[Unfinished/DoNotRead] Mass EffectxDead Space Ch2

Dead SpacexMass Effect Ch2: The Dead will Rise.
Space has always been beautiful in Shephard’s eyes. The formless, weightless void has been a source of comfort for him on many occasions; he would simply sit in the comfort of his cabin, staring into the endless expanse and feel a peace settle around him. That peace was now noticeably absent as he floated towards the mysterious hulk his ship had detected. Hulk being the right word to use here, Joker had said it and Shephard had noticed it; this “Ship” lacked any sort of propulsion. This behemoth was as large as a Turian Battleship and yet had no armament; it wasn’t a carrier-type ship as the only discernible docking areas were basic extension clamps and there were only a few of these at that.  Major, as well as minor, hull breaches could be seen from the outside; the largest of which Shephard and his team were entering into. Shephard was beginning to see it more and more as a ghost ship, the few life-signs they had detected previously settling his nerves somewhat.

The entrance was torn and jagged, large pieces of metal and foundations strewn across it; preventing shuttle access. There was almost no doubt in Shephard’s mind that the explosion that caused it was military-grade, it was simply too strong to be cobbled together from spare parts. With shuttle access prevented, the Normandy crew had to resort to older methods of boarding derelict ships. In their airlock, in a hidden retractable compartment, rests a harpoon-like weapon, simply attach it to a rope protruding from the Normandy’s hull nearby and fire it at their entrance. Shephard was now leading his team of four as they half climbed, half floated towards the hull breach. The hulks electronic systems were down so entrance via one of the docking bays was impossible.
“I think Joker was right...this place doesn’t feel...good.” Garrus grumbled into his radio.
“Aww c’mon now Scarface, don’t get scared of the itty-bitty ghosts” Jack mocked.
“Give me a real enemy Jack; and I’ll gladly kick their asses for you. What if we find something we can’t feel though? Something we can’t shoot? I don’t like it.” Garrus retorted.
Before Jack could jump at the chance to mock Garrus more, Jacob spoke up.
“I gotta agree with Garrus; I’ve seen things like this before, before and after I joined Cerberus. Ships that get lost out here; shorted out electronics, engine failure, outlaws. Most of the time the ship is full of corpses. Blue-faced if they ran out of air, blood smeared everywhere if they ran into outlaws.” Jacob pauses for a moment, considering his past and continuing his journey towards the hulk in front of him. “Once... Once we found a ship completely empty. It felt so devoid of life that no one wanted to take anything, everyone was getting stressed, freaking out, so we bugged out. Destroyed that damn thing and got the hell out of The Terminus System. We had a few suicides after that, damn kids still green behind the ears, thinking they can be hardcore mercenaries. You get that some times, ghost ships I mean, suicides too but that’s not important. I’ve never seen a ghost ship THIS big. Wonder what’s in it.” Jacob seemed genuinely intrigued in learning what secrets this new ghost ship held.

 Jack, Garrus and Shephard steeled themselves for what they might find. Meanwhile, Tali was at the rear of the team, muttering curses under her breath in her own tongue, trying to calm herself down. Jacob’s monologue hadn’t helped her none and she had a feeling he may have been doing it on purpose. She hated being in open space, the silence was the worst. She was so used to hearing the loud machines of the Flotilla, it had taken her awhile to adjust to the Normandy’s almost silent engine, yet there was still a dull, low whine and occasional clunk that comforted her though. Not so in Space, all she had was the sound of her own breath and the feeling of a few millimetres of fabric and metal separating her bare flesh from the freezing cold and life destroying vacuum which was constant in her mind. As she crept through the jagged entrance, the thought of one of the razor sharp pieces of metal piercing her suit was almost too much to bear and she almost didn’t make it through. She looked ahead, however, and saw Shephard releasing the rope and forging ahead, determined and ready. As usual Tali drew strength from this human who had her deepest respect and she managed to push through. As she passed through, she realized that her fear had made the danger far more large and real then it actually was, the closest piece was at least two meters away.
As Tali finally touched down, Shephard radioed Joker. “Away team on site, releasing boarding apparatus, Joker, reel it in.” Immediately Joker replied
“Aye aye Commander; why don’t you call it by her name? Betsy cares not for your formal words!” Chuckling good-naturedly, Shephard watched as the hook-no, “Betsy”, retracted without incident.
“Alright Joker, “Betsy” is home safe and sound. Stay on station.”
“Aye Aye Commander” Joker replied, EDI barely heard in the background
“Jeff, I must insist you desist in giving the tools onboard the Normandy names, especially ridiculous ones at that”
“Aw, EDI, all they need is a little love, surely you agree that machines need love just as much as us meatbags-“
“Joker you’re still on the radio” Shephard interrupted
“Oh. Sorry Commander”
“See Jeff, having to keep track of all these named machines must be distracting yo-“ The radio cut off and Shephard turned to the rest of his team. Immediately, he saw that the underlying tension they had all been feeling was gone, Joker’s behaviour being a source of comfort and normality to the team. Taking a moment to survey his surroundings he saw that they had entered above and in front of a large, semi destroyed structure, black with blood red lining, the structure stretched upwards, intertwining with itself. Behind it was a simple, unadorned wall and in front of it, past Shephard and his team, was an observatory window jutting out above them. Below that was a closed bulkhead door set in the centre of another unadorned wall, this was the only entrance and exit. Beckoning to his team to follow, Shephard moved for the door. As he came closer to the door, Shephard began to see the true extent of the damage caused by the explosion.
The door and all the walls we’re scorched and warped, large sections of the walls blown outwards by the explosion. Shephard arrived at the door, feeling glass from the shattered windows above crunching under his feet, and tried to find a way to open it. Unable to make any sense of the unusual console nearby Shephard motioned to Tali to come ahead and get it open. Within a few moments Tali had figured out the console and ran into a very large problem.
“Shephard? There isn’t any power, we won’t be getting this door open anytime soon without proper tools” She said
“Damn it, alright, I’ll radio Joker, see if he can get us some welders over here.” Just as Shephard was about to activate his radio, there was a strong pulse of red light from behind them. The team whirled around, weapons raised, in time to see the structure’s red lining fade completely to black. The team whirled around once more as they heard the door sliding open, they got a view of a long corridor, dark blood caking the walls, before the lights faded to darkness once again.
“Okay. This is creepy” Garrus rumbled. Shephard half expected to hear Jack pipe up once more but she was surprisingly quiet, Jacob was the one to speak next.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before, not on a “ghost ship” I mean, it’s like a warzone. Raiders and Outlaws are lucky to have one heavy weapon between them but what we’ve seen so far hints at a large scale battle between two heavily armed forces.” Jacob said, not afraid; simply seeing this place as a puzzle to be put together and understood.
“Alright.” Shephard said. “We’ve got survivors to save. Keep your eyes peeled, stay alert and don’t get snuck up on.”  He once again moved to the front, the strong light from his weapon and helmet illuminating the path ahead.
They walked in silence for awhile, only finding dried blood all over the walls and floors, no signs of survivors of whatever it was that happened other than the weak life-signs they saw before coming aboard.
“How did it get on the roof?” Jacob asked, staring upwards at streaks and smears of blood spread out in places along the metal overheads.
“You see it sometimes, on The Citadel; some poor bastard goes crazy with a blade, cuts up their partner or friend. It’s such a brutal attack that the blood gets everywhere, even on the roof. You don’t get blood on the roof from a gunshot Shephard, not unless you’re up close” Garrus spoke up, glancing at Shephard, concerned at what this might mean.
“So we’re looking at Krogans then? They love getting up close and personal.” Jack said, trying to make sense of what the others were saying.
Garrus shook his head. “No, not Krogans. Think about it Jack, Krogans are damn tall, they like beating their enemies down. The only way to get blood on the roof with a gun is to get underneath the victim, otherwise you’re using a blade.” Garrus sounded grim.
“Ninjas?” Jack said, excited. Garrus chuckled
“No Jack, not ninjas. Someone with a blade though. I think what we’re looking at here is a mass murderer who liked blades but that doesn’t make sense.” Garrus said, trying to make sense of it all.
“Why doesn’t it make sense Garrus?” Shephard asked, concerned.
“Well, look around you Shephard, if it was just one man using blades you’d expect he was attacking unarmed civilians. Look at the walls here and here, scorch marks from an energy weapon. Down there, over there, bullet holes and a lot of ‘em.” Garrus replied, concerned and confused.
“So we’re looking at a lot of men who liked blades with a few who preferred more conventional weaponry?” Shephard asked.
“That’s the only explanation that can make sense here. Expect whatever it is that’s going to come at us here to get up close and personal.” Garrus confirmed, checking his assault rifle to ensure nothing was wrong.
Shephard nodded, he and Tali pulling out their shotguns, Jacob doing the same as Garrus. Jack looked unconcerned, checking her nails and enveloping her hands in biotic energy.
“Let’s go” Shephard said firmly.
As the team rounded a corner, Jacobs light fell upon the distinct shape of bodies lying on the ground.
“Shephard!” He called, moving ahead. “We’ve got bodies here!” He rushed forward, weapon and light scanning his surroundings, making sure he wasn’t walking into a trap. He’d seen it happen before after all, damn rookies. As he finally made it to the bodies he shined his light on them.
“GAH! FUCK!” Jacob shouted, at once surprised and disgusted by what he saw.
“Jacob?! What is it?” Shephard called, also moving forward. The team spread out, wary and alert by Jacob’s distress.
“Come....Come and look at this Shephard. Tali stay back.” Jacob said, his voice wavering a little but firming when he told Tali to stay away.
Shephard approached cautiously, not sure what to expect.
Nothing, not even the Reaper Husks, could have prepared him for the grisly sight that awaited him. At first he flinched away but he forced himself to look at the corpse. Or what was left of it. The body was emaciated. It’s dead, mortified flesh clinging to unusual bone structure, cuts and contusions covered it’s body completely. It’s lower jaw had split open straight down the middle and the bone had been extended; jutting out through the skin, sharpened into points. Small wisps of hair above sunken, empty eye sockets. Protruding from its chest were two tiny arms, weak and atrophied. Flaring out to its sides, like wings, were two triple jointed arms that connected from behind the shoulders. These arms ended in bone that looked as sharp as steel with a small, childlike hand beneath it.  It’s legs were thin, ending in clawed feet.
“What is this thing Shephard?” Jacob asked, disgusted.
“I don’t know Jacob, but I do know it didn’t just keel over and die, look at it, it’s got wounds all over it.” Shephard replied in equal distaste.
“I don’t know Shephard, sure it’s got a lot of cuts and bruises but I don’t see anything that could be fatal” Jacob retorted.
“I do,” Jack chimed in. “Look at its chest, it’s been crushed by someone stomping on it. I know what to look for. I hung with a pirate crew for awhile before you met me. Their boss was big on stepping on people, literally, just to let them know he was a “big man”. They aren’t around any longer.” Jack was grimly satisfied by this fact, her mocking of the “big man” implying she had a hand in their demise. Looking at the body a second time, Shephard and the others saw the indentation of a boot on the its chest, they were so busy looking at it they weren’t able to notice that the things entire chest was flattened significantly.
“Stay alert, I don’t like the look of this thing and if there are more that are alive I certainly don’t want one sneaking up on us. I certainly don’t want to run into whatever it was that KILLED this thi-“ Shephard was cut off by a startled “Eep”. Tali had crept closer during the conversation and had finally gotten a good look at what they were standing around.  She pointed at the corpse and said
“Look...Look at the ground underneath it”
The rest of the team looked for a third time and they saw to their horror that a pool of brown sludge had collected around the creature. It appeared to be connected to the body in some way. Garrus realised it first
“Gross, it’s melting Shephard. Look, its skin is slowly sloughing off. That’s why we can see bones. I knew it wasn’t wounded in any way I’VE seen before, I just didn’t know what was causing it.” Garrus stepped back, away from the sludge. “Shephard, let’s get moving yeah?” He said.
Shephard agreed and the team set off, leaving the grisly sight behind. Tali was now close behind Shephard and had a tight grip on her shotgun
They came to a T-junction and saw a map on the wall. Inspection revealed that it was a map of the entire hulk, the team now had a name for it as well.
“Joker, look in the Alliance database for anything called the ESO Inara. We’re in the aft section of the ship, around the middle if this map is correct. Tell me where the life-signs are in relation to our position” Shephard radioed
“Yes sir, Commander. You’re a level above and a hundred meters to the fore of their position.”
“Roger that Joker” Shephard replied. Checking the map, he found a staircase down and the team moved off towards it. The hallways were full of blood and brown goop, just like everywhere else. Once more they came to an intersection and Jacob came to an immediate stop, halting the rest of the team.
Shephard watched as Jacob tensed up instantly and began rapidly scanning the surrounding area, the rest of the team saw his tension and did the same though they did not find what he was looking for.
“Shephard come here.” Jacob’s curtness was unusual but Shephard let it slide due to the stressful situation they were in. Jacob was standing directly in the centre of the hallway with his arms out to his side, fingers pointed, slowly circling in one spot.
“What is it Jacob?” Shephard asked, concerned. He knew Jacob wouldn’t act this way unless he had a good reason. Silently, Jacob began to point things out Shephard. Burn and scorch marks, bullet holes, gouges and pockmarks all around them, each mark was gouged in a direction away  from where they were standing.
“Someone stood here and made a last stand against something Shephard” Jacob whispered. Jack, who was nearby asked
“Why is this important?”
“It’s important because whoever it was survived if not won the fight. Look where we are standing, it’s the only patch of ground not covered in blood or that brown sludge. Look at the sludge, it’s pooled all around us but nowhere near this area. If those corpses decompose by melting then we can assume that someone stood here and kicked a whole load of ass. If this guy is still around he could be dangerous.” Jacob concerned. This was enough for Shephard, Jacob rarely gets concerned.
Looking around they could see, scattered through the brown goop, skeletons and bodies still in the middle of decomposing. It became clear that there were a LOT of them
“I’m agreeing with Jacob on this one Shephard, that thing didn’t look friendly and I sure don’t want to be on the receiving end of one of those claws. I’m doubly sure I don’t want to be on the receiving end of whatever is bad enough to KILL these things.” Garrus stated calmly.
“What? Pussing out Garrus?” Jack taunted.
“No Jack, you put me against these things or whoever killed em and I’ll fight, I’ll fight hard. I just don’t want to have to.” Garrus replied.
“Regardless of what is waiting for us, we have people to save.” Shephard reminded the team. “And we ARE going to save them. Let’s go, the staircase is this way.”
Coming down the stairs, Shephard came upon a strange scene. Strange in the fact that the area was spotless, no blood, no brown sludge, no marks on the walls from weapons fire. Nothing was out of the ordinary and that fact caused the entire hallway to appear strange, a stark contrast to the apocalyptic halls above. Stepping forward Shephard looked for an area that the survivors could be hidden away in and quickly finds an airlock door that had been welded shut. From the outside.
“Well that’s wierd.” Garrus said.
“Ya think?” Jack said mockingly.
“Look up Shephard” Jacob said grimly. Shephard did so only to see a grisly sight, blood and brains and bits of skull splattered the ceiling, looking around he could see drips and drops of blood on the floor as well but no body to be found.
“This ghost ship is beginning to piss me off” Jack growled.
Just as Shephard was about to step up to the Airlock, Joker radioed back
“Commander, I’ve searched the Alliance database, Turian Database, Citadel Database hell I even searched the Salarian database. Nothing at all about a ship called the ESO Inara. There were a few bits of crap but nothing about a ship or a station. The place you are on doesn’t exist in any database we have access to and we have access to a LOT of databases.”
“Spooky” Garrus chipped in
“Thanks Joker, I think we’ve found the survivors. Hold radio for now.” Shephard replied.
After a moment, Shephard stepped up and hammered on the airlock.
“Is anyone in there? Are you okay?” He called. No one answered so he hammered again, harder this time. “Hello in there! Can anyone hear me?” Shephard was about to turn and order them to break through the door when he heard a table fall over and a loud crash. Several thuds could be heard coming closer to the airlock when I panicked voice shouted out
“Hello!? Can you hear me!? Oh god please get us out of here!” The voice was full of fear and Shephard could easily imagine someone on the other side shaking as they shouted out.
“Yes we can hear you, who are you? Are you alright?” Shephard called through the airlock door
“My name is Mark! Please get us out of here!” The voice, Mark, replied
“Us? How many of their are you?” Shephard inquired
“Thirteen including myself; nine men, four women.”
“Okay, we’ll get you out of there” Shephard shouted. Turning to his team he said “Tali, Jacob, stay here and get them out. I’m sure there are EVA suits around on a place like this, get them into them and get them out to the Normandy. Worst comes to worst we’ll just blast the entrance until its clear enough for the shuttle to land.” Turning back to the Airlock door he shouted through. “Can you tell us what happened here Mark?”
“A psychopath has been killing everyone!” Mark cried, “We had to barricade ourselves in here because he hates us for our religion!”
“Do you know anything about these monster corpses out here?” Shephard asked.
“I don’t know! I’m just a priest and my flock are simple people, please! I beg you! Get us out of here!”
“Okay! Don’t worry my team will get you out of here. There is another life sign farther port. We’ll be ba-“ Shephard was cut off by the priest shouting out.
“No! Don’t go get him! That’s where the Psychopath is living! He’ll kill all of you just like he managed to kill more than half of my flock. The man is a danger. If you meet him you should kill him immediately!” The priest was almost apopleptic with anger and Shephard supposed he had good reason to be if what he said was true.
“Nevertheless,” Shephard called back, “we cannot pick and choose who we wish to save, we are here to help everyone. What’s this “Psychopath’s” name?”
The priest was silent for awhile before replying.
“His name is Isaac Clarke.”
****************
“Isaac Clarke huh? Not really a name to strike fear into a bunch of religious types. Oooohhh~ Im Isaac Claaaaarke~ Im gonna murder youuu~” Jack said mockingly, walking in step to a tune of her own divising. “Still scared of the “Psycopath” Garrus?”
“I told you before Jack. I’m not scared, simply concerned.”
“You are SO lying!” Jack laughed. “Such a pussy!” She could hardly breathe from her laughter. Garrus gave her the Turian equivalent of raised eyebrows as well as “The Look”.
“I’m not the one trying to hide my fear by insulting my teammates Jack.” That shut her up. For a little while at least, before Jack could retort; and Shephard new she would, he spoke up.
“Stow it, the both of you. It should just be a straight walk down here. Then we’ll be in this section called “Telescience” where this Isaac person apparently is. Keep an eye out for him, we don’t know what he might be like or whether he’s hostile. The priest said he’s an engineer and uses modified mining equipment as weapons. Expect anything from him.” The priest, Mark, had told Shephard a fair deal more about Isaac, reiterating many times on how he is a dangerous individual, as well as stating he had a degree from the “CEC” whatever that was. Shephard was confused and when Mark tried to explain, barely masking his own confusion at someone not knowing what the CEC was, Shephard figured Isaac was simply an Engineer with a good knowledge base.
Jack forged ahead of the other two, snorting in disbelief.  The corridor they were in had less blood stains then elsewhere and almost none of the brown sludge they had been finding constantly since entering the station.
 Shephard was very confused why someone would build a station out in this deadspace pocket, where there was no recorded annual traffic at all. He was also confused why someone would name it the “Earth Space Orbital” Inara, as well as being confused HOW they managed to build it without anyone knowing. It wasn’t Alliance and it certainly wasn’t Cerberus if Jacob’s information was correct. Shephard’s thoughts were interrupted by a derisive laugh from Jack.
“He’s an Engineer Shephard, a civilian, he’ll probably shit himself the second he see’s Garrus’ face.” Jack derided. Shephard and Garrus shared a “look” and just smirked at Jacks behaviour. They both knew if she truly didn’t like either of them then they would be dead and the Normandy would either be under new management or scuttled.
Jack was getting further ahead and entered another large intersection. “I just don’t see how this guy can be dangerous, what the hell worth are mining tools in a firefight?” She mocked. Jack stormed around like she owned the place, kicking trash over and laughing at the idea of Isaac being a threat. What she didn’t see was the trip wire that she triggered that was hidden amongst the debris. A soft whine of power cells charging up could be heard and, to their horror, Shephard and Garrus saw blue laserpoints aiming at Jack’s back from above and behind her, above the entrance to the intersection. Shephard shouted out but it was too late to do anything to help her. Jack, alerted by Shephard’s shout, whirled around and immediately followed the blue lasers to their origin. Garrus and Shephard saw Jack’s eyes widen as they heard a rapid assortment of thunks and whirrs followed by two very loud bangs. A quick gasp of indrawn breath from Jack was all they heard before she threw her hands up and enveloped herself in a thick semi-circle of biotic energy. Garrus and Shephard saw two flickers embed themselves in the barrier, aimed directly at Jack’s chest, the flickers came to an immediate stop and they were able to see that they were in fact javelins, with some strange sort of attachment on their back end. Shephard saw Jack relax after a moment and was about to let the shield fall when he heard an electrical build-up occurring from the centre of the room, where Jack was standing.

“Jack! Look out!” He roared, expecting more traps. Jack tensed up and enveloped herself fully in the shield, just in time. With a powerful scream of energy, lightning exploded out of the attachment that Shephard had noticed earlier. Garrus pushed Shephard to the side and dived for cover himself, just in time to avoid an arc of lightning that gouged its way through where they were standing. The lightning stopped and was followed moments later by two loud explosions, a thud and a muffled curse. Standing up, Garrus and Shephard immediately surveyed the scene. The room was a mess, the metal wall and floor plating was gouged and blackened everywhere, two semi-spherical blackened and scorched  dents in the metal floor marked the spot where Jack had been standing, no doubt caused by the explosion they had heard only moments earlier. Jack had been thrown into the wall by the concussive force her biotic field failed to contain. Before Shephard could ask if she was okay she rose to her feet slowly and steadily, a raging purple gleam in her eyes.
“Shephard...” She growled. “He’s mine when we find him.” With that, she strode towards the entrance to Telescience. Garrus and Shephard shared a moment of pity for Isaac then followed her, wisps of purple energy floated around Jack, occasionally warping metal or stirring debris as her rage made her biotic power nigh-uncontrollable.  Looking at a map, Garrus told the team new info about where they were heading.
“Where we want to be is right at the end of the corridor we are on now. The only problem is there are plenty of those intersections like the one where Jack got caught. The entire way in is probably booby-trapped to high heaven, it’s definitely going to be slow going Shephard.” At this he glanced at Shephard, as though worried how he might take it. “We’ll have to carefully check every inch of each room and corridor. It’s going to take awh-“ He cut off as they both felt an immense pull of biotic energy. Jack, her eyes blazing with an inner purple light, the air itself warping around her from the strength of her biotic power, hurled a wave of energy down the entirety of the hallway, triggering every trap that was lying in wait. It took several minutes for the final explosion to fade away, the three had to turn away from the glare of the explosions and when they looked up the hallway again they saw was a plethora of destruction. Chunks of metal were torn up from the flooring and the rest of it was blackened and gouged by lightning and shrapnel.
Jack; eyes dimmed from a bright, explosive purple to a duller, darker tone, emitted an animalistic growl and swept forwards towards the door to the main lab in the Telescience area, which was purportedly Isaac’s main base. Shephard and Garrus moved quickly to catch up, they wanted Isaac alive after all, Garrus’ longer legs getting him ahead of Shephard. Jack didn’t waste time opening the door by kicking it open with a biotically empowered foot, the airlock door blasted inwards and rocked on its hinges. Maniacal laughter filtered through the screeching of the metal that chilled the trio. Wreathed in purple lightning, Jack stepped into the room followed closely by Garrus.
***********
Isaac was so very hungry; he hadn’t eaten anything in days. He was seeing things too, things that shouldn’t be possible. Necromorphs still moving around even though the Marker was destroyed, he knew it was destroyed even if he hadn’t returned to the room it was contained in. He wouldn’t return. Ever. Not even if *she* asked him to. The Necromorphs just stood in the shadows or skittered around, he could see them out of the corner of his eyes always. That’s what all the traps were for. They kept the Necromorphs away. The traps didn’t keep *her* away though. She kept coming to him, telling him to go back to the Marker, saying it needed him. Saying it deserved his love; he could still hear her whispered lies. She had been standing in the corner of the room, facing away from him, if he looked at her she began twitching, jittering and turning slowly to face him. Isaac didn’t want to see her face so he looked away and she immediately stopped twitching and slowly faced the wall. He hadn’t seen her arrive, she was just suddenly there in the corner, twitching, Isaac knew that whatever she was, if he saw her face something terrible would happen. He didn’t know what and he didn’t want to find out; there were a lot of things Isaac didn’t know about her. What he did know was this;
Naomi was back.
She had been in that corner for what felt like days, Isaac couldn’t sleep and the hours stretched abnormally long. Isaac felt as though his blood had been replaced with pure adrenaline, his hands would start shaking and the only thing that stopped it was when he held a weapon. For a long time he hadn’t been able to tell the difference between reality and hallucinations; having all the lights on helped for awhile but when the power went out the hallucinations returned a thousandfold. Naomi had always been there though; a sort of hazy, twitching, blurred outline when the lights were on, she solidified in the darkness and kept trying to meet his gaze. Once he lost track of her completely only to find her standing directly next to him, twitching and slowly turning to face him, her skin creaking and crackling as it moved, stretched taut over elongated bones. He went and stood in a corner himself for hours. He heard her moving behind him, heard the crackling of her flesh, felt her breath on the nape of his neck at times. It was worse when the growling started. Far away at first but getting steadily closer until it was a loud roaring right beside him. Activating his RIG’s helmet didn’t help at all, the sound cut right through it but just as Isaac felt his knees buckling, just when he thought he was going to break, when he knew he couldn’t take anymore, the sound stopped. Daring to hope, Isaac risked a glance behind him.
Only to feel that hope die as he saw she was back in a corner. As soon as his eyes touched her she began the twitching and turning all over again. Isaac couldn’t handle it, not anymore, so he huddled in the centre of the room and put his head between his legs, trying to rest.
It didn’t work. The thought of her being in the same room as him, twitching and creaking, was too much, he couldn’t hide from her forever. She would follow him everywhere he just knew it, the only thing that he could do was face her and kill her again if need be. It was just so hard to look at her long enough for her to turn around fully. Every time he came near to catching a glimpse of her face his courage failed him. Every time he saw the hint of her red rimmed, smiling maw he looked away. He knew if he saw her eyes she would become real, he didn’t know how or why, he just knew she would. For hours he tried, each time getting closer and closer to facing her fully and each time, he failed. This could not go on any longer; he had to stand and face his demons while he still had the strength in his body to do so. This creature taunted him of his insanity with its very presence; each twitch a reminder he was going mad, doomed to die alone on a cursed, blood-soaked station, his only companions the ghosts of the dead howling on the winds. Feeling his rage at this hallucinogenic intruder from another world building; he surged to his feet, Javelin gun in hand, and faced her, his eyes afire with a zealous fury. His anger burnt away his fears, his exhaustion, the room gained a red tinge as an almost uncontrollable blood lust seized him in its grip; maniacal laughter echoed in his ears as Naomi slowly turned to face him. Any fear he might have felt was immediately burned away by his all-consuming, unlimited and seemingly sourceless anger and hatred, this creature was something he had to face and absolutely destroy. Naomi’s skin tore as she turned, her bones and muscles protesting at the insane angles her body was being forced accommodate.
 The hysterical cackling reached an awe-inspiring crescendo, Isaac could feel blood beginning to pool in his helmet beneath his ears. Naomi was now completely facing him, however, her head was down. Shoulders shaking out of sync with the all-invading ever present laughter, Isaac watched with slight trepidation as her head slowly raised and stopped just before he could see her face. With a loud SNAP of breaking bone her head jolted upwards and to the side, her face was something carved out of corrupted, mouldy porcelain by a devil on a bad acid trip. A gaping, smiling maw lined with razor sharp, dark, crystalline and translucent teeth as well as two empty eye sockets of slowly swirling darkness above a gaping rotted hole where her nose should have been. The things eyes locked onto Isaac’s, even through his helmet he could feel those pools of darkness invading his very being. His arms moved almost of their own accord, fuelled by his draining anger; they raised themselves, still holding the Javelin gun, and pulled the trigger. The first Javelin pierced her chest and pinned her to the wall, stopping her from coming any closer. It didn’t stop her horrible, horrible smile nor did it prevent her eyes from invading and devouring his soul, wanting to put a stop to this, he fired another Javelin and this time it entered her skull and pinned it backwards into the corner. Still the eyes followed him; still her smile cut away at him as though they were razors upon his flesh; still, the all invading laughter screeched in his ears. Clutching his head Isaac screamed and laughed and gibbered as he felt the last vestiges of his sanity fleeing from the wretched sight that was he. Just before the last strings of reality detached from him, the doors to the room exploded inwards and he was bathed in glorious golden light. Framed within that beautiful light was a harbinger of wrath, lightning arcing around her; Isaac knew immediately that this was an angel come to save him from himself and that angel had taken the form of his lost love. Before he could reach out for help he saw, to his unfathomable horror, a tall, unusual looking Necromorph with a scarred face and small bones jutting out of the back of an elongated head approaching quickly behind the Angel, no doubt intent upon harming her and stopping her from saving him. Isaac knew he had to save her, he knew that he had to protect this bringer of light even if it caused his death. Raising his Javelin Gun, he roared her name in defiance of everything that stood against him and fired at the creature.
*************
Bursting into the room, ignoring the wailing and screaming coming from within, Jack had a few moments to take in her surroundings. Two things stood out to her, the first was the reportedly, and now undoubtedly confirmed insane, engineer Isaac Clarke; standing in the middle of the room clutching his head, gibbering and screaming as though he had looked into the abyss and the abyss hadn’t just looked back, it had skull-fucked him with a diamond edged dildo. The second thing that Jack was able to absorb was the corpse of a mutilated, eyeless woman pinned to the wall in a corner. It was clear that her corpse had been ravaged and repeatedly mutilated. Two titanium spikes held her up, one through her chest and the other through her skull. Her jaw hung slack and her teeth had been smashed from her mouth, the few that remained were so broken they looked like fangs. Her skin was cracked and ravaged from clear space exposure, broken bones jutted through her skin where she had been brutalized. One of her legs ended a ragged, bloody stump and her arms where dislocated and forcibly lengthened.
All this, Jack took in before the filth encrusted figure in the middle of the room noticed her entrance; once he did, he stood rock still for a moment before reaching for her in an almost loving gesture, mumbling someone’s name. Jacks readied herself but just before she could use her power Isaac’s head snapped to the side and looked over her shoulder seeing something behind her; with an unearthly scream that emerged from the tortured depths of Isaac’s very soul he snapped his arm around and fired a Javelin at her. She was roughly pushed aside and heard a thud, a squelch and a grunt as the Javelin pierced flesh; glancing behind her she saw Garrus holding his shoulder in pain, glaring at Isaac and growling slightly in anger and pain.
Jack whirled around, her clothes flaring as she gathered all the power she could. Eyes ablaze with an uncontrollable fury at the person that hurt her comrade and she grabbed Isaac with a fist of Biotic energy and hurled him into the wall with such force it dented the metal deeply. Stepping forward, arms surrounded by purple lightning, intent on tearing him limb from limb, Jack was stopped by Shephard grabbing hold of her.
“No Jack, I want him alive to interrogate him, the only other survivors we have are priests and civilians, the station engineer should know what we need to know.” Shephard said, trying to reel in Jacks anger with reason. Jack stared at Shephard for a long time until she whirled around and hurled all her energy at the opposing wall, shattering it completely and tearing a hole through several corridors and severely denting the last wall when her energy ran out.
“Fine.” She growled, her voice controlled and the fury in her eyes subsiding. A malicious look crossed her face and she said “I’ll carry him.” Before Shephard could think of a reasonable excuse to say no to her she had picked Isaacs limp form up and was carrying him back the way they came.
“Man up Garrus, it’s just a flesh wound.” She said to Garrus in an unusually toneless voice as she passed him.
Grimly he pulled the Javelin out and let it fall to the ground. He glanced at Jack as she stormed past, then shared a look with Shephard. They both saw how she reacted to him getting hurt and Garrus appreciated her hidden concern. The walk back was uneventful, aside from the occasional *clunk* of Isaac’s limp figure “Accidentally” smashing into things. Halfway back to their place of entry Tali radioed in.
“Shephard, there weren’t enough EVA suits for all the survivors so we had Joker blast the entrance wide enough for the shuttle to enter and land in the room. When Jack arrives we’ll need her to extend a biotic field so we can all leave. Until then we are waiting just outside our point of entry for you.”
“Roger that Tali.” Shephard said, relaying the info to Jack who nodded her acquiescence, “We have Clarke and are bringing him back now.” Tali acknowledged and signed off.
“Could we hurry up Shephard? Losing blood here.” Garrus said; Shephard mentally kicked himself for not doing this earlier and stepped over to Garrus to seal his wounds with Medi-Gel.
“Sorry Garrus, It’s inexcusable” Shephard said, shamefaced.
“It’s okay Shephard, you’ve had a lot on your mind lately, besides that I didn’t even know you had Medi-gel otherwise I would have said something earlier.” Garrus laughed good-naturedly. Once more they set off and the return trip was uneventful so they made good time. When they arrived at their point of entry they came upon Tali and Mark arguing about something, Tali with Jacob standing menacingly, caressing his rifle as he scanned the people standing in front of Tali, thirteen people stood in front of them with Mark at their head. It immediately became clear what they were arguing about.
“I will not have my flock endangered by the presence of that psychopath! I demand you leave him here to die, if not kill him outright! The man is a danger to everyone and everything around him, he has killed and mutilated countless hundreds in his rampages! The very fact you are insisting we let him live his, in itself, a crime against humanity and the very Goodness evident in all of us!” Mark said, at once aghast and angered at what Tali had told him. Mark was a priest and was a good orator as well as conversationalist, however, Tali was having none of it.
“My commander has issued his orders and I WILL follow them, I don’t care what your past experiences with the man might be, orders are orders.” At this she drew herself up to her full height, which admittedly wasn’t as grandiose a pose as she might have liked, trying to force Mark to back down through sheer tenacity. Mark wasn’t swayed but before he could speak again Jacob spoke up, “I have complete and total faith in the Commander and if he says that the Engineer is on his way and isn’t a risk to anyone then I believe him. You should too, since we are the ones rescuing you right here and right now. It seems a bit ungrateful, even disgraceful, for you to be second guessing the man who decided you were worth saving.” This left Mark unable to respond and he was stared down by Jacob. None of the three had noticed the new arrivals until one of the clergymen nudged Mark and pointed Shephard out. Mark saw Isaac being casually held aloft by Jack on one side of Shephard, it was clear from her posture she was doing it after all, taken aback by this casual manipulation of space and time; it still wasn’t enough to prepare him for what was over Shephard’s other shoulder.
There, standing calmly, was clearly an alien species in armour and holding a weapon. It was either an alien or a horribly disfigured human but Mark didn’t think that that much mutilation was possible, even after all the things he had seen and done in his tenure as a clergyman for Unitology. What was even stranger was the way Shephard and his team acted in complete normalcy around it. Realising something even more horrifying his head snapped back around to Tali, he had assumed that she actually WAS disfigured and wore the suit as a sort of shroud to hide her shattered frame. Now he thought he had been conversing with an alien species for the past thirty minutes without even realising it and he didn’t know how he felt about that. Before he could speak one of his cohorts opened their stupid mouth and burbled,
“What the fuck is that thing?!” Mark turned and saw, to his horror that the idiot was pointing directly at the creature beside Shephard. Sometimes he prayed his closer associates were a bit sharper of mind, clearly the creature was an ally of Shephard and possibly a close one at that, offending it was probably a bad idea.
Garrus, to his credit, was mildly amused. He leant over to Shephard and whispered
“I think they mean me Shephard, they’re acting like they’ve never seen a Turian before and you saw how he looked at Tali.” Shephard nodded in agreement then addressed Mark.
“Garrus here is a Turian. What part of the galaxy have you come from to have never seen a Turian before?” He asked reasonably. Immediately the man’s face lost all expression and he was silent as Mark stepped in to answer, not before Jacob gave Shephard a significant look, no doubt he had sage mercenary advice or experience to tell him later.
Mark hesitated only a second before answering, plastering his best winning smile onto his face. “Why, we are from Earth! The centre of humanity, my friends and I are important members of Unitology and you will be well rewarded for saving us. “ It was clear from the glances he was giving Garrus and Tali that he didn’t know how to react, he also saw the looks of confusion that crossed their faces at the mention of Unitology and the fact he said they were from Earth. Shephard cut in with a question.
“I’m not sure I’m familiar with Unitology. If you’re from Earth, surely you know what a Turian is?” He held up a hand to forestall further comments and said, “You can tell me more when we are aboard our shuttle heading to the Normandy.” He paused a moment to radio Joker, “Joker. Send the shuttle in now, we’re returning to the Normandy.”
“Aye Aye Commander.” Came Joker’s reply. Nodding, Shephard turned to Jack and asked
“Are you up for this? I’ll carry Clarke in if you just make a corridor to the shuttl-“ Shephard wasn’t even finished talking before Jack was shaking her head.
“I’m too tired to make a corridor like that, I can make a small bubble and escort everyone across a few at a time but then I’ll be out of action for awhile. You think I can throw all this power around without needing sleep or food?” Jack snorted. Shephard shrugged and agreed. Jack took the survivors across three at a time; Garrus remained with her throughout it just in case and Shephard brought up the rear with Isaac slung over his shoulder. The shuttle had to return and offload once before returning and Shephard told his crew to set the civilian survivors up in the dorms. Once everyone was on board, Isaac was moved to the medical bay and is strapped there until he regains consciousness.
**************
The door to Shephard’s cabin slid open with a barely audible hiss of sound and he trudged in, exhausted from the day’s work aboard the station. Jacob had pulled him aside and brought up the moment where Shephard had asked the man who had asked what Garrus was a question. He pointed out that it takes training to be able to switch off visual cues at a moment’s notice like the man did. It was clear that they weren’t ordinary civilians and that Mark was their de facto leader, they were all extremely fit, not a one had any sort of visible disability. Allowing the possibility that the civilians were anything but what they said they were to sink in, Jacob warned Shephard to be careful and reassured him that he would keep an eye on them. Shephard thanked Jacob and was about to leave to go sleep when Tali accosted him. She had tried to access the stations database in her spare time and had found something curious. Not only were the encryptions very strong a large amount of the data had been purposefully destroyed, she wasn’t able to tell when but assumed it had something to do with the outbreak of death and madness. She was able to find a crew roster and three things stuck out to her. The first was that a large number of the crew where marked as “Security” which implied the station was researching something that required a lot of muscle and the second major find was that Isaac Clarke had only arrived very recently aboard the station. The third, most confusing thing she found was the dates.
“Shephard, if this data is correct then the inhabitants of that station were using the human calendar set three hundred years ahead of our current time. I can’t think of a logical reason for it. You might want to ask the civilians individually, split them up away from Mark and get answers from them they might not ordinarily give. There is something very wierd here Shephard.”

Shephard agreed and ordered Kelly to spread the civilians out as much as possible in the dorm rooms, to try and keep them separated. With all that done, he had finally been able to retire to his cabin. Stripping off his armour, he collapsed onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. There was a lot of unanswered questions floating in his mind and he was going to get to the bottom of this mysterious station and her crew. Tomorrow.
Right now, he wished to sleep. As he closed his eyes and felt sleep slowly take hold of him, he wondered with a smile what Kaidan was doing.




“All we want is some simple answers to some simple questions.” Garrus said to the stone faced man seated across from him. They were in the observation room, Garrus was seated with his back to the wall, enabling him to look out into the endless dark sea of the void, pockmarked by the occasional beautiful star. Garrus and Kelly were chosen to do the interviewing of the survivors, Garrus for his experience as a C-Sec member and Kelly for her experience as a psychiatrist. They had already interviewed half the survivors and they were both met with nothing but a stony silence the entire time. Even the frailest looking of the women had refused to open up, they all seemed to have backbones of steel. No matter what tact the two seasoned interrogators tried it was all met with a solid resistance, as though it was muscle memory for the survivors.
“What’s your name? What was the ESO Inara’s main function? What caused the catastrophe we saw evident throughout the station? What was all that brown sludge? Our own scientists found traces of human DNA throughout it.” Garrus stared at the man; still no sign of anything, no hint at a crack in the veneer of silence. Sighing deeply he continued for a few minutes more before realising he wasn’t going to get anything from him.

“Okay. Time to get you back to your room. Thank you for your time.” Garrus stood up and extended his hand. The man also stood, hesitated then shook his hand with clear distaste. It happens, sometimes, Garrus thought. Xenophobia was around, though the Council did its damned best to stamp it out with inter-species relations campaigns years ago. It affected all races to varying degrees, his own was guilty of it on occasion. Humans showed a remarkable capacity to accept things outside their own society as well as a remarkable capacity for hatred. This dual mentality often put them at odds  with other races. Pondering the oddities of mankind, Garrus escorted the man back to his room then moved on. This one was unsurprisingly stone faced and Garrus resigned himself to another fruitless endeavour in the observation room.

An hour passed, an hour of unending boredom as silent men and women sitting stock-still in the chair opposite to him until at last he was at an end. One woman remained to be questioned and he stood in front of her door. Knocking gently, he looked forward to having this whole business completed. The door slid open to reveal a slim, tall figure in a tank top and sweat pants, outlined through the clothes was a toned, lithe body, accustomed to hard physical work. Luscious, reddish orange hair framed a pale, freckled face with gloriously green eyes above a diminutive nose. Garrus was shocked to see a small, somewhat excited smile shining on her lips. So far everyone had been completely blank and toneless in everything they did so this small change was magnified a thousandfold.

“Right this way please ma’am, straight to the observation room.” Garrus said, stepping aside and holding out a hand behind him. Nodding, she stepped past him and headed towards the observation room, long strides getting her there quickly. Not even waiting for Garrus she strode straight in and immediately stopped dead in her tracks, staring out into the stars; the architectural style of The Normandy highlighted Space in such a way as to cause newcomers to pause and feel their heart flutter at such raw beauty.  This woman was the only one out of all of the civilians to pause in wonderment at the sight, all the rest had simply strode straight to their seat and sat down; it became clear to Garrus that she was different in some way.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Garrus asked, enjoying the sight of void, “Turians might be seen as militaristic  and unapproachable by the other races but we do enjoy our stars. The Citadel boasts one of the best observatories in the galaxy, all are welcome there but the vast majority of their patrons are Turian and Human.” His calm, reasonable voice was toned and measured to be as relaxed as possible to try and put her at ease. Turning, the woman gave him another small smile then went and sat down at the desk, Garrus moved over and took his seat with his back to the wall.
“Now,” he said, “all we want are some answers to simple questions. Are you willing to give us some?” he asked, hoping for an answer.
“That will depend on the questions.” She replied calmly. Garrus felt his eyes widen slightly, it was the first time one of the survivors even hinted at being able to answer any questions he had.

“Okay, we’ll start off small. What is your name and where are you from?”
“My name is Claire, Claire Hunter and I am from Earth.” She said and before Garrus could ask another question she blurted out, “What are you? I saw that our rescuers were used to you but you’re the first contact with an alien race humanity has ever had!” Garrus was slightly taken aback by this and paused for a moment before answering her seriously.
“I’m a Turian, we’ve been part The Council for a long time and we police Council Space and operate as the Councils backbone military. Surely you should know this since the human race has been part of the galactic community for decades.” The look of utter shock on her face was enough to let Garrus know that something very, very strange was going on. The strangeness only got worse as Claire began speaking

“That can’t be possible, you’re the first alien race we’ve ever met. Ever. After centuries of hoping for first contact, we gave up.” She sat back in her chair, looking dejected. “Humans stopped training for first contact and it became a far-flung dream, rarely considered. I don’t understand why you are saying we’ve been part of the Galactic Community; we’ve never seen your kind or any other kind of race besides our own before.” Claire finished and the look of wonder was back in her eyes. Garrus decided to let it slide, if she wanted to fake ignorance then that was her prerogative and he decided to move on to his next question.

“Tell me about the ESO Inara. What was its purpose and how did it get built out here in the middle of nowhere without their being a paper trail in any database in existence?” He asked.
She started in surprise at the implication that the station wasn’t in the Earth’s orbit.
“The ESO Inara is an Earth Space Orbital built in the atmosphere of Earth and is recorded in the CEC database.” She replied, looking confused. “How can you not know that? We’re still in Earth Space. I mean, there was that wierd feeling of nausea and distortion awhile back but it wasn’t the same as a shockdrive so I know we didn’t move.” Once more, Garrus felt like she was toying with him. Slightly irritated he reiterated a question.
“What was the stations purpose?” He asked. Claire, sensed his irritation and clamped down on her excitement. Measuring each word, she replied.
“Simple biological research for the most part. There were a few other research departments but I wasn’t involved in it.” She stopped and it was clear she did not wish to say any more. Garrus, glad to have some kind of information to give to Shephard, moved on.
“What was your job aboard the station?” He asked. Claire once again hesitated a moment then said in a matter of fact voice.
“Security.” Garrus waited for more but none was forthcoming so he decided to forge ahead.

“Security? A research station focused on biology needed security? Okay that’s somewhat believable; however what isn’t believable is the fact that a large majority of the crew rostered onto the station was marked down as “Security”. Why would your station need so MANY guards? What were you really doing?” He rapidly asked, ending on an accusatory note. Claire was slightly taken aback by this but clammed up fast. Her face fell into the clear, silent manner that the rest of the survivors had exhibited. Garrus tried to ask a few more questions but it was clear she intended to keep quiet. Thinking back on what she had said earlier about being in the atmosphere of Earth he asked Joker to announce through the observation rooms speakers where they were in relation to Earth.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen,” Joker said in his best airline pilots voice, “We are aboard the SSV Normandy in the Kepler Verge, several thousand million whatever light years from Earth. If you direct your gaze outside the ship you will see we are in fact orbiting a gas giant for no real reason other than it’s pretty.” At this, Joker slowly spun the ship to show they were, in fact, orbiting a huge, pink, gas giant. Garrus didn’t need to see Claire’s widening eyes to know she was shocked.

“But... Th-thats impossible! How could we have moved so far without using a shockdrive?” She hung her head in her hands, trying to think. In only a moment her head snapped up and she whispered
“Unless...Telescience! The crazy bastard did it.” Garrus heard her whisper and cut in immediately, trying to use her confusion to his advantage.

“Telescience? What’s Telescience?” He asked. Claire responded immediately, without thinking.
“It was one of the science departments run by Dr Clearke. It was for the manipulation of space and time-“ She cut off abruptly, realizing she was letting slip too much. Garrus leant back in his chair.
“The manipulation of space and time eh? I guess that explains how you, your friends and that station ended up way out here. Anything else you would like to add?” He asked, expecting and receiving a dirty look alongside silence.
“Very well,” Garrus said, “Thank you for your co-operation today. My associate Kelly will be visiting you soon to assess your welfare as well as ask you one or two more questions. Please allow me to escort you to your room.” With what passes as a smile, he stood and gestured towards the door. As they walked back to her room, Garrus knew he had to go visit Mordin and ask him a few questions regarding space and time.
*************

“Surely you’ve thought of this before Mordin? The manipulation of space and time? What a scientific wonder that would be, the person who achieved such would undoubtedly have held the galaxies scientific communities highest respect.” Garrus said, slightly miffed that Mordin had dismissed the matter out of hand.
“Lifespan too short for forays into scientific madness. Considered and rejected idea long ago as unfeasible. What with Krogan Genophage alongside other pursuits manipulating spacetime held little interest.”
“So you’ve never considered it beyond a few scant moments?”
“Like I said. Short lifespan. Practical implementation of theoretics only to have it fail would have been great waste of time and effort. Why sudden interest in scientific theory Garrus?” Mordin asked.
“One of the survivors, the only one who even spoke to me, accidently let it go that part of the station we found them on was devoted to “The Manipulation of Space and Time”. She implied that the only way for them to be where we found them was if the head researcher for that department had a breakthrough and brought them here. It doesn’t explain the strange liquid we found all over the place though she did say that the majority of the station was devoted to “Biology”. In any case I think we are looking at something no one has ever experienced before; naturally I came to the best Scientist I know for help.” Garrus said, completely serious. Mordin knew Garrus wasn’t trying to be a kiss ass and simply stating a fact, nonetheless he appreciated it. “All I want to know is whether it’s possible.

“I’ll look into the theory Garrus. Come back soon.” Turning to his lab Mordin bustled off, leaving Garrus to think of what to do next. He didn’t want to bother Shephard with a half cocked theory built off the verbal missteps of a young woman and since there was no other survivor willing to talk he couldn’t corroborate his theory. All the other survivors besides Mark were tight lipped; Mark himself refusing to give out any information other than simple platitudes and misdirections. Thinking about it, there WAS another survivor that no one had talked to yet, battered and bruised on a Medbay table, probably concussed and  maybe with internal bleeding.

Perhaps it was time to wake him up and get his story.
************
“I am concerned about Claire sir. She has always been too sentimental for our line of our work.” The stone-faced man said to Mark. “It seems she has been talking to the...alien... even when your expressed wish was for us to remain silent. I believe we should remove the problem, and soon, before it develops more.”
Mark remained silent as he contemplated his second’s words. He knew that Claire had always been a loose end to be tied up, she was, as his man was saying, far too sentimental. The “tying up” would have to wait however, there were currently too many variables. Leaning back in his chair, Mark steepled his fingers and gave his second a level look. The man’s left eye was missing; his bald head was scarred from an explosion years ago. Standing tall at six feet he was powerfully built and oversaw Mark’s more specially trained militants and their operations. He had worked with Claire a few times and had remarked repeatedly on a hidden softness that would be her undoing and was a danger to the cause.

Thinking on Lorn’s words, Mark nodded in agreement
“A situation will present itself Mr. Lorn. We need only wait and act when the moment is opportune. Claire will learn the error of her ways, even if it kills her. As always, you have my permission to remove any threats to our cause as soon as you can.” Mark said, malicious intent writ large across his face. Lorn stood and bowed with grim satisfaction at the prospect of Claire’s elimination; he had always felt that she was a hidden threat, too weak internally to do what must be done when the going got tough. He made to leave for his own room to meditate and prepare; he would be needing the help of the other operatives, Claire might be weak internally but she was one of their best agents and he knew he would need help. The door slid open with a neat *click* and Lorn’s grimness slid away to reveal a manic excitement at the prospect of the approaching fight.
**********
“You want to what?!” Shephard said in alarm.
“I want to wake up that engineer and interrogate him Shephard.” Garrus reiterated. “I haven’t gotten anything out of any of the other survivors except for that young woman Claire and even that was just  simple superficial information. The only thing theory about them I’ve managed to think of that makes any sense is so ludicrous you’d think I’d gone insane just for mentioning it!” Garrus’ irritation was present in his voice, it was clear that his inability to properly investigate the situation was getting to him.
“Garrus, right now any theory is better then what we have. By that I mean we have nothing. Garrus. Nothing.” Shephard said, awaiting Garrus’ response.
“Okay then Shephard, okay.” Garrus finally said after a few moments pause. “I finally got one of the survivors, Claire, to speak...”
*********
Dr. Chakwas sat in her chair, reviewing the medical reports she had compiled on the survivors so far. The man buckled to the table beside her had not stirred since his arrival and had remained instead in a rigid, unmoving posture; the complete stillness was actually somewhat unnerving to think about so she kept her mind on other things. Other things like the brainwave readouts showing from the patient next to her, the bed he was on was an extremely high tech piece of equipment and had an assortment of medical machinery embedded inside it; The Normandy was the best ship The Alliance had after all and had the best equipment. At first it was just usual brain activity for a sleeping man; well, a sleeping man having nightmares at least, but after awhile the machine began to increase and vary in unusual patterns. Suddenly the machine began to record the patient’s brainwave activity with an almost frantic urgency and then flatlined. Shocked, Dr. Chakwas stood up, knocking her chair over in the process, and rushed to the patient to check his pulse, knowing that the only brains that didn’t show any activity were dead ones. Immediately, she found it, roaring through his veins like a Vorcha on speed. Nonplussed, she checked his pupils and found them so dilated that his irises were almost invisible. Surprised by the seemingly unnatural nature of the brainwave stoppage and subsequent pulse increase, Dr. Chakwas tried to get a reaction by shining a penlight into the patients eye only to receive nothing in response.

Dr. Chakwas felt a strange tension grip her as she peered into the dilated eye of the patient, eyelids held open by her own hand, the silence in the room was absolute. Nothing moved; nothing made a sound. It was so silent, the tension so palpable, that Chakwas felt the first thing that made a sound would be destroyed utterly. Chakwas felt her own pulse quickening as she gazed at the black pool that was the patient’s eye, an all-consuming dread settled upon her shoulders and she slowly picked up the beds remote control and prepared to hit the “Sedate” button. She knew not why she did this, irrational fear was guiding her actions; she recognised this and attempted to stop herself from sedating a sleeping man. It was during this silent self-struggle that a *scritch* of noise seemed to explode into the silence, shattering it utterly. Frozen in place, Chakwas slowly turned her head to the Neurologic machine nearby and saw that a single “pulse” of activity was registered. Glancing back to the patient she saw something that completely shattered all semblance of self control; the dilated eye she had been examining had changed, the pupil had retracted so far as to be almost invisible and the eye had rotated slightly to stare at her.


Staring back, Chakwas felt the tiny pinprick of darkness that was the patients pupil look into her very soul. She felt an almighty oppression and couldn’t move out of fear; she stood there for what felt like an eternity, staring into that tiny blackhole, that gateway to an endless realm of titanic, Lovecraftian monsters...  As she stood, staring, she felt something “shift” in her mind and that was when the silence was once more shattered by an explosive outburst of *SCRITCH SCRITCH SCRITCH* from the Neurologic machine nearby. The patients eye seemed to slowly expand, becoming larger and larger until it filled her vision; she felt her world slowly slipping away as the pupil began to expand, jagged, bloody teeth slowly extruding from the rim of the iris intent on her demise. All around her was a whirling maelstrom of red madness and Chakwas felt her mind fraying, until she felt a familiar solidity in her hand. There, with her thumb hovering over the “Sedate” button, was the Neurologic’s remote control. Her thumb pressed down so hard she felt her fingernail almost pop off and a wail of otherworldy cyclopean proportions exploded around her, the eye began to recede and the maelstrom of blood, bones and madness reached a crescendo of noise and movement before dissipating completely.  As Chakwas came to her senses, she realised that she was still holding open the patients eye; however it was no longer looking at her and the pupil had returned to a normal size. Shuddering, she quickly stepped away, falling over her chair. There, shaking on the ground, she stared at the now serene face of her patient as the Neurologic began to slowly *scritch* away as his mind returned to normal.

She didn’t know for sure what she had just experienced, a sort of triggered hallucination to be sure; and she didn’t know what caused it. What she did know was this.
Isaac Clarke wasn’t whole.
*********