"Good luck in there, Commander," Vega says, as he's said the past nine days. He offers her a salute, even though technically he's not meant to any more. Old habits, he thinks, and Shepard deserves all the respect she can get.
She gives him a small smile, straightens her uniform, and says, "Thank you, Lieutenant." Just words, though. She doesn't trust him yet. Can't blame her, really.
Vega takes his now-familiar seat in the long white hallway opposite the door, and watches the last few Alliance investigators hurry into the hearing. Hanging around a court room waiting for Commander Shepard to be released for the day is hardly the most dangerous assignment he's taken. Vega yawns, eyes half-closed.
The ninth day of the hearings into Shepard's actions on Aratoht. All up, it's been fourteen days of following Commander Shepard everywhere, watching her every move, listening to her every conversation.
He can't figure her out. Down here in the Alliance HQ, Shepard is not the larger-than-life hero for whose sake he beat up several batarians in a bar. The vids of her limping out from the Citadel wreckage three years ago – bloodied, battered, defiant in the face of a dead Reaper – are at total odds with the reserved, neatly-dressed woman he guards.
For the past two weeks, Anderson has been running around trying to placate the howling media and keeping Shepard safe from ... something. Politicians, Vega thinks. To be honest, Vega can't quite see why Anderson called him in at all. Any collection of grunts could guard this prisoner. Sure, she's Commander Shepard: one of the few Vanguards still breathing from the N7 training, Butcher of Torfan, Saviour of the Citadel, back from the dead, Destroyer of the Collectors. Hell, with a list like that after her name, you'd think she was invincible.
But if you didn't know her face, you'd walk right past her in the hallway. She's tall, dark-skinned and surprisingly quiet for the woman famous for shouting at the Citadel Council. Her thin, narrow face with deep-set black eyes is almost impossible to get a read on. In her Alliance uniform she looks like any other officer – well, Vega has to admit she's pretty damn hot, but that's just ... yeah. He has to remind himself that she's been known to headbutt krogan.
The dissonance between what he knows to be true – that he's guarding the most dangerous, potentially explosive human in the galaxy – and what he sees – an ordinary woman desperately trying to convince the entire galaxy that the apocalypse is coming – is difficult to translate. What interests Vega is the watchfulness. Shepard watches everyone, everything, like she's expecting something – anything – to blow up in her face. Considering what she's been through, it's not surprising. But it's ... unsettling, Vega thinks. She doesn't stop assessing everything for possible danger. The first time he met her, while she was sitting in the back of a shuttle with heavy manacles around her wrists and ankles, she looked at him for a long few, silent seconds, then nodded. Just once. Vega had the feeling she'd summed him up in a few seconds and decided he was acceptable. Weird. Kind of insulting, too.
Yeah, so Shepard is a paradox. He has a suspicion that Anderson assigned him to this guard detail for more than one reason. Maybe he's supposed to be watching Shepard for more than just would-be assassinations or escape attempts. Maybe he's here to learn. What he's supposed to learn from following a woman around a secure station from hearing to interview to psychiatrist to hearing, he doesn't know.
One thing he has learnt in the past fortnight is that Shepard has the patience of a turian sniper. She walks out of her quarters each morning looking fresh and prepared. She walks out of the hearings, nine or ten or twelve hours later, looking tired but determined. No cracks. No anger. She even makes a joke or two on the way back to her quarters.
"We're in for a long haul," she tells him on the third day, "and it's going to be rough. I hope you've brought a book or two."
Vega shrugs. "Eh, not one for reading, Commander."
She just smiles, and walks on, calm and quiet.
Vega is sure she's on guard against him, not certain if he's friend or foe yet. He thinks the fact that Anderson assigned him is a mark in his favour. He's already formed his opinion: Shepard is totally loco, going through all that with the Collectors and Reapers and Cerberus and coming out of it with a bad joke and a salute, surrendering her beauty of a ship and voluntarily walking into manacles and red tape. But he likes her for it. He thinks. Kind of weird how she can be so calm about it all, though.
Vega yawns again, resting his head on the wall behind him. He should get a book next time. The hallway is long, white, open. No journalists allowed, and most of the officers are off getting lunch. The area is deserted.
He's considering doing some push-ups, or jogging from one end of the hallway to the other a few hundred times, when the court-room door opens.
Shepard stalks out, the door swinging shut behind her. She strides past Vega without looking at him, and Vega's skin prickles. The look on her face is the Commander Shepard he's not seen.
Anger crackles around her. She moves quickly, shoulders high, breathing sharp and fast. Vega leaps to his feet and is about to follow when she stops, halfway down the hallway. He waits, uncertain. Shit, this is the Commander Shepard he should have been watching for. Anderson didn't set him here to guard her from assassins. Or maybe he did, and this is just a side-effect.
Shepard stands dead still in the middle of the hallway, hands hanging loosely at her sides, head up. Vega watches her broad shoulders, the furious lines of her back warning him not to move. He's not stupid enough to startle a biotic, let alone an N7.
He's considering calling out to her, when he realises she's stopped because she's staring at someone. Further down the hall, another officer. Shit, it's Major Alenko. Vega's seen him around a few times, traded salutes. Even had a quick chat about Shepard, a few days ago. Now what's going on?
Alenko is looking at Shepard like he's seen a ghost, but there's some kind of wary expectation there – Vega takes a step toward Shepard, completely lost. Whatever's going down today, Shepard is not happy about it. He glances over her shoulder to Alenko. Is the Major a threat? No.
The court room door opens again, letting Anderson out. The Admiral ignores Vega, eyes fixing on Shepard with something like guilt. Three guards, another Admiral Vega doesn't recognise, and a man wearing a lab coat and gloves, step out of the court room.
Vega doesn't like this.
"Shepard," Anderson calls out. "We need to talk about this."
The woman doesn't move. Beyond her, Alenko is still watching, and Vega wonders suddenly if Shepard knew he was here. This can't be good.
The second Admiral motions to the guards: they brush past Vega, three bulky men with solid, wary faces. Vega looks to Anderson for orders, but the older man is still watching Shepard.
"This is not the way to go about it, Admiral," Anderson snaps to his fellow officer.
The Commander turns to face them all, and Vega really doesn't like this.
Alenko says something, quietly, his voice too low for Vega to hear. In response, Shepard just shakes her head once, and takes a step to the side, so her back is to the wall. The three guards approach her with caution.
Shepard flares, dark blue energy hissing over her entire body. Whoa. Vega has served with biotics before, but he's never seen a biotic flare like that. She looks like she could set fire to the entire room. He takes a step towards her, still uncertain. Who is he protecting here – Shepard, or Anderson, or the guards? Damnit, this shouldn't have happened. He should've been briefed better.
"Do not touch me," Shepard says. Her voice has dropped an octave, rough, threatening. The three men pause. They know who she is. One of them glances back for confirmation. The second Admiral nods. The guards close in.
Beyond the guards, Alenko flares bright blue as well. Vega knew the Major was a biotic, but shit – if he tries to help Shepard out, this whole thing could turn ugly fast. He moves forward, picking out the guard closest to him with unconscious focus.
"Do not touch me," Shepard repeats, and Vega resists the urge to stop moving.
"Stand down, all of you," Anderson snaps.
The first of the three guards reaches out to take Shepard's arm. She moves faster than Vega can follow, a blaze of blue biotic energy hurling the man backwards. The second guard takes his chance and swings a punch at Shepard's head: she drops below it, bringing her left hand up to throw another blast of energy at the guard. He, too, flies backwards, crashing into the opposite wall. Shepard straightens, falling back into her angry, threatening posture. The third guard raises his gun. They don't use rubber bullets here.
"No!" Anderson shouts, but Shepard is already moving. She ducks sideways, fingers flicking out in a movement that is almost elegant. Vega is running, down the hall – to do what, he doesn't know, but something, he's not watching her get shot. The third guard is floating in the air, unconscious. How the hell does she do that?
Shepard's black eyes snap to Vega, lifting her blue-haloed hand to face him. He skids to a stop on the smooth timber floors, raising his hands. "I'm with you, Commander."
I'm supposed to be her guard and I just watched her take out three men. He'll deal with that thought later.
Alenko moves behind Shepard: she snaps her head around to stare at him, fresh energy flaring in her left hand. Alenko shakes his head, slowly, and says, "Not me, Shepard."
Some of the tension bleeds out of her shoulders.
"Enough!" The second Admiral bellows. "Stand down, Commander!"
"I'm not a Commander, Admiral." The words are spoken with such force, the hallway falls silent. "You took that away from me."
The medical man murmurs something to the Admiral. Vega can just hear it. "Sir, we need to taser her. It would be best to do this under mild sedation."
Before he has time to ask what the hell is going on, Vega is distracted by Anderson moving forward. The Admiral is angry, probably as angry as Shepard – but not afraid. Shepard is afraid, Vega realises. "Shepard, you must understand why they're asking you to submit to this. Taking out three guards is not the best way to prove otherwise."
Shepard is silent for a moment, hands still raised in a half-defensive, half-offensive posture, the fist closest to Vega half-curled to maintain the force field holding the guard above their heads. Her eyes are freakish, flashing black to azure, black to azure. Vega is damned glad she didn't attack him too. He catches Alenko's eye, and the two men exchange a brief, silent nod: whatever is going on, they're both on Shepard's side.
"Anderson, do you honestly think it will stop here?" Her voice is still rough. "They've already taken everything. What will they want next? A lobotomy? Anything to avoid the truth."
"You're being ridiculous, Shepard," the second Admiral says. Shepard flares brighter, and Vega takes another step forward.
"Mikhailovitch, leave this to me," Anderson says, "You've done enough damage. Go and calm the others down."
"Shepard is not your pet, Anderson, she's a dangerous criminal."
"Go back inside!" Anderson barks, and the command is so strong in his voice that Vega jumps. Reluctantly, the second Admiral disappears into the court room, the doctor following him.
Anderson indicates the three guards, still encased in biotic energy. "Shepard, let them go."
The Commander eyes him for a moment, then carefully lowers the third guard to the ground. The crackling blue light disappears, leaving Shepard standing in the middle of the hallway with three unconscious guards around her. The quiet has gone from her eyes. She is the Commander who took down a Reaper, every inch defiance, jaw clenched, head flung back. Vega waits. What the hell is going on?
"This is not going to happen," she says.
"Shepard, you have to give them something. Some way to prove you're not –"
"—a raving lunatic who can kill them all with my brain?" Shepard finishes, voice flat. "They do this to me, Anderson, and it doesn't stop. Next I'll be on a lab table being cut open to look for the Illusive Man's control chip. Then they'll slice my brain up to look for the Prothean Cipher. Anything to avoid facing the truth that they don't want to face."
"Losing your amp is a small price to pay –" Anderson begins, but stops.
"No," Shepard says, coldly. "No, it's really not."
"What's going on, sir?" Alenko has stepped forward, between Shepard and Anderson. Vega is beginning to feel like an outsider here, watching some old argument or friendship be rehashed. Shepard stands dead straight, refusing to give way.
Anderson sighs. "Certain members of the inquiry board are concerned that having Shepard walk around with her biotic amp in place is a danger. They have requested she submit to it being removed."
Fuck, now they've got two dangerous biotics to deal with. Alenko's face changes, mirroring Shepard's anger. "Are you – do they know what they're asking?"
"No," Anderson says, "Most of them haven't even seen a biotic in action. They don't understand the implications."
"Because all biotics are going to have a mental break-down and kill people at some point, but most especially a dead Commander who insists that the world is about to end because she talked to a giant space monster," Shepard says.
Alenko shifts closer to Anderson. "You let them take Shepard's amp, sir, and you'll have the whole biotic community out for blood." Vega knows there's a lot of bitterness about biotic treatment, but hell, he didn't know it was this bad.
There's an ugly little pause.
"I'm sorry, sir," Shepard says at last, her voice regaining a little of its usual calm. "I overreacted, but ... what more do they want from me?"
"They're scared," Anderson says. Vega notices how tired the man sounds. "We all are."
Shepard says, with finality, "Taking my amp is taking part of me I am not willing to give, sir. I will not turn into a gibbering biotic wreck just to prove them right and let them close their ears to the truth."
"I understand, Shepard, I'm on your side. But you have to give them something –"
"What? What more do I have?" For a moment Vega is worried the Commander will flare up again – he's now standing just a few steps away, keeping an eye on the guards. Shepard shakes her head, arms folded tightly over her ribs. "I have given them everything they have asked for. They have to stop asking for more."
"There's got to be a compromise," Alenko says, "Keep them happy, Shepard. It's the only way you're going to get out of this."
Shepard's shoulders drop. "Every day I go in there and tell them the Reapers are coming, and we're all doomed. And they just want to take my amp and say, 'look, another insane biotic, everyone calm down'."
The look on Alenko's face makes Vega think this is not the first time the Major has run into this kind of prejudice.
"I'll go and talk to them," Anderson says. "Don't go anywhere, Commander."
Interesting that Anderson still calls her 'Commander'. The three of them – Alenko, Shepard, and Vega – watch Anderson disappear back into the court room. Vega keeps silent, still trying to detangle what is going on. He has to admit he has completely underestimated Shepard. Even thrown into a corner with all her ammo taken away, she's still fighting. He just didn't notice it under the polite smile and dress blues.
With Anderson gone, Shepard leans back against the wall, pressing her hands over her face and hissing a long sigh. She folds down, elbows digging into her hips, and Vega realises this is the most upset he's ever seen her.
Alenko touches her shoulder, and Vega turns away. Looks like the rumours were true – the Commander and Alenko did break regs on the mission to stop Sovereign. He can't blame them, really. End of the galaxy and all.
"I'm sorry," Alenko says, "Just keep fighting."
"I will," she replies, quietly. "I just wish I knew who was on my side."
"I am. And I think the Lieutenant here is, too."
Vega says, over his shoulder, "Hell yeah, Commander."
Shepard straightens up. "Thank you, both of you." She sounds tired, very tired.
Alenko's omni-tool beeps. "I have to go," he says. "I'm sorry. I don't know when I'll be back, but ... don't let them do this, Shepard."
"I won't." The determination rings through her voice.
"Lieutenant Vega," Alenko says. Vega turns. To his surprise, the Major salutes him.
Shepard notices, and looks at Vega with fresh assessment. Seems he's got Anderson's approval, and now the Major's approval. Huh. Vega salutes Alenko in return and watches the Major disappear down the hall.
Shepard stares at her feet. The quiet, restrained woman is back in place. Vega watches her, thinking he can read her better now – now he knows a little more of what's going on beneath the surface. So this is the real Commander Shepard. What the hell are the brass doing, keeping her locked up here? She should be out fighting the Reapers.
"Thank you, by the way," she says.
Vega blinks. "For what?"
She waves a hand at the unconscious guards. "For not making me deal with you."
Vega thinks for a moment, then says, "As I said, Commander, I'm on your side."
Shepard closes her eyes and nods.
Voices are raised in the court room. Perhaps he should call the doctor back out to check the three guards: but they're out of the way for now, unconscious on the floor. Someone else can deal with them. He finds he has no sympathy for anyone who wants to try and stop Shepard from doing her job.
The door opens to let Anderson out amidst a burst of chatter. Vega straightens up, aware that Shepard is doing the same. The doctor who suggested a tranquiliser slips out behind Anderson and heads down the hall to attend the guards, not daring to look at Shepard or Vega.
"Alright," Anderson says, "No further discussion of removing your amp. You've won this round, on condition you wear handcuffs from now on."
"Thank you, sir," Shepard says. She rolls her shoulders back, a habit so familiar Vega has to stop a grin: he does the same thing every time he goes into combat. "I'm ready."
She walks through the court room door without a backward glance. Anderson holds the door for her, then pauses and looks over his shoulder to Vega.
"Just out of curiosity, Lieutenant, who were you going to help – Shepard, or the guards?"
Vega doesn't hesitate. "Shepard, sir."
Anderson laughs, as if the answer is everything he wanted. "That didn't take long. This is going to get worse, Vega. Don't let her down." He steps back into the court room.
Vega takes his seat again, adrenaline still running through his veins. Damn, what the hell just happened? He replays Shepard's fight in his mind, seeing the anger in her eyes, the way she dealt with three guards in just a few seconds. No wonder they're scared of her. She could take down the whole room before they could hit the panic button.
Whatever goes on in this hearing, he knows one thing: Shepard is worth following to any end. Maybe Anderson knew what he was doing when he dragged Vega away from the gaming tables on Omega.
Anderson's words settle in his ears. Don't let her down. "No way in hell, sir."
Vega settles back into the chair, crosses his arms, and waits for Commander Shepard.