Lazarus Project: Mass Effect 2 (Shenko)

Chapter 53

Milky Way/Sigurd's Cradle/Metrilon/Freedom's Progress

Earth year: 2185 CE –-- September

Tanner set the Nomad down on the barren expanse of the snow covered platform. The small size of their ship allowed her to forgo clamps and complex docking procedures. She allowed herself a self-satisfied smile, enjoying the pride she felt at being a pilot.

"What's up Dlaney?" Mason asked, seeing her smile.

"Nothing Zima. Just at peace with the world." She replied, shutting down the flight controls and locking down the ship.

"I don't get it."

Tanner rolled her eyes. "I like being a pilot okay? No matter what else might be going on in the galaxy, THIS always makes me feel better."

"Oh. I get that." He said, following her to the airlock. "It's like when I crack a tough encryption code or improve output ratios in technical applications. The sweet spot."

Tanner laughed. "Yeah Zima. The sweet spot. Perfect."

Kaidan looked up from checking the read-out on his omni-tool as Zima and Dlaney joined him in the airlock. "You two seem to be in a good mood."

Tanner met his gaze, a twinkle in her eye. "Yes sir. We were just talking about the 'sweet spot.' You know, that one thing you do that when you do it you feel everything is right with the world?"

Kaidan smiled. "Ah yes, I do. So what are your sweet spots?"

"Flying sir." Tanner replied, her smile growing.

"Tech for me Commander." Zima added, joining them.

"I thought it might be."

"What about you?" Tanner asked as they stepped out of the airlock and onto Freedom's Progress.

"When I'm fully engaged in my biotics."

Zima frowned. "Really? I wouldn't have guessed that. Don't you get headaches from using it too much?"

Kaidan raised an eyebrow. He hadn't thought Zima knew about that. Then again, the tech specialist loved reading and snooping into things he wasn't supposed to. Likely he knew as much about the side effects of L2 implants as he himself did.

"You're half right. I used to get a lot of migraines, but it's been a long time since I had one that was anywhere near as bad as they were ten years ago."

"Really? That's great. Do you know why?"

"Honestly?" Kaidan mused, pulling up a scan program on his omni-tool. "I have a theory that before I understood what triggered them, they were caused by lack of food. My blood sugar would drop and spike rapidly and as a result I suffered a lot. Once I noticed the connection, I increased the amount of protein I took in. Now I make sure that if I've used my biotics at all, I eat."

"That makes sense." Zima nodded. "Like how when people back in the 21st century used to get really sick with that blood sugar disease, that uh... what was it called?"

"Diabetes?" Tanner suggested.

"Yeah! That's the one. Anyway, that's great Commander."

"So what do you want us to do sir?" Tanner asked, her voice quiet in the cloying silence of the deserted colony.

"We'll take scans of every inch of the area we can access. Zima take the left, Dlaney take the right and I'll follow up behind you both through the centre. Contact me on comms if you find something, but don't touch anything. We still don't know enough about Collector technology."