Commander in Chief
Chapter 1
Prologue: Shepard Part 1
January 2185
Lt Commander Konner Shepard
SSV Normandy
Briefing Room with Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, Operative Lawson, Operative Taylor
Orbiting Omega 4 Relay
I enter the Briefing room with a slight puzzling emotion on his face about how and why Joker had let the entire crew be abducted by the collector attack that had been tracking us by the mysterious Reaper IFF that EDI had been installing into the ships hardware. 'The same ship has been dogging me for two years, even after I had been blown to pieces by it over Alchera?' Coincidence? Maybe… but sure as hell weird!
I don't even get two feet into the briefing room as a female voice explodes in anger across the room and I am taken back by the person shouting at the flight lieutenant.
"You lost the entire crew!" Miranda expelled "And you damned-near lost the ship with it?!"
"Yes I know alright, I was on this ship after all, during the attack!" Joker argued back with a hint of depression in his voice.
"Miranda! Calm down it wasn't Joker's fault for it, no-one could have predicted that attack at anytime"
The blue orb of EDI appeared out of the briefing table and its electronic voice stated "Mr. Taylor the harmful code that the reaper I.F.F. emitted was less sophisticated then the virus that the collectors used to track this ship".
"Well, Joker that was one hell of a surprise, are you doing ok? I said with the concern on me face flourishing
"There's a lot of empty chair in here" He replied matter-of-factly
The blue beat me to the next sentence "We did all we could in our power Jeff"
"Yeah, Thanks Mom" He replied with the sense of the sarcastic quote just hanging in the air
This has been one hell of a ride up to now, being on the colony that the collectors hit and not being able to save most of them in time, the bait The Illusive Man sent most our team into the hellhole of a 'Disabled' collector ship that magically reactivated when we tried to interface with the damn thing, I will never forget that lie The Illusive Man told, for god's sake that could of killed us all right then and their, Well now we have been attacked right under our nose when I was away on a mission. We don't want this to ever happen again let alone let it happen in the first place.
"Is the ship clean? We don't want this I.F.F to take hold of our systems again"
"EDI and I purged the systems this I.F.F will not be able to take hold of my baby again"
"That's very good news"
"Also it is fully online and we will be able to go through the Omega 4 relay whenever we want"
"Don't even get me started on you unshackling that damned AI" Miranda interjected
"Oh, Miranda, do give it a rest, he done it because it was the last resort" Jacob retorted
"Yeah, what am I suppose to do when collectors attack me, break my arm at them? Anyway EDI cleared the ship. She's all right"
"I assure you, I am still bound by protocol and my programming. Even if I were not, you are my crewmates and I will not hurt you" EDI added and I swear her Orb seemed like it was smiling at us
"EDI has had many more times to kill us then we can imagine, We need all the help we can get and now EDI can make decisions of her own, it will help in space combat" I expressed in my usual commanding tone
"Well, sounds like we have everything and everyone sorted to take on the collector base and to rescue the crew" Jacob went back to a calm resonance
"I'll give the order when I have checked on the crew and everything and I mean EVERYTHING is ready for the final battle"
"Ok Commander, hit the Omega 4 relay when you want me to start heading there"
"Good, let's get ready then"
I start on my rounds around the ship, first visiting Garrus in the main batteries and he was talking about calibrations and 'Big Giant Gun' as the usual, Zaeed the crazy bastard he is still mumbling to himself about his time in the Blue Suns and the time when I (Reluctantly) let him kill Vido, ending 30 years of revenge boiling up to that point in time, Legion, usual standing around in EDI's AI core, after the argument with Tali about sending data from her omni-tool back to the Geth fleet which indivertibly sent her insane, it took all my persuasive posture to break them up and broke a deal with them, Mordin didn't want to be talked to because he was doing some 'important' research and didn't want to be bothered, I'm guessing that he was working on the cure that we got the data for from Maelon, 'But why?, I thought that Mordin was for the genophage?' Meh none of my business.
Kasumi was no-where to be seen as usual because of her stealthy nature, she will eventually show up when I last think of it, Grunt started to pay up again and almost tried to crack the cargo hold glass again before I had to put my body in the way of that hulking mass using its kinetic force against me. Thanks to Cerberus for the implants that saved my life on way too many occasions…
Samara was meditating as usual properly because of the events of her killing her Ardat-Yakshi daughter (which is a tough choice nevertheless) and I couldn't get her attention with any use of my voice to get her attention diverted elsewhere, then again she will never her me will that powerful orb of energy encircling her hands and arms. 'I wonder if Jack can do the same thing since she is a very strong biotic herself'. On that note I head down to the bottom of engineering without a certain person noticing my present… When I reach Jack, she is unusually calm state after dealing with her past on Pragia, oh well at least she won't be trying to rip anyone's throats out anymore (Miranda should thank me) so that is a plus from this point onwards, Me and Jack talk about biotic energy and if she could do the biotic orb thing that Samara does and the reply was "If I could I would use it to create an orb inside Miranda and expand it till she explodes" 'Oh great, thought I had that covered' I sighed and moved on.
Thane was sitting in the life support room and was as silent as ever while he was praying after he had just sent his son to do community service after he had just tried to assassinate a Turian politician but we put a stop to it, well unfortunately because I bloody hate politicians, and that he sorted out his son and now he is back on the right side of the galactic law
Liara had just come aboard the ship when she evidently heard about the Normandy being under siege and wanted to come on and help out where ever it needed it most, also she was over also to bring supplies from the drop offs she was getting because she was so powerful now, But she insisted that she will stay for the final battle against the collectors because they took the crew and because she was on the SR-1, they are her friends, and friends look after other friends
Miranda and Jacob were doing they're job right because they were getting ready for the final battle (albeit it was about 6 hours to go) so I did not want to anger the XO anymore then what had happened in the briefing room
Well that was everyone – wait…. Tali!, I use all my strength in my cybernetic body to rush through the ship to get down to engineering to see my love before we fly off to an every increasingly suicidal battle. I finally get down to the third floor and calm myself down as I reach the haptic interface of door to engineering, the door opens and I make my way towards the purple quarian and she instinctively turns around due to my panting and me pulling rank while around her without question.
"Shepard, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting everyone ready for the battle against the collectors?"
"I didn't come down here to give you orders, I came down to speak to you" I reply with a grin spreading across my face
"Really? Wow I didn't expect you to take this relationship this seriously, I can't thank you for all the lovely things you have said to me" Her fingers had started fidgeting as per usual "But if you are interested in something…someone else. Not that I'm complaining
"Hang on Tali; are you saying that I would leave you with no notice?" The Shepard grin slowly disappearing -
"Well… Yes and… are you going to answer my question?"
"Why would I be interested in anyone else but you, you are beautiful, even with your suit on and I bet you are more gorgeous underneath" The grin widened even more.
"Well I wouldn't say that in that context, what if I am not as what you think I am?" Her voice uncertain
"And what do you think would happen; you are the one with the face, not me"
"Well if I'm not up to scratch for you, you could just go with Liara or Miranda"
"Hang on... you are saying that I would get rid of you for either of them two? Hell no."
"Good" she nodded her head in admiration
"And I will like to see what is under here" I knock her faceplate with my knuckles "But only if it's safe and you of all people are safe"
"Of course, I wouldn't even dream what would happen if I didn't take precautions"
"Well I'll see you later then" I wave off and go up to the CIC
"Joker! Set a course for the Omega 4 Relay"
"Aye, Aye Commander, we will reach orbit with the relay in approximately 5 hours" He said with a professional voice
"Good"
I walk off the mantle of the CIC galaxy map and start my way towards the elevator
"Kelly, tell Tali to meet me in my cabin in 10 minutes"
"Ok... Message sent, she replied with 'see you soon then'"
'That was a good answer, she actually believes this can happen!', My face beams with joy
As I sit down to start reading over my mails, the purple Realk of a Quarian pokes into my room without a sound, trying to creep up on me and is moving towards my imposing figure, I turn around with mock shock as I notice her fingers are fidgeting again.
"Damn... well I have taken some antibiotics and some immuno-boosters as well as some herbal supplements to bolster my immune system"
I'd started to walk towards her and her voice started to stutter even more than it use to, I'm guessing this is an very personal matter to her, letting anyone but her close family see her is an very embarrassing to her and she is very indecisive about the matter. But hopefully she can pull up enough courage for me.
"I was going to have brought some music"
'That would have been nice' I thought
"But I didn't know what you'd liked"
'Oh shit, I should talk more about ourselves some time' I put in my mind but was pushed back when we kept talking
"...and I'm babbling like an idiot"
"Don't worry about it. Come here"
We had started an embrace that could of lasted a lifetime, neither of us wanted to let go of this moment, it was so mesmerizing of a sight for the two of us, we eventually broke from it and sat down on the bed
"I just don't want to... I want this to work. I thought it through. I've minimized the risks. But I'm still really nervous" She starts to stutter even more.
"Don't be I'm here for you and I won't do anything to you that will hurt you and I won't take the risk unless you are certain it is safe for the two of us"
"Yeah, Mordin has been working on a serum for me so that the risks of getting an infection and near to nothing"
'So that was what Mordin was doing when he buzzed me out of his lab'
"And I am still worried after what will happen if it doesn't work. And I'm still talking aren't I? it's like a defence mechanism and it is stupid and... people who... who can just see the helmet can't see my expression" I make my way closer to her visor "So I have to make it clear what… I'm" I start unlocking the visor, a sign that she trusts me because she hasn't made an attempt to stop me at any rate "I'm feeling"
My heart stops for a few seconds to take in the thing of beauty in front of me, I try to say that she is the prettiest girl I've any seen before I got pounced by my Quarian girlfriend and everything fell into a blur that night.