The Spartan Effect

The Great Journey Awaits

April 10th, 2183

[Warning in advance, I was drunk when I wrote this] 

    The spartan program taught Thomas much. Some he learned with his family of spartans, some he learned alone, but one that was taught to him by Sergeant Major Byrne was always to have an organized plan, and expect it to fall apart almost immediately, so have a second more open-ended plan ready to use. Firstly, the aliens onboard Eternity needed to be dropped off onto the citadel, then they needed to speak with the council about forming a loose alliance before finally seeing what this migrant fleet was and how they could leverage supplies for the ship in the meantime. Not exactly a perfect plan, but Thom wasn't in the mood for perfect, just results.

     Setting off for the med bay, he knew already that the quarrians and salarians there would all likely want to study or acquire the equipment on the ship, and he couldn't let that happen. He could see the benefits of trade deals in exchange for technologies developed by the UNSC, but it was too much of a security risk, and he didn't technically have the authority to anyways. Maybe he could get some of the researchers from Serys station to come up with something they would want without jeopardizing the security of the ship or her crew. Speaking of, as he approached the door to the med bay, he radioed Hannah back on the bridge. 

     "Hannah, this is Tom. I want you to activate biometric locks on all the doors. I don't want anyone wandering where they don't belong." 

     "Aye-aye captain, the ship is at alert level Charlie, nice and quiet."

     Entering the med bay, the first thing he heard was the doctor's raised voice 

     "FOR THE LAST TIME, I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE, BUT WE'LL TELL YOU WHEN HE'S READY TO LEAVE, SO SIT DOWN AND STOP ASKING ME ABOUT OUR AIR FILTRATION SYSTEMS!" 

     A look around showed the irate doctor wielding a clipboard and standing in front of the door to the ICU and screaming at a quarrian. The nurses behind the counter tried and failed to hide their giggles, and he was almost certain he heard one say they were thankful someone else got driven mad by the constant questioning. Walking forward as the guards snapped to attention and the nurses quickly went silent. They returned to their tasks while Thomas approached the quarrian in question and recognized her as the woman he helped unbury from the rubble back on the citadel, Tali. The other members of her team were behind her, the turian looked amused, and the man he recognized as Commander Shepard appeared concerned. Thomas called out to the man.

     "Commander, I can see your team has been properly treated." he turned to the quarrian then and asked her, 

     "I hope you don't plan on driving all my medical staff insane now, Tali. They do still need to treat other patients." 

     Tali turned towards the spartan, just now having noticed his presence, and was startled at what she saw. Standing right before her was the man she recognized as having pulled her from the rubble of the citadel, and now she could properly take in just how huge he was. At 7 foot 8, he towered over her, and his green titanium armor and gold visor made him look like a machine. It was then she realized she never asked him what his name was, and embarrassed now asked him

     "I'm sorry, I never did get your name before?" Thom replied in the usual fashion.

     "Spartan Thomas 095, acting captain of the Eternity miss Z'orah" 

     Shepard, overhearing this, decided to ask.

     "If you're the acting captain, then where is the commanding officer of this ship?" 

     "Likely back on our Earth, hopefully being asked some VERY uncomfortable questions."

     Garrus then had a question of his own.