Xora Patrone - Prologue

Title: Xora Patrone - Prologue: Welcome to the MSV Dolus Bia
Author: xRebel666x
Game: Mass Effect
Characters/Pairing: All Original Characters - Xora Patrone(female human), Lyrik Castius(male turian), Josie Madeen(female human), Hal'Jurgar(male quarian), Tren and Kero(male krogans).

Prologue – Welcome to the MSV Dolus Bia

  My name is Captain Xora Lee Patrone. Some people refer to me as "Z," I don't know why. I think they are doing it to irritate me, which it usually does. A friend of mine asked me to start sharing my story. They said, "You should write a book about what happened. People will want to read it." Personally, I wanted to avoid it as much as possible. Yet here I am… about to share the turning point in my life… of choices, of defeat, and of love. There's a lot you need to know about me first - like my past, my ship, and my crew. But most importantly, I need to explain my burning hatred for biotics. So let's get started.

  I was born on December 9th, 2155 in the megacity of Houston. It's located in Texas of the United North American States on Earth. Houston now borders the Dallas megacity and includes San Antonio and Austin. I have a younger brother named Qwentin, born on May 31st, 2159. We only lived on Earth for a short period, moving to a subdivision on the outskirts of Scott in Terra Nova in 2162. I could see the towering capital from my bedroom window. As hard as I try so hard to forget living in Scott, the images continue to haunt me and I can still see my parent's shadows dashing across the hallway walls.

  Both of our parents were biomedical engineers who worked for the Sirta Foundation, so needless to say they were very busy. Yet they would still take the day off for our birthdays, making it very special to us. We had a nanny to watch over us until I was about 12 years old. Then they counted on me to take care of Qwen. I know they loved us but we missed being with them so much. There were times Qwentin and I would wave at the building mom and dad worked in, thinking they could see us and were waving back.

  Even though the time we spent with them was already scarce, they still sent us to visit our grandparents every summer break. As much as I hated being away from my folks, I actually looked forward to going back to Earth. It was where I grew a fondness for ships.

  My grandfather was a mechanic for the Alliance, retiring right before the First Contact War. My grandmother spent most of her life as a nurse in one of the space stations outside Mars. One day she treated my grandfather for burns and he asked to take her out to dinner. She refused. My grandfather didn't give up. He kept coming back into the emergency room saying he had a broken heart and needed her to heal it. As tacky as it was, she finally gave in on the fourth visit. And well, you can guess the rest.

  My dad kept telling me that I was the spitting image of his father, saying that I was going to grow up to be just like him. I was the only one in the family that shared his interest in ships, making us inseparable. He taught me everything I know. As soon as we arrived, he would always take me to the local boneyard. It was filled with decommissioned vessels and cannibalized hulls as far as the eye could see. So many hours were lost in exploring those rusted corpses and rebuilding destroyed engines. If we returned home covered in grease, it meant we had a good day (or a bad day for my grandmother who had to clean up after us).

  Another interest we shared was the love of pulling pranks. We would gang up and harass everyone. From my grandmother and my brother at the house to the Alliance soldiers patrolling the boneyard, no one was safe. Typically our pranks were just harmless fun but there were a few that were elaborate and dangerous. I remember one time we faked an injury on my arm. We splashed faux blood all over my shirt and on the cloth wrapped around my "injury." Immediately my grandmother panicked when I was carried in. She ran around grabbing her first aid kit and all her old medical equipment. When she removed the cloth and saw nothing there, the look on her face was priceless. That was the only time I have ever seen her so furious she actually slugged my grandfather in the arm. We couldn't resist laughing even harder.

  Typically I had the time of my life with my grandparents but then everything changed. In the summer of 2173, I believe I was 17 at the time, an Alliance marine showed up at the door of my grandparents. I thought he was coming to scold me for our recent prank against one of the officers at the boneyard. But the tone in his voice meant business.  

  After introducing himself, Captain Bennett shared with us the tragic news. A gang of biotic extremists in the Exodus Cluster attacked the Sirta Foundation building in Scott. Blowing up the seven buildings and letting the collateral fire burn the surrounding offices. Some of the crazed biotics went a step further and tortured to death some of the workers in the D-Block building, the one mom and dad worked in. He neglected to share any more details. There were a total of 1141 deaths and over 7000 wounded. The Captain advised us that many of the bodies were currently beyond recognition due to the burns. Unfortunately, they were able to identify that our parents were one of the casualties by the name badges melded onto their skin. He apologized for our loss and left.

  At first I didn't believe him, hoping he had the wrong family. Desperately hoping that there was a mistake in identifying the bodies and that my parents would come in at any moment to comfort me. But when the shock sunk in, I felt myself die inside. Everything became a blur afterwards, probably from all the tears in my eyes. I remember running to the boneyard, finding refuge in the carcass of what was once an interceptor cockpit. Anytime something happened, I would isolate myself away from the world. Hiding gave me some time to reflect on the situation as well as it would prevent others from seeing me at my weakest. And the death of my parents certainly was my most vulnerable moment.  

  Returning back to Terra Nova was difficult. Opening the door to the house we grew up in and not seeing them there shattered me. Many of our family members offered to come raise us but I never responded to their calls or letters. I was too busy drowning in my memories, staring at photographs, seeing their shadows haunting every room in the house. Some nights I fell asleep in my parents' bed, hoping that I would wake up with them next to me. Fighting between my newfound anger for biotics and the empty void burning itself where my heart was, every day was a battle.

  After rotting away for 3 months, Qwentin finally snapped. He pulled me away from my bed, yelling at me to get my life on track. He told me how he was counting on me to be his support through this and instead I was selfishly hiding myself away. I knew he was right. I wasn't exactly being the best sister. He continued on with the screaming match but I started losing interest, he made his point and I didn't feel like having it drilled into me more. I walked back to my room, this time locking the door, and crawled back under the covers.

  That night I had a dream. It was actually what triggered the first series of events in my life. It showed an older version of me on a ship, in a spacious room that looked like a cargo bay. There was a woman standing in front of me. I couldn't see her clearly. All I could see was her silhouette in the blue glow of her biotic energy. Blood was dripping from her hands, creating a puddle by her feet. Right before I attacked her, I screamed, "You will pay for their deaths!" There was a battle, it seemed like it lasted for hours. The dream ended with a knife lodged into her throat and me collapsing to my knees, my hands clasping at my chest. I don't know if I made it or not, it just ended there.

  When I woke up, the sun was barely coming over the horizon. I went to Qwen's room and told him about the dream. Somewhere in his groggy mumbles, he mentioned it was sign that represented a glimpse of things to be. He continued with stating that if we put our efforts together we could track down the extremists and bring them to justice. At that moment, I made Qwen a promise to avenge their deaths. Little did I know how much my promise would cost me.

  The first step was to join the Alliance Marines, enlisting a month after my 18th birthday. Everyone in my family was proud of my decision but I only joined to receive combat training and to gain access to their information database. Using the connections my grandfather had, I was enlisted to train for the Military Police. Typically there was a waiting list but I would be start immediately after my training. Qwentin also joined the Alliance when he turned 18 and was assigned to the First Fleet on Arcturus Station.

  The academy taught me the basics but fighting in the Skyllian Blitz gave me the experience I desired. Shortly after becoming an Officer, I was sent to Torfan to assist guarding the base. One of the batarian strongholds nearby retaliated and I was stuck in the gunfire. Even with all the training I received, I forgot everything the moment I was being shot at. I never felt my heart pound against my chest so hard. As I was taking cover behind one of the crates, a batarian flanked me and we gunned each other down. His bullets penetrated my shield and penetrated my right arm. I had four open wounds from my elbow to my shoulder. Fueled by the rage from my new injuries, I emptied a full clip on that batarian to guarantee his fate. Thankfully backup arrived just as I passed out from the loss of blood.

  After the Blitz, a bunch of the veterans joined together for a celebratory party. This is where I first met Commander Shepard. She just got awarded the Star of Terra for single-handedly holding off enemy troops. Everyone wanted to see her shiny new award, well… everyone but me. This is probably why she decided to talk to me.

"What's your name soldier?" she asked.

"Officer Xora Patrone."

"It's nice to meet you Officer Patrone."

"You can just call me Xora," I added.

"Alright, Xora. You can call me Reby," she turned her attention to my bandaged arm, "What happened there?"

"I was sent to guard the base on the North when the batarian bastards attacked us. There was a showdown and I ended up being the lucky one. The doctors had to rebuild my humerus. Now I feel like a damned robot with all the metal bits they implanted. And instead of being sent home to recover, I am being reassigned to the Department of Internal Naval Affairs (INA) so I could continue working."

"I'm the same way," she nodded, "How about I buy your next shot?"

"Sure but it has to be a stiff one."

"Deal!"

  We spent the rest of the night sharing stories and downing as many shots as we could. It was our night to forget the Blitz and be happy to be alive. We had one more drink and then went our separate ways. I never got to talk to her again since she became a freaking celebrity, saving the Citadel and all.

  The next day, after dealing with a wonderful hangover, I packed all my belongings and moved to the Arcturus Station. Being reassigned had its advantages. I got to travel all across the galaxy and have access to their extensive information database. I was able to gather the reports that came from Terra Nova about the attack. In these reports, I found the disturbing images of my severely burned parents. I broke down when I discovered that their bodies were also brutally torn in half. Based on the eyewitness reports, the murderer was a young female human, roughly around the age of 12-14 at the time. It didn't matter that she was barely a teenager, what she did to my parents was inexcusable. I continued following her trail but the sightings seem to disappear after 2177. Maybe the renegade's actions finally caught up with her and she is nothing more than a corpse… maybe. But I highly doubt it.

  Working at INA also granted me the opportunity to meet some incredible people. In fact, a few months into my new position I was sent to the Citadel for a case and that's where I met my quartermaster, Lyrik Castius. I was stepping on some toes in the Financial District when he showed up. Since he was C-Sec and I was INA, we clashed. He called me a FNG (fucking new guy) and I called him a turian hothead. I won't go into too many details on our first encounter, maybe I'll write about them later, but somehow we became the best of friends. Come to think of it, he is my first true friend.

  In December of 2181, I was on an assignment to bring down a Sergeant caught smuggling weapons to the Blue Suns. I tracked him to the Argos Rho cluster but by the time we got there he was already gone. Before returning to the Arcturus Station, I stumbled across a small frigate drifting near Patashi. Even though she was badly torn apart by pirates, you could see the faint colors of her name, the MSV Alima. I waited until a recovery crew arrived to transport her to an Alliance impound. When I returned "home," I called my grandfather to tell him all about the Alima. For some reason, I immediately fell in love with her. Maybe she reminded me of the summers spent on Earth or maybe she was a glimpse of my future, either way there was a special connection between us.

  A week later was my 26th birthday and Lyrik flew in from the Citadel to take me out to dinner. We were about to leave when I received a phone call from my grandfather. I didn't think anything of it since I get phone calls and private message from everyone I know on my birthday but this call was different. He used some of his contacts at the shipyard to change the ownership of the Alima to my name. I was beyond excited. I had my own ship. Granted, she was inoperable but she was mine. His only request was he wanted the liberty of renaming her to the Dolus Bia. (Coming from Greek mythology, Dolus is the spirit of trickery and Bia is the personification of power.)

  It took a little over a year to bring her back to par. I spent every weekend and a good chunk of my vacation time working on her. Sometimes my grandfather would come out to help, mostly supervising since he was getting older, but a majority of my help came from a quarian named Hal'Jurgar nar Rayya. I never saw a quarian before so I actually thought he was turian in a funny suit. At first, he just stared at me as I continued repairing my ship. After an hour of him standing there, I asked him if there was something he needed. He said he was just admiring the craftsmanship in my repairs. So I jumped down to the dock and we started talking. Hal'Jurgar eventually became the main mechanic on my ship, coming aboard shortly after his pilgrimage and donning the name vas Dolus Bia.

  As soon as my ship was completely repaired, I decided to leave the INA and become a freelancer. I changed my title to Captain of the MSV Dolus Bia, it's not an official status in the Alliance, I just became one with my ship. A lot of people questioned why I left, thinking I pissed off someone higher up, but I just needed the change. I also figured that it would provide me more chances to chase down my parent's murderer. When I told Lyrik about my career change, he quit C-Sec to become my quartermaster. Hal immediately joined my crew as well, becoming my mechanic. Business was slow at first but skyrocketed when word got out that I previously worked at the INA and was a Blitz veteran. People were hiring me for everything from bounty hunting to transporting artwork but a majority of our contracts were for private investigation. It's amazing how much people will pay just to verify their spouse's infidelity.  

  My reputation soon became universal and I needed to expand my team. First to be hired on was my helmsman Joselynn Madeen. It was actually Qwentin who shot me a message saying he found some who just quit the Alliance Academy. So I arranged a meeting with Josie. She was training to fly frigates when things went extremely sour with a certain teacher. It was a difficult decision to leave since she enlisted wanting to be just like her father, who was a well-known pilot in the Fifth Fleet. Even though she wasn't that experienced, she had the passion I was looking for. I also think Qwen has a crush on her so if I didn't hire her, I wouldn't hear the end of it.

  Shortly after hiring Josie, Tren and Kero joined my team. Not only are the two krogans brothers, they are also… you ready for this, twins. Yes, twins. I couldn't believe it at first. When they were born, the clan went crazy. Some saw it as a miracle and wanted them to become prominent male breeders, to encourage having more twins. Others found it as a curse, saying the two krogans could never be as strong as one. Because of all the rivalry going on, they left as soon as they could and refused to tell anyone their clan name. I found them wondering Omega, trying to find work without resorting to the gangs. I will confess that I do have difficult time in telling them apart. Unfortunately they know this and they enjoy messing with me. Bastards.  

  Lastly, I need to introduce you to CAIT, she is the Dolus Bia's AI. Hal'Jurgar was the one who discovered her, yet he refuses to share any of the details. (CAIT is short for Centralized Artificial Intelligence Trojan.) Even though she mostly serves as my assistant, she's still our illegal little secret. Most captains have an AI, we just don't talk about it. Anyone found in Council space with an artificial intelligence installed gets fined and sometimes imprisoned depending on the program.

  I'm not going to brag or anything but I couldn't have asked for a better crew. We're pretty much a family, a very dysfunctional family. We truly do enjoy spending time together. Even when I give my crew shore leave, we all end up in the cargo hold drinking and playing cards together. In the years I've known my team, we've grown a special bond that cannot tear any of us apart.

  Well, now you are caught up. My 30th birthday is coming up soon and for the most part I am content with where I am. But I still feel like there's an empty void inside me waiting to be filled. It's been 12 years and I haven't found my parent's killer. At one time, I told myself that I would never give up. But after so many failures you begin to wonder if it is even worth trying.

  Then my entire world turned upside down, everything started happening so quickly. All because I met her… all because of that kiss… Every choice I made would define my outcome, becoming the beginning of something new or becoming the ending of everything I fought for.

  Let's begin.