A Mass Effect Adventure: The Story of Captain Jay C.

A Storm's Brewing

"Do you understand what you need to do? I will not be able to help you once you step onto the derelict ship," The A.I. said, "The ship seems to be blocking out most radio waves and it is interfering with the Q.E.C. as well. It is as if the ship is in its own bubble and it is bouncing off as a direct result."

"I didn't think that I'd be in action so soon after waking up, especially since I was just told not to leave the ship." Hayden mumbled to himself, not really expecting a reaction from the A.I., when it did.

"Plans change often with the captain, as you'll see in the future." The A.I. said.

"Ah. I hope that that is an overreaction." Hayden said, hopeful.

"Unfortunately, it isn't. It is an estimation that plans fail and require change at the rate of 99.4%. With a new variable around, that might be subject to change. One could hope that that estimation is wrong. However, it will likely not be the case." The A.I. said.

"Great, just great..." Hayden trailed off.

"My sensors are indicating that that was sarcasm, as it would not make sense otherwise." The A.I. commented.

All Hayden could do was smile to himself. After all, he was going back and forth with an A.I. that seemed to be cracking jokes. He couldn't really tell if it was or not, given that the A.I. doesn't 'speak' with much if any tone.

***

As Hayden moved through the derelict, he couldn't help but feel like he was maybe being watched by a nearby person or something else. The feeling was something that he noticed almost as soon as he stepped on the ship. This was something that was such a nagging feeling to him that he almost tripped over a few of the dead crewmembers when he came upon the first part of the ship, after entering it.

Among the corpses, there was a Yeoman that was barely alive. The Yeoman was trying to pretend to be dead among the aforementioned corpses. When they saw that Hayden wasn't an enemy, they immediately tried to shoot up. The urgency meant to Hayden that there was a warning that they were trying to convey. With that notion in mind, Hayden leaned forward to hear the Yeoman speak, which might as well have been a mere whisper.

"He...is...still..." They tried to say before needing to take one last breath to say the final word, "...here..."

Hayden shot up as he realized something. He thought that the whole situation, not just the ship, felt off from the get go. The whole thing had to be an ambush of some kind. In a literal galaxy of new political climates, Hayden couldn't begin to figure out what the reason could have been for this ambush. He could only conject what it was, and this made him feel no better than a newborn baby.

The moment that the words fell from the Yeoman's mouth, they died. When they weren't breathing anymore, it felt as if Hayden couldn't, almost like they took the air with them. Hayden could sense it more than ever, the overwhelming feeling that he was being watched by someone or something.

Not too far off from the first pile of the recently deceased, Hayden came up to a corridor. He flipped a coin in his head, and followed the corresponding path down to where he found another pile, but not who he was looking for this time. At this point, he decided that needed to focus himself as a way to distract himself from the eerie feeling of being watched. Every few moments, he'd hold his hand up to his right ear to activate the comms, trying to get a hold of the crew that was already onboard.

"Captain. Are you there? Call out if you can hear me. Come on, Captain," Hayden kept repeating.

There was only silence at first, but as Hayden moved further into the ship, he finally heard the sound of two people groaning in pain. As Hayden followed the sounds to their origin, he came upon Jay and another person. The stranger was still knocked out next to Jay, but Jay was fully aware. As Hayden got closer, he noticed that Jay was stuck underneath rubble and debris.