Chapter 3:Alive Yet Changed

Kael awakens alive, yet notices something different

I don’t know how long I laid there, or even how long I had been out. I only know that when I awoke, I was alive, body on the cold metal ground but still alive. I felt around my body with shut eyes, only to find no damage, no open wounds or blood. I opened my eyes to the same bright light in the room; everything seemed the same, but different in a way I could not explain. I gradually stood up, keeping an eye out for any husks only to find none. The room was completely empty, but the blast shield was still in place. I turned around to discover that I wasn’t as alone as I had thought, two Geth, armed with flamethrowers and heavy armor, stood at the door with weapons standing by.  My thoughts wandered as I stared at these hulking metal forms, why leave me with protection if I was locked in a cage? Had Meagan and Ronald gotten out okay?

            The sound of metal crashing on metal was the only warning I had, but it was just enough, at the sound I instantly got to the ground, faster than I thought I was able. Sounds of Geth were all I heard, but then went silent. Gazing up, the sight of my two guards crushed into the wall with a metal beam from the opposite wall, glass and bits of metal and ceramic which I realized was my gear were at my feet. Realizing that the blast shield was gone left me conflicted, on one hand it left me a way out but on the other, there was the disturbing realization that I was breathing normally in a ship that had been completely devoid of atmosphere without a suit or rebreather, but as soon as the thought had come I simply discounted it as part of the ship powering back up, after all the trap had been sprung, no reason to keep it weak afterwards.

            As quick as my feet would carry me, I sprinted to the door, it must have been damaged from the beam as it was opening and closing with erratic frequency. I continued my dash through the path we had originally taken to reach the room; I only hoped that the ship was still docked, or that there was some sort of emergency transport.

            Constantly moving left me constantly wary, I was unarmed and defenseless in a ship full of murderous A.I. Opening through the fourth door along the way, I found myself face to face with a 5 unit squad of Geth, two standard troopers, two heavy troopers equipped with flame throwers and one with a high power rifle, all of this I noticed the second I spotted then. They began corralling me backwards into a wall when the voice once more echoed through the room.

            “Do not flee; it will lead only to destruction.”

            “Better to die free than living under whatever you plan to do to me!” I began making calculations in my head about how to take on the group while taking minimal fire, no good options presented itself

            The voice boomed again but this time it didn’t seem to be addressing me “Capture the subject alive if possible, but terminate if not it seems it will get away”

            It didn’t take any time to realize that this meant the squad would kill me. Before the Geth could react, I moved in an instant, charging one of the heavy troops with the heaviest armor, without even thinking, I rushed my fist into its weapon, expecting to only stagger its aim but instead of hearing a dull thud of my flesh failing against steel; I head a metallic crunch. I gazed at the weapon I had struck and found that my arm had crushed the entire thing to a small hunk of scrap metal; the surprise at this stunned me only slightly but it was still enough to let the rest of the squad surround me.

            Their weapons began heating up for firing, the one whose weapon I had punched pulled out a sidearm. Out of pure reflex I covered my face from the impending fire, and death that would follow. I heard their weapons discharge but did not feel the sting of fire, I slowly uncovered my face and to my surprise they were firing but not a single shot touched my body, then it came upon me that my body was glowing, a glow I had only witnessed from biotics, a talent I never had.

            I knew that I had to move before either the barrier was destroyed or they switched tactics to circumvent it. I dropped to one knee and rushed the unit closest to me, without thought I extended my arm towards it; as soon as the blow connected, it crushed through the armor like paper, leaving a massive dent in its chest, and deactivating it. The others scattered at that exact moment, hoping to take me down while I hunted one, but my speed was unanticipated. I jumped at one with all the speed I could gather, it side dodged my headlong rush, but I rebounded off the wall behind the unit and planted my foot firmly in its head, crushing it completely and spraying the white fluid that acted as their blood. The barrier continued to hold, but how I was keeping it going was a mystery.

            The next two were grouped together behind a container, firing in unison, one of whom was the unit whose weapon I had crushed. I leaped from the ground and guided my launch so that I landed between the both of them, clutching the head of them both, I crushed them together, leaving them both collapsed on the ground, destroyed from the force of the blow. As I watched them fall a heated inferno enclosed me, blinding me in intense light. The barrier continued to hold as I faced the direction the flames were coming from, the final unit that I hadn’t gotten, it was face to face with my body but its blaze completely engulfed me. Without hesitation I head butted the machine with full force, breaking its metallic neck and nearly tearing its head off, but it merely dangled backwards.

            The final one stood at the far side of the room from where I was, its powerful rifle was aimed towards me and was charging up to fire. This effort was for naught, before it even got halfway through the charge-up sequence I grabbed the nearby pistol from one of the bodies and fired it at the enemy 1...2...3...4 times, all of this was done in one motion so swift that my metal target’s aim could not even be moved. The Geth must not have prepared for any friendly fire, as the shields on the troop were completely ineffective; making the four shots I had fired overkill.

            I stood panting among the bodies, not out of exhaustion but out of astonishment. The whole fight had taken less than a minute and I had destroyed a force that could have taken on a few squads, and I decimated them with nothing but my own body, no armor, no weapons except for the one I had picked up. I wondered at the feats I had done, the jump, the strength, and most importantly, the biotics. I discounted the jump as merely lowered gravity, “The strength must just be my deadened nerves” I muttered to myself, explaining that mystery if only for self-assurance, the biotics remained something I simply could not explain and was what startled me the most.

            My escape continued without the pistol I had found, its ammunition count was too low for it to make much of a difference so I left it among the corpses. I passed at least three more squadrons on my path which either didn’t see me or didn’t pursue me, though I couldn’t deduce why. I got about halfway to the dock when an unexpected sight greeted me.

            The hull was torn wide open in a room that had been a large multiple floor corridor, geth were firing on a shuttle that had made its way in the gap but it was sealed shut and was undamaged by the small arms fire. Two Alliance soldiers were outside the shuttle, firing and dismantling the enemy offense in a way that only my squad could. Beside me, a sniper troop was taking aim for a shot, whether at Graves or Biggs, I couldn’t tell, but before it could either take the shot or react to my presence, I ran towards it and forced my knee into its ‘spine’, severing all control it had beneath its arms, which forced it to deactivate. Another one of the A.I was a floor beneath me and quickly moved to take aim; I hopped down onto its chassis, it faced me with its flashing eyes and its back to the ground, I put my hand on the side of its head and forced it into the ground, forcefully severing its neck.

            I looked up from my most recent kill, searching for another to aid my men. I took notice that there was not a single hostile left, and a sight that horrified me; Ronald and Meagan aiming their weapons at me and poised to fire them at my slightest movement.

            “Stand down! It’s me you guys!” my plea was desperate, though them not recognizing me was the most disturbing.

            “Kael...Kael is that you?!” Her voice was steeped in disbelief, and a hint of fear.

            “Of course it’s me!!! Now put the weapon down!!” My fright was making me angry.

            “But you…” She went silent, her helmet prevented me from seeing her and reading her emotions, something she knew I did.

            “Look, can we discuss this AFTER we get out of the massive ship that is trying to kill us?!” Ronald’s voice spoke of frustration and rage but I couldn’t guess the source.

            “Yeah….your right Biggs, lets get out of here. Kael, come on.” She beckoned me to enter the shuttle as it opened its side doors. I tentatively stepped aboard, with Biggs sitting beside me and Graves directly in front of me. They both removed their helmets as we entered and the shuttle took off, I could hear subtle explosions from beyond. Meagan was looking at me with her intense stare that she would use when confronted with a puzzle but with a touch of shock, and Ronald just sat leaning against the wall.

            “Whats wrong Graves? You keep staring at me like I stole your omni-tool” I spoke trying to lighten the somber mood

            “Its…..Its you….” She gazed straight into my eyes and I could see sadness, more than I had seen before from her.

            “What do you mean?! What about me?! I’m alive aren’t I?” I heard their words and asked my question but I feared the answer

            “Here, take my omni-tool, scan yourself.” She handed me the small metal box that held all the functions that the omni-tool had, something she had been customizing for years. I took it in my hand and attached it to the proper area on my arm with a small electric shock running up my arm as I did. When the holographic interface came up I activated the scan function which would inspect for anomalies and show a visual of the scanned object.

            It took a few moments for the examination to finish, but when it did it displayed a full three dimensional image of me. What I saw left me petrified, My body was completely transformed, my armor removed from most of my body, and melted into my body elsewhere, becoming a part of skin, my eyes glowed a faint blue, my chest and skull had the same glow, but from underneath skin, with slight cybernetics vaguely visible elsewhere

            “What the….What the hell?! What the f**k happened to me?!” Trembling began overtaking my body, starting at my arms and spreading beyond, to my chest and onto my legs.

            “We were helping you could tell us.” She was concerned for me, but I thought that I could see flashes of disgust.

            “I….I don’t know…” I felt my heart crashing in my torso

            “We will just have to find out later, I know this is hard for you Kael. But you can get through this.” Again, she seemed concerned.

            We Sat silent in the shuttle during the trip…I was told nothing about what happened, and when we arrived back at the ship, Graves walked out and told me to just “stay put”. She came back a half hour later; with a hard glare she guided me through the ship to the cryotubes.

            “What are we doing here? We aren’t that far from an Alliance depot.” Though I sensed I already knew the answer

            “Hackett wants this under wraps, wants YOU under wraps. For that to happen you need to go into cryo and not wake up until we get where you need to.” She had regained her usual clinical tone.

            “ I understand, keep a good eye on Biggs for me while I’m out, and if he gets out of line then tell him I’ll kick his a*s when I get back” I was still trying to lighten things, if only for my own good.

            “Yes sir.” She opened the cryotube, the long metallic bed was ready for me. I laid down on it and she began closing the glass sheet that went over it. As it finally closed I looked into Meagan’s eyes, and gave her one final salute, she returned the gesture and walked away. I laid there for a few minutes before the effects kicked in and I began getting very drowsy very quickly. I vaguely heard an electronic hum from inside the chamber as I finally passed into sleep, moving towards whatever plans were made for me, into the great unknown.

Author's Note

Still getting some practice with dialogue, feedback appreciated