This is my very first attempt at a Mass Effect story and I've been agonizing over writing this for about a week now, but here goes nothing!
This takes place during ME2, before the suicide mission but after recruiting all squad mates (except for Legion) and it'll end up being a four-parter. I don't own the game, Bioware, any company associated with it, yadda yadda. Reviews and critiques would be greatly appreciated!
Yeah, you can come down with me.
Actually… no, this is something I need to do on my own.
Would it be bad if I brought somebody with me?
I don't know if I can do this by myself.
I'm not scared it's just… I'm not… I'm nervous. And a little scared. I don't even know what's out there.
This conversation, or a relative facsimile of this conversation, happened over and over once the Normandy SR2 was only an hour or so out from reaching their destination, the unforgiving, low density, carbon and ice planet known as Alchera. Four people had been lucky (?) enough to be standing before Commander Shepard as she voiced her concerns, asked for support and then quickly retracted that request.
Dr. Chakwas had been the first one to be approached when Shepard received the e-mail from Admiral Hackett. Everybody else was so worried about fighting the Collectors (Grunt and Jacob) and arming themselves against the Collectors (Mordin and Jack) and making plans on how to take some kind of souvenir from the base (Zaeed) that she didn't want to bother them. Everybody else was focused on preparing the ship so they didn't crumble to the same fate as the first Normandy (Joker, Tali, Garrus, Donnelly and Daniels) so Shepard found herself (almost tentatively) entering the med bay and sitting next to the doctor.
Chakwas was silent as she worked. She knew Commander Shepard was in the room but didn't press her to talk. For the most part, the crew was good for that. When Shepard wanted to make small talk, she'd drift from the Starboard port and gossip with Kasumi or travel to Zaeed's corner of the engineering deck and listen to his stories of war and rescue and greed and everything that made for a good story. But when the Commander was silent, they knew not to push her. Rupert had found that out the hard way one night when he was prying and Shepard had, in so many words, told him to fuck off and then, as an added insult, vow to 'never get him supplies from the Citadel again because fuck if she had time to do his grocery shopping'. And from then on Rupert knew better to coax the Commander into talking when she 'looked like she was having a bad day'.
The white-haired doctor could sense her long-time friend fidgeting in her seat and decided to finally put her out of her misery. She set the data pad down and turned her chair around. "Is there something I can do for you, Commander?" Shepard looked up, blue eyes wide and Chakwas silently mused on how 'the best humanity had to offer' looked like she was about to break down and start crying. It wasn't like her and that was disconcerting. "You can talk to me, you know."
Shepard twisted the small silver around the index finger on her right hand and sighed. "I just received an e-mail from Hackett."
"How is he?"
"Oh… he didn't really say it was just… he gave me some news, made some requests, you know, the usual." Shepard tried forcing a smile but it felt fake and she knew Chakwas wasn't buying it so she took a deep breath. "They found the wreckage of the Normandy on Alchera. He wants to honor the ship with a monument and wants me to be the one to take the first steps on the site…" she trailed off and said something that nobody had ever heard come from the great Commander Shepard's mouth. "I don't know if I can do it by myself." Her voice was small; not at all what someone would expect from the woman who gave Captain Kirrahe a run for his money with her own version of his 'hold the line' pep talks and speeches.
"Did you want me to see if a member of the Alliance is available?" Chakwas asked, uncertainty in her voice.
"Actually I was wondering if you would come planet-side with me. The Normandy was your ship as much as it was mine."
Chakwas was floored. There were a million different scenarios and directions she pictured this conversation going, but Shepard asking for her help never even crossed her mind. She looked around the med bay and through the glass to the mess hall before focusing her attention back on Shepard. "Do you really want the ship's doctor with you on something important like this?"
Shepard shrugged, one side of the zipped-up hoodie falling from her shoulder. "You think I can do it by myself?"
"I think the Normandy is in dire need of its Commander, even if the poor ship is in pieces on some frozen wasteland."
"You're right," Shepard said as she stood up, pushing some hair from her face. "I shouldn't have even bothered you about something like this. I just… you're right. I can do this by myself." She had almost hugged the doctor but figured that would be weird and decided against it, instead smiling gratefully as she walked out of the med bay. And just as soon as her bravado appeared, it was gone and Shepard felt a chill run through her body.
There was no way she could do this by herself, who was she kidding?
She spun on the heel of her boot and walked over to the elevator, pressing 'four' for the engineering deck. Tali was there when the ship was attacked, maybe she would agree to go.