ME3 - Set shortly after Udina and Cerberus attempted Coup at citadel.
Shepard's crew "attempt" to rescue a distress signal ship with consequences.
All quiet on the western front. Shepard thought, mesmerized by her fish tank, whilst sitting at her desk.
They were heading to the next priority, full of anxious energy from the Cerberus attempted coup and the new addition of Kaidan Alenko.
It's Selfish of me, but I am happy he's here. Glancing at Kaidan's picture frame on her desk, she paused to consider the showdown between her and Kaidan.
Would she have really shot him? Could she have shot him?
She shuddered at the possibility. No, I could not she admitted to herself.
My only weakness.
Her depressing musings were interrupted by Joker's call.
"Hey commander, we have located a distress signal on our path. Should we break off and investigate?" He inquired.
Lisa pondered about it, the priority wasn't all that urgent. Something about fish and the presidium's pools. Probably krogans
"Alright Joker, change course." She decided.
"Roger that commander!"
She then heard the distinct voice of EDI on the com.
"It is against Alliance regulations to change the driver settings, Jeff."
"Yeah yeah! Even Alliance has those." Mumbled Joker.
Lisa could have sworn she had a faint "they're tere fo a reazon ya ulcer!" coming from Engineering following Joker's response to EDI.
Chuckling, Lisa picked up after herself, clearing her desk of a tsunami of "stuff": datapads and other items of command. Neatly organized and stacked.
Satisfied, she walked over to her closet changing clothes to a different set of fatigues. More tight fitting and meant for under armor use.
That done. She marched straight off to the mess.
Entering the mess in the middle of the "day", was much akin to entering a cafeteria during an Earth lunch hour. There was absolutely no room and never any food left over.
The worst part were the occasional food fights between Joker and anyone else. She couldn't hurt Joker but she defiantly could delete his extranet bookmarks to "encourage" change.
For the current moment, the mess was more subdued. The quiet murmurings among crew members eating could be heard and the click clatter of plate and silverware.
Lisa Shepard ignored all of this and gunned for the coffee machine, tucked near the XO's office.
The machine was mysteriously quiet and... With an empty pot.
Figures...
Distinctively annoyed, she made a note to have a "meeting" regarding proper Coffee etiquette with the rest of the crew, targeting Joker especially.
Her intense scrutiny of the infernal machine, left her vulnerable for several precious few minutes.
Enough time for a hand to suddenly clasp on her shoulder.
She almost leapt, turning to sock the offender and hand him/her a new one.
She faltered when she noticed Kaidan's grinning smile and a hand holding out a cup of coffee as a peace offering.
Relaxing, she took the offered nectar of the god's and sipped it. Still warm and just the way she liked it.
"EDI told me about the distress call." He offered as an explanation,but also as question. He wanted her to take him with her.
"Ah." Lisa paused, teasing Kaidan, before wrapping her free arm around his waist and bestowing a deep kiss full of coffee aroma.
"Of course Kaidan." She supplied as follow up. I can't operate without you
Kaidan simply smiled back, setting his cup down, and responding with a hugging kiss of his own.
"Hey lovebirds, maybe some prep would be nice? ETA 30 minutes." Came Joker's snarky interruption from the com.
"He does have a point...to the armory... Major."
"Aye, aye commander..." Saluted Kaidan, then held his hand out. "After you."
"Thank you." She replied taking his hand, walking together in silence to the elevator.
The elevator ride was uneventful and slow. Still was worth the Alenko quality time.
Upon their arrival to the Shuttle bay deck, Lisa was not at all surprised by Vega's efficiency, or in other words "found through scuttlebutt regarding the rescue mission and promptly suited up in hopes he'll be chosen for the mission".
He stood there, right by Cortez quietly chatting, quietly still hinting.
Lisa could only sigh, and relent. "Vega, you win, you'll cover my six for today!"
Vega whooped.
Kaidan however took offense. "Hey, I keep your six!"
"Yes you do. You are still my right hand, and don't you forget it. Vega is simply getting the rare opportunity to join us, and be graced by your biotic prowess." She replied, intentionally stroking his ego.
Kaidan piped down, satisfied for the moment. Vega could only grin and hope not to get blasted by a blue ball of a reave courtesy of Alenko.
The moment of peace, was all she needed. She donned a modified version of the old Cerberus Ajaks armor, minus the shameless Cerberus branding. This one replaced the plates of gray with matte black and the white-red stripes of N7 program down her right arm, it looked similar to Kaidan's version, with the exception of N7 logos.
Kaidan finished first, adjusting his armor clasps before reaching over and "assisting" Shepard with hers. Certain witness could have sworn Kaidan came from the back, hugging, whilst kissing Shepard on the neck and cheek.
The quiet group gear up and weapon selection was interrupted joyously by Joker.
"5 minutes!"
"Alright, everyone into the shuttle!" Shouted Lisa, as she pocketed her pistol and began walking over to the shuttle. Kaidan and Vega right on her heels.
Their arrival was met by Cortez's prompt preflight checks bells and whistles, and slight arguments could be heard with Joker, interspersed with EDI's comments.
As soon as Cortez was finished, checks, banter and all. The agile shuttle lifted off and dived from the shuttle bay deep into the harsh atmosphere of Natalgia, a frozen wasteland.
"How close do you figure we can set down?" Lisa asked, standing over Cortez.
"Very close, thankfully despite resting on a hill side, the top is flat. You should have no problems rappelling down onto it." Cortez reported. "However, I would make it quick, the temperatures are nothing to sneeze at." He added, a warning.
"Hopefully, we can make it quick. Grab the logs and save any survivors."
"I don't think anyone could have survived that Commander." Mused Vega.
"Always hope, James. There's always hope." Despite her bravado, Lisa secretly agreed with James. The wreckage from up here seems split, the possibility of survivors goes to nill if the ship without escape pods doesn't survive intact.
With a gentle bump, Cortez set down the shuttle. The trio gracefully exited carrying rappelling gear and weapons of all shapes and sizes.
Lisa peered over the edge, into the cold abyss and just below the bridge of the The Excelsior, a civilian refuge ship.
She set up basic stakes, testing the strength of the snow. When she felt confident, she began rappelling the twenty feet below.
Stopping ever so often, she checked upward the progress of her squad mates and the the ice. A healthy dose of paranoia from her N7 bootcamp days.
Hey Lisa check it out! Daryll hastily planted down a stake, fully intent on speed rappelling downwards into a nearby cliff. His progress was good, but Lisa had a bad feeling about this.
This was her first time rappelling, Daryll and Dexter were teaching her the "ropes" so to speak.
"Shit!", a cry of panic lifted her out of her musings of feelings and she caught a glimpse of a stake loosening and falling to the abyss, taking Daryll with it. Dexter hopelessly tried to grab Daryll, but to no avail.
Moments later, Daryll met the ground with a sharp crack. He was instantly killed.
She shuddered out the memory, intent on not losing any of her squad mates today.
At the last foot, she gingerly touched the ship, trying not to cause it too fall of the cliff.
The ship complained but did not move.
She was joined, with equal care by Vega and Kaidan.
They could see merely a few feet a way, a central console, full of glowing stations, which acted as the "steering wheel" so to speak. Lisa went first, testing each part of the floor, before putting her full weight on it.
This went on for a good fifteen minutes until she was at the console.
Turns out the ship was attacked by Reaper forces, before it committed an FTL jump gone awry, as evidenced by the wreckage.
"Let's check the last intact section for survivors." She announced. Turning to her left, she went through a door marked as "To Engineering".
The steps were half broken, and protruding in some areas but overall still maintained a capable flight of stairs.
They met an area where, the light of the planet's sun shone perfectly into the required engineering consoles.
Again, the ritual was repeated, gingerly test, set weight, test, set weight. All in the name of safety. If it's anything I have learned, gravity hates me, scratch that the entire known universe.
The sun proved blinding, setting her shades on her helmet on, she worked to find how the Reapers attacked the ship, so far away from the combat area. That's odd. There was evidence of engine tampering, during the attack. FTL failed not because of Reapers she realized but because of this?
Without warning a blue human shaped creature jumped and attacked her. HUSKS!
The husk caught her by suprising, slamming her onto the ground. The floor complained but held. Kaidan promptly shot it and helped Shepard up.
"Well that explains everything." He cringed.
"We need to get out of here. This is not good. Could be a trap." Added Vega.
"I agree-." Shepard began, before the entire ship started collapsing on itself. Everyone was shifted, thrown towards the side and split up.
Ship engineering catapulted to a cliff further down.