Episode 1: Cpt. Shepard (20th February, 2186 - 23rd February, 2186)
20th February, 2186 - Vancouver, Earth
Commander John Shepard is in house arrest for killing three hundred thousand batarians to delay the inevitable reaper war. They keep him in an Alliance facility in the heart of Vancouver.
"I told you, I destroyed the mass relay because I needed to stop the reapers."
"Yes, the Bahak system incident. You are lucky we aren't thrown you into the batarians' arms. They would go to war if they realize you did it. Your Illusive Man gave the order to kill those batarians?"
"I won't waste my breath, Vega. You heard what I said."
Lieutenant James Vega just stood there, and called the guards.
"This man needs medical attention. His mind is unstable, lock him down."
21st February, 2186 - Zakera Ward, Citadel
"You're not serious! This?" Tali'Zorah said, while sitting on a chair in a shop.
"Why? I love purple clothes. And this armor set is just twenty-five thousand credits. It's even on fifty percent discount!"
"What'll John say about you spending all his money?"
"Oh, he doesn't care about me. Only you, since you two grew close during that suicide mission. And I earned a new armor set. The old one was really tight and heavy. I was exhausted after just one biotic charge."
The set Olivia chose didn't have a helmet. And since they were quite rich after her brother's Cerberus contacts, they could buy anything they wanted. Captain Olivia Shepard, John's sister wasn't like his brother. She didn't have an alien crew, and didn't command the best frigate in the fleet. After his brother's detention however, Alliance brass decided to have Olivia be the Normandy's captain after the retrofit. Until then, they lived on the Citadel.
Almost all non-human crewmembers left the Normandy, with the exception of Garrus Vakarian and Tali'Zorah. They knew Olivia since 2183, when John got the Normandy from Admiral Anderson.
John was always jealous about her sister being a captain, until Anderson stepped aside three years ago, giving him the Normandy. Since then, almost all talking between the two Shepard were about 'who's the best.' And now, Olivia is winning.
"Ha!" Olivia exclaimed, startling Tali.
"What?" Tali said, while almost jumping.
"I found a purple visor! This will match the armor set!"
"Can I help you?" the store clerk asked, when the two approached her.
"Yes, I'd like to buy the N7 armor set in purple color, with some small modifications: the chest plate to change to a model from Serrice Council, the shoulder plate to change to Ariake tech model, and a Kuwashii visor also from Ariake tech. Oh and a Savant omni-tool for my friend."
"Certainly, that'll be thirty-eight thousand credits."
"You needn't, Shepard. My omni-tool works just well."
"Nonsense, even I have two omni-tools: one for work and one where I store my games and music."
"Oh, well… Thank you."
22nd February, 2186 - The bridge, SSV Normandy SR2
When Joker heard about John's detention, he feared someone will step up, who he doesn't like. He heard that the new captain will arrive 1300 today. 'This ship will always be Shepard's.' He was pleasantly surprised, when the airlock opened, and Olivia marched in in her N7 hoodie.
"Olivia? What are you doing here?" Joker asked while turning his chair 180. He knew Olivia since they were children.
"You know, since John is being kept in Earth, I thought, steal this ship from him."
"You need to go; the new captain will be here any minute. I have a bad feeling about him."
"Last time I checked, I'm still a female," said Olivia sarcastically.
"Why are you saying tha– No, don't tell me…"
"Yeah, I'm the new captain," Olivia said. Joker got up from his chair, and went ahead to hug Olivia, "How can you walk? Didn't you have that brittle bone disease?"
"Yeah, but thanks to Cerberus, I can walk again."
"I heard what they did to John." They talked about her brother's past, the suicide mission, about saving everybody. Joker told her about John's relationship with Tali. "I heard that, Tali seem to be a nice person. I always liked the quarians."
"I was certain that someone like Mikhailovich would come. Tell me, do you think the reapers are a real threat?" Joker asked nervously.
"I don't have that much insight. I only heard that he became a spectre, and took down Saren. After the destruction of the SR1, we didn't really speak."
"Sorry to interrupt, but I heard you'll going to be the commander of the ship. I'm Specialist Samantha Traynor, handling incoming messages. Can I give you a tour of the ship?" Traynor said, with British accent.
"Of course, but first, can you tell me where the captain's cabin is?"
"This way, captain."
Shepard followed Traynor to the elevator, and went up to deck one.
"I'm sure you have a lot of work, so I'll be quick," Traynor said, once the elevator stopped. They stepped out to the small antechamber, and continued, "This is your cabin, where you can change your armor, read emails and monitor the crew," said Traynor, while holding a PDA in her hands. "On deck two, you can find the Combat Information Center, the bridge, and the war room where you can access various resources. There is even a quantum entanglement communicator."
"I've always wondered how a QEC works." Shepard asked.
"Well, when two quantum entangled particle is separated, changes to one will affect the other one, no matter the distance. Anyway, I don't want to bore you with tech. On deck three, you can find the executive officer's office, the med bay, crew quarters, lounge, and main battery. Be prepared, Garrus is usually there, calibrating the main gun. Last, but not least, there is a bathroom for the crew. Needless to say, your cabin is equipped with a better one."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, let's just say, the warm water on the ship is as scarce as habitable planets in the galactic core."
"Well, there is the collector base…" Shepard stated.
"That's a synonym to your bathroom."
"Who is the executive officer on this ship?"
"Well, until it was under Cerberus, it was Miranda Lawson. Now, it's Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams."
"Thanks."
"On deck four, you can find engineering. Engineer Adams is currently works there. On deck five, there is the armory, and the UT-47A Kodiak shuttle. I think you'll want to check in with Lieutenant Cortez, about supply chains.
And that's it. I don't know what your brother told you about this ship, but we retrofitted it quite bit."
"Thanks, Traynor."
"Aaaand I was only assigned to the Normandy for the retrofit, although I hoped I could stay."
"I would prefer that she remain, she was very effective during installations, and more systems require further testing," EDI stated.
"Since when does a VI make requests?" Traynor curiously asked.
"EDI isn't a VI. She's fully self-aware."
"I knew it, I knew Joker was lying."
"Welcome aboard, Traynor," Olivia said, while extending her right arm. Traynor shook her hand.
"I think you have works to do, I won't waste your time. You can talk to me in the CIC if you want."
23rd February, 2186 - Deck Five, SSV Normandy SR2
"Captain Shepard, Procurement Specialist Lieutenant Steve Cortez," said Cortez, while saluting. "I also maintain the armory and drive the shuttle for missions."
"That's a lot of work. You sure you can handle it?"
"It is fine, captain. Do you want to check the weapons?"
"Of course. I didn't have time to do that."
"Well, as you can see, we retrofitted most of the heavy weapons your brother researched. There is the M-920 Cain. You can now fire a nuke if the counter hit 50% instead of 100% but at a 25% lowered damage."
"Wait, you said, this weapon fires a nuclear projectile? Isn't that a little dangerous? I still remember Chernobyl; they still didn't recover Prypiat."
"No. We only say it's a nuke because of the explosion it does. It's a really powerful weapon. And I advise caution, if launched in a small room, it can backfire."
"Noted. What about the Avenger series weapons?"
"The M-8 Avenger is a light assault rifle. We combined the Lancer and the Avenger. You can shot more bullets with less damage, although I would recommend the N7 Valkyrie. And I heard you brought your own armor set, I put it in your locker for you over there," Cortez pointed to Shepard's locker; "you can buy new parts, and replace it."
"I didn't drive any kind of ground vehicle in the past. How hard is to drive the Hammerhead?"
"Well, the M45 Hammerhead is the successor to the M44. This one has a bigger eezo thruster, allowing for larger and bigger jumps, but depleting the kinetic barriers. The kinetic barriers are now survives 35% more damage. There are two steering modes: a fast and a precise. If the switch is on fast, like this," says Cortez, while turning on the M45's eezo core and showing the steering modes, "the M45 turns 90 degree per second. If it's on precise," saying, and again, shows it, "it turns roughly 22-23 degree per seconds."
"What about the fuel tanks and freezing?"
"The original M44 had the problem of freezing under -30 Celsius. This one also freezes under -30, but kinetic barriers can be depleted to slow the freezing. The fuel tanks can supply the thrusters for fifty hours, on normal speed, and twenty hours on fast mode."
"Thanks, lieutenant," Shepard said while walking back to the elevator, and went back up to the CIC.
Author's note: My second "real" story. I pretty much wrote it up to the ending, but I need to rewrite it, to make it readable... AU story, with many ME2 squadmates appearing.