The Normandy SR-2 sped towards the Citadel, weaving between ships with a precision and grace that was frankly unnecessary—especially considering the completely clear path around traffic that the docking official had suggested—but let everyone know that the best pilot in the galaxy was in town. The other ships swerved away, barely avoiding collisions with each other, but the Normandy passed within feet of them without so much as disturbing the kinetic barriers. With a final, perfectly-timed roll, it arrived at its assigned docking bay and slowed to a stop just as the magnetic clamps attached.
Joker turned to smile at the crew watching from behind his seat, only to realize there were none. Even EDI offered no comment as she removed the dozen or so collision warnings she'd thrown on Joker's screen during his maneuvers. He grumbled a few words to himself about unappreciated artists as he set about shutting down the engines and disabling the airlock safeties.
Commander Shepard walked up the corridor from the CIC, Garrus and Miranda in tow. He was wearing full combat armor and had loaded himself and his two squad members with half the contents of the armory, as he typically did on all his trips to the Citadel. No one on the crew was quite sure why he thought that necessary, nor did anyone dare ask, but they were all relieved that C-Sec had at least convinced him not to shoot offensive claims about the council members into the Presidium walls, as he had during the days of the SR-1.
"Why did we have to come straight here from Horizon again?" he asked.
"The Illusive Man insisted," Miranda answered. "He said there would be a vital member of our team waiting for us here."
"He couldn't just send us a dossier like with everyone else?"
"He said that we should do this as soon as possible, and that we'd be thankful once we met this person."
"But it's not like they're going anywhere, are they? Tali's in geth territory right now; she could need our help. And Liara's on Ilium. I was hoping to get the old band back together. Except Ashley, I guess."
"About that, Commander…" Garrus began.
The airlock indicator turned green and the door opened with a whirr and a hiss. "Who is this new team member, anyway?" Shepard continued as he stepped through. "Did the Illusive Man bother to tell us anything about them? Are they a soldier? An assassin? Another psychopath?"
"The Illusive Man did forward an impressive list of credentials," Miranda said, pulling up a file on her omni-tool. "Usually I would dismiss such a…comprehensive record as an obvious fabrication, but he insists that it's genuine."
"Anything stand out?"
"Served on Akuze, Elysium, and Torfan; special commendations from the STG, Special Tactics and Recon, Aralakh Company, and an asari commando unit for vital participation in high-risk operations; single-handedly stopped a major batarian slaving raid on Watson; starred in…Blasto 3? Okay; defeated reigning champions from the Blood Pack, Blue Suns, and Eclipse in a hand-to-hand combat competition on Omega. Those are some of the bigger ones, anyway."
They stopped at the bottom of the docking ramp, where they'd been told to meet the new team member. "I thought only that one crazy guy made it off Akuze?" Shepard said. Miranda shrugged. "Hm," he said.
After a pause, Garrus said, "Listen, Commander, about Ashley."
"Commander Shepard?" A woman asked. She, like the Commander, wore full combat armor with an arsenal attached.
"That's me," Shepard answered.
The woman strode forward confidently and offered her hand. "Commander Amanda Traver, Alliance Navy."
Shepard took the hand. "You're a Commander too?" he asked. He thought she looked a little…unseasoned for a command.
"That's correct. They've offered me a promotion three times, but I turned it down to stay in a combat role."
"Okay… How old are you?"
"Twenty-five. I lied about my age to join up young, and they put me straight into N7 training after they saw what I could do."
Shepard looked at Miranda, who offered another shrug. "Alright," he said, "I'm Commander Shepard and, as you can see, I'm not dead. This is my XO…" The commander raised his hand to point, but after glancing between Garrus and Miranda, indicated neither. "And this is the Normandy. Welcome aboard."
"Thank you, Commander. I'm glad to be working with you, and I'm sure I won't disappoint. Now, before we leave, I've taken the liberty of contracting work crews to update the Normandy with Thanix cannons, Silaris armor, and Cyclonic barriers. They should be done within a day."
"You're going to upgrade the entire ship in a day?" Garrus asked.
"Yes. I've worked with the development of all three systems, and I know them well enough to make quick integration easy."
"You worked on three military R&D programs conducted by separate races?"
"I was project lead on one of them."
If he was human, Garrus might have raised an eyebrow, but instead he just looked on as Amanda continued.
"I've also hacked into a secure Cerberus database and found an IFF signal they discovered researching a Reaper corpse. I cleaned out a trojan horse, and now it should let us go through the Omega 4 Relay."
"You hacked Cerberus?" Miranda asked.
"Cerberus is studying a Reaper corpse?" Shepard added, slightly louder.
"I'll explain it all over lunch," Amanda said. "Come on, I know a great sushi place nearby."
Shepard opened his mouth to protest, but stopped himself. Somehow, he felt he could put his absolute trust into this woman. Something about her screamed "extreme, unparalleled competence" to him. He couldn't quite figure out what, though.
Two days later, he watched from the cockpit of the Normandy as the Collector base disintegrated. Joker fired lazy shots into the structure with the Thanix cannon, clearly bored. He'd probably been hoping for a climactic battle where he would outwit the enemy with his superior skills, but Amanda had correctly predicted the Collectors' tactics and instructed Joker on an easy strategy to outmaneuver them. After that, she'd led the squad into the base alongside Shepard, beaten back multitudes of Collectors with her absurdly powerful biotics, and taken out the human Reaper with a well-aimed shot while he was still warming up his Cain.
"Huh," Shepard said, "that was easy."