Arya Shepard made her way through the droves Alliance soldiers crowding the docking bay, carrying a bag with her weapons and omni-tool on one arm, and lugging her crate filled with armor and civilian clothes with the other. She had been selected by Captain Anderson-the best the Alliance military had to offer-to serve on a top-of-the-line warship, the SSV Normandy, and he wanted her to arrive a day early to meet the rest of the crew. She wove through the sea of people until she reached the proper docking bay, giving the man guarding the door her credentials before stepping through. When she put away her ID and looked up, she couldn't believe the vessel that was docked before her.
The Normandy was everything she'd hoped it would be, and she hadn't even stepped inside of it yet. It was smooth, streamlined and stealthy-just like her. She stopped for a minute to take it all in. If you'd have told her when she was growing up in the streets on Earth that she'd have the opportunity to serve on a ship this beautiful, she'd have called you crazy.
After staring at the ship for far too long, she stepped up to the ship's entrance and pressed the door control.
"Stand by, shore party. Decontamination in progress," she heard the ship's VI say. After what felt like forever, the kinetic barriers depressurized and the doors swung open, allowing Shepard to step into the ship for the first time, immediately greeted by Captain Anderson.
She saluted the Captain, who returned the gesture before shaking her hand. "Shepard, welcome to the Normandy," he said. His informal tone brought a degree of comfort to Arya, who was more nervous than she'd thought. "Your sleeping pod and locker are downstairs. Why don't you get settled and then I'll give you a tour of the ship?"
"Yes, sir."
Arya had settled in quickly-there wasn't much space on a warship, so she knew to pack light. Anderson gave her the tour of the ship, leaving her even more stunned than when she'd first arrived. The Normandy was created with the assistance of the turians, and her foreign structure had given that away almost immediately. The CIC-with its beautiful galaxy map in the middle-had the captain of the ship standing above the rest of the crew. The crew quarters were like any other ship, complete with sleeping pods, the mess hall, a med bay, and the captain's quarters. What was really astounding was the engineering deck. Shepard had always been fascinated by spaceships, what it took to keep them going in space, the technology behind it all. The Normandy's drive core was larger than any she'd seen, but you wouldn't be able to tell looking at the ship's exterior. The technology in the engineering deck not only allowed the Normandy to travel in space like any other vessel-it allowed them to be invisible on scanners. This ship combined the two things Shepard loved the most-technology and stealth-and she knew immediately that she was at home here.
While Anderson had given her the tour, Shepard had run into most of the crew. She met Engineer Adams, who was thrilled when she showed knowledge of the inner workings of the ship. Dr. Chakwas was a sweet, older woman who would be serving as the Normandy's medical doctor. Navigator Pressly was a man that Captain Anderson spoke highly of, and a man who's been around for quite some time.
After her tour, she still had some members of the crew to meet, so she returned to the quarters where she finally introduced herself to Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko.
"Wow, you're Commander Shepard!" she heard the young Corporal exclaim. When he saw Lieutenant Alenko saluting, he stood upright and did the same. "Sorry ma'am," he said, clearly embarrassed, "I just got so excited. The hero of Akuze right in front of my eyes!"
"At ease," Shepard chuckled, enjoying the young man's enthusiasm. "I just wanted to come down here and meet everyone. It'll be a pleasure serving with both of you. I looked up your service records and can't wait to get this shakedown run started."
"Thank you, Commander," the more reserved Lieutenant said. "It's an honor to be serving with you. Jenkins and I don't want to take up too much of your time, we can all get to know each other later."
With that, the Commander nodded and continued up to the cockpit, seeking to meet the one crew member she hadn't met-the pilot.
When Joker first stepped onto the Normandy, it was love at first sight. After all his hard work, he was finally the pilot of a ship that deserved his skill. He had been living on the ship for a few days now, longer than any other crew member, and he knew her intimately. As the rest of the crew piled into the ship, he had already been comfortably seated at the helm, ignoring anyone that didn't come up to him directly-which meant he pretty much got to spend all of his time alone, getting familiar with all the ship's controls.
"Flight Lieutenant Moreau?" he heard from behind him, and he jumped. The voice had spoken softly, but he was in a trance staring at the controls and didn't hear the person come up behind him. He swung around quickly in his chair, only to see a new face, someone he didn't know personally, but recognized from Alliance vids.
Commander Shepard stood before him-the Great Commander Shepard. She was a household name for people in the Alliance, a hero. Yet here she was before him, the XO of the ship he was the pilot of, in street clothes-well, if an N7 operative tracksuit counts as street clothes.
"Um...Flight Lieutenant Moreau?" she repeated, snapping him out of his haze. He didn't realize he'd been staring, and quickly tried to come up with an excuse.
"Commander Shepard," he said coolly, saluting from his chair. "Sorry about that, I'm still taking in this baby, I feel like I'm dreaming being here."
"I understand," she smiled, "When I saw that drive core I fell in love!" He was taken aback by that. People that high up the military ladder usually don't notice things like the drive core, or its abilities. But he could tell she shared the same feelings he did about the ship, the way she smiled, her light blue eyes glowing with cheer.
"I'm glad someone else on this ship can appreciate her the way I do," Joker replied. "And please, Commander, just call me Joker."
"Okay, Joker," she said kindly, "Well, I just wanted to come up here and say I can't wait to serve with you. We'll catch up again later."
"You got it, Commander," Joker replied, as he turned around to return to the ship's controls.
Only, he couldn't focus on the controls anymore. He kept thinking about the Commander. Her features were severe, but not at all unkind. Her hair was jet black, which was in stark contrast to her light skin. Her blue eyes were so light, they were almost gray. Her lips-which were supple and pink-were cut into by a scar on the right side, one that cascaded across her small, thin nose and continued to slice through the middle of her left brow.
"Jesus, Joker," he snapped at himself, realizing he'd let himself think about the Commander for far too long. "Get it together."
Shepard spent the remainder of the day reading about Eden Prime, the place they were headed for the shakedown run. It was the pinnacle of what human civilizations had to offer-it was a beautiful, successful farming colony, one of the first interstellar colonies formed by humanity. She was staring at pictures in the brochure she had picked up when she heard a commotion coming from the CIC. She rushed up the stairs to see most of the crew, staring at Captain Anderson and...a turian? Shepard pushed her way through the crowd to see what this was about, hand on her pistol, which she always kept with her.
"Captain?" she questioned upon arriving next to him, the unknown turian standing at the airlock, enough firepower to wipe out everyone on the ship.
"At ease, Commander," the Captain cautioned. "I'd like to introduce you to Nihlus, a council Spectre. He's going to be accompanying us on our shakedown run."
"The Council sent me to see how their investment is paying off," Nihlus elaborated. "A pleasure to meet you, Commander Shepard. The Captain has told me a great deal about you."
Arya extended her hand to the turian, who shook her hand in return. "Pleasure to meet you," she said nervously, going through the motions but not trusting the Spectre. Though she didn't know much about them, she knew Spectres worked alone, not on ships with an entire crew of other soldiers. Nihlus wrapped up his conversation with Captain Anderson and the crowd dispersed, leaving her standing at the airlock.
"So, a Spectre? That's…something else" she heard coming from her right, and it made her jump. She thought she was alone, but looking at the time, she'd noticed it was almost time for take off.
She walked over to the cockpit, eyeing Joker for the second time today. When she had met him the first time, she was surprised at his appearance. Most pilots were the scrawny, nerdy type-well, scrawny for the military anyway. Joker's shirt hugged his arms tightly, showing more definition than you'd expect. He had piercing green eyes, eyes that Shepard would get lost in if she'd give herself the time.
"Joker, Jesus!" she shouted, giving away the fact that he'd scared her.
"I'm not Jesus, thanks for the compliment though, hear he was a handsome guy" he remarked snidely, "did you not expect to see the pilot in the cockpit?"
"Oh, so you've got a mouth on you, huh?" she remarked. She appreciated his quick wit, but decided to have a little fun of her own. "I'm sure we can find a pilot that won't talk back."
Joker looked up at her then, fear on his face, "Uh, Commander, I-"
"Settle down, Joker," Shepard chuckled, convinced that she'd won that encounter. "I was only joking. Are you going to be up here all night?"
"Yeah, sleep is for the weak," Joker said, which caused Arya to roll her eyes. "I need to make sure we stay on course, at least for the first night. Don't know how this baby is gonna run when we get her going."
"Good, treat her well."
"I wouldn't treat her any worse than I'd treat any the ladies I've been with," Joker remarked.
"That doesn't give me confidence, Mr. Moreau," Shepard laughed heartily as she walked away.