Okay, I know that they are probably just trying to get on my good side, earn my favour, and have me be a good lapdog, but I'm not going to fall for it. That said, I have to show some kind of gratitude to Anderson and the folks he worked with to make this all happen. The Alliance has done me a huge solid. Gifting me not just a ship, but a state of the art stealth ship. The only one ever made. The only one able to go into stealth mode. One that was a joint project between Turians and Humans. And I'm the Captain. Not only did they gift me this ship, but they've let me have command over their fucking servicemen and women that crew the fucking thing.
Not only that, but they supplied us with food, water, fuel, ammunition, weapons and armour. The armour. Jesus. It's actually damn cool. It hasn't arrived yet, but once it does, we're leaving the citadel and starting this mission.
I suppose Udina deserves a little bit of credit. That corporation that Udina pointed Garrus to, is a privately owned human company called Kassa Fabrication. They're known to make some of the finest body armour in the galaxy. Sparing no expense when it comes to personal protection suits. Reflected by their insanely exorbitant prices. Garrus and Shepard however, ensure me it would be well worth it if I could acquire their products. So, I was ready to spend my remaining 30,000 Credits on their license to manufacture their goods, until I was emailed about a potential partnership. I have a meeting with them soon in the comms room to discuss their potential backing of the first Human Spectre. Which could lead to them supplying my missions. At least for a trial run. I'm no fool though. I know that nothing is free, so I won't be accepting any of it without knowing for sure what they want from me in return. Still, these are the guys the Alliance commissioned to make my armour. If they are as good as their reputation says they are, than I'm sure I'll be golden for combat and exploration on planets unsuited for human biology. Then again, I'm a Conduit, and I don't know what my limits are just yet when it comes to all of this stuff without a suit.
I don't really want to find out the hard way that I'm no different when faced with the vacuum of space though.
Right now, I'm standing in the cockpit, watching Joker fiddle with his controls in silence. I've been doing this for twenty minutes, trying to see if I can figure out what button or lever, does what function.
"You going to just stare in silence all day?" Joker I suppose has finally had enough of the quiet.
"Well, I did say I was going to shadow you to see if I can learn about flying ships."
"Yeah, that's fine, MacGrath, but do you really think you can learn any of this stuff without, I don't know, asking some questions? Making queries? Or do you Conduits have perfect memories and you're just going to memorize every input?"
"Pffft. No. Not remotely. I mean yeah, my memory is pretty good, but no, I'm not just trying to memorize everything. I'm sort of lost in thought. I was barely paying attention, really."
"Ah, short attention span. Suppose that's typical for a human lightning bolt." I chuckle at Joker's jab.
"Take it easy on him, Joker. He's a Spectre, sure, but he's also a Rookie."
"Don't remind me. Captain Anderson and Commander Shepard survive a hundred battles, and both are taken down by backroom politics." The self-proclaimed greatest pilot in the Milky Way, turns his head up towards me, studying me for something.
"What? Shepard is still serving with us." Joker turns away.
"I know, but you should really watch your back, MacGrath. Or you'll be next on their chopping block."
"And unlike the Commander and Captain, you don't have the contacts backing you if it happens."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys."
"Any time, Demon." That's probably not going to get old any time soon. At least I know he doesn't mean anything by it. Really, it's my fault for introducing myself like that.
"To be fair, the Alliance can't do much to me except stop paying me. I doubt the Normandy crew want to abandon the only way they have to go after Saren. And we are going to find that bastard. I don't care what order we do this in either. Conduit first. Saren first. I'm getting my hands on both of them, and I'll smash them to pieces."
"He even talks like a civilian." Kaiden jokes. "At least I know he can back it up."
"Thanks, Kaiden."
"Don't thank me yet, MacGrath."
"Everyone on this ships behind Commander Shepard. Some, like Karin, might be behind you, but the rest of us, you have to earn our respect. Our trust."
"I never asked for you guys to be handed to me in the first place, but I'm aware that regardless of how it happened, I still have to earn the right to be called Captain of the Normandy."
"Good luck." Kaiden snorts.
"Well, you can start by saying something to the crew, MacGrath."
"And say what? 'Sorry that I've commandeered your vehicle, although I didn't really. It was handed to me like the fucking title of Spectre was handed to me. Don't mind the two hundred year old Conduit that stole both your ship and your Commanders position of power?' That will go over well."
"Well maybe don't say all of that." Joker chuckles.
"You should tell them that you respect their sense of duty." I hear Shepard's voice behind me as she steps through the kinetic barrier separating the cockpit from the atmo of the command deck.
"Wait, are you going to train me in how to make a spe-"
"Prove to them you aren't just some lucky punk with powers that's taken charge by a fluke."
"Oh no, by all means, continue."
"Prove that you actually belong here, leading them into a battle we may not win. Give them a reason to fight for you. To die for you. Let them know the reason means something. So that their lives still have meaning." Shepard's words ring through my head as I contemplate what to say. Maybe she's right. The crew is willing to do this mission, but the fact that I'm in charge might be making them feel that all of their training and service will be for nothing. A joke, in the face of the Council. Especially with what happened to both Shepard and Anderson. I'm then reminded of what Trish used to tell me when I needed advice on how to keep people calm in a time of panic and crisis.
All it takes is a little reassurance. Don't lie to them. They know they are hurt, sick, dying, or that there is danger around every corner. For those that believe in you, your presence is enough to know that we're safe, and to take a breath. Others need to be reminded. Be rough where you need to be, but your penchant for compassion and gentleness will go a long way to bring comfort to people scared and losing hope.
Just be yourself, Cole. I know it will be enough.
The memory brings tears to my eyes. I rub them away before they can spill out, but I know Shepard can tell I was on the verge of crying. Mainly because she's looking at me like I have two heads. Probably wondering what she said that got me emotional.
"Sorry, just remembered something Trish told me." The realization donned on her and she opts to not speak about it. For all of her aggression and animosity towards me, she seems to be a respectable person deep down. Decent, even. I suppose I'll have to wait and see more of her in action with others to get a feel for what she's actually like.
"Well, MacGrath. A good Captain has to be able to give a good speech. Intercoms open if you want to give it a shot." Joker presses a button and I see a light indicating that the mic feeding my voice to the ship is live. I hesitate a moment, realizing I've never done this for this many people before. The only pep talks I've ever given were to three people. Nix, Kuo, and Zeke. And that ended with Kuo turning heel and trying to side with John... I'm glad she came around at the end. I didn't want her to feel alone.
"MacGrath?" Kaiden's voice pulls me from my thoughts and I refocus on the crew.
"Ahem. Um... this is... well I was going to say this is your Captain speaking, but that... feels wrong. I haven't earned that, and you should know that I am well aware of that fact. I'm also well aware that I am not a member of the Alliance military or navy or whatever, in any capacity, and how that is probably not ideal to a lot of you. Despite that, you've decided to stay, and go after that bastard Saren. For that, for what it's worth, you have my respect and utmost gratitude." Not the strongest of starts, I don't think, but it's genuine. I'm being myself. Like Trish asked me to.
"I know what it looks like. I didn't want it to go down like this. Hell, I was fine with being support for this mission, expecting Shepard to lead as a Spectre and... I know that doesn't mean shit to you. So, I need to show you that I mean business. That I'm not some lucky punk... I figure you should just know the truth about me." Joker slowly rotates his head towards me, where as Kaiden and Shepard turn to me more quickly. Shepard looks disapproving of my decision, while Kaiden is intrigued, and possibly impressed.
"I ask that you treat all I'm about to offer you here as classified. I'm not going to threaten your jobs or your lives if you don't, but I'm still asking. You're probably not going to believe all of this anyway, but I have no reason to lie to you. I'm not looking to impress you, or have you think I'm cool or idolize me. I'm just trying to do the right thing here, and being able to trust each other will make that easier to do as a team. So, to start, my name is Cole MacGrath. I was born May 26th, 1984. I'm 199 years old. I know. I know. Right? How can we take this guy seriously? Well... I've gained access to my records from the Alliance, and I'm going to send them to each and every one of you. A lot of it is redacted, but there should be enough evidence there to, at some point, hopefully, believe me."
"You really want to do that?" Kaiden asks. I nod.
"Cliff notes. I'm a Conduit. Uh, no relation to the thing we're looking for. Back in the 21st century, there were more of us on Earth. A minority group of people with something called the Conduit-gene that gave us super powers. Like we were taken right out of a comic book. Yeah you guys aren't going to believe any of this... but I promised to be honest. My powers were... activated, back in 2009 on my 25th birthday. Ever since I got these powers I've been fighting. Fighting for, initially, an out. An escape from what it meant to have power like mine. Then fighting to bring some kind of order to the city that was turned upside down that day. Hoping my life could go back to normal. But I had to realize that this is my normal. The gift of my powers will be my burden until the day I die. And that day should have come in June of 2012. I had the choice... the shittiest and ugliest of choices. A two sided coin. A plague was killing humans and Conduits who hadn't been activated yet. Either I could activate Conduits at the cost of human lives, making us immune to the plague, or I could eradicate the plague from Earth, at the cost of Conduit lives. Genocide. No matter what I chose. Given that none of you have likely heard of me, or my kind, you can guess what choice I made." I pause for a second, allowing all of that to sink in, for the crew to organize some of it in their heads.
"This is getting a little long, MacGrath." Shepard's suggestion to wrap things up has me realizing I haven't even addressed half the stuff I wanted to.
"I don't expect you to suddenly decide that this means I have the right to helm this ship. What I did 171 years ago doesn't mean shit to people that weren't alive then, even if it is the only reason they're here today. Besides, who says you even believe me? The biggest hole in my story is that I'm still alive... apparently. Jesus. Believe me when I say I wasn't expecting that outcome. Look, I'm getting long in the tooth here. Not much practice giving speeches. Probably should have let Shepard handle this, but I want to let you know I'm not just going to hide behind her like some bureaucratic asshole. I'm going to be boots on the ground for every fight. If there's some charge to be had into the face of the enemy, I'll be leading from the front. Regardless of what you believe, I am here for you. Not just for you, but all of humanity, and the rest of the species in the galaxy. I know better than anybody how precious life is, and I know better than anybody that I can't save everyone. But I will still try. Other than that, I have an open door policy, for anybody that needs it. I'll even make the effort to come learn all of your names and job descriptions. I should get to know my crew and what they do. So, let this old Conduit show you some tricks, you all can show me new ones and teach me about this brave new world... or galaxy, that we live in, and we can show the rest of the galaxy what humans are made of. That we can contribute more than they know. As for Saren. He and his followers are going to be like the rest of them, underestimating us. Preparing, but not expecting much. This will be his second biggest mistake. His first was attacking us in the first place."
"Gotta work on the length of-"
"One last thing. I'm aware of what Anderson gave up for this mission." I stop and turn to Shepard. "And I'm aware of what Shepard has to endure in order to be here and help. I can't express enough how much I appreciate that. But a thank you isn't enough. So I'm opting to repay them by not failing. I can't fail. We, won't fail... That's... uh... all I guess. MacGrath... out?" I place my hand on my face, despite knowing there is no covering my embarrassment.
"Wow." Joker starts.
"At least it was genuine." Kaiden remarks with a coy smirk.
"I think you're better at lying then giving speeches." Joker's teasing causes me to groan, but a woman in the room laughs. There's no way that's Shepard. It's too genuine. It compels me to look around for the source, but the only woman I see in the cockpit is indeed Shepard.
She's actually grinning, like she enjoyed my flubbing of the speech. Of course she would. She seems to have a weird hate boner for me. But her laugh felt less... directed? Like she isn't pointing and laughing, but just... enjoying the moment with us. The absurdity of it. I've not seen her genuinely smile once since I met her a week ago. It's kind of refreshing.
"What are you looking at?" She snaps at me, and I am reminded of the mutual dislike of each other almost immediately. I can't believe I was staring at her.
"The most annoying woman I've ever met. Which says a lot considering my age." Shepard refrains from losing her cool, but I can tell she wants to slap me.
"You're a prick."
"Takes one to know one."
"Mom? Dad? Please stop fighting." Joker intervenes, which causes Shepard to go red with fury and storm out of the room.
"After your meeting with Kassa Fabrications, head down to the cargo bay for training!" Shepard's voice fades as she leaves the cockpit. I can only smile myself at how ridiculous this is getting between us.
"Wow. I've never seen her like that before." Kaiden chimes in.
"What? Irate? I thought she was always like this?"
"No. I mean I've seen her angry, but even then there's a level of control. Any moment of celebration, grief, anger, you name it, she's always kept it in check. Sometimes, even refusing to show any emotion at all."
"No wonder she's so volatile. She's been bottling up her emotions her... well I'm going to assume her whole life."
"Probably accurate." Joker blurts out.
"Why's that?" I ask, turning back to the Normandy's pilot. He seems to wince in response to my question, and Kaiden is glaring at him.
"What the hell, Joker?"
"I'm sorry, it just slipped out. Look, MacGrath, I'm not going to elaborate alright. It-"
"Isn't your place. That's fine. I respect that." Joker breathes a sigh of relief, and I can't help but look back down the corridor to the other end of the command deck. I can spot Shepard just about to enter the doors to the elevator.
"Thanks for dropping it, MacGrath."
"Of course." I watch as her silver hair disappears behind the door, and I wonder exactly what her story is. This past week I've told her a bit of my story in Empire City, but she hasn't really told me anything. Every so often, she'll seem to be on the verge of opening up, but stopping short, and hinting at understanding where I'm coming from.
"MacGrath, you might want to go to the conference room. The rep from Kassa Fabrications will likely be calling any minute." Kaiden's reasoning puts my musings about the Commander to bed for the moment.
"Good call. And uh... thank you both."
"For what?" Joker asks.
"Putting up with me being here as the 'Captain'."
"Whether you were considered human back in the day or not doesn't matter, MacGrath. It also doesn't matter if you do end up staying on the ship and letting Shepard run things so that we can go after Saren. I know from personal experience you won't do it that way, but that's fine with me. Right now, we're all on the same side, and you seem legit. So long as you keep your word and don't give us a reason to shoot you, we're all going to get along fine. You'll see."
"I take it you've made it your mission to be a the best support anybody could ask for, Alenko." The man chuckles.
"No point in being negative about any of this. There are more opportunities ahead of us. Shepard will have her day in the sun, and you... well, I saw what you were capable of without real training in that fight with the Asari Commando. The footage of you at the meeting simply solidifies that you are no push over. Regardless of who ended up as a Spectre and what ship we took. I'm confident you being here is in our best interest."
"Right... Thanks." I really wasn't expecting that from the normally reserved Lieutenant. I guess it's always the quiet ones.
"Good luck with your meeting." Kaiden's obvious attempt at ending the conversation doesn't go unnoticed.
"I'll probably need it. Cya guys later."
"Later, Demon." With Joker's goodbye I turn to the rest of the ship and take a few steps towards the kinetic barrier, before I stop. It just hit me that I revealed a lot about me to this entire crew without even meeting most of them. There's still so much more to be revealed. How much of it will they get to know? Probably not all of it, but whatever they can get from those files, and what I've told them, is enough for now.
I take a few deep breaths, before finally stepping through the barrier, and walking towards the back of the command deck. As I make my trek, it feels long, and arduous. I can see many of the crew turning their heads, either from their stations, or their omni-tools, giving me varied looks of intrigue, suspicion, and bewilderment. As strange as it seems, they aren't giving me dirty looks. Not like they used to back in Empire. And it's kind of a relief. Mainly because I can handle the distrust based on the wild story I just told, but the unmitigated hatred over nothing I can control... it gets to a guy after awhile.
I promised I would prove my powers to them, but realized Shepard could probably vouch for me and they'd believe her. For the most part anyway. Just to avoid any doubt, I pause in the middle of the corridor, and look around. I raise my hand, and produce a ball of electricity in my hands. Some gasps of surprise and looks of awe don on the faces of those around me, and I begin playing with the ball like anybody with a baseball would. Tossing it up and down or back and forth between my hands. Before I close my fist around it, resulting in the currents running up my arms and dispersing.
I continue my trek with a smile when I hear somebody blurt out how cool that display was. Just as I'm passing through the combat information centre, the Chief Navigator stops me.
"Uh, excuse me... Captain." I sigh as I turn towards the man. Though there is no animosity in his tone, I simply don't think they want to call me by that title.
"Please, Chief... Pressley? Is that it?" The man looks a bit surprised and nods.
"Yes. Though, normally I'm referred to as Navigator Pressley. You can just call me Pressley if you wish." I smile as I extend my hand. He seems to hesitate for a moment, making me realize they don't know how my powers work.
"Pressley, remind me to tell the crew that I can make physical contact with anybody, without electrocuting them. And call me Cole until you feel I've earned the title of Captain." Pressley nods his head and extends his hand to mine. He still shows a bit of reservation, but when we make contact, he relaxes and shakes my hand. As he pulls away, I briefly stifle a chuckle at the idea of giving him the smallest zap upon contact. I know from experience that there's a good chance that won't go over well.
"Of course. For the record, Captain, if the Alliance says you're in charge, then we'll follow your lead and serve faithfully. You are the Human Spectre after all. Even if you are... different. I mean, I personally think biotics are quite strange, but they are people like the rest of us."
"That's very considerate of you Pressley. I wish I had more time to talk, but I have a meeting with a rep from Kassa Fabrications. Potential backers for this mission. If I can get them on board, then I can hopefully upgrade the body armour of everybody on this ship." Pressley's eyebrows nearly shoot off of is head at my plan.
"Th-that would be spectacular, Sir. I mean, not that what the Alliance provides isn't sufficient or anything, but Kassa Fabrications is a top tier weapons and armour manufacturer. Though, I'd avoid their omni-tools for now. They just started dabbling in that market." Which reminds me. I need to swap my civilian Omni-Tool out for a military grade one.
"Right, so what was it that you flagged me down for?"
"Oh, I just wanted to let you know that the Alliance Requisitions Officer down in the cargo bay has sent Shepard up to the conference room with your armour."
"It's here?! Yes! I've never worn anything like this before. I'm so hyped." I can barely contain my excitement, which seems to cause Pressley to give me an odd look. I quickly regain my composure and clear my throat, trying to exemplify a more professional demeanour.
"So, since the armour has arrived, we can leave the Citadel." Pressley continues. I catch what he's getting at.
"Right. You want me to decide where to go?" He nods.
"Or ask the Commander. Either way. If you like, you can go stand up on that platform there, and observe the Galaxy Map. Make a decision after you've taken a look." Looking over to the elevated platform Pressley indicated to, I nod my head and make my way up.
"May as well get us going before I go into what may be a lengthy meeting."
"I suppose if what you said is true, that this is your first time seeing this map." Stepping to the edge of the platform and looking down at the map, I see a holo-realisitc image of the citadel floating in space.
"Yeah. This is actually really cool. Do I control the map or do you?" Pressley points to the panel in front of me.
"That's your controls. I can control it from down here." Swiping my hand over the panel, a holographic set of controls appears, all clearly labelled.
"Why am I on an elevated platform anyway? I mean yeah, I can see everything from up here, but I feel like I'm some kind of a pretentious dick lording over you. Like subjects." Pressley chuckles to himself as he swipes his hands over the controls, causing the map to expand, leaving the citadel behind and showing me the System in which it sits. Not a lot here besides the Citadel itself.
"That's because the Normandy was built by Humans and Turians. Alliance vessel's are normally built to have their commanding officer in the mix with their subordinates, while Turians like to overlook them. They wanted to see how their method would work with us." I frown.
"I suppose there are advantages to both. Tactical ability to survey your crew from on high gives you a clearer picture of what's going on, but being in the mix gives a stronger sense of brotherhood, which can go a long way." Pressley's mouth curves into a big smile, and he nods his head.
"You're going to fit in just fine." Thank God. I'm getting on the good side of another officer. Should probably start getting to know the lower ranks too, so they don't think I'm some snob.
Pressley goes on to explain the controls of the map to me, which are pretty simple. I ask him if he'd rather just have me tell him where to look, since it is his job and I don't want him to be bored, but he is enthusiastic about teaching me how to navigate the map, and familiarize me with the Milky Way's lay out. Get to know where every chartered system, cluster, and world, is in the galaxy.
"So, I think we should head to Therum. Apparently, that's where Dr. T'Soni was last seen."
"Ah, that's in the Artemis Tau Cluster."
"Right."
"Shepard had mentioned to me earlier that a man from the Council chamber had asked her to locate his missing brother. His trade hauler went missing somewhere in the Strenuus System."
"Where's that?" Pressley navigates the map from the Artemis Tau cluster towards a cluster called the Horse Head Nebula. Once there, it magnifies to the systems within the Nebula, and Strenuus is one of them.
"We don't have an exact location, and obviously the Saren situation takes precedent. It's up to you where we go and what we do first." I stroke my chin. Even back in the day when I had more pressing matters to attend to, I'd always lend a hand where it was needed. Taking the time to make sure people were alright. I don't know if any of that prevented me from changing the outcome of what happened back then... no. Everything happened the way it did, and dwelling on what could have been done differently is pointless. It's the way Kessler thinks. Not Cole.
"We'll make the time. There's no job too small for us to look into when people need help." I see that he map has stopped moving, and no orders have been called out. Turning my head to Pressley, I catch him staring at me. He is quickly embarrassed by the fact that I noticed, clearing his throat and returning to his duties.
"Uh- yes. Captain. I agree. I'll set a course to Strenuus for Joker." I nod my head in approval before turning away from the star map.
"Whatever you need to do to find that ship, do it. If you need anything from me specifically, just ask. I'm always available."
"Aye, aye... Captain." Pressley seems more comfortable calling me by that title. I wasn't expecting any of them to warm up to me so quickly, but this might be a rarity among the rest of the crew.
Heading through the doors of the CIC to the comms room, I am met with the sight of Shepard standing in the middle of the room in nothing but a skintight body glove. The material worn under her armour. It covers her body from just under her chin to the bottom of her feet. No skin visible save for what's on her face. Her hair is tied up into a tight bun, and her eyes are fixated on me. Her body glove is black, but it doesn't really do anything to hide her figure. Like I said when I first saw her, Shepard is in great shape. And is shapely. It's too bad she's such an asshole. Shaking my head of those thoughts however, I notice that she has her set of armour off to the side, and a case sitting next to her. On top of the case is a package that I'm recognizing as a military grade omni-tool.
"Is that for me?" I ask with delight. She nods with a frown.
"Yeah. When I got down to the Cargo Bay, Rec Officer Postle informed me that it had arrived. Dr. Chakwas had been talking to Tali about anything she might need in way of immunization boosters while on the Normandy, and took a beat to remind me that you've never worn anything like this before. So, here I am."
"That's actually a good point. I was so amped up to get this thing I didn't even consider the fact that I don't know how it all goes together." Striding over to the armour case, I pick up the package for the new omni-tool, and find that there are two. I remember that there are omni-tools for the skin and ones you place in your armour. This one apparently is set up to link the two together so that I can have consistent access. Once I replace my civilian omni-tool I initiate the transfer of files and data that I have saved to it over to the new one, and then lean down. I press a button on the front of my armour case, and watch as the lid pops open.
As the container opens completely, I'm greeted to the sight of this, apparently, finely made body armour and body glove. Or body gloves. They gave me spares. The glove itself, like Shepard's, is black, but it has a Kassa Fabrication logo on the left shoulder of the sleeve. I pull that out first, and begin to strip. Then I remember Shepard is in the room and wonder if she's going to turn around.
She doesn't. I personally don't care, but I do turn away for a little bit of decency. And so that I can moon her every time I bend over. When I go to put on the body glove, I find myself at a loss as to how.
"Is there no zipper to this thing? How do I get it on?" Turning the material around over and over I can't for the life of me figure out how it works. Shepard simply groans before I hear something pop behind me.
Turning around, I see that she's produced a bottle of lube.
"Wow, Shepard. I knew you're mistreatment of me had to be the equivalent of a schoolyard crush, but I wasn't expecting you to move this fast. I thought you'd try to kill me one more time befor-"
"Do you ever shut up?"
"Ah, see? You're already starting the foreplay." She grinds her teeth together as she holds the open bottle of lube out towards me.
"I know you are a man-child, but I'm sure you can handle this yourself." Man-child? Well, let's just drop this body glove and show you how much of a man-child I am.
Of course, the minute my nudity is on full display, Shepard turns her head. I can't tell if the red in her face is from her anger towards me, or if she's actually blushing. I like to think it's possibly both. Serves her right.
I take the jar from her, and begin lathering myself with the lube.
"How much should I use?"
"Don't need as much as you'd think. Just cover yourself from under your chin to your feet. Whole body. Everywhere. Trust me when I say you don't want to miss a spot."
"It's that bad?"
"This product is efficient and capable of preventing chafing, along with keeping your skin moisturized and healthy on prolonged excursions. If you miss a spot, you can expect irritation within a few hours." Damn. Gotta be extra careful to make sure I get this stuff everywhere then.
I make sure to apply a layer of this lubricant from under my chin, down my neck, shoulders, etc, until I'm at the bottom of my feet. All that's left is my back, and I realize I can get up to a little bit of mischief with this area of my body.
"Hey, can you get my back for me?" Plan set in motion.
"Sure." Right. She's a professional. Though the look of perpetual displeasure on her face remains, she does not seem uncomfortable in turning towards me, grabbing the lube, and applying it to my back.
"You going to have to wash your body glove's... uh... glove now?" Her hands aren't overly gentle or extremely rough. I was half expecting her to use this as an opportunity to make me uncomfortable, considering I failed in doing so. Instead she's just doing her job. Now I feel a bit like an asshole. It does feel nice though. Having somebody rub my back. Sha'ira was the last person to give me a massage, but my mind was elsewhere. The last time I had a human touching me like this was Trish...
"Not a big deal. I have a powder with me to remove it from my suit, just in case."
"Ah. You planned to help me then." She snorts.
"No. I knew you would be immature enough to try to make me uncomfortable with your body." Suddenly her hand glides up and over my shoulder, allowing her arm to snake around my neck. She pulls me close to her, and places her other hand on the inside of my leg. Right next to my penis.
"Whoa! Intimate." I can hear the smirk on her lips as she breathes into my ear.
"I've been a marine since I was 17 years old, MacGrath. Trained in infiltration at the best school in the Milky Way. Using my body hasn't been off the table for deep cover, and the same will go for anything that needs to get done in our current mission. If you think being naked is enough to deter me, than you know nothing about me. We could do our next training session in our birthday suits, and I'd win." A grin spreads across my face as a shiver runs down my spine.
"Promise?" I turn to face her, to show that I'm not deterred by her actions anymore than she is by mine. I was right. She is smirking.
We stand like that for a little bit longer than I think either one of us expected, and I realize that I'm starting to stand at attention. A part of me thinks about turning this around, throwing her over my hip and pinning her to the floor. See what she does. But Joker's voice coming over the intercom causes us both to pull away from each other.
"MacGrath. We're getting a call from the Council. Should I put them through?"
"I'm naked." Is how I respond. Shepard almost spits in laughter, and Joker is silent for a moment.
"So... do you want me to put them through." I burst into laughter. This fucker is funny.
"No, Joker. I'll call them back later."
"Whatever you say. One more thing, we're on route to the Horse Head Nebula like you ordered. It'll be about fifteen hours before we arrive."
"Thanks, Joker. Gives me time to get acquainted with my new armour and have my meeting. Then probably training?" I turn towards Shepard, showcasing my half-mast, and give her a wink. She seems to fixate a bit on my member before shaking her head and turning away from me.
"Sounds good. Joker... out?"
"Ha. Ha." I catch Joker's mockery of my speech and turn back towards my body glove. Calming down now, I pick it back up and turn it around.
It clearly is the same on the back as it is the front. Meaning that it likely can be worn either way. Thinking about it, that makes sense. The thumbs on the glove part of the skintight suit will work for either hand, whether I'm wearing it from the front or the back. The only question I have is how I'm supposed to get into it.
"Seriously, Shepard. How does this shit work?" I turn back towards the Commander who has finally turned back towards me, a scowl clear and present on her face. She marches over to me and pulls the glove from my hands.
"It stretches, you idiot." Placing her fingers at the hem of the neck, she pulls, hard. As it turns out the material is extremely flexible. Capable of stretching so far that I could feasibly get my legs and torso through the opening. After she's done, she hands it to me.
"You aren't going to hold it open for me to-"
"No. Shut up." She let's go of the material before I even get a full grasp on it and walks towards her armour, away from me. It's at this point that I start to think that maybe I've taken it too far. Despite how she clearly feels about me being a Spectre instead of her, along with everything else about me that bothers her, she's still here. Training me. Giving me a hand with stuff like this. She even stood up for me twice today. I should stop spitting in her face.
Stepping into my glove, I work my legs towards the bottom of the suit, and after some trial and error, feel my feet slip into position. When they finally get into place, I begin pulling the material up over my body. Given my strength, I could just yank on it, but I'm worried I'll rip the material, despite how sturdy it feels. I slip my arms into the sleeves, and as it comes up and over my shoulders, I feel it begin to tighten again. Until finally, it reaches the bottom of my chin.
"It feels... a little loose." Shepard doesn't turn to face me right away, but eventually sighs and looks back at me.
"It's because you haven't reset it yet."
"What?" Shepard turns fully and walks back to me. She raises her hand and points to what I thought was a simple design choice on my suit. A round relief that kind of looks like a button at he centre of my chest.
"Hit this. Just tap it." I do as she says, and when I do, the suit rapidly tightens around me. I can hear the hissing of air being released as it does so. It takes less then three seconds to fully seal around me.
At first it feels a little uncomfortable, but quickly I begin to acclimate to the feeling. I look over myself quickly, and feel good about the results.
"This is cool. Thanks."
"Whatever." She turns away from me and begins picking up her armour. I turn towards my crate, and lean down to move the extra body gloves to the side, and begin pulling out my armour piece by piece.
I am astonished by the craftsmanship and design. Not that I know anything about making armour, but I can't deny that it looks fantastic. When I was made aware of the armour, I made a request to make an adjustment to the aesthetic, simply wanting some familiarity and to add my own flair to it.
The torso, the arms, and shoulders, are coloured like my jacket was back in the day. An dark yellow, and black. There are segmented armour pieces that will definitely make me look a little bulkier than usual, but not massive. I was assured the armour wouldn't hamper my flexibility too much. The design is similar to my favourite jacket. On the front and back of my torso, and on the outside of my arms and shoulders, is painted yellow, while under arms, in between the plates, the piece of armour forming a sort of collar around my neck, and the sides, are all black. On top of this, my armour has micro-capacitors in it, to allow my powers to be used in place of Mass Effect Fields for the purpose of protection.
There's four small visible capacitors on the abs of the piece, four larger ones more tightly grouped together at the centre of my upper chest, and two lines running from the top two to the bottom of my collar where two more sit. On the back are two vertical capacitors instead of round ones, that are sitting on a place piece of armour on either side of my back, similar to the red lights on the back of Shepard's armour. Similarly, I have capacitors on my gauntlets to allow for easier and enhanced offensive abilities. Each knuckle of my gauntlets have little micro capacitors that may be used to channel my power through for fists in hand-to-hand combat. I think the finger tips were made with the specific intention of allowing conduction to be easier, but that may as well be the case for my armour in general. None of them are powered, so they aren't glowing, but they apparently will glow with my energy when I wear it.
The one difference between my jacket and this armour is that my back also had a thick line in the middle that was left black, with two ports on my upper back and two closer ports on my lower back. I wonder briefly what those are for, but disregard them for now. My leg armour has a white design of the union jack on my right leg, similar to how my favourite pants were designed. My left leg was all black. My boots were yellow and black, while the back of my legs had ports similar to the ones found on the back of my armour.
I also apparently have a black waist-cape that hangs down by my lower thighs, and upper knees. There's fabric at the front that hangs down to about half way down my thigh, and splits on either side to allow flexibility. The middle has a yellow planet that looks like Earth, sitting at the bottom. What appears to be the Spectre logo has been flipped upside down, with the point starting at the centre of my waist, and then descending on either side of the fabric. It's clear that it's being used as a makeshift 'A' symbol, akin to the Systems Alliance Logo. Or at least that's my assumption based on the planet being in the middle. Pretty cool design actually.
Despite my excitement, the more I look at these pieces, the more I realize that my chest piece and gauntlets are starting to remind me of Kessler's cybernetic enhancements. So much so that I have this sick feeling that somebody found his body... I want to know who made these pieces.
"You okay?" Shepard's question pulls me from my spiral, and I quickly gather myself. I don't have time to dwell on this. I'll just ask the rep if they know when I have my meeting.
"Yeah. Fine. Where do I start?"
"Here. Start with..." As she explains the process of donning armour, I follow her lead. There are points where she has to help me seal certain pieces together, but once she does, I get the hang of it, and the rest becomes pretty intuitive. After a few seconds, the micro-capacitors begin to glow with the same golden-yellow energy as my powers. They don't spark, but simply illuminate. My somewhat enhanced hearing makes me aware of the low hum of my armour helping me generate a stronger version of my personal EMF around my suit. Or, my "shields". Only mine aren't made with any form of Mass Effect Field Generation. This armour is really state of the art.
It feels a little tingly at first, but also makes me feel powered up. Like the suit was supplying me with energy. As far as I know, it doesn't have an endless one, but it basically gives me an extra battery, for lack of better term, to accommodate for uninhabited space and planets. I remember what it was like when the city didn't have power. Out in space that will be more common. Without power, I'll be at a severe disadvantage. But the logistics of that are sort of covered for now. As best as they can be. Now that this is all equipped, all I have left is my helmet.
The helmet is an interesting piece. It is virtually all black, with circular segments that cover my ears, and one that sits at the base of my skull on the back. From the round portions covering the ears, are what almost look to be mandibles running the length of what my jawline would be, and stopping on either side of my mouth. On the ends of the mandibles are dark yellow accents, and the space surrounding the black round... whatever that's considered to be, piece that covers either ear is also dark yellow. The mouth part itself having what looks to be a concave section with what looks to be a speaker at the front. Or that's my best guess. Above the mandibles the helmet sinks in closer to my face, around my cheeks, but then the top part is just a solid black plate that goes from my nose, to the top of my head. I see no visor or indication of eye ports, and wonder exactly how the hell I'm supposed to see what I'm doing. Investigating further, I turn the helmet over to look inside, and I notice briefly that there is a brand on the inside rim that says "PATHFINDER V.1". Must be the model. Looking through the inside of the helmet however, I can see that my vision won't be hampered by the "Plate" at all. I look at the front of the helmet once more to confirm it's still completely covered, and then move to put the helmet on. Interesting that they have one way visors like that. As the helmet sinks up to my body glove and armour, I can hear and feel the armour sealing itself completely around me. I'm briefly made aware of oxygen ports opening up in the helmet, allowing me to breathe.
"This is fucking cool." Shepard shakes her head, her N7 Helmet covering her face. I can only imagine that she's rolling her eyes at me.
"Suppose it's only natural that somebody that's never handled gear like this before would be enthralled by it." Shepard muses.
"Dude, I feel sorry for everybody else that takes this all for granted." I begin stretching my limbs and testing my flexibility. Although it does allow a good range of motion, it very slightly reduces my movement. Small price to pay for protection from the elements, and gunfire. I notice as I'm stretching that my helmet is calibrating to my omni-tool and my vitals. When I see that it's recording my blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen levels, and the like, I breathe a sigh of relief.
I'm still human. Well, human adjacent I guess. However, that may actually complicate the answer to how the fuck I ended up travelling through space for two hundred years until reaching Eden Prime. Even going FTL without Mass Relays I don't think I would have made it to Eden Prime within that time frame.
"You're going to be hard pressed to find a stealthy solution to an engagement given that you're a walking flashlight. Not to mention your awful colour choice" Shepard remarks.
"Don't be hating the superior yellow to your red, Shepard. Besides, my main goal with this colour scheme was to paint myself as the most obvious target."
"What? Why?"
"Because I can take it."
"Captain MacGrath. The rep from Kassa Fabrication is hailing us." A woman's voice, calls over the Intercom.
"Thank you, uh-"
"Communications Officer Addison Chase, Sir." I nod, as if she could see me.
"Thank you, Chase. Don't feel obliged to call me Captain if you don't think I've earned it."
"I don't mind, Sir. I have my orders. You have yours. We're a team. That's all that matters." I think I might just be the luckiest son of a bitch in the galaxy right now.
"Thank you, Addison. Patch them through."