Dead Effect

Dead Effect

Chapter Six


Miranda mumbled quietly to herself as she continued toying with her Omni-tool. "You're good, but not that good." She commented quietly her eyes dancing across the display as she carefully ran a bypass and tried to break the communication lockout.

She wasn't sure how, or why their comms had been hacked, but whoever it was had worked fast and jammed them quite easily, the advantage was they hadn't anticipated someone catching on it seemed, the security was only basic, and while she could tell whoever was running the jammer was fighting back, she was that much faster.

Finally a beep sounded and she smiled as a hand leapt to her ear. "Commander, come in, I've managed to override the communication error, someone was jamming us…Commander?"

A voice soon answered, though instead of Shepard like she'd hoped, it was a much different voice, and the last one she'd wanted, or expected to hear. "Oh great, of all the fucking people that could have survived, figured it'd be the cheerleader." Jack's cold and sarcastic voice hissed into her ear.

"The feelings mutual," She growled, before composing herself, Jack had been with Shepard when they split up. "Where's Shepard? I don't know how long I can keep this channel open."

There was a long pause, before the psychopath said the two words Miranda had never expected from her. "She's dead…" The Cerberus agents jaw fell slack and she stumbled back into the wall behind her.

"D-Dead? Are you, su-sure?"

"She got slammed into a fucking computer by a huge monster! Damn thing was built like a tank! Now she's sprawled out on the deck in a pool of blood. I'm pretty fucking sure cheerleader!"

Miranda was silent for a full minute, the possibility of the communications being jammed again forgotten. How could Shepard be, dead?

"So what's the plan?" Jack's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. It must have been bad if the biotic was willing to listen to her…

"I don't know…I got separated from Thane and Garrus. I'll try and hack the comms and find them, see if we can get to you."

"Alright, I'm on the bridge with…Some soldier we found, called himself Hammond." Miranda nodded slightly, before breaking the link and turning her attention back to her Omni-tool.

Isaac let out the breath he'd been holding as he ejected the drained powerpack from his plasma cutter and replaced it with a fresh one. Three more of the necromorphs were dead and dismembered, and he was almost out of ammo.

He spared a glance towards Tali. And noted she was scanning the display on her shotgun, her posture indicated she was worried. "How much?" He asked.

"Two clips at best, you?"

"Twelve rounds."

"Keelah…" Tali shook her head, before glancing about the corridor they'd halted in. The place was deserted save for them and a few bodies at this point. "I have no idea where we are…Doubt I could get back to the ship and get more clips."

Isaac shook his head. "No offense, but we don't have time to double back. Come on." He set off down the corridor once again, his eyes narrowing a little behind his visor as the lights flickered on and off, it made for a perfect ambush spot in his mind.

"Should be a store nearby, we can stock up there." Had he been watching, he would have seen Tali's head tilt slightly, though she didn't voice her confusion, shouldn't they be heading for an armoury to restock, not a store?

Again he hesitated as the corridor split into two, another click and the light pointed him in the right direction. "Don't know where I'd be without this.' He muttered more to himself then his companion.

Following the guide system around another corner, he was grateful to find the door opened into a medical bay. The room was large, but almost everywhere he looked were tables and monitoring equipment.

"Why do you need such a large operating room?" Tali asked as they carefully advanced, the lights were on and the lockdown hadn't kicked in, that was a good sign.

"Accidents are…were rare, but the Ishimura has a crew of a thousand or more people." He didn't have an exact crew count, nor was he really worried about exact numbers. "Plus it doubles as a medical research vessel, hence why it needs such a large medical deck. Hell this is only one wing."

He heard Tali mutter something in her native language and was grateful his helmet hid a smile, judging by her comments so far, he had a feeling she hadn't seen a ship this size before, and judging by the fact she wasn't human. It was entirely possible.

Isaac hadn't tried prying to much though, all he needed to know right now was her name and that she could handle a gun. They could talk more on the next tram or once they were off this deathtrap.

He cast his gaze carefully about the room, a few bodies were scattered here and there, and luckily none of them were showing signs of changing. Maybe the necromorphs had moved on, or hadn't struck this deck yet.

That didn't mean he was going to lower his guard however. He slowly approached one of the bodies and carefully sunk into a crouch, one hand kept the plasma cutter trained on the corpse while the other began checking for anything useful. Ammo, credits, anything he could use in the fight ahead.

After a moment he found a power pack, and without pause tucked it into a pocket on his rig. Finding nothing else he stood and was about to keep moving when Tali stepped in front of him. He didn't need to see her face to know she was mad.

"What?" He saw her helmet shift slightly, like she was moving to say something, though after a moment she simply shook her head and turned away. Great, he'd ticked her off somehow. He spared a glance towards the body at his feet. The wound on his neck indicated he'd had his throat slit somehow. Likely with one of his own medical tools.

Leaving the body alone –there was nothing he could do at this point- Isaac spared a glance around the room, nothing else really stood out. "Come on, let's keep moving."

Tali followed silently as they crept through another serious of corridors. It was almost unnerving, they knew there was more of those, creatures lurking somewhere around here, but they refused to reveal themselves.

She wasn't sure which was worse, being attacked every few seconds, or not seeing the things at all. At least if they were fighting it would prove a constant distraction from her thoughts.

While she hadn't said anything to Isaac initially, she wasn't pleased with him stealing from the bodies they'd stumbled across. It was disrespectful! Those people had died and all he cared to do was steal what few things they had and keep walking? She wanted to say something, but she wasn't sure what his reaction would be, he did have a gun, and she didn't know just how expendable he considered her at the moment.

Pushing the thought from her mind, she activated her comm. unit again and noted with a sigh it still didn't work. Either her suit had taken more damage then she thought, or something else was at work.

Her Omni-tool lit up as she tapped in a few commands and tried to find her squad. Sadly no one answered.

Sighing in defeat, she switched it off and focused on Isaac, whom had stopped by another computer terminal. She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as the screen clicked on, the words *Store* being the first thing she noted.

"Is everything on this ship automated?" She asked as he tapped the screen and began punching in commands.

"Not everything." He responded quietly, his attention solely focused on the machine. She had to admit, it was interesting to watch him work. He was as fast on the keys as her, and seemed to have the same level of knowledge. Plus she got to see some of the Ishimura's equipment used first hand and learn a thing or two at the same time.

Finally the screen changed and he idly tapped a few places on the screen, before turning to face Tali. Even though she couldn't see his face, she had a feeling he was smiling. "Good news, turns out the terminal still works."

A few moments later a section opened and she titled her head to peer over his shoulder as he began removing whatever contents had been revealed.

Another gun same model as his, and what looked like the power packs he'd been using along with it. Isaac wasted no time retrieving the packs and finding pockets to keep them secure.

Once he retrieved the second plasmas cutter however, he checked to ensure it was in working condition, and flipped it around to offer handle first to Tali, whom gave him a puzzled glance.

"I've seen those clips you use…Trust me, the shop doesn't stock them. Plus this is more effective." The quarian hesitated for a few moments, before finally accepting the weapon.

"T-Thank you." She finally mumbled, her gaze shifting away from the engineer as she examined the cutter.

Isaac offered a slight nod, before giving her a rundown of how it worked…


Hammond spared a confused glance towards Jack as she finished arguing with whoever was on the other end of her radio. "Why exactly did you say Shepard was dead?"

"Look at her!" She made a gesture towards the commander, blood matted her already dull red hair from when she hit the computer, and they knew she was worse off beneath her armour. Though Hammond had no idea how to remove it to try and do anything, and Jack refused to offer any advice. So for now he was simply doing his best to patch up her head and hope for the best. "If she isn't dead already, she's not far from it!"

"She's still breathing, and until she stops there's a chance!" He saw the woman about to argue, when the alarm suddenly kicked in again.

"Oh you've got to be shitting me…" Jack growled as a hand snapped to her shotgun.