Here for the Payday(Mass Effect/Battletech)

[MarkWarrior]

Here for the Payday​

Date: January 25, 3002/2181
Location: Unknown

The King Henry V shook, a distant explosion rippling through her as she dropped out far away from the Zenith point that they'd plotted.

"Someone tell me what just happened to our ship," Captain Kaylee Frye ordered, pushing out from her captain's chair and beginning to pull on a vacuum-rated suit.

"Ma'am, I've got some sort of electromagnetic discharge here!" Chief Engineer Arnold Culver coughed. "I've shut down the drive and LF-battery, but they may be fried."

"Start running diagnostics and get me a list of what you need," Captain Frye finished suiting up, attaching her helmet to a small tether before stopping at the door. "Lieutenant, you have the bridge."

"Aye, ma'am," Lieutenant Samuels replied. "I'll keep the chair warm for ya."

Kaylee shook her head and secured her helmet before opening the door, stepping through it, and sealing it behind her.

"This is Captain Frye to the Messenger, the King Henry V has had a malfunction, we're checking the damage now, I'll be in touch with an assessment shortly."

"Messenger reads you loud and clear," Sheppard's calm voice responded. "We'll start running checks of our own here."

"Sounds good, Shep. I'll keep in touch."

Kaylee finished her trek to engineering and opened the hatch to darkness.

"Sorry, captain," Culver's voice echoed from underneath a series of consoles and wires. "I've got my hands full here with the drive, Clark's running the diagnostics on our connectors."

"Where do you need me?" Kayle asked, pulling her helmet off and rolling up her sleeves.

"Find a spot and start figuring out the damage. I still don't have a clue what happened here," Culver grunted.

"That's one of the things that we're trying to find out," Kaylee grabbed some tools and got to work. "But we've gotta start somewhere, so we might as well fix what we can while we're at it."

---

"So, start with the worst news and work our way up to the best news," Mark Hull gestured for Kaylee to begin.

"So, we were supposed to be jumping to New Syrtis," Kaylee blew a hair out of her face. "The K-F drive and Lithium-Fusion battery were working just fine the rest of the jumps. But on that last one, we had some sort of electrostatic buildup, it supercharged the Lithium-Fusion battery and fed it into the drive. In short, we completed the jump, fried the L-F battery, and are temporarily stranded here."

She sighed and crossed her arms.

"That's the worst news. The bad news is that we have no clue where in the Galaxy we are. Thankfully, the drive itself is fine, but we're going to be here for a while until we can figure out where we are."

"The good news is that we're set for rations and fuel thanks to us filling the Vagabond and Troy with extra supplies," Sheppard spoke up, nodding at Kaylee and allowing her to take a seat. "Most of our personnel are able to squeeze onto one dropship so we've estimated that we have around six to eight months worth of food, water, and other necessities"

"So, given our current situation, everyone is about to learn Stellar Cartography," the bearded man tapped the desk. "We're going to be pulling shifts and trying to chart our way back to the Inner Sphere. As we map out the next star, we're going to start running calculations to jump there. If there's a habitable planet, we'll stop and resupply as needed."

"And don't hold back on asking questions," Hull glanced at every member of the senior staff with a sad smile. "We'll take it slow. This won't be a problem that we're going to solve in a day, after all."

The small room quickly emptied out after they finished, each member of the staff dispersing to explain the situation to the men and women under their command as well as their dependents.

"Hey," Mark nudged Captain Frye awake in her chair. "Go get some rest, Kaylee. I'll keep things running while you sleep."

"You sure?" she asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"I'm sure," Mark nodded. "There'll still be work left to do when you wake up."

---

Three weeks later…

"Alright, we're mapped out for the next star and made absolutely sure the K-F drive was intact and working," Kaylee glanced at me. "We have the coordinates and math to attempt a jump to the Class F that's twenty lightyears out."

"Alright," I wrote out an equation on a notepad, triple checking the math of the astrogator. "We should be good to make the attempt once we've made sure the math pans out."

"Is there a reason you're writing it out, sir?" Lieutenant Samuels asked.

"It's how I learned the math before putting it into the computer," I replied. "Had to do it the hard way before I was willing to plug it into the computer. Especially after that first misjump."

Samuels nodded as he put the pieces together and waited for me to finish before plugging everything into the computer systems. We weren't jumping until we were certain that we had a destination set and confirmed.

Unfortunately, the math to calculate a jump wasn't something that was done in a short time, a computer could spit it out within a fifteen minute window. But a person? That took some time, and by the time I had a set of coordinates it was nearly the next day.

"I'll plug them into the system and verify that both are correct," I nodded at Kaylee. "We'll jump first thing in the morning."

The bridge emptied itself of everyone but the lone Ensign assigned to keep an eye on things and myself.

I continued punching in numbers and then waited for the computer to spit out the results. Nodding as they confirmed within a few decimal places of what I'd done by hand.

After confirming it once more, I unstrapped myself from the chair and pushed off to float towards the door.

"We'll check everything again in the morning, Ensign Lovell, but we should be able to jump in the morning."

"Aye, sir," he nodded, his focus on the sensor console. "I'll keep an eye on things here."

"Is there something interesting out there?" I asked, pausing at the sealed bulkhead door.

"No, sir. I just don't like how quiet the system is," Lovell replied. "There's normally a certain amount of noise even in a dead system. Old radio signals, debris from jumpships, and dropships, etc. But there's nothing in this system."

"It's possible we're in a system that no one's ever been in before," I shrugged. "It makes sense we might not see any signals out here."

"I know," Lovell shrugged. "It's not an actual problem, I guess I'm just nervous. This is the first time I've ever been off the normal travel routes."

"Well, I think we're going to be off the beaten path for a while." I sighed. "So I think you're going to have to get used to the silence."

"I guess we'll find out after the jump, won't we?" the Ensign replied. "See you in the morning, Major Hull."

–
–

"Everything is in order," Captain Kaylee Frye confirmed, checking over everyone's work. "Sound the alarm and prepare for the jump."

"Aye, Ma'am!" Lieutenant Samuels acknowledged and slapped a button, sending a small burst transmission to the attached dropships. "Alarm is sent, powering up K-F Drive now!"

The entirety of the Marksman held their breath for what felt like an eternity as the drive's charge filled with the energy they'd stored over the last three weeks.

"Ma'am, Drive is charged and we are ready for jump," Samuels reported. "Waiting for your order."

"Initiate the jump, lieutenant," Kaylee ordered. "Let's find out if we're going to make it home or not."

Samuels flipped the switch and the King Henry V winked out of existence for a brief moment before rematerializing in the new system.

"Start initiating system scans," Kaylee ordered. "Unfurl the solar sail and start building up for another jump."

She opened a channel to the engineering room.

"Give me a status report, Culvers."

"Drive is functioning perfectly fine, ma'am," the engineer reported. "There were no issues at any part of the process. But I'm running extra diagnostics just in case."

"Keep me updated," Kaylee ordered. "We don't want a repeat of what happened."

"Aye, ma'am!" the channel shut down.

"Now, let's find out where the hell we are."

---

Date: February 19, 2181CE


Location: Amada, Omega Nebula

"Ma'am, we've got a sensor contact on the outer edge of the system," Helix Caleari reported, her purple complexion darkening as she focused on the computer screen in front of her.

"We're not in the military anymore, Helix," Asavaa Kyado laughed. "We're merchants now, we don't have to be on the alert every time something shows up."

"But what about possible pirates?" Helix asked.

"Send a comms signal," Asavaa shrugged. "I can let the girls know that there's another vessel in the system. But if I'm honest, you've been paranoid since we pooled our money and bought this ship."

"Look, I'm still adjusting," Helix replied. "Just humor me on this."

"Fine," Asavaa rolled her eyes. "We'll send a comms message and prep what weapons we have. "I doubt we'll have to do anything, but if they try to board, they'll be facing a group of ex-Commandos."

The lead Asari rippled with biotic power for a second as she smirked.

"Who knows, it might be fun to take on some pirates for a change."

Helix pressed a few buttons and a preprogrammed transmission was sent to the sensor contact on the outskirts of the system.

All they had to do now was hold position and wait for a response.

"Alright, you've sent the transmission," Asavaa crossed her arms. "Now, I'm going to grab a drink. You want anything?"

"Grab me an energy drink," Helix replied. "I'm going to be here for a while."

The small bridge of the cargo ship was empty aside from the two of them for the next few hours.

"The contact is still there," Asavaa glanced at the sensor readouts. "I don't think they're going to respond at this point."

"Wait," Helix tapped a few controls. "We've got a response, but they might be at a lower tech level. This is looking like it was transmitted hours ago and we just received it."

"Well," Asavaa prompted her now-silent friend. "What does the message say?"

"It's text only, it seems like they didn't understand the message on their end. But the response was in Systems Alliance English, or something coles enough for the translator to give me something to work with."

"So, you wanna see if we can talk the girls into checking it out?" Asavaa asked.

"Sure," Helix seemed more relaxed now that her fear of possible pirates had been settled. "Who knows, it might be some probe the humans lost or something. We could make some money off of it."

"Now you're speaking the right language," Asavaa grinned. "Let's go get some relics from the Human's past and sell them back to them, then go party."

"I could set some aside and pay for good training," Helix agreed. "I've heard that the Systems Alliance and Turian Hegemony are experimenting with Hard light tech. It would be cool to see some of it in action."

"I can't believe I forgot you're a prude," Asavaa sighed. "You need to get out, live a little!"

"I'd rather spend that time with someone I love than experience everything alone or with just friends," Helix shrugged. "Now, please focus up on helping me plot out this short hop before we talk to the rest of the girls."

"Yeah, yeah," Asavaa sat down and began helping. "I've got the hop plotted, we should be good to go if the rest of them give the go-ahead."

"I wonder what kind of probe it is," Helix muttered. "The most recent readings from our sensors are a little big to be a probe."

"We'll find out when we check it out," Asavaa smacked her friend on the shoulder. "Now come on, let's go."

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 2

"Captain Hull, jump was successful," Kaylee informed me. "I've got the rest of the crew running checks and doing a sensor sweep now."

"Glad to hear it," I replied. "I'm still working with the astronavigation people. Hopefully we'll be able to tell where in the galaxy we are soon."

"Hopefully," she agreed. "Sensor scans should be back soon. Hopefully there's a habitable world here so we can rotate people through some R&R on solid ground."

"If there isn't anything here, hopefully there'll be something at the next jump," I replied. "Lord knows there's going to be a lot of work to do if we want to make it home."

"Captain!" I heard Lieutenant Samuels voice on Kaylee's side of the transmission. "We just received a transmission from something in the system. It's heavily encrypted and I can't make heads or tails of it."

"Identify the frequency and send back a generic response," Kaylee replied. "Hull, get to the bridge of the Messenger. I want us in constant communication and putting all of our heads together on this one."

"Right," I nodded. "I'm closing this channel, I'll reach back out once I reach the bridge."

Closing the comms channel, I unstrapped myself from the chair I had occupied in the Captain's quarters and pushed myself towards the doorway.

"Sheppard, Paige, Peterson, meet me on the bridge, we may have a situation," I touched the intercom button before opening the door and moving out into the hallway. Low gravity was a dream to move through when you were in a hurry. It was when you tried to slow yourself down that things became a problem.

"What's the situation?" Felicia asked me as I floated onto the bridge.

"Random transmission from within the solar system," I replied, grabbing onto a handle to arrest my momentum. "It's heavily encrypted and we can't ID it."

"Star League?" She asked. "It's possible that one of their stellar mapping drones made it out this far."

"I mean, it's possible, but I don't know how likely it is," I replied. "We'd at least have some idea of what the message looked like if that were the case."

"You asked for me?" Sheppard and Peterson floated in as I finished my sentence.

"We've got a situation," I replied. "Possible presence in this system."

"That's good news!" Sheppard grinned. "It means we might be able to find out where we are and how to get home."

"I dunno," Peterson frowned, his five O'clock shadow emphasizing the facial expression. "We still don't have an ID on any of the stars, who knows what's out here or who we're going to run into."

"Regardless, we're going to get on the horn with Frye and start figuring things out," I ordered. "Last thing we need is to get taken out by some sort of forgotten SDS system because we didn't respond properly."

---

A few hours later…


"Ma'am! Immediate sensor contact off of our starboard bow! The Warbook doesn't have any data on it!" Samuels reported to Captain Frye and the officers aboard the Messenger's bridge,

"Hull, I'm launching the fighters, be ready to detach the Messenger if this turns into a fight," Kaylee said. "The King Henry doesn't have the weapons to fight if it comes to it, we'll just try to hotload the drive and jump."

"Ma'am, transmission directly to us," Lovell reported. "Audio only, it's unencrypted and in English."

"Put it through," Kaylee ordered.

"Unknown vessel, this is the ISS Goddess's Beauty," A slightly synthesized voice greeted us. "We don't recognize your ship design, but based on your transmissions, you're clearly Human. If you are amenable, we would be open to trade, or possibly assisting with repairs if needed. We don't detect a functioning Eezo core. And we have the technicians available if you require assistance."

"Is the channel open?" I asked.

"Negative, sir," Lovell replied.

"Sir, Ma'am, I recommend we cooperate with these individuals," Samuels said. "Their ship mass and size is that of a small warship. We don't stand a chance against anything like that."

"But what do we say to something like one of the Grays?" Paige asked. "Those were only ever rumors. They weren't supposed to actually exist!"

"I guess we accept their help?" Sheppard shrugged. "It's not like we have many other options here."

"Sir, we need to inform the rest of the company before we make a decision," Peterson spoke up. "The last thing we need is an incident where we end up shooting someone and getting killed because someone got spooked."

"Right," I sighed. "Peterson, you relay the information. Sheppard, start prepping; we'll put it to a vote on what to do next. And I'll figure out what we're going to say while we sort this out."

---

The Asari trade vessel dropped out of FTL close to the sensor ghost and began running scans.

"Hey Asavaa," Helix frowned. "Am I seeing things?"

"Let me double check," Asavaa replied, opening a program on her terminal. "No, you're not seeing things."

"Their Eezo core is probably damaged or gone," Helix said. "Must be an early colony ship or something similar."

"We need to bring the Matron up here," Asavaa replied. "She's in charge here, and I don't want us to screw something up here."

"Right," Helix agreed. "Matron, please report to the bridge, the situation is more delicate than we first believed."

A few moments later, the older Asari stepped onto the bridge, peacefully walking over to the two Maidens.

"I thought it was merely a probe," Aelyta Kyara leaned over Asavaa's terminal and began looking things over. "I can certainly see how you thought it was such before arriving closer."

"What do you want us to do, Matron?" Helix asked.

"Open a communications line," Aelyta replied. "The Humans are our Allies. They will appreciate it if we offer aid to someone that is this far adrift from their normal stars. We will see what we can do to repair their vessel and send them on their way if they are so inclined."

"Understood," Asavaa nodded. "Helix, open the channel."

"It's ready when you are, Matron," Helix tapped a few controls.

"Unknown vessel, this is the ISS Goddess's Beauty," A slightly synthesized voice greeted us. "We don't recognize your ship design, but based on your transmissions, you're clearly Human. If you are amenable, we would be open to trade, or possibly assisting with repairs if needed. We don't detect a functioning Eezo core. And we have the technicians available if you require assistance."

Aelyta exhaled and took a seat.

"And now we wait to see what their response will be," she said, opening her Omnitool and beginning to browse the Extranet for more information on potential Human behavioral patterns.

After about ten minutes of waiting, there was a response.

"This is Captain Mark Hull of the Marksman Mercenary Company. We're open to trade and communications, as well as whatever assistance you may provide. Respond with a time and give us directions and we'll detach our dropship to transit."

"We will confer and figure out what aid we are able to render, please stand by for further transmissions," Aelyta responded before gesturing for Helix to cut the signal. "Everyone is to get into their armor and collect their weapons. I'm concerned with them identifying themselves as mercenaries. We all remember our last encounter with Eclipse."

"Fucking assholes," Helix spat. "Should've wiped that whole platoon out while we had the chance."

"I'll communicate with Eshira and have her come to the bridge, we'll need her engineering expertise," Aelyta continued. "Asavaa, you're going to man the bridge while we meet with the Humans. Helix, I know you've been reading up on Humans of late. I want you to come with me, you may identify behaviors that the rest of us will miss."

The room was silent for a minute before Aelyta spoke again.

"Let's move it, ladies! I know we have time, but the Humans are a short-lived race and do not have that sort of patience."

So the crew of the Goddess's Beauty sprang into action, pulling armor on, updating translator programs and doing some last minute reading on human behavioral patterns and speech.

After all, this was the first time these Asari had met humans. They didn't quite know what they were going to find from a group that was probably among the first of the Human colonists sent through the stars.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 3

"Eshira, make sure that the Omnigel stores are high enough to compensate for docking with something that's not to the modern standards," Aelyta ordered before touching a control on her Omnitool and activating the intercom. "Asavaa, send the humans a message that we are prepared to begin docking procedures."

"Understood, Matron, Transmitting message now."

The freighter's external airlock tunnel began to extend as one of the trio of frigates detached from the larger vessel and began matching velocity for docking to begin.

The dart shaped ship pulled close and then rotated so one of the hatches faced the tunnel and after some fine tuning, the docking clamps didn't match, but that's what Omnigel was for. The miracle material hissed and sealed around the incompatible docking and ensured a solid seal, the light going from red to green as the atmosphere stabilized between the airlock and the Asari cargo vessel.

"Seals are good, Matron," Eshira reported. "We're locked and ready."

"Send the signal that we're ready to open the hatch," Aelyta nodded at Helix and checked her armor seals.

"Remember, we don't know if these humans even know that the Alliance has made contact with the Council or other species. Do not open fire unless absolutely necessary in order to preserve your life," Helix reminded the other Maidens. "The last thing we need is for us to start an interstellar incident instead of a guaranteed payday."

---

"Captain, the voting results are in," Peterson reported back to the bridge."What did the company decide?" I asked, unstrapping myself from the chair and turning around.

"We want to make contact and see what we can do to try and find a way back home," Peterson replied, pushing off of the door frame to hand me a slip of paper with the final tallies.

"We're certain that this is the path forward?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Seventy-thirty split," Sheppard accepted the paper from me and nodded. "Even those of us with doubts are probably all in on things."

"Then I guess I should probably figure out what I'm going to say," I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment.

I nodded at the communications officer of the Messenger and cleared my throat before speaking.

"This is Captain Mark Hull of the Marksman Mercenary Company." I paused and looked around at the rest of the staff and bridge crew to gauge their response. "We're open to trade and communications, as well as whatever assistance you may provide. Respond with a time and give us directions, and we'll detach our dropship to transit."

A few seconds went by before the synthesized English came back through our systems,

"We will confer and figure out what aid we are able to render, please stand by for further transmissions."


"Well, That went better than I expected," Sheppard breathed a sigh of relief. "But we should probably figure out how to dock with them. I doubt we'll have compatible airlocks or anything like that."

"Pull all of the extra equipment and food off the Troy," I stroked my beard. "I'll take that and a skeleton crew to meet our new acquaintances. Hopefully, everything will go well, and we will get what we need to return home. If everything goes wrong…" I shrugged. "Well, at least y'all will down some mouths to feed and only one dropship."

"Let's just get everyone back home," Peterson shook his head at my dark humor. "I'd rather not have to figure any of that shit out."

"I'm going with you," Sheppard replied.

"Like hell you are," I replied. "I'm the least experienced officer here. The only reason I'm in charge at all is because I own the hardware. I'm expendable here. Y'all ain't. So, I'm going in with a skeleton crew, and whoever volunteers can come with me," I glared at the senior staff. "None of you are allowed to volunteer."

With that, I turned to leave the bridge and glanced behind me. "Peterson, please get the supplies relocated from the Troy. It's that, or I will take one of the ASFs. And I'm not a pilot."

---

I started putting on an EVA suit as soon as we began moving the Troy to the extended airlock. We considered using the Messenger or an ASF, but the Troy was eventually settled on as the least risky. It had a skeleton crew, only a handful of spare heat sinks, and other unneeded parts for supplies. So, this was the sacrificial lamb.

The EVA suits the Star League utilized weren't anything like the ones from the 20th Century. Instead of massive and bulky with an enlarged pack, they were much more comfortable to wear and easier to manipulate than what astronauts used when I was growing up.

"Captain Hull," Staff Sergeant Jones grabbed my shoulder as I slung the air supply onto my back. "I know what we voted on, but I have some concerns. We don't know anything about what might be waiting on the other side of that airlock."

"I know, Sergeant," I replied. "But we have no idea where we are or what we're going to do from here aside from limp back to the Inner Sphere. We might as well see who or what is out here and what they can help us with. Besides, you volunteered for this. Now, help me make sure my seals are tight."

"Fair enough," She sighed and helped affix the helmet and checking the hose. "Godspeed, Captain Hull." She stepped through the bulkhead door.

With that, the door shut and locked behind me.

"Let's hope that this doesn't bite me in the ass," I muttered, pulling the handle and cycling the airlock. The pressure equalized, and the outer airlock door slid open.

The long corridor was made up of an alloy I didn't recognize, and the other airlock was made up of the same thing.

But there was gravity. So, turning off my mag-boots, I enjoyed the sensation as I stepped through an outer airlock and knocked on the alien ship's inner airlock door.

The outer door automatically shut behind me, and there was a slight spray as I showered with something while an alien voice spoke. Then the inner door slid open, and I saw one of the strangest things I'd ever seen.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 4


"This is the first time I'll see a human face-to-face instead of over the extranet," Eshira babbled nervously as she rechecked the Omnigel seals. "I'm kinda nervous. Humans are so attractive. What if I say the wrong thing, and they just leave? Or they attack us or something."

"I think we'll be fine, Eshira," Helix replied, patting her friend on the back. "We're going to help them, and I'm sure you'll get your chance to meet a sexy mechanic or engineer."

The far side of the airlock slid open on the cameras, revealing a lone person in a bulky exosuit at the far end of the airlock corridor.

"That thing looks ancient," Helix muttered.

"But it's practical and has a ton of redundancies built in," Eshira whispered. "There are at least three or four backup seal systems and extra air tanks. Which would make sense if you didn't have kinetic barriers or biotics to rely on if you got spaced."

The figure paused and looked down at his feet, picking up one and the other before pushing a button on his arm.

"Magnetic seals?" Helix asked.

"Must not be used to artificial gravity," Eshira nodded. "Magboots would be the easiest solution to that on a ship."

"While I appreciate the commentary," Matron Aelyta finally spoke. "I would appreciate a moment to think before we greet our new acquaintance. Or at least for the two of you to speak on a private channel."

The two Maidens immediately fell silent and watched the screen. The figure walked up to their outer airlock and waited for it to open before stepping inside and getting hosed with the sterilizing components every ship mounted for safety.

"Outer Airlock closed, beginning decontamination process," the Ship's VI informed them.

Then, the inner airlock slid open, and the figure paused to consider the small group of Asari in front of him.

Matron Aelyta moved to the front of the group and unpolarized her helmet visor, causing the lone human to react.

"Holy shit! What the hell are you?" the man's fingers twitched towards a sidearm but remained in front of his torso. His chest rose and fell rapidly before slowing down.

"I am Matron Aelyta of the ISS Goddess's Beauty," the Matron spoke, her translator spitting out the words in a jumbled mess.

"More voice samples required," the Multitool said, the man seeming to understand and oblige.

"Look," he held his hands up and away from his weapon. "I'm sure you've got some sort of fancy translator device, but it's not working, and I have no idea who or what you are?"

Matron Aelyta cleared her throat and tapped a button on her Omnitool before continuing, the translator now seemingly understood by the human as he responded to her statements and questions.

Helix tuned out most of the conversation as she looked at the human's exosuit more before catching the end of his response.

"One or two of you can accompany me back to my ship if you'd like," he shrugged. "But I have no idea how long it'll take to discuss everything."

He made a strange gesture towards his faceplate before Helix processed everything and spoke before her mind could catch up to her mouth.

"I will go with you and answer any questions you may have," Helix glanced at Eshira and saw a shift in her body language before continuing. "I am Helix Caleari. This is Engineer Eshira, and we will assist with any repairs you may need before moving your vessel to a more capable repair facility."

The man (now identified as Captain Hull) simply tapped a control on his arm and replied to the two of them.

"Just let me radio ahead before we transfer over." His speakers seemed to shut off, and they heard his muffled voice through the air as he contacted his ship. "Alright, if you two will come with me," He pointed at Helix and Eshira. "Then we'll see about getting this mess sorted out."

---

The other side of the strange door simply had a group of women. Sure, their spacesuits seemed super advanced, and I had no clue why they tailored the suits to be contoured to their bodies. But they were women all the same.

Which is why I freaked out when their faceplates went from dark tint to translucent.

"Holy shit," I held myself back from reaching for the handgun at my side. "What the hell are you?"

I racked my brain for memories of blue aliens and came up blank. There were some sort of overemotional blue aliens in Star Trek, but I couldn't remember what they were called.

One of the figures spoke in a strange language before a device on her wrist spat out gibberish that, if I strained my ears, sounded like it could be a form of old English.

"Look," I held my hands up in a gesture of 'I mean no harm.' "I'm sure you've got some sort of fancy translator, but it's not working very well, and I've no idea who or what you are."

"There we go," the lead purple (woman/alien's) voice came through the device in a strange robotic yet organic speech pattern. "I'm afraid my Multitool needed more voice samples to properly calibrate to your language patterns. Now, allow me to introduce myself. I am Matron Aelyta, captain of the Independent Stellar Ship Goddess's Beauty. I am an Asari, and so is my crew. We hope that we will be able to help you return to Systems Alliance Space."

"I'm Captain Mark Hull of the Marksman Mercenary Company," I replied, extending my hand to shake. "I'm afraid that I don't know what half of that sentence means. But I'd be grateful to accept any help you have to offer. Because if I'm honest, you're the first aliens we've ever met. On top of that, we have no idea where we are or how we got here. Now, I'll have to ask for a little bit of patience as I confer with my senior officers and we come to a decision. One or two of you can accompany me back if you'd like. But I have no idea how long it'll take to discuss everything."

I tried to scratch at my beard, only to run into the faceplate of the EVA suit.

"I will accompany you to answer any questions you may have," one of the figures stepped forward. "I am Helix Caleari, Engineer Eshira, and I will assist with any repairs you may need before beginning transit to a more capable repair facility."

"Just let me radio ahead before we transfer over," I replied before switching off my external speakers.."I have no friggin' idea how some of the men will react to this," I muttered. "This could go very well, or it could go really badly."

Opening a channel to the Troy, I sighed before beginning to speak.

"Troy, this is Captain Hull, come in."

"We read you, Captain. Are you in need of a rescue?"

"Not exactly," I responded. "I've made contact with our new friends, and they're not exactly Grays. But you'd have to see them to believe me. Two of them are coming back with me to help figure out where we are and to help explain any questions we might have before we make a decision on whether to fully accept their help or not. Just tell Paige to keep her Marine's fingers off the triggers. The last thing I want is all of us dead by an accident or a misfire."

"Understood, captain, I'll relay the message to the King Henry. Troy, out."

"Alright, if you two will come with me," I nodded at the two shorter figures. "Then we'll see about getting this mess sorted out."




Author's Note: I'm sure everyone will notice the difference in speech and descriptions between the two parties. This is my attempt at showing that the translator isn't perfect and that the body language isn't able to be read quite as well as the Asari might have hoped. Technology isn't perfect, and there's a lot that can go wrong in a scenario like this. That there's some words/phrases that were paraphrased is perfectly acceptable as an outcome IMHO.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 5

Helix gestured for Eshira to walk beside her as they followed the now-named Human to his airlock. Instead of a holographic display or a press of a button, he pulled a mechanical switch, and the seals hissed.

"I thought Humans already had Element Zero tech somewhat figured out when they had ships this size," Eshira commented, her eyes drifting along the rugged-looking door and interface. "This tech looks older, more refined, and proven."

"This dropship is nearly three hundred years old," Captain Hull shrugged. "It was probably manufactured in twenty-seven fifty or something like that. I'd have to look at the ship's computers to give you an exact date."

"I'm sorry," Helix paused. "I think there must have been a translator glitch."

"Hold onto that thought," Hull turned around and sealed the airlock behind them before pushing another analog switch to begin cycling the air pressure into the chamber. "Now, you said something about a translator glitch?"

"Yes," Helix continued. "I believe you said this ship is nearly three hundred years old."

"Well, probably closer to two-fifty," The human shrugged and reached up to his neck, unsealing his helmet and taking a deep breath. "But yeah, the Troy here is a good girl, well maintained and able to do whatever we need her to. "Is that a problem?" he arched an eyebrow. "Because our jumpship's even older than the dropship here."

"It's not how old the ships are that bothers us," Eshira interjected. "I've worked on far older vessels among the Asari fleets. It's more about how your ship is old when Humans have only been capable of interstellar travel in the last few decades."

"What do you mean the past few decades?" Hull pushed off of the ground and began floating through corridors slowly. "We put people on the moon in the nineteen sixties, and were colonizing other systems in the early twenty-one hundreds. I'm pretty sure that's nearly a thousand years of space travel to fall back on."

The Human waited for the two Asari to catch up before moving again.

"Now, I don't think there's many that have ranged this far before, but it's entirely possible that one or two groups have. We tend to spread pretty far out due to wars, conflicts of interests, hating certain governments, etcetera," He reached a closed bulkhead and used the door handles to press his feet to the deck before pushing a button and allowing his boots to magnetize to the floor. "We're honestly just looking for help repairing our jump drive and acquiring some star charts. We were supposed to start a contract in a year, but now I think we'll be defaulting on that."

The two Asari wanted to ask more questions but were stalled as the door to the bridge opened, revealing something entirely different from what they were used to.

The bridge complement was remarkably small for a ship the size of one of their frigates. The ship's crew consisted of a pilot, a copilot, and two others. There were four chairs on the bridge in total. The controls of each station appeared simple, rugged, and reliable from an outsider's eyes, with the two extra chairs having systems linked to cameras and targeting displays.

"Lieutenant Paige, Staff Sergeant Jones," Captain Hull nodded at the two in the pilot seats. "Meet our new guests. This is Helix Caleari and Eshira. They're supposed to see what they can do to help us make repairs."

"That…" the one called Jones stared at the Asari. "Doesn't look like a Gray, sir."

"They're called," Hull started and then paused. "I actually never received the name of your species. I think it was a part of the translator mix-up."

"We are Asari," Helix replied. "I apologize for any distress our sudden appearance may cause."

"I dunno," one of the two men strapped into the gunner's seats said. "I'm certainly happier with two hot alien space babes than I would be with a bunch of Grays."

"We should be good to detach," Hull continued as if the gunner hadn't spoken. "Then we can see what expertise they can lend to our little drive malfunction."

---

"So, blue alien chicks?" Lieutenant Paige looked very unamused.

"At least we're not getting probed?" I shrugged in response. "I didn't really expect it either. But we're stranded here until the drive is charged. Unless you fancy your chances in seizing an unknown ship with unknown technology and aliens."

"No," she grimaced. "I don't fancy my chances there," She peered around the corner at the two Asari who were floating in between all of the different controls with looks of keen interest on their faces. "They look like teenagers getting to look at an old car or something."

"Thankfully, they seem to actually be interested in helping out for now," I said. "But I doubt it's out of pure altruism. They're going to want something in return. Until we know what that is, play everything close to the chest. And for the love of God, tell your Marines that they're off limits until we know everything's kosher. I don't want some sort of alien STD transferring between the crew."

Both Paige and I shuddered at the thought before she nodded in agreement.

"Trust me," her eyes darkened with glee. "They'll keep it between their legs."

"Good."

I stepped back through the door onto the bridge and gestured for Jones to begin docking procedures with the King Henry V.

"Captain Hull," Eshira frowned through her helmet. "Can you explain why there is no Element Zero on your vessel? We first believed that your ship had sustained damage and that your core might be damaged or shut down for your journey. But I can detect no traces of the substance on any of your ships as we get closer to this 'jumpship.' I can repair leaks and such, provided I am given the requisite tools and parts. But I cannot replace a core entirely."

"I'm afraid you've got me at a loss," I racked my brain for the term and came up with vague memories of a video game I'd only played once and mostly forgotten. "I don't think I've interacted with this Element at all. I've maintained K-F drives and fusion reactors, but I don't think I've ever encountered an Element Zero."

"I need to see what you call a jump drive," the engineer's dark eyes seemed to stare into my soul.

"Keep it in your pants, Eshira," Helix slapped her companion across the back of her helmet. "You can get laid over people talking engineering terms later. We've still got to dock with their big ship, see the damages, fix whatever it is that broke. Then you can try to meld with one of them."

"I need to see know how it works!" Eshira pouted and looked away from me and down at the ground.

"While I'm flattered," I felt my ears burn as the skeleton crew stared at me. "I'm not sure this is the right time for that."

"Initiating docking procedures," Jones announced. "ETA thirty seconds. Strap yourselves in! I don't want to throw anyone around doing the fine maneuvering for the docking collars."


Author's Note: I will be out for a week starting Thursday. No screens or writing outside of my notebooks.