"Get him below decks, I gotta fill the captain in" JD ordered, heading to the Galaxy map where Captain Anderson was.
"Report Lieutenant" said Anderson
"Sir, permission to speak freely?" Requested JD
"Granted."
"Sir, Intel fucked up. The Geth were all over that place! The 212 has basically ceased to exist, the 50 researchers there are dead, along with Jenkins. All in all captain, the mission was a disaster!" shouted JD
"I understand, Jason. We need to head to the Citadel; the Council will want to know what happened with Nihlus and the beacon."
"Sir, respectfully, fuck the council. They don't care about us; they only care about their precious Spectre's. Well not so good are they? Ones dead, shot by another one. Sounds to me they don't have control over them"
"Jason, calm down. We still need to make our report, and Saren needs to be brought to justice. Dismissed"
"Understood sir, I'll be below decks if you need me"
The sound of automatic gunfire reverberated around the cargo hold of the Normandy, along with biotic attacks strong enough to move the Mako 3 feet. JD was annoyed at himself, he should have had his friends back, and he didn't. He felt like he had failed.
"Sir, can I have a word with you?" Asked Chief Williams
"Chief, I try and make friends with the soldiers under my command. Please call me JD" responded JD with a small smile
"Okay…JD why did you save me? You risked your own life to come get me. You should have left me there"
"No. I have lost too many men because of the orders I gave them. I made a vow after Torfan that if I could save my men, I would. Regardless of the risk to me. There's also another reason: something I can't explain. I care for you, a damn sight more than I am supposed to. I understand if that makes you uncomfortable, but I can't help it." Answered JD
"It doesn't make me uncomfortable sir, I feel something for you too. But the regs say-" started Ashley
"Honestly, I don't care about regs. Look at Mike. His parents are in the navy. So they can't be really serious about enforcing that rule. But I'm not gonna push it. IF you want it that's fine. But I understand if you wanna remain purely professional"
"I need to think about this. Give me some time. When I'm ready, I'll come by, okay?"
"Understood."
"Hey Doc, our boy's waking up" JD said with a grin
"Jesus. How much did I drink?" asked Shepard.
"About the same as Elysium, my friend. Absolutely fuck all. The beacon exploded. You went flying through the air man. You were like the Normandy, only not as majestic." JD laughed
"Fuck you man. Doc how long was I out?" replied Shepard with a chuckle
"About 15 hours, Commander" replied the ships doctor, Janine Chakwas
"It was my fault commander; I must have activated some sort of security field when I approached it. You had to throw me out of the way," replied Ashley.
"Stow it, if I hadn't been checking the perimeter, I would have done the same." JD said
"He's right Chief. You had no way to know what would happen" agreed Shepard.
"How's our XO holding doctor?" asked Anderson as he walked through the medbay doors.
"Physically he's fine. But I picked up some strange brainwave patterns, similar to REM while dreaming" replied Chakwas
"It wasn't a dream. I saw synthetics, Geth maybe. Slaughtering people. It may have been what happened on Eden Prime, stored in the beacon." Answered Shepard.
"Well we're heading to the Citadel. You can tell them what you told me. Shepard, head up to the bridge and tell Joker to bring us into dock."
"Aye-aye sir"
Shepard left the medbay. JD made to follow him but the captain stopped him.
"Jason, tell me honestly. Is he crazy? Or do you believe him?"
"Sir, if Shepard decided that he wanted to get rid of the council, I would give him my shotgun. That man is never crazy. Everything he said is absolute truth"
"That's what I'm afraid of. I know Saren. He hates humans. The council may believe Saren over Shepard. JD, im promoting you to Lieutenant Commander. Officially its for carrying your CO back to the ship, unofficially its in hopes of making the council more likely to listen to us."
"Understood sir,"
JD went out to the mess hall, where Ash called him over.
"Hey LT-"
"Its actually Commander now, because I carried Mike back here, I got a promotion."
"Congratulations. I've been thinking. I wanna try a relationship with you, but I want the skipper to know first"
"Well he's in his quarters. Lets go tell him."
The couple walked over to the captain's quarters.
"Come in" came the voice from inside
"Captain, can I have a word?" asked JD
"Sure, I keep an open door policy. What's on your mind?" replied Anderson
"Erm, I know its against regs, but JD and me have strong feelings for each other. We wanna take it further. We were hoping you would be ok with it." Asked Ashley, visibly nervous.
"Sir, I understand that we could get thrown out for this. But I want this." Agreed JD
"I know nothing about it, officially. Unofficially, I'm happy for you two. I hope you last as long as the stars burn" replied the captain
"Thank you sir" the two soldiers said in unison, before heading up to the bridge.
"Would you look at the size of that ship?" asked Ashley
"The Ascension. Pride of the Citadel fleet" replied Alenko
"Yeah well size isn't everything," replied Joker, the pilot
"Speak for yourself Joker," Shepard thought, but before he could say it, Ashley got there first.
"Why so touchy Joker?" She mocked
"I'm just saying you need firepower too!" replied Joker, hurt.
"Don't worry about it, Joker. Its not size that counts, its….agility" JD replied, amused at Joker.
"Citadel Control. This is the SSV Normandy. Requesting permission to land." Joker said over the radio
"Stand by for clearance Normandy. Permission granted you may begin your approach. Transferring you to an Alliance operator." Came the reply from Citadel Control
"Roger Alliance Tower. Normandy Out."
The Normandy cruised majestically past massive turian dreadnoughts, straight for the center of the massive space station.
"Normandy, this is Alliance Tower. Please proceed to dock 422"
"When we dock, Shepard Davenport, Alenko and Williams will come with me and meet the council. Everyone else, you have limited leave while we are here. You can't leave the Presidium." Ordered Anderson.
"Understood Sir"
"Can you believe them assholes!" asked Ashley
"Calm down Chief, we knew that might happen. Lets just go see Garrus and hope he's got a lead." Replied Shepard
"Hey Shep, do we really need a Turian?" asked JD
"Jason, I know your uncle was on Shanxi, and I know he was killed when the CO of the garrison surrendered, but they are our allies now, we have to trust them. Congrats on the promotion by the way." Replied Shepard
"Understood Shep, you tell me to jump, I do it. You tell me to help a turian, I'll give him my shotgun."
"Look at that view" whispered JD, staring out toward the arms of the citadel
"You'd think they would let us join their little club," replied Shepard
"Why not? According to the old vids, we got everything they want, beautiful women, and this emotion called love" replied JD
"If you expect to get me in a tin foil mini-skirt, I want dinner first…sir" teased Ashley.
"Hey, that's against regs" chastised Shepard
"But unofficially, well done JD. Must be hard for you. After what happened."
"Why? What happened?" asked Ashley
"I was engaged once. To a beautiful woman. She was a doctor on the asari freighter, Mercy's Grasp. Terra Firma attacked it. We were sent to take the ship back. She was held hostage by the leader. I took the shot; put a round through her chest in order to take out the leader. She died in my arms. I never even got a chance to tell her I loved her. I failed her. I wasn't fast enough." Replied JD staring out toward the station
"This is back in '77. Couple of weeks later he was on Torfan. Saw half his unit get cut down by batarians who had supposedly surrendered. He climbed up on a M29 Tiger and cut them down with the machine gun. I was the reinforcing unit. He got a promotion to 2nd Lieutenant for his actions on clearing out Torfan." Replied Shepard
"Oh my god. No wonder you don't like aliens." Said Ashley.
"Forget it. It don't matter know. I'll work with them. I've got you now" answered JD with a weak smile.
Walking towards the medical center where Garrus was, JD felt something was off.
"Hey Commander, something doesn't feel right here. Recommend we do a 2-2"
"Good idea, Jason. Alenko, Ashley, you will go in and stay low; me and Jason will come in behind you. On my mark" replied Shepard
"3,2,1, GO GO GO!"
The 4 marines stormed into the med clinic, killing the 4 thugs who had taken the doctor there hostage.
"Great timing, Commander" replied the Turian, who was covering behind a crate.
"Your Garrus? You can stay here, or come with us and take down Saren." Said JD
"Hey if your going after Saren, You may wanna get Wrex. He's a big-ass Krogan bounty hunter"
"Captain Anderson already got him; he's waiting on the Normandy. Lets head back to the Captain." Shepard ordered
They started back to the Embassy when they heard gunshots, coming from a alleyway off the main corridor.
"Alenko, take Garrus back to the Normandy. Jason, Ashley with me" ordered Shepard, unholstering his assault rifle, with JD and Ashley mirroring him.
"Where's the shadow broker? Where's Fist?" asked a hooded figure
"They'll be he-" started a turian before a shell went between his eyes.
"Are you ok miss?" asked Shepard
"Who are you?" replied the hooded figure
"Commander Shepard of the Normandy, Commander Davenport, Chief Williams."
"Im Tali'Zorah Nah Rayya, a Quarian."
"According to Fist, you have evidence about Saren. We need to bring him down."
"Looks like I can repay you for saving me."
"Hey guys as much as I would love to stay and chat, lets head back to the council. They wont be able to ignore us now." Said JD
"Agreed. Move out" replied Shepard.
"This evidence is irrefutable. Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts made to bring him in." said the Turian councillor
"Fuck that! Send in your fleet. You know he's hiding out in the Verge." Shouted JD
"We send a fleet in, he will go to ground. No, a more discreet approach is needed" replied the Salarian Ambassador.
"Commander Shepard, step forward."
"It is the opinion of the council that you be given Spectre Status."
"I'm honoured Councillor."
"Your first mission is to bring Saren in. We will forward to all relevant information to Ambassador Udina."
"This is a huge step Shepard. You're gonna need a ship and crew. Anderson come with me. I'll need your help to set all this up."
"Wait. Can't we just take the Normandy? He knows the crew, it's fast and it's quiet. Perfect ship for a Spectre." Said JD
"That's a good point. Ambassador I hereby relieve my self of command, and hand command of the Normandy over to the Spectre, Commander Shepard." Replied Captain Anderson.
"This feels like I'm stealing the ship" said Shepard.
"The crew is behind you Commander. Comms open if you want to say anything" replied Joker
"Attention Normandy. We have our orders: Find Saren. He will not hide from us. That is all. Commander Davenport, you are hereby promoted to Executive Officer."
"Get us out of here, Joker. Set course for Artemis Tau. We have our first lead" Ordered Shepard.