Mass Effect Lost Souls, Broken Minds: Empty Hands

Chapter One: Empty Hands

Date: October 27th, 2160 CE

Location: SSV Atlanta, Dohlen System, Far Rim

Chapter Body
The man's eyes, like oceans, just gazed forward. It was as if everything else had just stopped, all he could see was the screen of the heart monitor, the green pulse tracker sliding across the screen, jumping up and back down. Everything was quiet, like nothing else was there except for the ever so present beep of the monitor.

"Van" he heard softly, and slowly, he began to slip out of the trance that had taken him. The sounds around him becoming less and less muffled.

"Van" he heard again, and again, and again, until finally all the noise of the ship had returned. He could hear the doctors pacing around, shouting, carts urgently being pushed from one side of the bay to the other, the high powered fan whirling above him emitting a noise that sounded like it belonged in a factory.

He felt his arm being tugged on rapidly, and once again, heard his name. "Van!" the women's voice said.

The man finally looked over to the hospital bed in which his wife laid in, she was clearly in agony, sweating, panting, but her mouth, open teeth shining, and a joyful grin was managing to show, despite the situation.

"He's coming soon!" the women exclaimed, clinching Van's hand with the strength of a full grown man.

Van leaned over her, brushing her hair to the side, and kissing her on the forehead. "It'll all be alright dear" he said ever so calmly. He grasped her and tight as he could. "My second son" the man thought to himself. He looked into his wife's oak brown eyes, she was gorgeous, and the man was captured in the moment, one tear ran down his eye.

"Another thirty minutes, estimated, and your baby boy will be out their!" The doctor shouted as he urgently raced from one side of the room to the other scrambling for his medical gear.

"Not much longer!" the young woman said as she began choking on her words. Van just held her hand even tighter. She clinched almost every part of her body and let out a vicious yell, prompting the doctor to order the nurses into the room. "Don't go honey, don't ever go" she whispered to her husband, as more and more tears began to run down her face.

The name "Wendy" slipped from his mouth, " I'm not going anywhere." This wasn't the first time he experienced the birth of a child, and it wasn't his wife's first time either. However, there was something different about this time to him, being in the far rim, on board a ship for that matter. There was always that since of uncertainty and fear when you're out in the great unknown.

She smiled one more before another painful convulsion erupted in her body, causing her body to lock up, and forcing a painful cry from her. The nurses were rushing in now, setting up medical equipment and preparing for the child.

Van once again kissed his wife's head, her nails were now sinking into the skin on his hand. A sudden sharp buzz echoed through the room, cracking his ear drum. He turned his attention to the speaker in the corner of the room, the buzz now replaced by muffled voices.

"All personnel report to your positions, Commander McClellan to the bridge. Alert level red, this is not a drill, I repeat, not a drill! Man your battle stations." a voice urged over the communications.

Van looked towards the door to the medical room, then back to his wife, pondering if he should leave her. He could see the confusion in her eyes, and the worry.

"What's going on honey?" she asked, the pain still so present in her voice. "Don'don't't't go" she stuttered.

He clinched her hand once more and stood up, "I'll be back, I promise!" he slowly began to step back, releasing her hand, but still staying focus on her as he left the room, her hand was outstretched as if she was trying to grab him. He held his hand arm at her fully extended, and smiled before finally stepping out of the room. Immediately upon leaving the medical bay the commanders demeanor changed, the worry and his sense of urgency had replaced the joy he had been experiencing just moments prior. He swiftly made his way through the ship's corridors, alliance men saluting him and addressing him as he maneuvered between soldiers before finally reaching the ships main elevator.

As the elevator made its climb towards the bridge, it seemed like everything was stopping again for the commander, all the noise once again was fading out. The fear was setting in, he didn't know what the alert was for, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good. The elevator came to a quick stop, and the ominous loud clanking noise emitting from the doors opening tuned the commander back into life.

He stepped out onto the bridge, crewman were scuttling from side to side. Van stepped up behind a tall man, with a not so small build.

"Captain O'Cannon" Van said. "What's so important it has to take me from my wife's labor?"

The man turned around, and nodded to Van. "Commander" he stated, as he turned back around accessing his communications channel, as if he was waiting for a response.

"The SSV Cairo just went silent, right on the other side of the moon. Communications were there one second, and the next, gone."

"He's calm as ever, I never understand him" the commander thought to himself. He questioned the Captain, "Maybe something is just interfering with the communications sir?"

"Not possible, something happened, we'd be getting some feed back if that were the case." The captain then turned around and climb the short steps to his command overlook. "We picked up a few heat signatures as well, so something is coming, and we're about to be on the other side of that moon as well."

Van followed the captain, and looked out towards the main view of the CIC. There was nothing, but out of the shadow of the moon several shapes began to form.

"Sir five ships! Four of them appear to be frigates, the other one is huge! A carrier of sorts! Pirates I think" a crewman shouted.

Several small frigates moved from the darkness, clearly mercenary ships, but the fifth ship was massive, clearly an old salvage ship, plated with more armor than some Alliance carriers.

The captain looked across the bridge, "Prepare to establish a communications link, and prepare to open fire if necessary."

The main screen on the bridge flashed white, then went to static for several seconds before a video opened. There a Batarian stood, his eyes were as black as the darkest night, and his skin was strange, dark, and speckled orange and red around his face.

"This is the SSV Atlanta of the Systems Alliance, I am Captain Harnon O'Cannon, identify yourself, and please elaborate what you are doing in the far rim, and what have you done with the SSV Cairo, or we will fire!" The officer looked up at the screen towards the Batarian.

The Batarian chuckled, "Hello, Harnon, your, Cairo...is gone" he announced, "Soon you will be as well." The Batarian leaned back in his chair. He let out one last sentence before cutting the communications, "Open fire."

The mercenary ships opened fire on the Atlanta, the first several shots disabling the ships shields and rocking it. "All stations open fiAHHh!" The captain was cut off by an explosion casting him and Van back into the wall.

The entire ship rocked, and even in the medical bay it could be felt. The doctor laid a small newborn baby down into Wendy's arms. "Taylor, Taylor Hand McClellan" she said. She began to ponder where her husband was, when suddenly the room rumbled violently, causing one of the nurses and most of the medical equipment to fall. "What's going on?!"

Back on the bridge Van regained his sense, and looked over to O'Connor, "Captain" he said as he shook Harnon's shoulder. His body fell over, blood leaking from his eyes and his mouth, he was clearly no longer breather. Van stood up nearly falling as several more shots rocked the ship, he climbed to command post once more and looked out over the bridge. Several fires had broken out and dead crewmen scattered around the room, the other were trying to get systems back online.

Van knew there was no hope, he leaned over and opened the ships comm system. "This is Commander McClellan, the Captain is down, all personnel report to shuttle bays, this is an evacuation, all personnel to the shuttles bays. Wendy if you can hear this, I love you, and I love Taylor, I wis" before he could finish another explosion disabled the communication. Van leaped off the command post and down to the weapons control.

Wendy was now on a wheelchair, child in hand, being rushed to the shuttle bay by the medical staff. Her mind was a mess, and tears were rolling down her eyes. As they began to place her into the shuttle, she grabbed one of the soldier's arms. "Where's my husband?! Where's the commander?!"

The soldier looked to her, she was hysterical, "Mam' you need to calm down" he said as removed her arm from him and closed the hatch of the shuttle. She screamed with volume that seemed deafening, as the shuttle propelled upwards and made its way out of the ship. She could see the Atlanta in the distance, explosions rocking across, and she could feel her heart sinking.

On the deck, the commander activated the ships weapon systems, the MAC cannon tore through one of the frigates, and damaged another. He then activated the Atlanta's missile systems and destroyed the damage ship along with the last two frigates. The massive salavage ship fire its main cannon fracturing the Atlanta and disabling most of its systems. The explosion blew Van into the side of communications systems, he laid there for a second before lifting himself up one last time. He opened the his omni tool, and opened his voice recorder, and routed to an alliance channel.

"This is Commander James Van McClellan, SSV Atlanta, the time is O-Two-Hundred hours, October 27th, 2160. Location..Far Rim, we encountered a small pirate fleet, the Cairo is gone, and Atlanta's destruction is imminent. I have held off the attack long enough for the surviving crew to escape. Captain O'Connor is dead, among many more casualties. As the CO now, I will go down with this ship, fear is an option, if I can hold this attack off and save the crew, I'll go out an honored man. Several minutes ago, my second son, Taylor, was born. If this message ever reaches him, or my dear wife Wendy, I love you both, I'm doing this to make sure you can survive. I know, I will not survive this, but just know I will always be with you, I will always be watching. Goodbye my love, goodbye my son."

He disabled the communications and then looked out towards the salvage ship, its main gun charging back up. Van powered up the Atlanta's engine propelling it towards the salvage ship just as it fired, narrowly missing the Atlanta. The frigate then slammed directly into the port side of the ship, exploding.

Wendy watched from the shuttle's window, she began crying, and shaking for several seconds, before falling backwards onto the stretcher she laid upon. She sniffled several times before lifting her head to view her hands. They were empty, she thought to herself, "Empty hands". The doctor holding Taylor laid the baby into her out stretched hands. She looked into the child's small blue eyes, and brought him close to her chest, and kissed him. Tears ran down her face, and onto his. As the shuttles headed for the relay, she smiled.

Characters

 * James Van McClellan
 * Wendy Kinnel
 * Harnon O'Cannon

Ships

 * SSV Atlanta
 * SSV Cairo