Ryan's Apartment, Bachjret Ward, the Citadel

Ryan Zamora loved coming home to his apartment. When the door slid shut behind him, he felt like a weight was dropped off his shoulders. Closed off from the outside world, he finally could relax again. The familiarity of the surroundings made all the stress go away. Being an Alliance officer meant shore leave was rare and precious. His last assignment on Elysium had been extremely frustrating; many of the colonists still lived in fear of another Skyllian Blitz happening, so they were prone to panic and paranoia. Ryan had spent most of his time chasing false leads about another pirate attack, but all of those were byproducts of some or other overstressed colonist's fantasy. All in all, it was an assignment unworthy of an N7 Operative. He much preferred the time he spent on Eden Prime before the geth attack, leading the 2nd Frontier Division.

With a deep sigh, Ryan Zamora swung his bag into the living room. His apartment was a simple place, yet had all the comforts an Alliance lieutenant could need. A big vid screen placed against the naked maroon walls, a comfortable black leather sofa, and a small kitchen with a steel square dinner table. The only things that decorated his walls were a picture of himself at his graduation from the Villa, his diploma from the Astrodome Military School and a picture of him and his sister Lilith on Arcturus Station, taken when they were kids. However, his bedroom was the place he longed to see most right now. The cab ride home took forever because of the leftover carnage from the geth assault. A bed with a soft pillow and sheets was a tempting prospect right now, but as a biotic adept he had to keep his calorie levels up. Requiring nearly twice the caloric intake of a regular human was irritating, but it was a small price to pay for manipulating dark energy with his mind.

Opening his fridge, he was pleased to see that his housekeeper had stocked it well with lean meat, protein bars, fish, energy drinks, juice, fruit, peanut butter, avocados, and bread. That should keep me going for a day or two. He was in the middle of slurping on a juice box and baking a lamb loin when his omni-tool started flickering. With a slight touch of his right index-finger he activated the call. He was pleasantly surprised to see Lilith's face pop up on the small vid screen. His little sister's innocent brown eyes stared at him; her mouth slightly open, as if she was in shock.

"Did you hear?" she asked in her typical calm demeanor. Yet her soft voice trembled slightly with every word she spoke, as if something terrible had happened.

"Oh, I'm doing great, thanks very much," Ryan answered over the sizzling olive oil.

"Not now, Ryan," she replied, shaking her head slightly. "Just… just turn on your vid screen, you'll see." Lilith disconnected immediately, leaving Ryan alone with his thoughts.

"Yes, Elysium was great," he continued, talking to no one in particular while he scooped his meat into a plate and walked over to his couch. "I had the time of my life, thanks for asking. Your sisterly concern is really touching." He shook his head sideways. Unbelievable. I didn't talk to her for nearly a monthand this is how she welcomes me back on the Citadel?

Annoyed, he still did what Lily told him to do. Plate on his lap, he sat himself down in the couch and took a big bite of his dinner before turning on the vid screen with his omni-tool. He immediately noticed that the usual broadcast of the elcor sitcom Pheromones was replaced by an emergency news report.

"-inform you that the first human Spectre and hero of the Citadel John Shepard has been declared 'killed in action' by Alliance Officials." Ryan stopped chewing immediately and turned up the volume. "Shepard, a commander of the Systems Alliance," the salarian news reporter continued in her rapid way of speech, "was attacked by unknown assailants. His ship, the Normandy SR-1, was destroyed during the attack."

"Holy shit," Ryan responded, swallowing his lamb and putting his plate to the side. He had lost his appetite all of a sudden. The Normandy got destroyed? I hope Ashley is all right.

He had known Gunnery Chief Williams while they were stationed on Eden Prime. She was a good friend. No, she was more than just a friend. At least, he considered her as such. Because of the Alliance regs they had never quite gotten involved with each other, but it was close. If he hadn't been pulled out of the colony days before the geth attack, he would probably have been caught up in the entire fiasco as well.

"19 other crew members are still missing as of now. However, the pilot survived the assault as well as Urdnot Wrex, Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Liara T'Soni and Ashley Williams. "

So Ashley's alive. Good. I should call her when she gets back.

The news reporter kept on droning information about Shepard's accomplishments. "Commander Shepard first rose to prominence when he fought in the Skyllian Blitz on Elysium in 2176. When enemy forces broke through the colony's defenses, the Commander single-handedly-…" Ryan turned off the vid screen. He had heard enough.

"Seems like even gods can die." People looked at Shepard as if he was their messiah. Humanity's avatar. Strangely, he couldn't resist the urge to smirk. Granted, it was a big blow to humanity. Shepard was the hero of the Blitz, savior of the Citadel and the first human Spectre. But for all his accomplishments, Ryan was certain that Shepard wasn't any deadlier or more skilled than him. Shepard wasn't a biotic, not even a tech specialist. He was great with an assault rifle in his hands, sure, but Ryan was a biotic. He could put him in a stasis field and shoot a bullet through his head. Or cause a biotic explosion by warping him at a molecular level and release a biotic throw. There were a thousand ways to kill a man. Biotics are poetry in combat. Bullets are boring.

If anything, he was annoyed by the fuss that was being made about Shepard's death. Marines died every day, it was part of the job. The only thing that made Shepard special was luck. Being in the right place at the right time.

Had Ryan not been pulled from Eden Prime, he could just as easily have saved the colony and proven Saren Arterius had gone rogue. Instead it had been Shepard, who was instantly lauded everywhere he went. The Alliance gave him a ship and a crew. The Council gave him a blow-shit-up-and-get-away-with-it card. I could've done the same. Maybe even better.

Shaking off those unpleasant thoughts, Ryan finished his lunch and went to bed. He dreamt about being on an exploding ship and being blasted into space, desperately trying to suck in air in the cold vacuum while the universe around him faded.

Ryan woke up covered in cold sweat, his omni-tool beeping loudly. Grateful for being woken from his horrible nightmare, he answered the call. His heart raced so he took a deep breath to steady himself. He initially thought it was Lilith wanting to apologize for their brief exchange, but it was someone else entirely.

"Ryan," the distinct familiar gruff voice on the other end of the line greeted him. It was no vid call, but Ryan knew it well enough to recognize it.

"Admiral?" Ryan answered in a questioning tone. He straightened himself right away, a soldier's reflex of standing at attention while addressing a superior officer. It was unusual for Admiral Hackett to call him on his private line. Ryan had served as Hackett's personal assistant a couple of years ago, although the term 'bodyguard' was more fitting. Hackett was one of the Alliance's most high-ranking officers, and his personal protection was always entrusted to an N7. Ryan had saved the man's life on numerous occasions, which helped strengthen their mutual respect.

"I need to see you," the Admiral rasped.

"Yes, sir. I will come to Arct…"

"Not Arcturus Station," Hackett interrupted him. "The Citadel. Docking Bay D-22, 1200 hours. Be there. I'll brief you as soon as you arrive."

"Yes, sir."

Ryan's omni-tool faded as the call ended. "Strange," he muttered, wondering if it had anything to do with Shepard's death. He got up, ruffling his scruffy dark blond hair and stroking his three-day beard. He couldn't meet the Admiral like this.

Ryan was about to step into the shower when he heard the doorbell. Cursing heavily, he stepped out of the small cabin and wrapped a towel around his waist.

"It's Lily," he heard through the intercom. She impatiently pressed the bell a couple more times before Ryan finally hit the orange holo-lock-to let her in. "Is that how you open the door to all the ladies?" Lily asked, eyeing him from top to bottom. He was used to girls checking him out like that. Family or not, no woman could resist taking a look at his sculpted physique.

"I was taking a shower. Or I was about to before you showed up. What can I help you with?" He tightened the knot in his towel as he spoke. Not that he cared much about any exposure, it was his sister after all.

"I assume you heard the news?" she continued, walking further into the apartment without an invitation. She stopped in the living room and turned to face her brother. Her dark hair waved about during the motion, almost like a model on the catwalk.

"I did," he replied.

"That's… all you've got to say on the subject?" Lily went over to the fridge and took a deep sigh. "God, don't you have anything nice?" she said to herself before grabbing an orange juice box. Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Soldiers die every day," he stated, repeating his thoughts from yesterday. "Don't see what all the fuss is about."

"Of course not," Lily grinned before taking a slurp and sitting herself down on the couch. "You've always been jealous of Shepard."

"Not true."

"Is," Lily giggled, sticking her tongue out. Ryan couldn't much appreciate her joking around, though.

"Not."

"Is!"

"Not!" Ryan pressed his finger down in the air so heavily his towel fell off, revealing everything. Cursing even louder than before, he picked it up off the floor and wrapped it around him again. Lily giggled.

"Don't be ashamed, Ryan. I've seen you naked hundreds of times. Be assured that nothing of interest lies underneath."

"I guess not. I know the types you like to hang around with," he jabbed. Lily's grin faded instantly and she went back to her juice box, averting her eyes. Ryan almost felt a pang of guilt. Maybe his last remark had hit a bit too close to home. "Look, not that I don't appreciate the social call, but I gotta clean myself up. Hackett summoned me."

"Admiral Hackett? What does he want?" she asked, looking back at her brother.

"No idea. He kept me in the dark." Ryan didn't like that, but he was enough of a military man to understand the need for secrecy. Information usually came on a need-to-know basis and it wasn't Ryan's place to question his superiors.

"Does he know you're on shore leave?"

"I would guess so."

"Strange. Well, you'll find out soon enough." The conversation slowly died down and Lily anxiously started flapping the wings of the juice box around. She hated silences. "By the way, how was Elysium?" she started, desperate to keep the conversation going.

"Boring. Frustrating. Not challenging. How about you?" Ryan asked in turn.

"Same. Though I'm more fond of peace and quiet than you are," she said. "Luckily, there's plenty of both on Horizon. Waste of resources if you ask me, the people there don't even like the Alliance."

"They don't like people protecting their freedom?"

"They don't like people sticking their nose in their business, telling them what to do. Would you like that?"

"If it meant safety, yes," Ryan nodded

"Bullshit. You'd hate it, just like they do."

"Why do you even ask if you already know the answer?" Ryan sighed, getting annoyed.

"It's called a rhetorical question." Lily took a last slurp and folded up the juice box nicely. She created a little blue sphere around it, biotically lifting it to the kitchen before dumping it in the trash can. Like Ryan, Lilith was a biotic as well, though she had never been quite as powerful as her brother.

"Still," Lily continued, "you'd think a first lieutenant would get more exciting things to do than telling colonists everything will be fine. I guess we should be grateful for it, though. Fewer bullets flying around means fewer casualties."

"Unless the Marine is really good at his job. Look, Lily, no offense, but I really have to hurry or I'll be late for Hackett," Ryan urged, jutting a thumb towards the bathroom behind him.

"Got it," she said, getting the hint. She got up from the couch and gave Ryan a small hug. Ryan awkwardly held on to his towel to make sure it didn't fall off again. "It's good seeing you again, bro. You should come over to my place for dinner, tonight."

"Great. I'll call you."

The moment she was gone, Ryan hopped into the shower. The hot water cleared his head. He shaved, put on his Alliance blues and went to see Admiral Hackett with a million questions buzzing through his head.

A/N: Many thanks to you, the reader, for getting started on what will hopefully become an epic journey. And gratitude to Osage, for doing a phenomenal job beta-reading this story, as well as keeping my morale up! I probably couldn't do this without her support.