Mission Virmire: Aftermath
One-shot
Across The Quiet Halls
There was a solemn atmosphere amongst the crew of the Normandy; a solitude of silence intermingling with the quiet ambient hum to gracefully accept that one of their own had truly perished.
Every crew member felt the impact of that person's death but the one who was hit the hardest was Alicia Shepard. She had been working with him since Eden Prime and it was hard to come to terms with the fact that he was now gone. The lost of a friend was something she could never get use to even in her dangerous line of work.
She walked around the Normandy, conversing with the people who were just as much friends with him as he was to her, she wanted to know just how well they were dealing with the lost.
[...]
The ever-joking Jeff Moreau, the pilot of the stealth frigate, made no sarcastic remarks or comments as she approached, he simply spoke softly, "I'm sorry, Commander. That was a tough choice, I don't think I could have done it at all," he paused, "Pay back that son of a bitch Saren ten-times, Commander."
"He's not going to get with this, Joker," she answered, "I will find him and he will pay."
Alicia would make sure it would happen.
[...]
She paid a visit to the executive officer and navigator, Charles Pressley. "It's a damn shame is what it is," the older man mourned, "He was young; had his whole career, no, his whole life ahead of him and now... Now he's going to be missed, Commander."
Pressly shook his head strongly, "A damn shame."
[...]
"How are you holding up, Doctor?" Shepard asked as she stepped into the medi-bay.
"I should be asking you that question myself, Commander," the older woman, Karin Chakwas, stated back, "Even behind that polarized helmet of yours, I can see the pain you're trying to mask."
"I'm fine," Alicia whispered back, "Just... getting used to the quiet now, I suppose."
"I understand," Chakwas nodded her head, "Jenkins always did know how to brighten up the mood."
The ship was now too quiet for the both of them.
[...]
"Hello, Shepard," the asari researcher, Liara T'soni greeted, "To what may I owe this visit?"
"Just checking in; are you alright after the mind-melding?"
"Yes, I have rested and regained my strength," she answered. As Alicia left for elsewhere, Liara left her with some parting words, "It was not your fault, Commander. Please, dont blame Jenkins death on yourself."
Shepard mildly grunted in acknowledge. Leave it to little worrier Liara to take more than a peek during the mind-meld...
[...]
"Jenkins was a good friend," Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko answered, his words came out slowly as though he was stumbling over the right things to say, "...Always a bit too high-strung and enthusiatic to get the job done, but after meeting you, well, he matured. A lot." He gave a wry smile, "Jenkins became a better soldier and a better man because you were always there to inspire him, Commander. I'm certain that, if given a second chance, he would choose to save our butts all over again."
[...]
"Wrex," Alicia called out to the krogan mercenary, Urdnot Wrex, and examined his body languaged. The two of them didn't need words to communicate, they were born-fighters and could understand each other through body gestures alone.
It was subtle but it was there. Even though Wrex had worked with many mercs before, he was never remotely close to any of them. Jenkins was a separate matter, the young man was brash and naive but enjoyed hearing the wild stories that the old krogan had to tell - at least when he wasn't subtly threatening to eat him.
And though Wrex would never say it aloud, he was eventually warming up to Jenkins' company.
"Shepard," the old warrior replied in kind, the tone of his voice was just a bit lower and just a tinge sadder.
[...]
"Garrus, you okay?"
The turian, Garrus Vakarian, former C-Sec Officer and now Gunnery Officer, turned around from fiddling with the mako.
He was the local sniper of the group and Jenkins had always gone to him for tips on improving his sniper skills, all the meanwhile hearing the stories that Garrus had to tell about working for C-Sec on the Citadel. The turian would often make Jenkins take weekly evaulations just to show off his sharp-shooting techniques and greatly enjoyed their light competition.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Shepard," Garrus spoke somewhat tiredly, "Just... just give me a few hours and I'll straighten out."
As Alicia walked away she could him mutter some words.
"...I won't let his sacrifice be in vain."
[...]
"I feel like I lost a brother," Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams responded with a depressed sigh.
She was, no doubt, the crew-member who had spent the most time with Jenkins. The Coporal was essentially under the tutelage of Ashley; she taught him how to be a proper soldier, how to use a rifle, a pistol, and a shotgun.
"The only good thing was that Jenkins went out with a smile; I'm sure of it. He's in heaven now and I'm glad to know that he doesn't regret a single bit of it. He's a damn good soldier in my book, Commander, and I'll never forget him."
A restrained scowl appeared on the Gunnery Chief's face, "Saren is going to pay; one way or another."
Shepard nodded, "He will; that's a promise."
[...]
"It's going to be even quieter here without Jenkins," the quarian, Tali Zorah vas Neema, said, "Besides you and Adams, Jenkins was the only human who would take the time off to speak to me without fear or suspicion; he was always so friendly and very interested in quarian culture," she sighed, "He often didn't understand but he was at least willing to learn."
[...]
"I see you've been chatting with the entire crew, Shepard."
Alicia faced the only other Spectre aboard the Normandy other than herself, a rhaldar named Yonieri. Her arms were folded and her usual teasing persona was gone.
"That a problem?" Shepard asked and kept her tension hidden from her voice.
"No, it's a good thing that you're going around on your own and relieving some tension; it wouldn't do us any good if you were just moping about. If simple things like guilt and sorrow bogged you down and severely cheapened your combat skills and judgment, then I was afraid that I might have had to put you out of your misery, Shepard," the spectre stated bluntly, as was her usual style.
The commander kept calm, "Anything else you want to add?"
"Just one: if Little Jenkins was here to see his hero act like this, then he would be fairly disappointed, wouldn't you agree?"
[...]
Alicia sat down on her desk. Her eyes idly moved towards the framed photo; her, Wrex, Kaidan, Ashley, Garrus, Tali, Yonieri, Liara, and Jenkins all making silly poses. This was a picture that Jenkins had insisted on them all taking together.
Slowly she pulled the image down so she couldn't see it anymore.
Shepard took off her helmet that separated her from the outside world and wearily breathed out.
"The halls of the Normandy are just too quiet with you Jenkins..."
If she closed her eyes, she could almost hear him again.
[...]
"I'm sweating bullets here, this place is scorching hot, Commander.
The mako is really like a shark in your hands, ma'am. We don't even have to use the cannon!
I thought asari were suppose to be smart; how did you get trapped?"
"These people are pretty freaky. What? It's the truth!
Oh man, oh man! Zombies! Planet pods! Plant zombies! It's just like that movie where people were replaced by the plants!
That is... ugh... the thorian is pretty disgusting looking. It reminds me of... No, nevermind."
"I'm so c-c-cold that I'm sh-shivering, ma'am. How do p-people deal with thiisss?
Don't these people know who you are? You're Commander Shepard, the first human spectre! Survivor of Akuze an- Okay, shutting up now.
Uh, hey, Wrex, so these rachni, they don't go and lay their eggs inside of people do they? ...Hey, stop chuckling, this isn't funny, man!"
"Yonieri showed me her second row of teeth. They're, uh, well, very sharp... and... I think I'm more scared of her than Wrex now, Commander.
I've learned a lot from Vakarian and Williams; I won't disappoint you, Shepard!
Though I don't really understand half the things she says but Tali's a good girl, very friendly, nice hips and... G-Gotta run!
Kaidan is a good guy but he tends to be a loner unless you talk to him first; might be because of the biotics though. Joker is a bit of an ass but at least he's truthful; I guess. Doctor Chakwas acts like my mom, Commander. And Pressley has been to some pretty cool places. They're not bad people at all.
I'm up for some adventure, ma'am! Let's go find us some mineral deposits!"
"It's alright, Commander, leave it to me! It won't take me more than a couple of minutes to arm the bomb; go and save Williams. I'll be right along soon!
Oh man, this is not my day! There's geth all over the place!
They've got us pin under heavy fire; we can't push the enemy. I'm activating the bomb.
Commander, it's now or never. Go on and get yourself out of here, Shepard.
Sorry but this is the end of the line for me, ma'am... Even after everything you told me not to do, I ended up playing the hero after all. Commander, it's... it's been a real honor. Give Saren hell, ma'am; the Alliance needs you more than me.
...This is Jenkins signing out with a bang."
Author Notes
Thanks for reading this one-shot!
Originally this was going to be a story called 'The Audio Logs Of Alicia Shepard' where a paragade Shepard (with Earthborn, Survivor, and Vanguard traits) recounts her tales. After a lot of thinking, I decided to settle for this instead: that is to say, a one-shot revealing that Jenkins survives the mission on Eden Prime but only until the mission on Virmire.
How Jenkins survived Eden Prime... let's say that there was a Paragade Choice that allowed Shepard's lesson (of not performing heroics) that stuck better with Jenkins.
Yonieri is an original character and her species is 'original' too. Without going into too much unnecessary details, the Rhaldar is basically a super-tough species like the Krogan and they were uplifted by the Asari. Their appearance is generally Asari-like but with more beastly traits (Yonieri has bull-horns and a lizard tail) as their species is highly viral/parasitic-like for survival on their home-planet (like the Asari, they can basically mate with everything and take the best 'traits' for survival; in this case a form similar to the Asari). /stopping here
If anyone wants to adopt (or do whatever) to this idea, then please feel free to do so.