!" Indira cried. My lungs worked overtime to find air to speak.
"L-Like you pancakes?" I wheezed. Indira frowned, dropping me on the ground. The surprise drop landed me on my arse with a yelp. Indira crossed her arms as she sulked.
"No, that's my leaf pancakes! It's my mud spaghetti, geez!" she said with a roll of her eyes. A laugh coughed free from my sore lungs.
"Sorry. Ah Christ, I think you broke a rib," I said, grabbing hold a chair to haul myself up.
"You'll live," Mat'al grinned. A recovering smile lifted my lips as air forced my lungs to expand.
"I know, still hurts like a bitch," I said. My arms wrapped around the tall salarian. "I've missed you, you psychotic bastard," Mat'al's sharp laughter put a grin on my face.
"Get it out of your system now, human," he smirked. "The pistol comes back out tomorrow," The prospect freed a moan.
"This better not come back and bite me in the ass later," I said as my hand patting his shoulder, moving onto Raisha. The krogan's hug provided a well needed rock.
"You look well, Endellion," she said, her voice rumbling my entire frame.
"10 months in a prison cell is a good holiday," I said with a smile. "I've missed it though, I'm ready to get back into it,"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Did she just say what I think she said?" Val asked, clinging to the table in feigned horror. "Is she feeling all right?!" My earlier joy snapped to fury, eyebrows drawn down.
"Ass," I snarled. "I would give you a hug but I'm tempted to just hurl you out the airlock," Val smirked before he strolled over. Despite my protests, he hauled me into a hug. The stronger turian proved fighting caused nothing but a smugger turian, leaving me to glower up at him.
"You've missed it," he winked.
"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night," I grumbled before hugging the massive turian. He chuckled, content.
"It's been quiet without you, Captain," Shayan said, scurrying over for a hug. My hands shoved Val away to clamp my arms around him. "We were worried…"
"I know, I'm sorry. I've missed you, big guy," I said, giving him a firm squeeze before giving myself some space.
"One question, though," Mat'al asked. My gaze swivelled back to him. He raised an arm, pointing at something near the door. Turning, the Spectres watched, although Marruns glowered at Mat'al's finger. "Why is he here?" The mention of Marruns sent me sighing as the turian pouted.
"Not my idea," I said, strutting over to the table, sitting on it as my eyes studied the faces around me. "The Council put me in charge of their Reaper strike team, however someone complained about my release from prison and to get rid of him, they stuck on the crew," The sulking turian drew a snort from me. "I can't do anything about him, sorry,"
"Right," Val said. "So what is going on?" My shoulder shrugged.
"The Council dragged me into a meeting a few hours ago, asking me to act as a middleman to you guys. Their first plan was to have you to do the Reaper related stuff and keep me behind bars where they could study me. Although the outright rebellion you exhibited caused them to change the plan. I told the Council that putting me under an Admiral and forwarding their commands onto you would not work and then they pissed me off. Refusing any offer they gave me, they blackmailed me into taking the job as Captain. I have free rein over what we do and where we go, but I report to the Council. In exchange, I must be loyal to the Council and I carry a small team of Spectres on board, a) to keep an eye on me and b) to grant us access to anywhere should we need it. It also means we have access to the Spectre equipment and prototype Council tools and equipment if we need it," I explained.
"Once the ship is ready to leave, then I'll get all the stuff the Council gave me to the intel team to dig through. I also need to see the crew structure and learn the new layout of the Starquake," A smalls smile danced on my lips. "Maybe now we'll be able to work,"
"Fingers crossed," Mat'al answered, eyes on the Spectres. "We have lost too much time with the imprisonment.
"Agreed, so I've got to report to the Council on an update on the situation here. They weren't convinced I would calm your little rebellion," I said with a stretch, jumping off the table. "Then I'll go hi to Gideon wherever the little bugger has gone, check the requisition orders-"
"Ah, Dell," Shayan said, clearing his throat. My lips fluttered down, turning to him. "Uh… A-About Gideon…" A heavy, cold weight settled in my chest, straightening my spine. My eyes flicked to the other commanders as they shuffled. "He's uh… not here. N-No one has seen him in 10 months…"
"What do you mean he's not here? Where is he!?" I demanded.
"The human embassy took him when we docked on the Citadel, before our incarceration," Raisha rumbled. My eyes widened. That the Citadel would take him predicted but why did Raisha look so angry? "It was a most difficult sight,"
"He went wild, Dell," Val sighed. "We couldn't do anything, he was screaming and thrashing and…Spirits forgive, he managed to KO one human he was so desperate to escape,"
My jaw floundered, floored by the revelation, but the words. I… had planned to give him over to the human embassy at some point but… wild? Screaming? No… no that wasn't right. He had never screamed or turned wild or anything of the sort. Sure, skittish and shy but he came out of his shell! Why would he need to KO someone to escape? Where they doing something to him?! Dammit, that kid… that pain in the ass kid was…The cold weight vaporised as a fury ignited. My heated glare spun around to the Spectres behind me.
"Where is he?" I demanded. Sitoln shrugged.
"Can't say. I never kept up with the boy," he said.
"Then I want you to take a message to the Council," I said, surprised my voice hadn't thundered. The Spectres' flicked their eyes between each other. "This ship does not leave the Citadel until Gideon is back on deck. Do I make myself clear?
"But-" Sitoln started
"Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?" I hissed through gritted teeth. The aliens fell still before me. Sitoln glanced to Drutus. The older turian nodded.
"Very well, I shall oversee this," Sitoln said, straightening his back before turning on his heel to leave the War Room.
"You are dismissed," I said to the other Spectres. Marruns opened his mouth, plates drawn together when Rosmeni looped an arm around his neck and dragged him out. Marruns gagged and coughed out weak curses. Drutus followed soon after, casting a glance over his shoulder before the door closed. A sour breath released.
"Is this wise, Endellion?" Raisha asked. My head snapped around. The krogan held her gaze, unafraid. "It is difficult to gauge how much danger he may be in once returned to us,"
"Raisha, the Reapers are on their way. In a few years' time, we'll all be dead if we don't do something. If Gid went wild and flipped his shit when they took him away, I don't even want to know what has happened to him since. I don't trust the human health system not to go the way of some people and drug their kids for 'being hyperactive' or whatever. This is Gideon's home, as is mine. Yeah, it'll be dangerous but he wants to help. You saw him during the month we fled from the Council. He did everything he could to help," I said, turning to the door. "Oh and Shayan, Val, you need to work on keeping things a secret," My eyebrow rose as my gaze fixed on them over my shoulder. The pair tensed. "I have access to the camera feeds from my room, I knew full well what Gideon was doing in those bloody vents. Also, Raisha told me,"
"Raisha!" Val and Shayan gawked. The krogan shrugged, a slight smile on her face.
"The child is close to Endellion's heart. If Endellion had discovered it, she would have panicked. After calming her, I assured her he was in safe hands. She trusted you to keep Gideon safe, Shayan," Raisha said. Shayan flushed under his red mask, coughing. Val crossed his arms, bouncing on his toes as he judged my mood. He earned a snort as my feet crossed over into the hall. Although, the unfamiliar hallways had me lost in seconds. Why was there so many halls?!
The Fact Sheet and Timeline have been updated for this chapter. Please see profile for link to Archive.