Chapter Text
“Life support at 17%. Power core at 24%. Systems critical,” the VI’s robotic voice echoed in the small cockpit of the Corova – a small turian scout ship.
“I know my fucking ship is busted. I don’t need a reminder, Keta,” Ensign Vaylin Victus snarled back at Keta – her ship’s virtual intelligence. “Are those human ships still on me?” The Corova was rocking and shimmying, thrusters misfiring, and random monitors were blinking on and off. Her seat harness was certainly stressing its limitations as it tried to hold her in place.
“Due to damage, sensor scan range is limited to 5,000 kilometers. No active ship profiles are detected within that range,” Keta replied. “I believe the combat debris field is currently masking our signature from long-range scans. However, we do not have sufficient power to reach a mass relay, known habitable planet, or Hierarchy or Citadel space.”
“Come on, stay with me,” she whispered and tightened her hand on the stick, as if her force of will could hold her ship in one piece as it threatened to fly apart on her. A sudden beeping and flashing red light to her left drew her attention. “I know FTL doesn’t work, but I can’t do a damn thing about that. Just turn that one off, Keta.”
“Acknowledged,” he replied and silenced the alarm.
“This is my first damned scouting mission on my own, and I’m not going to die out here,” she replied, more to herself than the VI. “At least not if I have anything to say about it. Besides, if I die out here, my brother will kill me.”
“If you’re already dead…,” there was a clear tone of confusion in Keta’s voice which made Vaylin chuckle.
“Nevermind, just focus on the ship.”
But her prospects weren’t looking good. Additional flashing yellow and red lights popping up indicated just how bad of shape she was in. In her scouting mission near human space, she’d run into three human scout ships, and they’d hammered her pretty hard before demanding her surrender, which she had politely ignored. With some flying that impressed even herself, she’d managed to shake them and make a run for it. She had retreated to the site of a recent battle between a human and turian fleet. Running her ship on low power, it seemed she’d succeeded in hiding amidst the wreckage of abandoned ships. But the damage to her ship proved even more extensive than she’d initially feared.
Survey the wrecks as she glided through the wrecks, a sudden thougth struck her. “We can’t make it much further. Scan the ships. See if we can dock with any of them. Maybe we can salvage some gear or parts or get a message out.”
“One moment,” Keta said politely. Extra monitors shut off as Keta appropriated the sufficient power needed to follow her command.
While he scanned, Vaylin checked her gauges that were still working again to see if there was anything she could do. Long range communications were down, so she couldn’t get a message out, but maybe she could reroute some power or jettison something to squeeze a little more life out of her ship, but she could see it was all but hopeless. The Corova was dying.
“Human frigate detected. Significant hull damage and numerous exposed areas. However, sufficient sections of the ship remain intact to allow for docking and possible salvage of parts and equipment.”
“Will our docking clamp work with their ship?”
“Scanning. Affirmative. The Menae Class III fighter features a nano-fiber docking mesh which is capable of adjusting to adapt to a wide range of docking stations. The human ship’s docking portal falls within the parameters of the mesh.”
“Alright, ping it on the radar, and I’ll take us in.” Vaylin piloted the ship in the direction the VI indicated. Then she saw it, and she had to wonder what the hell Keta was thinking. “You want me to dock with that? Keta, it’s been smashed.”
The human vessel – a large frigate of four or five decks - was a true wreck. It was no wonder it had been left behind. The entire port wing was gone. One large section of the hull on the top deck was completely torn open and exposed to vacuum. Other sections of the ship were marked with heavy damage.
“It was the most intact ship within the battle area. There is no alternative.”
“Damn it. Well, I said I wasn’t going to die, so I guess we have no choice,” she groaned. This was not going to be a walk in the park. “Taking us in.”
Five minutes later Vaylin was maneuvering her ship carefully towards the only intact docking bay she could find, which fortunately appeared to be located near the ship’s bridge, based on what she little she had been brief on of human ship design.
“Thruster power is down to 7%. Recommended to complete docking as soon as possible.”
“I’m working on it, Keta!” she grunted. “Let me focus. Sensors are on the fritz. I’m having to eyeball this.”
“Eyeballing is a not an advised strategy according to Hierarchy Combat Poli…”
“Not now!” Slowly, she moved the stick, easing the ship in, pulling back on the throttle as she maneuvered. It was going to be a tight fit. The turian vessel was shaped differently than a human one, and getting the docking clamps to connect was going to take some good flying. Fortunately, Vaylin was, if nothing else, a kickass pilot. It was nerve-wracking, but she kept her cool, kept her eyes the other ship until she heard the thud as the ships touched. Then there was a green light on her panel when the mesh successfully engaged.
“You will be the first turian to board a human ship,” Keta said, almost cheerfully, seemingly trying to encourage her.
The thought hadn’t occurred to her, but Keta wa right. This was a real opportunity to prove her worth. “If I can get power to the computers, maybe we can pull some intel. We can help the Hierarchy try to understand who these people are.”
“That sounds like a promotion.”
Vaylin couldn’t help but chuckle. “That would show my brother, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Hitting a button on her suit, she activated her helmet and suit life support.
“I will stay in communication through your omni-tool,” Keta informed her. “However, I recommend powering down all non-essential systems to preserve what little power reserves remain.”
“Do it,” she said.
“Acknowledged.” There were whirs and hums as the ship’s systems began to power down, but there were also concerning sounds screeching metal and thumps.
“Well, that doesn’t sound good,” she said. But she only needed to find some parts. She knew her ship inside and out. If anyone could fix it, or at least jury rig it long enough to get home, it was her. Failing that, hopefully she could at least get a message out.
Turning in the tight space of the cockpit, which was not much bigger than the than her seat, she opened the small hatch behind her chair and climbed up into it to the bulkhead door of the human ship. She found a control pad, which of course had no power. Fortunately, there was also a panel beneath it. Opening that, she discovered a manual release. She grabbed the release and had to pump it repeatedly as the door slowly retracted. Her arm was already sore by the time it was wide enough for her to squeeze through. She then noticed a strange port by the bulkhead and scanned it with her omni-tool.
“That is a power connection node. I recommend that you run a power cable from our ship to the human vessel. Once onboard, it may be possible for you transfer power to our ship, if we can reroute it successfully.”
“How do you know they’re compatible? What if I plug in our power cable and it sparks or explodes?”
“Human technology, like ours, appears to be based on the mass effect principle. My scans indicate compatibility within safety parameters. I will monitor the connection and can sever it if needed.”
“I’m going to trust you on this,” she said, clear uncertainty in her tone. Turning back to her ship she opened a panel in the rear of the cockpit and uncoiled a cable. She plugged one end into the access point to the ship’s power core. With the other end in hand, she returned to bulkhead.
“Here goes!” she said and stretched her arm forward, staying as far back as she could from the port. She breathed a deep sigh of relief when she plugged it in and absolutely nothing happened. “I’m skeptical that we’ll actually get any power out of this thing.”
“We must be ready for all options.”
“Ok, here I go.” Her silver armor suffered a couple of scratches from the bulkhead doors as she pulled herself into the human ship.
“One small leap for a turian, one giant leap for that turian’s VI,” Keta said.
Vaylin’s green eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Keta, are you sure you’re a VI?”
“What else would I be?”
“Sure, sure. Just asking. No gravity in here,” she said as she floated into the main corridor of the deck. There was momentary disorientation as she moved from the low gravity of her ship to pure weightlessness. She shrugged it off quickly. They’d prepared her for such things in zero-g combat training.
“I am detecting power fluctuations, now that we are in closer proximity. There is limited power in some sections of the ship. However, in others there is no life support nor gravity.”
Vaylin loved starships. She was born to be in space, and she would love nothing more than to take the time to fully explore this ship and to learn its secrets. But the turian ensign was on borrowed time. Her ship had limited life support, and her suit would only sustain her with a few hours of oxygen. She had work to do. Grabbing the wall, she pushed herself down the corridor. It was filled with debris and crates which she maneuvered around or pushed out of the way. However, there were also several bodies. There were no signs of injury on them, indicating they probably died from life support failure. She was careful not disturb them, going out of her way to keep her distance and careful not to push anything into them as she cleared a path. They were her enemy, but she didn’t hate them. They did their job, and she was doing hers.
Arriving at the bridge, which appeared to have little damage, she quickly tried to ascertain what she was looking it. It was an alien ship with which she had no familiarity. Her only hope was that she could figure out enough of their systems and could get a distress call out to her fleet.
“I need power,” she muttered to herself. “I need life support and I need comms.”
“Scan the displays with your omni-tool so that I can analyze,” Keta instructed her.
“Acknowledged,” she replied. She activated her omni-tool, enveloping her left arm in an orange holographic interface. A beam of light emitted from it, scanning the displays as she floated about the room, directing the scanner at the few displays that were working.
“Many of these terminals appear locked down or lacking sufficient power.”
“So, let’s find engineering,” she suggested.
“The strength of the power fluctuations would indicate the primary drive core should be on the the third deck.”
With Keta’s help, Vaylin searched the bridge until she finally found a terminal that displayed an internal schematic of the ship. “So, two decks down then and toward the aft,” she said, studying the schematic.
Fortunately the ship was just a large frigate, and the schematic indicated there were only four decks. However, from her external examination of the ship when docking, she knew some parts of it were exposed to vacuum, which would necessitate her using some of the maintenance tubes that ran between the decks. If she could get to engineering, perhaps she could coax some power out of this thing yet, at least enough to send a message and keep her alive long enough for a rescue.
“Let’s see what this girl has for us,” she said, a slight smile on her face. Regardless of whether it was human or turian ship, she respected it. It was a warrior. It had fought and died for its people. She would honor that, but also, she was more than a little curious – actually almost brimming with excitement to step onboard an alien ship. That was wanted she had wanted to do – starship design, but her family had a proud history of serving in the navy, so she’d enlisted to try and make them proud and to avoid threats of being disowned. Fortunately, she’d proved to be a skilled pilot, because her hand to hand and ground combat skills left much to be desired.
“Based on the results of the battle, it would appear that the humans have fielded a fleet far more formidable than early reports would indicate.”
“It seems Command hasn’t been sharing all of the details. This was a powerful ship. Taking her down cost us.”
“Based on our encounter with the human scouts, it would appear further conflict is inevitable,” Keta said.
“All the more reason for us to bring back whatever intel we can.” The pilot stopped in her tracks when she heard a crackling in her earpiece. She concentrated on it, trying to make out if it was just static or something more. “Was that you, Keta?”
“Negative. It’s coming from a non-turian broadcast frequency.”
“Is anyone there?” A male voice called out. “Anyone receiving? Fuck. Listen, if anyone is still onboard, I’m trapped under debris in the cargo bay.”
Vaylin’s jaw clenched, and her hand instinctively went to the pistol at her side. The tone of voice – that was no turian. It was a human. There was a survivor onboard.