"You ever even been to Earth before, Commander?"
"...I told you to quit calling me that, James."
"Sorry, but I don't give a damn what they say you did. You're a goddamn hero in my book, Shepard, and this whole thing is bullshit. So if it's all the same, Commander...?"
Imani smiled faintly. Lieutenant Vega was like a big, dumb puppy. Truth be told, he wasn't bad company either. Sometimes she even forgot this was Containment and he was supposed to be guarding her.
"If only you were my counsel. I'd get acquitted for sure," she deadpanned, taking a sip of coffee. Then she stared up at the ceiling; it was as cold, dull, and grey as the Vancouver sky outside. "Just the once, to answer your question. Did boot camp in Brazil. But I got tapped for N7 pretty quick, so I haven't been back since I was shipped off to Arcturus."
"It must be pretty weird coming back here like this," Vega said, his brow furrowed in a mild expression of sympathy.
"Yeah," Imani mumbled quietly. "Pretty weird."
Pretty weird that the woman held up as humanity's greatest champion had hardly set foot on humanity's homeworld. In a life replete with ironies, it still managed to stand out as one of the stranger ones. Child of the colonies, savior of the Citadel-and Earth had always remained distant to her. Imani admittedly hadn't thought about the strangeness of it much until now. Now, when there was all the time in the galaxy to think-and really none at all.
Staring into a cup of coffee: black, standard Alliance issue-not nearly as rich as the kind paid for by the Illusive Man, that's for sure-Imani couldn't get the images out of her mind. Fire. Chaos. So much death. She hadn't seen that much since...
"Credit for your thoughts, Shepard?"
She looked up, and Alenko was standing there, and not for the first time it struck her as being a little strange seeing him on the Normandy again. Comforting, but strange.
"Bad memories, is all. I'll be fine."
Alenko took the seat across from her. Gods, how he'd aged, Imani thought. "You sure about that? 'Cause I remember that look."
Imani sighed, resting her elbows on the mess table. "It's just...I've never really had a connection to Earth. It was always just vids on TV and the extranet, Dad's paintings, the old songs I grew up with. I'm a colony kid. Earth's always been this distant symbol to me, an ideal to fight for."
"Until now."
Imani clamped her eyes shut, her mind haunted by memories of the child, that transport. Only fifteen years ago, it was Mindoir, and she was that child climbing into a shuttle. There was fear, and there were shadows, and grief. But this time...Earth, it was a million upon million Mindoirs, and that transport never had a chance. Alliance colors blown to fire, smoke, and ash. And maybe the unshakeable Commander Shepard was beginning to crack a little.
"It's real, Kaidan. It's real and it's not going to stop until I put an end to it," Imani said. "For everyone. For that kid."
Alenko reached out to her, and for the first time it seemed like that wall of awkward silence that had built up between them was starting to crumble. Maybe there was something of the old friendship sparking again. "Imani. You don't have to do this alone-"
"I know. I don't plan on it."
Imani downed the last her coffee and rose to her feet as the gleaming lights of the Citadel became visible in the distance.