"So," Joker said as Shepard entered the cockpit, the pilot still smirking from ear to ear after listening to the Commander give the Illusive Man an earful and not so subtly resign from Cerberus' employ. "Where to now?"
"The nearest place to have the Normandy repaired would be Omega," Shepard replied as she adjusted her left shoulder and rubbed it a little. "We can't do anything until she's fixed."
"I don't like the idea of those dirty, used parts going into my baby," Joker muttered as he plotted a course for Omega, causing the Commander to let out what was possibly her first laugh since Cerberus had brought her back to life. "If she has to be subjected to that, I want to at least oversee it."
"Why don't you go with Gabby and Tali when we get to Omega," Shepard said with a genuine smile, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Nothing goes into the Normandy unless you give it the okay. Now, I'm going to have a shower. Get EDI to tell me when we arrive."
Joker nodded and as she left the cockpit ,handing control over to EDI before closing the shutters, diming the lights and sinking down in his chair to catch up on some much needed sleep.
As Shepard moved through the CIC and into the elevator, she couldn't help but smile. They hadn't lost a single soul during the suicide mission, although the Normandy had seen better days. She had a gaping hole in the Cargo Hold and some damage on the other decks, but she was still flying. Things had turned out better than she could've hoped. The elevator door slid shut as she touched the holo button to go up to her cabin and she slumped back against the wall as it started to move. She was exhausted, mentally and physically, but she couldn't relax yet.
As bad as the Collector's had been, they were just an opening act, tools of her real enemy. The Reapers were coming, there was no denying that. Sacrificing over 300,000 Batarian lives to destroy the Alpha Relay had halted their invasion. That was just a temporary measure however, a desperate and tragic act to buy more time. The Reapers would find another way, and they would have to be ready.
Shepard stepped out of the elevator as it came to a stop a moment later, removing her armour as she entered her cabin and setting it down on her desk. It was severely cracked in several places and one of the shoulder pads had broken clean off. She would take it down to Jacob in the armoury once she was cleaned up and had rested a little. The Spectre had unzipped the thin black bodysuit she wore beneath her armour and was in the process of removing it when her eyes caught a glimpse of Kaidan's photo and she paused, the bodysuit around her waist. Picking up the photo frame, she stroked the picture gently, the corner of her mouth turning up a little. She would have to contact him when the Normandy was back up to speed. Setting the frame back down, she removed the bodysuit, laying it over the back of her chair before stepping into the bathroom for a long, well deserved hot shower.
OOOO
The Normandy docked at Omega several hours later and Shepard had announced that until the Normandy was repaired, the crew could consider themselves on leave and were free to explore Omega. She'd also given those whose allegiance was still with Cerberus the chance to leave. Roughly half the crew had decided to leave, but not before thanking her for saving their lives. Those that remained chose to forgo leave and help with repairs.
"Are you alright to look after things while I go see Aria?" Shepard asked Miranda as she strapped a pistol to her right leg.
"I'm fine. You need to stop fussing," Miranda said with a small smile, the dark haired woman already with a holo pad in her hand assigning everyone tasks. "The bullet missed everything vital and Doctor Chakwas a great job and fixing the wound. Are you sure you want to go see Aria alone?"
"It should be fine," the Commander replied as her XO walked with her towards the airlock, Tali, Gabby and Joker not far behind. "She might have some work for us that we can take care of while the repairs are happening."
"I'll send a message to your Omni tool if there's anything that needs your immediate attention, but there shouldn't be any problems," Miranda said as Shepard and the other three stepped into the airlock. "Be careful out there."
As the inner door slid shut and the outer one began to open, Shepard couldn't help but grin to herself as Tali and Gabby tried to cheer Joker up by assuring him that the Normandy would only have the best. The pilot didn't seem convinced. After handing them a credit chit with everything she could spare on it and saying that she'd see them back on the Normandy, Shepard headed off towards Omega. There was a massive line outside Afterlife as usual and she was just about to climb the stairs when shouting from the transport area caught her attention. A group of Batarians seemed to be roughing up another Batarian who was calling out for help.
"Hey. What's going on here?" Shepard asked as she walked over, causing the thugs to halt their beating.
"None of your business Human," the leader of the group spat, shoving Shepard roughly in the shoulder. "Back off."
"I think you're the one who needs to back off," Shepard said as she drew her pistol and pointed it at him, positioning herself in front of the beaten man who quickly scrambled to his feet and hovered behind her. "This doesn't need to get ugly."
"I'm afraid it's about to get very, very ugly for you," the leader smirked. "Muderer. You're going to suffer for what you did."
Shepard opened her mouth to ask him what he was talking about, but she was cut off by a sudden pain in her neck and she turned to see the Batarian she'd saved grinning cruelly at her and holding an empty syringe.
"You . . . you bast . . .,"she mumbled as things became hazy for a moment before she lost consciousness and dropped to the ground.
No one noticed anything was amiss as the Batarians loaded Shepard into one of the flying cars and flew off with her. It would be several hours before her crew would realise something was wrong.