Dead Space 1. What Now?

I don't own any characters from the Dead Space universe

My second attempt at a fanfic first one I had lost interest due to the fact it was not coming together as a whole just too many pieces flying in different directions hopefully this story is better and I don't mind not getting reviews as long as its at least getting views I'm doing this out of fun so there's no harm no foul enjoy the story.

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Chapter 1 What Now?

Isaac lean back in the chair of the cockpit of the EarthGov gunship floating in space, Titan station had been destroyed he was in part responsible for it after he had finally confronted his guilt over Nicole and defeated the hallucination of her that Marker had haunted him with. After he won the battle for his sanity the Marker's power faded and the facility self destructed as a result.

Issac pinch the bridge of his nose with his right hand as he came to terms that he had somehow, against all odds had done what he had done best…survive, the ability to adapt and overcome in dire situations again even with a determine Director Tiedeman putting every available obstacle in his path to try to stop him.

"_What a fool"_, Isaac thought, _"it didn't have to be this way, but he made the mistake of pissing off a necromorph veteran engineer who's been torture and drugged for 3 years, I say it was a bad move on his part". _

After he had broken into the government sector, he began following step 4, thanks in hand to the hallucinations of his dead girlfriend showing him the way to the machine, he follow the procedure of putting the needle in his eye like Stross had told him he had to do. When then procedure was over his memories were restored to the last detail. All the horror on the Ishumira hit him like a tidal wave…..all the death, horror, insanity that happen on that ship god only knew how he made it out, but one particular memory had replayed in his head multiple times, after he had escape on the shuttle from the planet Ageis7 after it was mostly destroyed along with the marker thanks in hand to his efforts, he had been in this exact same spot like he was right now when he was attacked by…her.

Suddenly his eyes went wide in horror, was she here? Would she torment me again? Would she continue to blame me for her death? These questions ran wild through his mind as he began to turn slightly to his right, letting his muscle tense as he waited for a bloodied Nicole to jump him.

"What?", a quizzical looking Ellie ask as she stared back into the petrified eyes of Isaac Clark.

Isaac just look away feeling embarrassed for giving her such a look

"Nothing", he chuckled a bit, "just paranoia I guess".

"You sure?", she insisted.

"Yeah….we got more things to worry about right now", he said as he got up and walk to the back of the gunship.

"Hey! Where do think you're going?", she barked at him.

"Just checking how much water and rations we have, we might not be getting saved for a while you know".

Ellie just grumbled to herself, she wasn't exactly in the happiest mood since Isaac had sent her away in the gunship, to her it was just him being selfish and arrogant, and he had no right to send her away, had they not survived against the hordes of necromorphs? Had they not gain some sort of trust between them? Had he not been able to see how lonely she was after losing everyone who was close to her? How fragile she was? she promise herself that she would give him a piece of his mind after deciding to go back to save him , with that in mind she engage the autopilot stood up and walk to back of the ship, _"that selfish bastard had this coming", _she thought.

Isaac was just done searching the rations lockers and was happily surprised to see lots of military packaged food and water bottles which was standard for CEC security forces, they had at least a week's worth and if they ration right maybe 2.

As he turned to give Ellie the good news, he suddenly felt a sharp sting on his right cheek and his right hand immediately went to cover it up, his two eyes met her one good eye starting right back with fierce determination, he realized that Ellie had slap him.

"Ow Ellie!...what was that for?". He yelled in confusion.

"That's for sending me away just so I could be safe but you dying is all fine and good, you bastard!". She screams back.

"_This is exactly what I wanted to avoid"_, he thought, "Well guess I deserve that".

"Damn right you do", she agreed, while raising her hand again to yet again make her point clear, but this time Isaac was aware and caught her wrist in his right hand.

"Ellie, look I'm sorry for doing what I did….but you have to understand I wanted you to get out that hellhole before something happen to you and if something had happen to you, I have two peoples deaths haunting me for the rest of my life", he said while turning his face to the side so he wouldn't have to look her in the eye.

"Nicole?" She asked.

He nodded his head and turn back to look at her, her face was dirty with smudges, a couple bruises were visible on her slender arms and a couple cuts in her pants from a couple close calls with some slashers, but even with an aura of death around her he still could see the beauty in the one eyed angel in front of him.

"Look Ellie I'm grateful you save me back there and don't think for one minute I'm not, I had accepted that I was going to die and was ready for it, but you save me Ellie I owe more than just an eye now", he said with a grin.

Ellie just couldn't help but smile at him now, "that's right and I won't rest till I get my due", she said adding a playful punch on his left shoulder.

Immediately Isaac groan in pain at the playful punch and grip his left shoulder as he fell on one knee in front of her, "Isaac!...what's wrong with your shoulder!". Ellie leaned down as she put both hands on his biceps.

"Damn Tiedeman thought he could stop me himself with a javelin gun put one through my shoulder and another in my hand", he said in pain, "Guess the adrenaline has worn off now because it's starting to hurt like hell".

Ellie check his shoulder carefully as well as his hand both had been punctured with what Isaac had explained was as a javelin round, "you pulled them out?"

"Had too, he was going to put one through my face if I hadn't pull them out and countered him, lucky for me he didn't hit the bone or else I've would have lost all motion in my arm", he answered back.

"You shouldn't have been able to move your arm at all, for a nerd Isaac you're pretty tough I'll give you that", she said with a warm smile, "you're losing a lot blood though, lucky for you these gunships carry first aid that should sustain you till we get to a station or a ship picks us up".

She immediately pulls a first aid pack out of one of the cabinets and places it on the floor next to Isaac, she opens it up and pulls out what looks to be a small spray paint can but instead of a vale at the top it had a long metal tube, the small can was covered head to toe in chrome with a small sticker on the front of it saying, "Foam Aid".

"What the hell is that?" Isaac asked becoming apprehensive.

"I'm not entirely sure to be honest, I overheard a guard talking about this stuff said it was an easy way to stop bleeding in the field if a solider got mortal wounds", she said while examining the directions on the back.

"Not inspiring much confidence here Ellie", he retorted.

"Oh shush you big baby, look it says I need to insert the tube into the puncture area and then press down on the top to insert the foam, it will harden in mere seconds closing the wound and stopping the bleeding till we can get to a doctor". She paused for a minute, "Isaac it's going to hurt….a lot".

"Well I've been through worse…ok let's do this I feeling a little light headed at the moment"

Ellie nodded her head as she brought the tube just mere inches from the punctured hole in his shoulder, before she inserted it in, she put her left arm around Isaac's neck bringing their body's close and place her forehead on his, Isaac surprise by her actions pulled back a little, "aw scared of a girl Isaac Clark, the great necromorph killer", she teased.

Isaac just frowned, but ignored her response, "What are you doing?"

"My mom use to do this to me when I got needle shots as a kid, it was the only way to keep me calm, I thought it might help in this situation", she said with a small smile forming on her face from the pleasant memory of her mom, "alright you ready ?"

"uhh yeah le-….aughhhhh!", he screamed.

Ellie hadn't let him finish his sentence using the moment of distraction to insert the tube deep into the wound and push down on the top of the tube releasing the foam into the wound, Isaac squirmed around but Ellie kept her arm tightly grip around Isaac neck as well as kept her forehead on his. After the foam had hardened inside the wound she pulled back keeping her left hand on his shoulder.

"Heh not so bad", Isaac huffed out.

They proceeded with the process again on his hand, this time Isaac didn't offer any resistance to her. After she finish the procedure she wrap both of the wounds with bandages, she decided it was probably more harmful to take off the suit then to just leave it on and wrap the bandages over his suit, Isaac was inclined to agree with her logic.

"Alright all finished", she announced from behind him as she wrap a tight knot on the bandage over his shoulder.

"Thanks Ellie, the payback list is growing huh? He joked.

"You got the that right, but don't worry you'll pay me back eventually you bastard", she said as she patted Isaac right shoulder or his "good shoulder", with her work finish she went to the cabinet with the food rations and took out what look to be a small package of crackers and handed them to Isaac and then handed him a bottle of pills.

"These are pain killers alright?...take some after you eat should hold you over and will continue the process for as long as we can", she ordered as she got up and walk back to the cockpit of the ship.

"Hey! Wait you going to eat too right?" he yelled after her.

She chuckled a bit, "no you eat alright…I need to rest my eyes a bit been bit of a hectic day you know", she explained before sitting in the chair and slowly dozed off to sleep.

Isaac watch her for a moment before he started to eat his small snack which he was going to have to call a meal for now, he glanced one more time at Ellie as she slept peacefully like she hadn't just had to fight her way through a necromorph outbreak just mere hours ago, a smile form on his face glad he might have someone he can trust finally.

He made his way to his seat next to her in the cockpit after he had finish eating and taking his painkillers and watch the stars as the gunship continued to fly into space wondering how this roller coaster of a journey would end for him.

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_**Back on Earth 1 hour after the destruction of Titan Station**_

Outside a business room yelling and swearing could be heard thought-out the building floor.

"Are you fucking serious Defense Minister?!", an enraged Unithology Counselor screamed.

The man on the other side of the desk was well dressed in a white suit with a black undershirt and red tie with a pin tag on his right pocket of his suit labeled "Defense Minster Marcus Austin".

"Yes I am counselor, look we lost a colony, 2 starship including one I might add are biggest planet cracker the Ishimura our pride and joy of the fleet, and The Sprawl or Titan station whichever you like to call it and what do we have to show for it please tell me".

The counselor gazed back him looking for answer to the Defense Minister question, the gears in his head churning as fast as they can looking for the right response, growing tired of his silence the Minster loosen his tie a bit and responded, "nothing would be the correct answer here, the only reason EarthGov and the Church have work together is to find out what mysteries the Marker has for us, to unlock it limitless power so that humanity can continue its existence"

He paused for a moment as he pours himself some whiskey into the small glass cup, "but yet we find ourselves with nothing to show for all the money we pumped into our operations".

"The marker is the key to keeping us alive Marcus, we can't hope that cracking planets will sustain us, we need something more solid….sooner or later were going to run out of planets, then what?"

"When that day comes I'll be the first on my knees praying for convergence I guess", he joked.

"Don't mock my faith", the Counselor spat.

"Wouldn't dream of it, look EarthGov believes that wasting valuable resources trying to retrieve Isaac Clark or the other subjects if they are still alive is not in are best interests considering the developing events".

"What events?"

The Minister just chuckles at the Counselor comment, "is the church that blind?", he paused as he took a sip of out his glass of whiskey.

"In this past year we had 18 riots break out on are colonies and space stations, compared to only 2 the previous 5 years, also to add on top of that a steady increases of homicides on are stations and colonies as well and the cherry on top of the this crap sundae a growing rift between your Unitologists faithful and the rest of the population".

"What's your point?"

"Well most of the people that my security force are arresting are unitologists to put it plainly, seems they want to show their faith in dramatic way, also I can see the people who don't follow your ideals are beginning to hate you and your church, all this is going to end very badly", he paused to have another sip of his whiskey.

"Things are starting to get out of hand, but I will be speaking to your Elite very soon to try and sort out this catastrophe of Titan Station, but do tell them that if Issac Clark or the other test subjects are found will be in our care not the churches, this meeting is over Counselor good day".

Without another word the Counselor shook the Ministers hand and left the room grumbling, now that he knew he was alone the Minister turn to his holo-pad and opens an audio transmission.

"This is Defense Minister Marcus Austin to all rescue ships in orbit around the remains of the Sprawl, if Isaac Clark is found he is to be put in lock down and you are to report to me immediately if you found him, I want to talk with him personally".


	2. Whats Sleep?

I don't own any characters from the Dead Space universe

What's up guys were back with chapter 2, took me some time to finish this one since my keyboard got messed up and the fact I was playing dead space 3 and by far lives up to all the expectations, so without further ado lets get started

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What's Sleep?

"_Damn can't sleep"_, Isaac thought as he began to shuffle in the chair.

It had been 4 hours since the Titan Station was destroyed and Isaac hadn't been able to get comfortable with the time of peace he was being granted, probably the first he would get for sometime knowing EarthGov will be looking for him

Isaac just let out a heavy sighed and gave up on sleep, as he sat up straight in the chair and continued to gaze at the stars. He turned his attention to his counterpart sleeping peacefully in the chair to his right, slouch and resting her head on her hand.

"_How does she sleep without a care in the world…well she is a tough girl, I mean for Christ sake she had a screwdriver dug into her eye and she still was able to hold Stross off". _

He watched her for a couple of seconds before turning his attention back to the monitors, after a while he heard some shuffling as Ellie began to wake up, she opened her eye and stood up and stretch a bit and turned toward the engineer.

"God Isaac ever heard of sleep", she said.

"Yeah seems to have escaped me", he stated emotionless his eyes still hook to the monitors.

"You're not going to crack on me too?"

Isaac finally peeled his eyes away from the screen to look at her, her body language was uneasy but he couldn't blame her, from what he had gather back on the Sprawl, people who she tried to team up with before they teamed up had gone insane caused by the Marker's mind games and turned on her, luckily she was a quick draw with a plasma cutter as well as a good shot.

"_Having to shoot your own, it's what the Marker wants us to do, some fuck up shit"_, he thought

Instead of responding to her accusation, he gave her a warm reassuring smile to ease her up a bit, it worked as Ellie returned the gesture of reassurance back to him and sat back down in her seat.

"Ellie where low of fuel", he stated bluntly his eyes focusing on the on fuel tank level.

"You can't be serious?", she shot back

"Very", was his response.

"Dammit I was so worried about you when you launched the ship I forgot to check the fuel levels, guess Tiedemans boy's didn't want anybody to get far if people got to the government sector and decide to take this ship for a joyride", she explained.

Isaac rubbed his temples this wasn't what they needed with the fuel low their only chance for survival was to sit and wait for a ship to pick them up and most likely that ship would be EarthGov and that wouldn't end well for him, but he had to make sure he protected Ellie at any cost.

"Ellie, are only chance to survive is for a ship to find us", he started.

"Yeah so what?", she asked.

"EarthGov ships will most likely be looking for survivors, but they really want to find me and put me through whatever hell they have planned for me"

"Why? You haven't done anything wrong Isaac".

He turned to her and took a deep breath before replying back, "Like I told you Ellie back on the Sprawl they use the codes in my head to make the Markers, that's what they still want from me and they'll stop at nothing to get it out of me".

"Haven't enough innocent lives been lost already because of these damn Markers", she spat.

"I don't know, EarthGov's agenda is still unclear to me at this point, but back to the situation at hand, if a EarthGov ship finds us you can't tell them you saved me", he explained.

"Why?", she asked calmly

"If they find out you help me in any way they might have you killed", he bluntly stated.

"You can't be serious?!", she protested.

"To them you're just a witness, which makes you expendable, especially after I told you what really happen to the Ishimura, you know the truth and they can't have you running free with that knowledge"

"God, Isaac what have I gotten into?"

"Something bigger then you and me that's for sure".

Isaac turn his head in her direction, she had both hands in her face as she began to come to terms with situation she was in with Isaac. Isaac just sighed and stood up out of the chair and walks over to her and kneels down on one knee in front of her chair and grabbed both her hands pulling them away from her face to show that she was sniffling a bit, a couple tears rolling down from her one eye.

"Will get through this ok, I still have to pay you back remember, nothing's going to stop me from doing that", he said with a chuckle.

Ellie chuckled with him, feeling she had gained some control of herself he stood up to walk back to his chair, but heard a familiar distant sound outside the ship.

"That sounds like a ship coming out of shock point", he said as he strained his eyes to find the ship shocking in.

"There!", Ellie screamed out and pointed.

He followed her finger to the large battleship similar to the USM Valor that Issac thought was coming rescue him and his crew members when he was on the Ishumira. The battleship started to descend towards them with all its cannons focus on the small gunship in front of it, a transmission came through via com-link to the gunship.

"_This is the USM Dreadnought to Titan Security Force Gunship 16448, please respond or we will open fire". _

"What do we do Isaac?", Ellie asked the fear rising in the pit of her stomach.

"Simple respond to them before they blast us", he stated keeping his eyes on the ship.

"Ok genius! What are we going to say? Oh I just happen to have Isaac Clark onboard with me and I aided him in escaping Titan Station", she argued.

"Hmm….not exactly", he said as he sat in his chair and responded to the call, "This is Isaac Clark, level 5 systems engineer, responding to you call USM Dreadnought".

"Are you fucking insane!", she shrieked.

There was a long uncomfortable silence between them as they waited to get a response for the battleship, minutes felt like hours as time passed eventually the other side responded back to Isaac Clark.

"_Well what a surprise just the man we were looking for the", _the rough voice responded, Isaac guess he might be the captain and his guess was right on the bull's eye, _"this is Captain Marcellus here, you're a lucky man Clark this was our last sweep before shocking back to base"._

"Wish I felt lucky captain but that's not case", Isaac retorted.

"_Rightly so, your ship is about to be boarded, how you come out is up to you", _Marcellus shot back.

"I'll come peacefully, I have a passenger aboard and I want no harm to come to her captain"

"_Well I'm a reasonable person Clark,_ _as long as you don't resist my marines no harm shall befall you or her, plus you have a very special meeting with someone that I hate for you to be late for". _

"Who presence do I get to grace myself with?"

"_All in due time Clark, Marcellus out". _

Isaac slouch back in his chair, he had played with fire and luckily came out unscathed not like he had much choice they would shoot him once he is onboard if that was there orders from their superiors, but there was no use hiding who he was it would have made this delicate situation worse, at least he had bargain to have no harm fall to Ellie, yet he didn't trust of this Captain Marcellus at all, he might turn on him the minute he gets his hands on him, but again he had no other options.

"Isaac that was stupid", Ellie said in a hush whisper.

"Well I didn't have any other choice, I need you to trust my judgment here I'm going to get us out of this I pro-"

"Don't make a girl a promise you can't keep", she interjected as she turned her head away from him.

They both remained quiet as the boarding procedures were initiated and the marines storm the small gunship, both of them complied with their orders and were taken to a small empty room as they awaited their fate.

Time passed by slowly as two waited to see how this was going to play out, suddenly the door to the room slid open and a tall caucasian man wearing the traditional all white captains uniform with various medals littered across his uniform, his hair combed over and face slightly wrinkling showing his age walked in with two marines wearing advance soldier rigs behind him.

"Isaac Clark in the flesh, this is an honor", Marcellus boasted.

"Cut the pleasantries captain", Isaac riposte.

"By all means, seems your actions have gained the attention of a certain Defense Minister back home, which I might add is the commander of all defense forces up here in space".

"I'm flattered".

"You should", the captain replied back, he turned to one of the marines, "please take Miss Langford to the private quarter we prepared for her".

"Yes sir, this way Miss Langford", the marine said as he put his arm out.

"Wait! What are you going to do to Isaac?", she disputed, as she warp her arms around the engineers right arm holding it tight to her.

The captain just smiled, "nothing my dear, in fact we owe a debt gratitude to Isaac for helping us".

"Being tortured for three years and helping you build Markers isn't something to cheer about motherfucker!", Isaac said enraged.

"Language please, there is a lady present", he said with a sly chuckle making Ellie tighten her grip on Isaac's arm.

Isaac just grunted at the Captain for his retort, but let it go as he turned to Ellie and look deep into her eye, "Ellie I'll be fine, once I'm done all come and find you, I promise".

"Remember what I said earlier?", she questioned.

"I don't break promises".

She nodded her head and let go out his arm slowly, Isaac gave her the best smile he could, which ease her up as she began to follow the solider out of the room.

"Well now, come along", the Captain ordered.

Isaac complied as he follow him down the seemly endless hallways of the ship till they arrived outside a door that read, "Commutations Room", they both walk inside and sat in the two chairs in front of a huge screen. The Captain turned to his right, "alright, bring up communications with Defense Minister", one of the technicians nodded his head and push a bunch of buttons.

Suddenly the screen lit up showing a man sitting in an office chair his eyes beaming with delight at the sight of Isaac, "well the man of the hour, glad to see you're in somewhat good heath Isaac", the Minister stated as he eyed the bandages around the engineer's shoulder and hand.

"What's this all about?", he inquired.

"Straight to the point, alright the reason I had you brought before me is because I need your special talents to help me", he paused to let Isaac responded but was met with his cold stare and silence, so he continued, "do yo-".

"Why should I help EarthGov after what happen on the Sprawl!", Isaac interjected infuriated.

"Tiedeman was acting without order's, the station went dark when the Marker was uncovered, so to put it simply he was afraid of you and tried to stop you before you got to him, but I guess he got his due".

"Yeah he did", Isaac retorted.

The Director just cleared his throat, "yes he did, but that's beside the point, are you're willing to hear me out and I'll explain the situation or I could just let my superiors do what they had plan for you from the start".

"So you stood up for me?"

"Only to fulfill my own goals", he stated.

Isaac weighed his options, on one hand he could tell this guy to fuck off and probably get sent back to an asylum and make more Marker's for EarthGov or listen to this guy and maybe do some good or at least keep Ellie safe, that was the top priority at this moment, so he just took a deep breath and crossed his fingers, "ok I'll listen".

"Alright good to hear, as you know we have built Marker's on the pretense that we could harvest their power for our own use so humanity can continue, well recent results have proven to costly for us to continue this dangerous business".

"How many innocent lives did it take to understand that?"

The Director just shook his head, "I voiced my opinion to the counsel about building Marker's on the other space stations, that we needed more time to understand the psychological effects of the Marker, but they were so desperate for results they through all safety rules out the window".

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Most of the Markers are encased in a dome to protect the populace from the effects of the marker and guarded by a battalion of marines"

"So what's the problem?"

"A year before you started your escape from the Sprawl today, a science officer by the name of Dr. Gerald, a young and ambitious man, stole a small piece of the Marker, claiming that he had seen what power it holds for us and went into hiding, he covered his trails, till now".

The Minister paused to gulp the rest of his whiskey with a satisfying smack of lips when he finished, "he's been spotted on the Mars station, now what I'm asking you is to hunt him down and destroy the Marker piece he has on him".

"Why me?", Isaac inquired.

"Your mind can withstand the effects of the marker and your touch destroys it, to put it simply you're the greatest weapon against Marker's".

"This is fucking stupid, you want to send an engineer to do a soldiers job?!"

"No, I'm going to be sending a spec op agent to aid you, my forces are stretch too thin to help combat the Unitologists riots that I cannot give you anymore support then that, but you do this for me and I will personally see you and Miss Langford's freedom after this job and EarthGov will not be allowed to come after you".

That caught Isaac's interest, he wondered back on the gunship if him and Ellie would have to be on the run for the rest of their life's as fugitives from EarthGov and Unitologists, but this was a chance, maybe a dumb chance to take but this was better than a life on the run, "How can you assure me our freedom".

"I've already put you under my protection, which I made clear to the counsel and will continue to be when the job is done".

"Understood, alright Minister you got a deal".

"Good, I can tell you and me are going to be good friends".


	3. Old Friends

I don't own any characters from the Dead Space universe

well were back haven't touch my dead space 3 since I played it for like 5 hours straight when I got on launch day so I took a break didnt want to beat it one night kind ruins value of it, but have been working on this story and thoroughly been enjoying writing it hope you guys enjoy

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Old Friends

"Damn that hurt", Isaac groaned as he exited the infirmary room aboard the USM Dreadnought, after he had gotten looked over by the doctors for his injuries and had them properly cleaned and patched up, taking out the Foam aid was more painful than putting it in, but the doctors said it saved him from losing too much blood, he had to switch out of his Advance Rig Suit for them to fix him up and gave him a fresh white shirt with a rig bar on the back and black sweats as well some slip on shoes.

As he roll his shoulder and flex his hand to make sure he still had some feeling in them someone tap him on the back of his shoulder, he turned to and was face to face with one the marines in the usual Advance Solider Suits, "sir follow me, I'll take you to Miss Langford's room", Isaac just nodded and followed in silence behind him.

The small walk was uneasy for him, his distrust for everyone around him only increase as he could tell that the eyes of the crew were burning into the back of his head as they passed by them, he wondered if they knew who he was or what he has done to gain their full attention, _"Well I always wish I was more popular in high school guess this is as close as I'll ever get"_, he thought with a chuckle.

They finally arrived outside a room, the usually blue light indicating the door was open, was orange which Isaac dreaded since most times it meant Necromorphs were going to jump him, "why's this door locked?", he asked with a bit of hostility.

"Captains confide you and your friend to quarters till we reach fleet command station, sir", he responded coldly.

"Huh, guess he doesn't trust me", Isaac said to himself.

"Can't say I do either, now if you please", the solider gestured to door as he pulled out a keycard and put into the panel, which made the door light turn blue and opened, Isaac walked in without question and the door shut behind him.

"Isaac is that you?", a familiar voice echo through the dark room.

"Yeah Ellie, where's the light?", he asked as he move his hand along the wall looking for the panel.

"Light's on"

Suddenly the room flashed with light overhead, blinding him for a moment, he rubbed his eyes and look around at the room, there was a steel office table with a chair to his right and closet to his left, the room was small, he looked at the bed which Ellie was now sitting cross-legged.

"Isaac are you alright", she asked as she got up from the bed and walk over to him.

"Yeah I think it's too late to ask that question", he said

Ellie look deeply at him, "What happen?"

"Well I got our freedom secured"

"Why do you sound so shaky when you say that".

Isaac rubbed the back of his head some knowing this was going to be difficult to explain to her, "well I have to help them with a job and if I complete it they'll let us go".

"What!?", she shirked.

"Look this is the best way for us to get out without complications"

"By what trusting their word, do you know how ludicrous that is!?", she shouted.

"Well you got a better plan!", he shot back.

Ellie turned her back on him, "their only using you Isaac can't you see that?", her voice was soft and sadden.

"I don't have a choice; my priority is keeping you safe".

"Why do you make it seem like I need your protection, I'm the one who saved your sorry ass from that station remember?", she said as she turned back to him.

"Well no one fucking ask you too!", he responded.

Ellie step back a couple of steps from him, her head hung low to the ground, "Do you really want to die?", the question had no venom, but still had a stinging effect on Isaac. Had he wanted to die back at the station? He didn't know and that was the truth, till this point he still couldn't figure why he fought so hard to get off that station, he was already a broken soul, a lost ship at sea with no direction to get home, the love of his life gone, no family to turn to or talk to, he was alone with nothing to fight for except making sure Ellie was safe.

"I can't give you a straight answer", he responded as he walked past her and sat on the edge of the bed and rested his elbows on his knees, his head hanging and eyes glued to the ground.

It was hard to see him so down, but she could see arguing with him wasn't the best medicine for him, she turned and walked over to the bed, sat down next to him sitting up with a couple of inches of space between them, they fell into a uncomfortable silence till Isaac spoke up after a couple of minutes, "they're going to give you a new eye".

"What?", she asked.

"Were on our way to a fleet command station, there they can give the proper surgery to fix your missing eye", he straightens his back out to sit up straight.

"You didn't answer my question", she hissed.

"Ellie, Nicole was everything to me, losing her was like losing a piece of myself and surviving the Ishrmuira and the Sprawl only took more pieces of my humanity away till the point where I can't even remember what it was like to feel happy or sad, I guess I just feel numb like this is just a bad dream I'm going to wake up from", she didn't respond to his explanation or look at him, just remained silent.

"Well I guess to answer your question, yes at times I want to take this plasma cutter put it to my head and pull the trigger and end this shitty nightmare I have to call a life from now on", he stated.

Ellie turned to him now, "What makes you press on", this time her voice was easy and soothing to him, which made him ease up a bit.

"Nicole, she was always so strong, I can't say our relationship was perfect all the time, sometimes I said things that should have made her leave me, but she stuck with me, push me to see the bright side in life and in turn I push her to take higher position's in the medical field, I knew she could, but was afraid of being away from me for so long, but ultimately I pushed her to take the job abroad the Ishumira and here I am three years later, a mental wreck, but I still not ready to punch my ticket yet because she would be ashamed of me if I did".

Ellie turn her head away from him and looked at the ground remaining quiet as she absorbed the information in, "Caleb, Sorensen Katie, and Riley", she blurted out.

"Huh?", he asked.

"They were my childhood friends since I was on the Sprawl".

"I'm sorry for blowing up your home, Ellie".

"Don't be, the place was a shit hole from day one for me, but those were best friends since first grade, we fought, laughed, and cried together, they were the closet thing I had to a family".

"What happen to you parents?"

"My dad was a P-Sec officer on the Sprawl; he died when I was a five, when he was trying to subdue a small riot in the cafeteria till a the man pull a gun on him, after that my mom couldn't handle it she drank to drown her sorrows and lead to her taking her sadness and frustration on me", she paused to control herself from crying.

"Ellie, you don't have to tell me anymore", he said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"No I feel better talking about, when one of the neighbors found out she abusing me, they had her arrested for child abuse, Katie's mom was good friends with my mom so she took me in and raised me and Katie, we were like twins and never left each other's side", she started to smile before she lost control of all her emotions, crying uncontrollably in front of Isaac.

"_Poor thing, she just as alone as I am"_ , he thought as he pulled her into warm embrace and she accepted it using his shoulder as her towel to wipe the tears from her eye.

"Why did they have to die!?", she screamed in agony into his shoulder.

"I don't know Ellie, I don't know", he said as he soothed his hand through her hair which was no longer in ponytails.

They stayed liked that for a while just embracing tightly to one another not wanting to let the moment go, but Isaac had to pull away to look into her face, "Ellie what happen to Katie?"

Ellie wipe her face a bit and look at him, "she was the first to go, one of those things with the blades trapped her leg as she was trying to escape with me and Caleb's team, I tried to get her out, but "it" sliced her body in half, I felt so helpless but Caleb didn't give me a chance to mourn and pulled me along with him to get out of there, but he sacrifi-".

"I know", Isaac interrupted.

"How?", she asked staring at him quizzically.

"I found all the audio logs him and Sorensen left behind, he sacrificed himself to save you", he stated.

Ellie chuckled a bit, "Caleb was more of a bastard then you are, we were so close to door", she paused as tears fell once again, "but he wanted to be a hero, bastard".

"What happen to Riley?"

"Oh he left the Sprawl a couple years ago, he went to join the Defense Force, I rather not talk about him"

"Why?"

"Just please Isaac, I've only know you for a couple of hours and I'm still opening myself up to you like I know you since I was a child, be happy about that", she said as she crawled into bed and lay on her side facing the wall.

Isaac just watch her as she shuffled to get comfortable and then laid still, he decided to follow her same movements and lay on his side facing opposite of her staring at the locked door that lead out of the room.

"Thank you Isaac', she muttered out as she fell asleep.

Isaac didn't respond, but a smile formed across his face, _"Nicole, baby, I'm still here, still fighting, and still alone, but will be together one day just let me take care of her first"_, he thought as he followed Ellie into a much-needed sleep.

* * *

**Defense Force Fleet Command Station, Codename: The Dread**

"You're playing a dangerous game Marcus, trusting a man as unstable as Isaac Clark for this op".

"Ye of little faith General Brigands trust me when I say he will get the job done for us".

"What makes you so sure the man might turn on us the minute we let him loose".

"Well it's this or we kill him that's enough motivation for him to press on with little or no questions asked".

"So you think, the man's destroyed two markers and survived outbreaks when my best special forces couldn't, the man's a danger to all of us, were better off pulling the trigger on him now".

"If he fails to do his job, he's all yours General, till then I need him to be…..not dead, understood".

"Understood", the General grunted.

"Good to hear, Defense Minister Marcus out".

The holo-vid ended, the General lean back in his chair a bit, "_This better fucking work",_ he thought as he continue to look over the casualty reports from Titan Station. His thoughts were interrupted when his audio call activated, _"Sir he's arrived"_, a feminine voice stated over the call.

"Thank you Elizabeth send him in".

The door to his office slid open and a young Caucasian man walked in look to be in his early twenty's, wearing an advance suit colored in all black with his visor unengaged he had a fohawk and dragoon tattoos on either side of his neck, his eyes fierce as they locked onto the General as he took a seat from across his desk.

"Son, you never failed me on any assignment I've put you through", he started.

"I don't plan on breaking the streak", the young man said his smiling beaming with confidence.

"Well this time you got your work cut out for you, have you read the reports I sent you?"

"Yeah don't see why were putting our faith in Isaac Clark I say you just let me kill him", he stated.

"If it's only that easy, but we've got orders so just bear with me this", the General said as he smooth out his army vest a bit.

"Don't worry sir, but I won't hesitate to punch his teeth in".

"I don't doubt that for a minute Riley, now go on he'll be here soon with a guest".

"Who's the sorry soul to get stuck in with him", Riley asked.

"Ellie Langford, an old friend of yours", the General said with a sadistic smile on his face.


	4. Show Time

**I don't own any characters from the Dead Space universe**

What's up guy's were back, now this chapter I had to make some history with these two, alright engage those visors and enjoy the chapter

* * *

**Show Time**

The sound of waves and the chirping of seagulls awoke Isaac to the peaceful alarm clock, he opened his eyes to look up at the blue sky with specks of clouds littered about, he moved his hands to feel the sand he was laying on, letting it seep between his fingers, he noticed his head was laying on something soft, softer than the sand, he turned his eyes up to look up at to see short golden hair waving in the wind.

"Nicole", he muttered out.

Nicole who was wearing a causal white dress finally stop staring off into space and look down at him, "well good morning sleepy head", she sweetly said while running her fingers though his black and graying hair.

Isaac felt her soft hands run wild through his hair, it felt real to him, yet at the same time he wasn't sure if it was real, he shuffled a bit and realized he was laying on her lap with her feet under her in the sand, he looked down to see he was wearing a white shirt and black board shorts, they were on a beach with no people in site.

"Where are we?", he asked.

"You don't remember Isaac?"

"What do you mean?"

"Look around Isaac, this place holds a special place in my heart as well as yours", she said as she pushed him to sit up.

As soon as he was sitting up he looked around at the scenery, he was back on earth, somewhere along the coast, but which country he couldn't remember, his memories were hard to muster since his time on the Sprawl was spent having memory represents shove down his throat.

"I….I…I", he tried to explain to her but she stop him.

"Shhhhh….it's ok it's ok….I know Isaac, I'll tell what this place is", she paused to move and sit next to him their sides touching as she place her head on his shoulder, "We had been dating for a year, I was so happy Isaac, when you call my heart jump, when you came home I just wanted to sequel with delight, and when you came to my job for a lunch date I wanted you stay with me all day".

"I was asshole though", he muttered out.

Nicole pulled her head away and place both hands on his face, turning his head so they were looking into each other's eyes, she stared deeply into his eyes, Isaac just wanted to take her there on the sand, to feel their body's touch like they had so many times before, to taste her sweet skin again and to smell he vanilla perfume again, to know she was never going leave him again.

Nicole finally made a move and pulled him into a kiss, Isaac could care less that he was dreaming or not at this point as her tongue ran wild through his mouth, he fought back with his tongue as now both his and hers where becoming tangled together in this fierce battle for control.

Nicole pulled away, leaving Isaac almost whimpering for more from her, "Still as wild as ever I see", she said with a chuckled.

"Isaac, yeah I'll admit sometimes you were an asshole when you lashed out at me for no reason like you wanted to pick a fight, but I knew why you did it, it was because you had no father growing up, your mother gave all your money to the Church, and you had no one else to turn to in your life, that can harden any man, but at the same time it could have destroyed you if you let it".

"I didn't let it destroy me", he muttered out.

"Yeah you didn't Isaac, because you were a fighter, you've always been a fighter no matter what was thrown in front of you, that's what I love most about you, and that's why I'll always be loyal to you even in death".

"So this is a dream?", he asked as head sank a little.

Nicole nodded as she turned her head back to wide ocean in front of them, "Nicole what is this place?", Isaac asked his head still hanging low.

"Oh I got off track a bit there sorry, after a year in our relationship, you took all those credits you saved up from your various jobs and took us on a vacation to earth, you took me see the coastline, to show me what you had the pleasure of doing everyday of your life as a child before you left to become an engineer, we found this spot together, and we…..".

Suddenly everything came back to Isaac, Nicole and he had never had sex during the first year of their relationship, she wanted to wait till she got a see what kind of man Isaac was before they engaged in anything sexual, but that day, that moment she gave herself to him, it was probably the most defining thing about their relationship.

Nicole wasn't a virgin at her age, but she had held sex as a secrete act of love that she would only engage in with her boyfriend's if she felt she loved them with all her heart only, if she felt anything less than that she would wait, this lead to a lot her boyfriend's before Isaac to become frustrated with this ritual and would leave her from some younger girl who "put out" as they would say, it left her broken hearted, most nights she would cry herself to sleep, but then Isaac came along, he never judged her, never pressured her, and enjoyed their relationships for her not her body.

"I remember Nicole", he said with delight which made her smile.

"Isaac, I love you", she said as she nuzzled into his neck.

"I love you too", he responded.

"Half as full", she muttered.

"Twice as bright", he muttered as well, it was saying they use that even when things were so dark there will always be light to shine their path.

"Isaac?", she whispered into his neck.

"Hmm?", he responded his eyes closed, basking in the blissful moment with her.

"Why did we never tie the knot?"

"What?", he asked opening his eyes now, but still staring at the ocean in front of them.

"Why did we never get married after being together for 2 years, it's not like we were young lovers Isaac, I was 38 and you 46 years old, why didn't we get married".

Isaac froze up at the question, it was last thing that haunted him from his past with Nicole still nagging at him, "I can't answer that Nicole", he blurted out.

"Why?", she asked pulling away from him turning her whole body to stare at him.

"I just can't alright, leave it alone Nicole", he said with annoyance.

"What are you scared of Isaac?", she said her voice rising.

"Please just stop".

"No!...we need to talk about this, we need this Isaac…I need to know the truth".

"I…I…I..I can't…no I won't tell you!", he said standing up now and walking away from her, she followed his actions and chase after him.

"Stop hiding!", she screamed.

"I'm not!", he yelled back as turned to face her now, both of them standing a few feet apart from each other.

"Has my death meant nothing to you", she hissed.

That was a comment that burned into Isaac mind like a hot piece of metal touching his skin, he felt dumbfounded, dazed, and most of all hurt, apparently even his dreams found some way of throwing some emotional pain at him to endure.

"What did you say", he whispers, his eyes narrowing in on her.

"You heard me", she said with some venom.

"You cold arrogant bitch", Isaac blurted out, the rash comment didn't have any effect on Nicole as she just stood there her arms cross, her face still determined, it was as if she had heard it a thousand times from him.

"Am I wrong?", she asked, "Did you even cry when Kendra show you the entire message I left you?"

"No I didn't". Isaac retorted.

"Why is that?!"

"Because I was numb Nicole, I just wanted it all to end; I wanted to believe you were still on the ship, that there was still a chance for me to find you and for us to go home and forget this ever happen, I couldn't accept it, but after I got off the planet I finally had to accept the truth that you were gone, it was the hardest thing to do, but the memories I never let go, I was never letting you go from my heart", he fell to the sand after his speech, he wanted to cry to show some emotion, but all the death, pain, and horror had harden him even more.

Nicole soften her expression as she sigh and walk over to kneel in front of him, she put her arms around his neck and pulled his head into her breast, "I'm sorry Isaac, I pushed you over the edge, I should have seen how fragile you've become".

"I..I…I couldn't give you a child", he muttered out.

"What", she asked, her eyes widening as she push Isaac back to look into his face.

"About 5 months before you left for the job on the Ishimuira, I had to go the doctor for a routine checkup before I went on CEC job, after the examination the doctor revealed to me that my sperm count had drop significantly, he said it must have been something my father had and was pass down to me when he was my age, so I be shooting blanks for the rest of my life", Isaac explain as he sniffled a bit.

"Isaac, it's alright I still would have lo-"

"How can you love a man who can't give you a child", he interjected, "I seen how the children at the hospital reacted when they saw you, how they clung to you like a motherly figure to all of them, you would have been a great mother, if only I could do my part to give you that".

Nicole face became sadden laced with pity toward her lover, true she had always wanted a child, a daughter to be more specific who golden hair like her, and would have loved to watch her grow into a women as she grew older with Isaac that man she loved.

She lowered herself some more and placed her head under Isaac's chin and rested on his chest, "we still could have had a child, we could have just adopted", she said trying to ease him.

"I thought the same thing, but it still wouldn't have been our child, our flesh and blood", he responded.

"It doesn't matter, I still love you no matter what, I wanted to grow old with you, and wake up every morning to your face with a ring on my finger, like I said Isaac I'll always be loyal to you even in death", she said running her fingers up his back.

"Thank you Nicole, Thank you so much", he responded as he wrap his arms around her and pull her into a tight embrace they stayed like that for a while.

"Now we have to part", she said pulling out of his embrace and placing a sweet kiss on his cheek.

"Yeah good dreams never last forever I guess", he muttered out.

"One day we'll be together but you got to take care of Ellie first", she said smiling.

"I know, I have to make sure she can have her life back to live without fear in her life ever again", he agreed caressing the side of her face with his hand which Nicole gradually accepted.

"I love you, Isaac Clark"

"I love you, Nicole Brennan"

Nicole smiled, "Half as full".

"Twice as bright", he responded as a white light engulfed them both.

* * *

_**USM Dreadnought:Issac and Ellie Quarters**_

Isaac slowly woke to reality as he felt something nudging him a bit, his eyes darted to the culprit to see it was Ellie knelling at the side of the bed in front of him slowly shaking him awake, they were still in their confide room with the lights on and the door still showing its orange light meaning it was locked.

"Isaac", Ellie whispered loud enough for him to hear.

"Yeah", he said sitting up tossing his legs over the edge of the bed.

"Were here, the guard says we need to be ready in five and the shuttle is going to be taking us to the Fleet Command Station", she said.

Isaac noticed the fear in her voice, _"guess she still thinks this plan is shit"_, Isaac thought to himself as he rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms out a bit.

"Come on Ellie, this is where the fun begins", he stated as he sat up and walked over to the door and Ellie followed in suit right next to him.


	5. A Solider At Heart

I don't own any characters from the Dead Space universe.

Were back guys sorry for the long wait had to restart this chapter like 3 times and working full time dosent help but finally got this one done, so let's engage those visors and enjoy.

* * *

A Solider At Heart

"Please step into the shuttle", the solider ushered both Isaac and Ellie to the small shuttle parked in the hangar for the USM Dreadnought, both of them hesitated to follow the soldier's order.

"Ladies first", Isaac chuckled.

Ellie just rolled her eyes and smiled at him and took the first steps into the small shuttle and took a seat behind the pilot in the cockpit as Isaac took the other seat to her right and strapped himself in.

"Alright, this is shuttle number 3358 to control, are we cleared for takeoff?", the pilot asked over the com-link.

"_You're cleared for departure Rick, safe travels bud, a round of beers on me when you get back"_, a gruff voiceresponded.

The shuttles engines roared to life, shaking the cockpit a little as they began the slow approach out of the hangar, once they were outside in space the nose of the shuttle took a quick dip downward and barreled around under the massive warship heading for the aft of the ship. When they finally pass underneath the ship the form of a large meteor rock with the size to challenge the late USG Ishuimira came into view, thousands of small blinking yellow lights scattered across in front of it lined up like a lights guiding in planes, but in this case it was to guide shuttles to the meteor.

Isaac examined with awe at the randomly formed rock that was patrolled by at least a dozen warships with the occasional squad of gunships flying by patrolling the smaller spaces around the meteor, as they came closer to the large rock he also noticed the thousands upon thousands of huge artillery cannons littered about the rock, "what is this place?", Isaac asked.

"That sir, is the one and only fleet command station codename: The Dred", the pilot said boasting.

"It's just a huge meteor, nothing special", Ellie added in trying to get more clarity.

The pilot just chuckled a bit, "you would think that, but this piece of rock was once part of a planet that was cracked ages ago and was floating around by itself for a while, when EarthGov discovered it they made plans to build it into a command station, took some time but they finally finish it and now it's the ultimate fortress in space".

"How do they keep it from floating off and crashing into a station or planet?", Isaac asked.

"Thousands of small booster's located on specific points on the meteor fire off small burst of compression air to keep the station stable and stationed in this spot", the pilot explained.

"That's amazing", Ellie blurted out.

"Yup and you have the pleasure of walking inside the halls of it, so without further ado welcome to The Dred", he said with a small bow of the head to both of them as the ship started the landing procedures.

Once they had landed safely inside the hangar, both Isaac and Ellie thank the pilot and step outside into the vast hangar, dozens of gunship were suspended above them locked into place by grappling hooks with catwalks positioned in between the rows, hundreds of pilots and soldiers were walking about the huge steel hangar doing their usual duties from repairs on gunships to weapon system checks most not paying much attention to the new arrivals.

"Umm, isn't someone supposed to come get us?", Ellie asked.

As if on cue to answer her question, a squad of solder's donning the EarthGov Security Suits led by a solider wearing an Advance Suit colored in all black, walked in two single filed lines toward them and stop when they were just in front of them.

"Follow me", a smooth voiced coursed through the helmet of the Advance Suit user.

They complied with his orders and followed in between the squad as they were escorted out of the hangar and down the large white corridor of the space station, they passed by multiple doors each labeled with names of those who own the room or labeling the department it housed, they stop in front of an elevator and the squad leader press the call button, as they waited the leader kept glancing back at Ellie which caught her eyes after he glanced for a bit too long at her, she moved closer to Isaac which made the leader grunt with disapproval.

When the elevator finally arrived, the leader had Isaac and Ellie go in first, then he enter the square elevator as well bringing in two squad mates with him and sending the rest of the team to go relax. The ride up was slow and uncomfortable with breathing being the only source of sound, Isaac peek up at the counter on top of the door they had just passed level 40 when he felt the elevator slowing down a bit, they had stop at level 45 and as the doors open the two squad mates grab Isaac violently and pulled him out of elevator.

"Get off me motherfucker!...Ellie!", he roared as he put his hand out to reach for her.

"Isaac!...let him go please!", she screamed holding out her hand as well, while pleading with the squad leader who was holding her waist tightly not letting her escape from his vice-like grip.

"Isaac, she'll be fine with me, you've got to speak to General Brigands about this mission were going on together, so you won't fuck it up", the leader spat out with pleasure as the door's closed.

The soldiers struggled to restrain Isaac as the door closed and the elevator moved further up, after he realized it was pointless he stop his fighting and was escorted down the corridor to the General's office, _"he hurts her and I swear no one will be safe from me",_ he thought as he continues down the hall till he enters an office with a receptionist typing on holo-computer, she looked up and smiled at him, "Isaac Clark I presume", he nodded, "good the General is expecting you", she said as the door right of her desk slid open and the soldier's push Isaac in as the door shut behind them.

* * *

**In the elevator heading for the medical floor**

"You complete bastard, let me go!", Ellie yelled in complete anger as the solider in the Advance Suit as he had a good grip on both of her wrist as she struggled against him.

"Is that how you treat an old friend"

"You're no friend of mine arsehole", she spat showing some of her British accent.

The solider just chuckled a bit as his helmet unengaged making the small clanking noises as the man reviled his face to Ellie, "Riley", she whispered.

"In the flesh", he said with enthusiasm opening his arms toward her.

Ellie immediately jump into his arms wrapping her arms around his waist as he ran his hands threw her hair as she buried herself into his metal shoulder.

"Where have you been?", she asked.

"Here and there, the life of an EathGov Spec Op agent never gives you a chance to get settle in one spot".

"So you're too busy to call to let me and the rest of our friends know you're at least safe", she pulled out of the embrace a little so she could look up at him.

"I had to follow the rules of no contact with friends and family while on active duty, I'm sorry", he walk a little closer to her.

"Bullshit, do you know how hard it was on all of us when you left?", she questioned.

The outburst made Riley pull out of the embrace and put a little distance from her as her fierce eye was burning into him, making him cough a bit to clear his throat trying to compose himself in front of her.

"What happen to your eye?", he said trying to change the subject.

"Don't worry about it", she retorted.

"How am I'm not supposed to worry about it, I haven't seen you in years and you show up today with that lunatic and a missing eye", his eyes narrowed on her, "did he do this to you?", his voiced was hushed and shaky with anger.

"Lunatic?", Ellie said with a half laugh, "he's the reason I'm standing in front you at this very moment so show a little respect for that man and no he didn't do this to me".

"You're lying to me", he responded.

"Why would I do that?"

He quickly moved toward, so fast Ellie had no time to react as she had her wrist pinned to wall violently, "Because you're the kind of girl who likes to play games, like the one you played with my heart".

"I left you for a good reason", she stated turning her face to the side.

"You left me because you fear me dying in the line of duty, how can you justify that as a good reason!", he yelled in rage.

Ellie turned to look him directly in the eye now, "I beg for you not to go but you threw our love out the door just so you could some hotshot Marine".

"You're still holding that grudge against me after all these years, do you even know how much you meant to me", he shot back.

"Obviously I didn't mean anything to you for you to pull a stunt like that", she calmly replied.

"Yet I can see that glimmer in your eye when you look at me, you still have feelings for me don't you".

Ellie didn't respond but kept her eye focus on him, his brown eyes captivating her again like they had all those years ago, his face still smooth, his smile still perfect and warming for her, with her eye locked onto his she hadn't notice how close his was coming towards her, it was only when she felt his lips brush against hers, teasing her for a response. Ellie's body felt limp, _"he's doing it again"_, she thought as she felt the grip on her wrist loosen as Riley brought his hands down to her waist placing his hands on either side of her hip, he then moved his head from her lips to her neck nuzzling it with his nose.

"Don't", Ellie whimpered.

Riley pulled back and stared back at her with his eyes beaming with delight because now his former lover's tough exterior was being shattered by his bombardment of passion on her.

"Guess that answers my question doesn't it", he crowed as he pulled back away from her as the elevator let out a loud ding announcing that they had arrived at medical floor, Riley gestured for Ellie to proceed out of the elevator, she moved carefully out keeping her eye on him as he walk in unison with her down the hall as doctors and nurses were walking about, they walked till they arrived at a patient room and enter.

Ellie looked around the room seeing cabinets full of various medical pills and antibiotics, a small bed and a metal chair position next to it, "take a seat we got to get that eye looked at before it gets any worse", Riley ordered.

Ellie sat on the edge of the bed with both of her arms position on her side as Riley lean back against the wall next to the door, they waited there for a couple of minutes in complete silence till the door slide open and a female nurse walked in.

The nurse walked in holding a holo-pad close to her upper left shoulder, she wore the customary all white nurse outfit that hug against her slender and toned body, her blue eyes cast a friendly glanced at Ellie as she proceeded towards her only stopping when Riley spoke up, "Hey Lily", he called after her.

"Hello Riley ", she responded with a friendly tone, as she continued to take the cushioned seat in front on Ellie, taking a seat and crossing her legs as the holo-pad was repositioned on her left forearm with fingers gripping the side as her right hand ran calculating on the touch screen.

"Ellie Langford, age 25, CEC Pilot Class 4, alright Miss Langford seems you need to have your right eye replaced with a prosthetic one", Lily said calmly as she brought her head up from the holo-pad screen to examine her patient.

"Yea, but I don't have the money to pay for such an operation", Ellie muttered out as if she was ashamed.

The doctor just chuckled, "no worries seems looks like your operation was paid for".

"By who?"

"Seems a man named Isaac Clarke paid for your operation", the doctor answered smoothing out her pants a bit.

"What!", Ellie responded baffled, as Riley eyed her curiously.

"Yeah the man paid about 40,000 credits for your operation, even though I do warn you that's not enough to replace your color eye".

"Why is that?"

The doctor cleared her throat before proceeding, "replacing your blue eye is one of the more expensive treatments mainly because it's a rare color that we never usually replace compared to a brown one".

Ellie pondered a bit before asking another question, "what about a green eye?"

Doctor Lily smiled, "hmmm…I think we can make an exception it's only an extra 5,000 credits".

Ellie's eye opened wide knowing she didn't have a single credit on her, but before she could respond Riley finally spoke up, "I'll cough up the extra 5,000 credits", he blurted out.

The doctor turn to him now for the first time staring at him curiously, "never thought you be such a saint Riley", she mused out, "well alright if he is willing to pay for the extra then we are all set here, we'll have you brought to the surgery room immediately".

"Wow that quick?", Ellie said bewildered.

"Yep, you have the most experience doctors here in all of the colonies so this shouldn't take long, now follow me to the surgery room", the doctor responded in her friendly tone as she got up from her seat and walked out of the room with Ellie close behind with Riley in tow with her.

"Thanks Riley", Ellie uttered out to him.

"What are friends for", he said with a wide smile as he playfully ruffled her hair making Ellie giggle as she slapped his hand away fixing her hair in the process, _"God how your idiotic behavior still amazes me"_, she thought as the two walked closely behind the doctor.

* * *

**General Brigands Office**

"Well well well, Isaac Clarke, take a seat please", General Brigand order.

Isaac walked slowly to the cushioned seat in front of the General's desk, to slowly for one of the guards who shoved him causing Isaac to stagger a bit who turn to growl at the guard ready for a fist fight with him, "Ralph! Relax please, Isaac has been through an ordeal no need to cause a scene were all friends here".

The guard backed off and position himself next to the door with his partner, "sorry my boy's been coped up here for a while so they get a bit jumpy, now take a seat".

Isaac complied and finally took a seat, "well Isaac quite a shitty journey it's been for you hasn't it, I've read your file and I have to say I'm quite impressed".

"Why", Isaac responded.

"Seems you're a solider at heart seeing as you spent a good part of your younger life with the Merchant Marines", the General said with delight.

"Not like I had much choice since I didn't have a high pedigree since I graduated from a small engineering school compared to my counterparts who went the top schools in the world, so the big companies wouldn't even take a second look at my resume so I had to join the Merchant Marines so I could support myself as well as continue my improving my skills as an engineer along the way ", Isaac said with some dismay, he felt sudden anger fill his vein's knowing the only reason he wasn't allowed to go to the big schools was his mother, Octavia Clarke, she had spent his father saving's which was meant for his college funds, on the Church of Unithology which thus began his hatred for them.

"Whatever the case, seems like you performed quite well in engineer slash solider role under a Captain Roger, whose reports say you prove to be handle high stress situations and had high scores in weapons accuracy training, but I digress, let's get to the real point you're here".

"Yeah let's", Isaac spat out.

"You already been informed on your mission, I'm just here to give you the details of your assignment", the General started as he slid a holo-pad in front of Isaac," that is a picture of your target Dr. Gerald, the science officer you're going to be tracking down ".

Isaac grabbed the holo-pad and study his target, the man was young about in his late 20's, a heavy beard with short black hair, his eye's brown, his facial expression in the picture was emotionless.

"Seems like a normal science office", Isaac muttered out.

"Yeah he was, but after his team recovered a Marker piece on the remains on Ageis7, he didn't come back the same, reports from his colleagues said he whispered an inaudible language whenever he got close to that damn rock even if they in case it on a tube ".

"What! You sent more people down to that hellhole!", Isaac thundered as he rose from his seat causing the guards behind him to charge and restrain him.

"Not by my orders", the General calmly responded, "when your shuttle was found floating lifelessly in space, you were screaming a phrase over and over again like a rhythmic pattern, so the higher ups needed to know what happen back on that colony and sent in one of my warships in to investigate, Dr. Gerald team was sent in first before the USM O'Bannon was sent in".

The guards pulled Isaac's hands behind his back and cuffed him and roughly shoved him back into his chair, after he was able to regain his composure he spoke, "what was I screaming about", Isaac's curiosity peeking.

"Make us whole, but after the treatment on the Sprawl you were brought back to a stable state", the General muttered.

Isaac eye's went wide with anger not fear, for fear was an emotion he longer felt and no longer wanted to feel, he been through hell twice and survived the fear and horror, now all he felt was fury, fury towards those who worship the rock and to those who study it, he just wish all of them could witness firsthand how "holy" that piece of man-made horror rock was or show what secrets they think it hides for them.

"Isaac don't think I like the idea that I had to take a backseat as the Overseer's was allowed to take full command of one of warship's and sent it on a suicide run back to that damn planet and it was only afterwards that I got word that it had been destroyed by a terrorist by the name of Isabel Cho, a chief medical officer aboard the ship during the mission".

"Who's this Overseer?", Isaac asked.

"He's the one that command's the entire Marker study's division, you should be glad the Defense Minister put his neck out for you, the Overseer wanted you back in his care when he caught wind that you had been recovered just to be study on all over again, but Minister argued he have a better use for you than being a test rat again, which the Council agreed with", the General said.

"You don't possibly believe that a mere medical office killed everyone onboard that ship".

"Like hell I would believe that, I sent three of my spec op agents to help with this so called 'mission of vital importance' as backup, but a lot good that did", the General's fist balled tightly on the arm rests of his chair, "I think whatever you found aboard the Ishuimira happen to the O'Bannon as well, but I can't do shit from my position without getting tossed, I lost a good captain and some good soldier's aboard that ship".

"I'm sorry", Isaac responded sincerely.

"Don't be its not your fault, in fact you've done more to stop this problem than anybody else has I should be thanking you", the General said with a warm smile.

"Not like I had a choice".

"I understand that Isaac, but you're here now and can do a lot more to help us"

Isaac looked up at him a grinned, "well as long as you can promise me Ellie's safety we won't have a problem".

The General looked at him curiously now, "Isaac where is this sense of loyalty to this women who is old enough to be your daughter coming from?".

"I don't know to be honest she was only person I could save while other's I could only watch them die around me, she survived that horror show back on the Sprawl, she deserves a second chance at life", Isaac explained.

"Alright Isaac, guards uncuff him,", the guards moved towards Isaac and uncuffed him and brought him up to his feet as Isaac grabbed the holo-pad, General Brigands stood as well and spoke, "Isaac you stay true to this mission and I'll make sure Ellie stays safe, a promise from one man to another", the General put his hand out to Isaac.

Isaac hesitated to take his hand and trust him, trust was a fickle thing for Isaac twice he had been betrayed, twice he had put his faith into someone's hands, twice he had been led astray, but now there was sense of hope that this time he was putting his trust in the right place, so he shook the General's hand.

"I'll hold you to that", the engineer responded.

"Understood, I'm putting you on lockdown for your own safety till all the preparations for the mission are complete, I suggest you study the file, I'll have my receptionist upload the rest of the data to your RIG ".

Isaac smiled and started to leave with his escort out the door till he stop and turn toward the General and gave a hearty salute to him which the General returned and sat back down in his chair while the door shut he spoke to himself, "a solider at heart", he muttered with a grin before returning to his work.


End file.
