Forward by Author: Welcome to my first published fan fiction. First of all, please enjoy. Secondly, I currently plan on this One Shot being the basis for a few short stories I have started to do story boards for. I felt that some kind of 'feel good' scene would be a great way to set the stage for how I feel how the Post ME3 (Destroyed Reapers) Universe would look. So once again, Please enjoy.
Rannoch, Six Months after Battle for Earth
An alarm was going off. Shepard's eyes shot open. An alarm meant there was a threat. Immediately, he was scanning the area, looking for the danger that was the cause for the alarm to go off. It was hard to see around him. The room he was in was dimly lit, and Shepard was still working to get his bearings. The alarm continued to go off, and Shepard didn't know where the danger was coming from.
"Turn that alarm off already." Tali said from the darkness next to him.
Shepard looked over at the nightstand. There was a glowing orange holoclock perched atop. The readout was reminding him that the time was 6:30 A.M. The alarm was still emitting a series of annoying beeps that were steadily getting louder. Shepard turned off the alarm, and moved to get out of the bed.
Shepard looked around the bedroom. The head of the bed was against the wall adjacent to the wall with the door, with nightstands on either side of the bed. Across from the bed was a small desk, with data terminal. The wall across from the door, had various closets and drawers built into it for storage. Shepard was finally convinced that there was no threat in the room. It would have been a bad way to start the morning if someone or something was in his and Tali's bedroom trying to harm them.
Shepard got up out of bed a walked over to one of the drawers and pulled out a black pair of boxer briefs. The next thing that Shepard did was walk over to the desk and check the time that the ship for The Citadel left for the day. The six months that Shepard was ordered to take off were over as of the end of the day, and Shepard would have to report to The Council to resume his Spectre duties soon. After confirming the time the shuttle left, Shepard turned the terminal off and looked over at Tali and thought about his, and the galaxy's recovery after The Crucible fired.
After The Crucible was activated, the wave of energy that it emitted across the galaxy destroyed the reapers and all other AI life forms. The blast caused The Citadel to overload and break apart, with The Presidium separating, and the Wards falling away. The Mass Relays also suffered damage, becoming inoperable for a short period until they were repaired. The Sword and Shield Fleets had wandered the galaxy for almost a week, getting enough supplies so the scientists could fix the relays.
Shepard was recovered in the firing chamber of The Crucible, buried underneath a pile of rubble and missing enough blood to kill most men' along with broken bones and superficial injuries. Luckily Shepard's cybernetics that Cerberus had installed kept him alive long enough to get medical attention. The doctors gave him six months of rest and recuperation. Another benefit to the cybernetics, they had sped up recovery time to only a few weeks, not that Shepard told anyone (How often do you get six months paid vacation?). Those injuries were minor compared to the fate that befell Admiral David Anderson.
Anderson had died by Shepard's hand in the control room of The Citadel. True, The Illusive Man forced Shepard to kill Anderson, but that didn't make the grief any less. Luckily The Illusive Man saw what he had become, and took his own life. Anderson died of blood loss shortly afterward. Shepard though about that event sadly for a moment, then drifted to the events that happened afterward.
The Citadel housed an AI that controlled The Reapers. The AI informed Shepard that the power of The Crucible would have allowed him to control them, or even merge organic and synthetic life. In the end though, he used The Crucible to destroy The Reapers. Only Tali and Shepard's friend Garrus Valkarian knew about the AI and the choices Shepard had on The Crucible. In the report Shepard submitted to Admiral Hackett, Shepard only told him about what happened in the control room, and that he had to overload a power conduit to activate The Crucible. Shepard decided it was better that the galaxy, and history did not know about the influence that Shepard could have made. Controlling The Reapers would have been too much power for Shepard, and it was not Shepard's place to alter every form of life in the galaxy. Shepard finally focused back on the room he was in.
Tali was still lying on the bed half asleep, without her helmet and environmental suit (or anything else Shepard thought, grinning). Her immune system was strong enough at this point that she was able to walk around their pre-fabricated house on Rannoch without her environmental suit, but she still required it at all other times, even outside on Rannoch. The idea that she wouldn't have a Geth program helping her build up her immune system didn't last long. She wanted to get out of her suit as soon as possible.
The Geth were in the process of rebuilding as well. When The Crucible fired, it destroyed the Geth mobile platforms as well as The Reapers. The energy was destroyed all synthetic life and did not discriminate. But there was a small miracle. The Geth programs in the hubs on Rannoch were unaffected. Because a Geth in a hub lacks a mobile platform, it is not synthetic life, just an AI on a computer. Once the Quarians rebuilt the first Geth, the Geth quickly took over and started rebuilding their own platforms. Quickly, they became a welcome and regular presence on Rannoch and in the other areas of the galaxy where they were helping rebuild the rubble. In addition the Geth were once again loading themselves to the suits of willing Quarians to help them build up their weak immune systems to acclimate to the atmosphere of Rannoch.
Shepard walked over to Tali and sat on the edge of the bed next to his girlfriend's stomach. He leaned over, and kissed Tali on the forehead to get here attention.
"Hey. You're gonna need to get up soon. The ship leaves in a few hours." Shepard said gently.
"Or, I could stay here and convince you come back to bed." Tali suggested seductively.
"You had six months to do that. You did it quite well, but there are things to get done now." Shepard said as he got up and walked over to the drawers again. This time he got dressed in his usual casual outfit: cargo pants, t-shirt and his prized N7 hoodie. "I'll see you downstairs."
Shepard left the room and found himself in a hallway. On his left, there was a bathroom. Across from him was a spare bedroom. Shepard turned to his right and walked down a flight of stairs. The main floor of the house had a living/seating area, with couches, chair, vid screens, and another data terminal. The rest of the floor was a kitchen/dining area. It was similar to the many other prefabricated households that converged around the former ships that made up the cities on Rannoch.
Shepard walked into the kitchen and started to make himself a quick breakfast. The food was divided into white containers for Shepard, and blue containers for Tali, so that food wasn't mixed up. This was especially important for Shepard as Quarian food might make him extremely sick, and there were not any human doctors on Rannoch that Shepard knew of. Shepard opted to make a sandwich from toast and a cut up hard-boiled egg with salsa. Just as Shepard sat down to eat, Tali walked into the room wearing her environmental suit, minus her helmet.
"Glad you got up." Shepard said.
"Yeah. I figured that I would either have to get up myself, or you would let me stay in bed by myself until there would be a last minute rush to get out the door." Tali said as she sat down to the table with Shapard. "You know that we wouldn't have this problem if The Normandy just picked us up."
After The Battle for Earth, many groups and individuals sprouted up to take advantage of the weakened governments, colonies, and companies that now had to recover from a galaxy wide war. As a result many militaries now needed to patrol for threats to the fragile peace that had been established by the many groups that posed a threat to it. Fundamentalist groups of multiple species (or Neo-Cerberus groups), Pirate raiders, pillagers, and common criminals were all out to get power and money wherever they could. The Normandy was still under Shepard's command, but was needed to patrol Council Space and The Terminus Systems.
"Can't use Alliance, or Council resources for personal use." Shepard said. "Besides, Garrus is using it for on the mission that The Council sent him on."
"How did the Alliance ever agree to let a Turian Spectre command their most advanced warship?" Tali wondered aloud.
"Political misdirection on paper, and coordination in practice. The Council requests that The Normandy patrol a certain area of space for security. The Alliance, Hackett in particular, thinks that it's a good idea. There also happens to be a Spectre, that would be Garrus, going to that area as well, so the Alliance gives him a lift in the name of cooperation. I'm still in command of The Normandy, but I'm on medical leave right now. Garrus is widely respected, so while he has no official command, the crew follows his orders since the commanding officer isn't there." Shepard explained. "On paper, The Normandy is just assisting in patrol and reconnaissance, but in practice, Garrus is in command of The Normandy and is using it for Spectre activities." He summed up.
"You would think that Williams would be in charge of The Normandy." Tali said.
"Nah. She is still The Council's official bodyguard. Apparently, they trust her." Shepard replied.
"That still doesn't explain why Garrus can't pick us up." Tali grumbled.
"It's because we are way out here in The Perseus Veil, and Garrus is in Council Space. That's a long way to go to pick up one Spectre and one ambassador. Especially since the ambassador's government is willing to supply the transportation for her, and the Spectre. The Council loves to save money as much as everyone else." Shepard said.
"Makes sense." Tali said in a surrendering tone.
"Speaking of which. What is Ambassador Zorah going to be doing when she gets back to The Citadel?" asked Shepard.
With the Reapers defeated, everyone agreed that former species with an embassy on The Citadel should have it back, if desired. The Quarians were eager to make connections to assist with rebuilding. The Admiralty Board selected to have Tali laterally moved from Admiral of the Quarian Fleet to Ambassador of Rannoch, due to the fact she had far more experience and connections with other species. It also helped she was in a relationship with a Council Spectre.
"I'm going to be meeting with the Turian Ambassador to set up long term trade agreements. I'm also going to meet with a representative from the Geth Consensus to see what their plans are, and what progress they have made in rebuilding." Tali said.
The Geth had slowly been rebuilding their physical platforms. When The Crucible fired, there were only a few hundred platforms that were not in use by Geth AI, and weren't destroyed. Over the past six months there were now a couple hundred thousand Geth platforms, complete with full AI. While nobody was really afraid of the Geth build up, they were still wanted to keep an eye on the situation.
"What are you doing to do?" Tali asked in return.
"Meet up with The Council. Get my orders. Retake command of The Normandy. Make Garrus my XO. Go out and save the galaxy." Shepard said with a grin.
"That simple?"
"Oh, I'm sure that something will blow up between now and then or along the way. Wouldn't be fun otherwise"
The couple laughed and finished up their breakfast. At this point, Tikkun (Rannoch's star) had begun to crest over the horizon. The rising star showed the agricultural centers, the living buildings, and the space port that had been set up in the past few months. Rannoch had been steadily being turned into a livable planet. The assistance of the Geth was invaluable to the process.
Shepard looked out the window and reflected how this progress reflected the galaxy at large. Interspecies cooperation, including The Geth. Civilization rebuilding. There were problems and short comings, but they were being fixed all the time. Things were normal, but a better version of normal than they were a short time ago. Tikkun continued to rise, and Shepard reminded himself that there was still work that needed to be done.
A/N: What did you think? If you leave a review and let me know, I will probably get better.