==Day 1
Shepard awoke in the medbay with a throbbing headache and a burning sensation on his side. The lights were as bright as ever, at least they seemed so to him. He shook his head, massaging his temples trying to make light of the situation. He opened his eyes, tentatively at first as his pupils adjusted to the lighting. He looked around, Chakwas was sitting in her usual chair, engrossed in a hardcover book. "Huh, an actual paper book." He'd been seeing those a lot more since his ressurection. On another bed, Jacob was sat on the edge nursing his broken but bandaged arm.
"Augh, man. You really need to lock up Kasumi's supply or something." said Shepard. He stretched his sore limbs, popping his shoulders as he did so. Last thing he remembered was walking over to Thane's room. As he looked intently at Jacob, waiting for a retort he saw the faint trace of a bruised jaw. "Must have been some party."
"Party? Are you serious?" he replied, an incredulous look etched across his face. "You got drunk and started rambling about ash or something."
"I distinctly remember, before not remembering anything, that Kenny was also drinking. Drunk Scotsmen equals party, Jacob. Your argument is rendered invalid."
"Kasumi knocked him out after he tried to smooch the 'anime chick'." replied Jacob, finger quoting as he did so. He didn't want to admit it, but he felt an odd satisfaction seeing the redhead sprawled on the floor. Was it approval for the way Kasumi retaliated to Ken's... ungentlemanly behaviour, or did it run deeper?
"Maybe you should talk to Kelly about that problem, that's the whole reason she's here." he continued, glibly adding under his breath, "Doesn't do much else anyway."
"Every man has his flaws, Jacob. Every woman too." Shepard gave Jacob a 'Yeah, I heard that' look. "Besides, I happen to like drinking." Shepard closed his eyes, trying to will away the headache that grasped his mind in a stranglehold. "Just hate the damn hangovers."
"You better get going, Shepard. Admiral Hackett's waiting at the Citadel, says he wants to talk to you."
"Fine, get me an ice pack will ya?" He was not looking forward to the Admiral's berating.
"Shepard, I send you out on a rescue mission, and a whole star system is destroyed." The old marine stated. "Shouldn't that have been phrased a question?" Shepard thought. "He probably already knows from the report Joker sent in. Damn superior officers always making you repeat everything."
"That relay had to be destroyed, the Reapers were going to use it as a short cut into the galaxy. We literally would have had minutes left if I hadn't."
Shepard had been expecting a berating. Reapers, sure. But 300 thousand dead. That... was a substantial number, to say the least. The Admiral merely sighed in response. "Maybe the Alliance had found out he sent me?"
"I believe you. But what you did does no one a favour in the Alliance's eyes. And the Batarians... they will want blood, Shepard." Seeing no response from Shepard, he continued.
"When all this is over, the Alliance expects you to wear your dress blues and return to Earth for trial." Still, Shepard remained stoic. Gaze firm and strong, eyes staring into his own. Legs parted slightly, with hands rested behind him in a standard parade rest position.
"Shepard, are you listening?"
Shepard snapped out of his reverie. "What? Oh yeah, sorry. I was waiting for you to cut the crap and actually start helping for once." The admiral found that amusing for a split second, "A class act, this Shepard."
Before breaking into his rage. "It's out of my hands!" Shepard winced at his words. The admiral thought the direness of the situation had finally sunk in. Shepard simply thought "Not so damn loud!"
"I know you heard me, Shepard. When they call, I expect you to come. Maybe after that we'll be able to help you."
Shepard just nodded. Waiting for superior officers to stop talking always wore his patience thin. As the Admiral turned towards the door to leave, he was abruptly stopped as Shepard lingered a hand on his shoulder.
"I went out there as a favour to you. Now I want you to do something for me." Hackett looked into his eyes, seeing a cold determination that wasn't there a few seconds ago.
Hackett folded his arms, oh so eager to learn what new type of explosives he wanted or which tier grenade launcher he would want delievered. "I'm listening."
"Operations Chief Ashley Madeline Williams." He wasn't fully expecting that.
Denied!
"Shepard, you're a rogue. Even if I could get her transferred here, it would be as a civilian. I can't lend her to you as an Alliance Marine. From what I heard from Anderson, she gave you the cold shoulder for quitting the Alliance."
Ouch, that was a low blow. Somewhat amusing, coming from a strict old dog like him. "More from being dead and a terrorist than anything."
"Anything else, just ask. Commander." Hackett put extra emphasis on the last word, whether as a final insult or an act of faith Shepard did not know. He was leaving, anyways. And that, would give him more time to shake off the hangover.
"What do you think?" said Shepard, apparently to an empty med-bay.
A voice drawled over the intercom. "Least you have a reason to go to that trial now."
"JOKER!" Jeff practically jumped out of his chair. "Thank god I didn't hit the console" was the first thought that came to his mind.
"Freakin' hell! Would you *please* stop doing that?" he then complained, swivelling around to meet his commander.
Shepard merely smiled. The pilot had a knack for cracking jokes and playing pranks, but nothing beat startling him when he was sitting alone in the cockpit. Especially when he was doing something.. private. "You have camera feeds, use them."
Joker grumbled, his eyes throughout the ship had been jabbed, stabbed and blinded. EDI disconnected most of them, leaving only one functioning. "Not anymore. EDI disabled all of them except for the CIC. I would have preferred the bathrooms but, whatever."
"What, the view of Miz Chambers got boring for ya?"
Oh, the look on his face!
"How'd you know it only points at her!" he questioned, and apparently startled look on his usually grinning self.
"I may have told EDI to leave that one open. Give you a little eye candy." The mischievous grin Shepard bore dissipated, leaving a more concerned gleam in his eyes.
"You're too much of a loner, Joker. You never let anyone close, and the only reason you're talking to me right now is because you got me killed."
"Yeah, sure, whatever." The pilot swerved back towards council, leaving Shepard feeling slightly guilty. "Kicks to the groin are being delivered all over, tonight." he thought amusingly. Shepard sighed, turned to face the CIC and resumed his position as Commander.
"72 hour shore leave. CUT."
"Aye, aye." replied the pilot as he opened the line to the intercom. He assumed an eas-going cruise tour's voice.
"Hey crew, this is your roguish pilot speaking. Commander says 90 hour shore leave, CUT. As there are plenty of hotels around the Citadel, no more banging in the core room, please."
Shepard shook his head as he headed towards the science lab. Amusing as that was, he knew Joker used humour as a coping mechanism. "That boy has issues."
Joker waited for the Commander to be completely out of sight. Turning back to his console, he flicked a finger over one of the holographic switches, bringing up a screen showing a petite redhead standing over her work station. A confused look glazed over his eyes.
"Mordin, data?" said Shepard. There was no point in uttering pronouns or other useless grammatical tools. Even at dinner, "Mording, ketchup, pass?" would suffice. Mordin turned away from his work, grabbing a datapad and handing it over to Shepard.
"Studying Reaper tech. Astounding! Uses energy fields to indoctrinate. At full capacity, organic minds can only retain sanity for a fleeting period of time. After... madness."
"Come closer, need to listen closely. Might be able to reverse indoctrination, though damage to psyche will still be substantial. Reapers will do everything to keep control."
Shepard stared in awe at the scientist. "Keep.. working on that. Seriously."
"Right, will do."
Shepard strode out of the airlock. He had opted for some formal wear this time. As much as a pain it was to talk to the council, he needed them on his side. That meant dressing up like them. He wore a sleek black suit he obtained from Kasumi Goto. He didn't have a mind for fashion. A plain tuxedo would do.
As he strode intently towards a nearby transport terminal, a thought came to his mind. "I'm gonna need some stuff for shore leave." Selecting the destination as 'Shin Akiba', another more bitter revelation came to mind. "Wouldn't even need it if she would just come back to me."
The car arrived at Shin Akiba, a considerably less crowded area compared to the other places he had been. He walked around at first, unsure of where to go. As he passed some drunk looking Turians though, he saw what appeared to be a public map.
"Levo/Dextro restaurants... no. Asari cosmetics... no. Aha! Adult erotica!"
Several passers-by turned their heads at the reddening SpecTRe. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to think out loud. Shepard took a brisk walk to his destination, a shop with an actual door this time. He strode inside, the patrons consisted of Turians and Humans, mostly. "Never thought the Citadel would have so many perverts." A Salarian stood behind the counter. "Makes sense." He thought, to himself this time. "They can't jack off behind the counter if they don't have a sex drive."
"Hello, I was wondering whether-"
"Commander Shepard! I never thought I would see an actually SpecTRe in my shop!" The Salarian was speaking way too loud.
Several of the patrons turned their heads, including a Quarian in a yellow suit. Quarians, as in, he couldn't tell whether the yellow guy was leering or laughing.
"Ahem, yes I wanted to-"
"Did you want to buy one of our 'toys'? You can find more of the exotic items in our catalogue, including Asari-Hanar porn games, Volus suit stimulants, Quarian suit stimulants and Elcor aphrodisiac perfumes. Say, I heard you were giving store owners advertisement rights. I could give you a hefty discount if you let us broadcast your voice!"
More of the shoppers looked at Shepard. Most with neutral expressions, quietly awed at witnessing a SpecTRe buying porn. Some had more amused looks.
"UHM, NO. ACTUALLY, I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU FOR DIRECTIONS. BEING DEAD AND ALL, I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE ANYTHING IS." Shepard practically shouted. Then, in a much more quiet voice, he whispered.
"give me your contact details, and stop talking so god damn loud"
The Salarian nodded, finally getting the hint and waved a hand over his omni-tool. The contact details downloaded itself to Shepard's omni-tool.
Shepard walked out, blush still burning his face as he quietly made the purchase online via his omnitool. He went silently into a bathroom and washed his face before continuing on to Anderson.
"Anderson."
"Shepard."
They were still on... odd terms. The last time Shepard came here, the council blew him off again, Anderson wouldn't tell him where the Chief was and overall provided no help whatsoever.
"Contact the council, I have proof of the Reapers." said Shepard. In a commanding tone. With his vastly military and political superior, Admiral Anderson.
Anderson complied, pressing a few switches and buttons. He said into the device, "Shepard's here."
The holographic displays of three of the councillors appeared, the Human one absent, due to an assassination attempt. Two years on the job and already 7 attempts had been made on his life. The Turian, Valern, the Asari, Tevos and the Salarian, who's name Shepard could not recall. The Turian spoke first.
"Ah, so the prodigal son returns. We heard you came back from the Omega-4 relay?" A malicious smile appeared on his face. The Turian equivalent, anyways. Shepard couldn't decipher the meaning behind it.
"I have proof of the Reapers' existence this time, take a look for yourself." Shepard activated his omni-tool, as the councillors, and Anderson, gave eachother skeptical and apprehensive looks. A holographic screen popped up, showing...
An Asari tangled in the purplish-pink tentacles of a comparably large Hanar.
The Council had mixed reactions. Valern put on a look of hatred and disgust. Tevos looked like she was about to faint, appalled that a SpecTRe, of all people would bring this up. The Salarian, however. Was... smiling? Of course, the Turian spoke, or rather shouted first.
"Is this some kind of joke? We don't have time for this, Commander!" He was practically seething with anger.
"Wrong- fucking- app." replied Shepard. He frantically tried to bring up the right programme. After a few seconds of uncharacteristically bumbling idiocy and thrusts and moans, he opened the schematics of a Reaper.
"Here it is, proof." he said matter-of-factly.
The Council, and Anderson quietly examined the evidence. Looks of anger and appal turned to worry. The councillors discussed amongst themselves, for quite some time. Shepard waited patiently. Although he could not hear it as they muted the connection, he could guess what they were talking about. "Either they think I'm faking it again or they're discussing how to prosecute me for not telling them sooner." About 20 minutes passed before he decided to speak up.
"The reproduce by breaking apart organics into genetic slime, or something to that effect. I had to fucking watch as they melted a colonist right in front of my eyes and funneled them into a Reaper larva while you did nothing." Shepard himself was stood with a stoic posture, but his word held a deep passion behind them. To his slight shock, the Council believed him.
"Commander... this is a.. shocking revelation." said Valern.
"Shocking? That's the best you can- Wait, revelation? So you actually believe me this time?"
"We trust the data our agents provide, Commander. When they actually have proof."
"So what are you going to do?"
"We shall make the necessary preparations. Commander, you cannot tell anyone else about this." The Salarian spoke.
"What?" Shocking as it was that they could now see how screwed they were, it shocked him even more that they wouldn't do a thing about it.
"We shall have to prepare in secret, Commander. Goddess help us. Revealing the threat to the galaxy won't help. It would throw everyone into panic and turmoil."
"Well... okay, then. Dismissed." He knew as stubborn as they were, no more could be gained from arguing.
"You don't dismiss us, Commander!" the Turian started, but was unheard as Shepard turned and headed towards the balcony.
Anderson, who had kept quiet all this time, bid them farewell and cut the connection. He walked up and stood next to Shepard.
(This would be a good time to play Vigil)
In the background of his awareness, the Council had already gone. He walked towards the balcony, gesturing with his hand for Anderson to follow. Although being his former friend, being in the military meant he had to treat Anderson with respect. Now, he had lost most of that respect and ties to the Systems Alliance. To him, Admiral Anderson was a past figure who had betrayed him. Anderson walked over, leaning against the balcony.
"You finally did it, Commander. I thought we'd never convince them of the Reaper threat."
Shepard had a momentary lapse of anger.
"We, Admiral? As far as I could tell, you turned into one of them and told me to go do it on my own. As far as I can tell, there is no we, here."
"Shepard.. I know I wasn't much of a help, but I have other duties. Preparing humanity for the invasion, trying to keep Councillor Udina at bay with his crazed demandings. You working for Cerberus threw me off, too."
The third statement startled Shepard a bit. "What do you mean, preparing humanity?"
"Not everyone disbelieves you, a large part of the Systems Alliance is already on your side, even some of our alien allies, as backup when they come. But until then, our hands are still tied. Politics, it may seem like bull shit to you, and most of it is. But ultimately our job is to try and keep the peace, to placate whiners who might cause unrest. It's a big and largely unpopular job, but it's necessary.
Shepard sighed, he had to let Anderson have that one. He had thought things over since their last meeting, and had come to that conclusion as well. But when he saw Anderson for the first time since then an hour ago, all that hindsight realisation was thrown out the window. "That was probably what happened to Ash too."
Shepard sighed and continued. "Alright, I get it. There's one other thing I wanted to talk to you about, the trial?"
Anderson felt a bit worried. "Perhaps I should have done more to convince them." "It's unreasonable, but necessary. The Alliance-"
Shepard cut him off with a raise of his hand. His universal sign to halt.
"I meant after the trial. They are going to listen to me one way or another. I want to know what will happen after that."
"You'll get a promotion, Staff Commander. You're universally known as the first human SpecTRe, Commander Shepard. To change you title would be ill-advised I'm afraid. Politics again."
"What about Alliance staff? My current crew is former Cerberus. Though, the Illusive Man recruited them off of the Alliance to try and make me more 'comfortable'." He dragged out the last word, Anderson could feel the hate in his voice as he mentioned the Illusive Man.
"They will need to be reinstated into the Alliance. They might want to replace your crew entirely, you'll have to strike a deal yourself."
"I want my old crew back too, can you get the survivours from the SR-1 prepped and ready to join? Adams, Hendricks, Bastille-"
"Williams?"
Shepard looked back from Anderson. He stared out into the Presidium lake.
"...Yes."
"I'll get them if they agree. Some of them went dark though, private sector. Moreau and Chakwas-"
"Are with me."
"Alright, then. You should go before Udina finds out you were here again, Shepard."
"Yes, you're right. It was good seeing you again, Anderson."
With that, Shepard left.
Shepard walked through the Presidium, no real destination in mind. He mulled over what Anderson said, what Hackett said. His thoughts travelled over everything that happened. Everything he had fought. Everything he had fought for. Everything he had lost.
"Damn it, Ash."
He shut the thoughts out of his mind and changed his course. He wouldn't think about it, he would do something about it. And with that, he was gone.
