Authors Note: I'm expanding on and slightly redesigning the interior layout of the Normandy so it's a bit closer in design to the second Normandy in Mass Effect 2 but on a smaller and more utilitarian scale as befitting the ships smaller size and nature as a pure military vessel.
Chapter One
Systems Alliance Space Station
Earth Orbit, Sol System, Sol Cluster
March 18th 2183
Lieutenant Commander Aldrin Shepard felt the butterflies of nerves fluttering around in his stomach as he made his way through the corridors and hallways of the giant space station hanging in geostationary orbit above Earth. He paid close attention to his surroundings as he navigated his way towards one of the outer corridors that would lead to the lifts down to one of the stations many docking bays. Once he made it to the bays he would be joining the Normandy as XO and truth be told the idea of being the executive officer of the Alliances newest and most advanced warship, a warship that was as revolutionary as the Human-Turian close cooperation that had designed and built her, was somewhat frightening.
It's strange, he thought, I can face down slavers or armies of mercs equipped with only my rifle and my biotics without really flinching yet the prospect of being an XO and partially responsible for dozens of lives scares the hell out of me. He supposed it was only natural to be nervous about the responsibilities that were about to be thrust into his lap, he had led men and women before but that had only been small fire teams of marines or fellow special forces soldiers. Now he was going to be second in command of a ship and responsible for a lot more lives. Even though frigate crews were small only about thirty to forty people in total it was a responsibility that he was looking forward to, even if it scared him half to death.
He pushed aside his unease as best as he could he came to one of the outer corridors that wound its way around the edge of the outer ring of the station. Practically the entire outer wall was windows looking out on the endless star studded blackness of space. Occasionally Earth or its moon came into view as the station slowly rotated to provide some additional artificial gravity reducing the amount of element zero the station needed to function. The artificial gravity system on the station was old school space engineering like Arcturus Station it was the product of a time when eezo either raw or refined had been a lot harder for the Alliance to come by than it was now. A time when manipulating mass effect fields to create technologies like artificial gravity were still only partially understood.
Pausing at one of the windows as Earth rotated into view Aldrin found that he liked the old fashioned design of the station. While it was fully possible to see breathtaking panorama's of open space on modern space stations they were always static and unchanging, the rotation of the station meant their was some variation from minute to minute which translated into there always being something new to look at.
Enough standing around, Aldrin, he told himself firmly before he got lost in the ever changing view. You've got a ship to get to and it wouldn't look good to your new commanding officer to be late. Pulling himself away from the breathtaking panoramic view he began walking again heading towards the lifts that would lead down to the docking bays.
He had only been walking for a few minutes when he began to get a feeling that someone was following him. Pausing he glanced back over his shoulder to see that there was no one there, the corridor as expected was empty. Not convinced that he wasn't being followed he resumed walking and again got the sense that someone was following closely, listening intently he faintly heard footsteps on the metal deck – light footsteps as if whoever was following him didn't want to be heard something that in his experience was always bad news.
Mentally cursing at the fact that his armour and personal weapons had already been sent to the Normandy ahead of him he continued walking, giving no sign that he was aware that he was being followed. Slipping around the next corner he flattened himself against the wall and concentrated slightly and consciously manipulating his muscles to fire the element zero nodules in his nervous system in a specific fashion. Immediately he felt a familiar tingle of power run though his body and had anyone been watching they would have seen him start to glow with a darkish blue aura of energy that rapidly wrapped around him hugging the contours of his body like a second skin forming the biotic power known as barrier. With his defence firmly established he made another gestured this time holding up his left hand – the glow of biotic energy increased as the unstable and destructive energies of warp gathered into a sphere in his hand ready to be thrown if whoever was following him meant him harm. Ready to confront his pursuer he whirled back around the corner…
And found himself face to face with roughly hundred and eighty pounds worth of armed male Turian. The alien's unusual vivid green eyes widened and mandibles flickered slightly as he took a startled step back and held up his three fingered, talon-like hands palms out in the universal gesture to calm down. Aldrin noted that while the alien was surprised to find himself confronted like this he was also pleased by it at the same time.
"Impressive reflexes commander," the alien said in the familiar vaguely flanged voice of his people. Unlike some people Aldrin had met the alien didn't seem to be too worried by the fact that he was being confronted by a ready to fight biotic – especially as at this close a range there were a number of biotic combat techniques he could use to kill or severely wound. More than once aliens or humans who'd been about to cause trouble in his presence backed down once he showed his abilities – usually he just had to allow his biotic aura to manifest itself to intimidate them into backing down. "But you can relax I mean you no harm."
"Really then why were you covertly following me," Aldrin demanded as he took a chance and dispersed both the barrier and the warp the energy dissolving in a blue fog that rapidly faded into nothing. Mandibles moving slightly in the Turian equivalent of a smile the alien lowered his arms.
"I'm heading to the same place you are, Commander Shepard," the Turian replied. "Plus I wanted to see if your reflexes were as I have read in your profile. I'm pleased to see that they are."
"You were testing me?"
"Of course," the alien replied then offered a hand. "Spectre Nihlus Kryik I've been assigned to the Normandy for the duration of the testing period."
Aldrin blinked as he accepted Nihlus offered hand and shook it all the while his mind was reeling from the information he'd just been given. Spectres were elite operatives of the Citadel Council, charged with the responsibility of maintaining peace among the various races of the known galaxy both in and outside of Citadel Space. They were the right arm problem solvers of the Council, sent in to deal with situations and problems before they really developed. So why was a Spectre here? Did the Council consider the launch of the Normandy so important? Or was there something else going on?
"Pleased to meet you," he said at last. "What's a Spectre doing here? No disrespect intended but overseeing the launch and testing of a prototype frigate seems a bit of an odd thing for a Spectre to be doing."
Inwardly Nihlus was pleased at the reaction he was getting from the other male. It was clear that Shepard wasn't fooled by him being assigned as an observer for a testing period. He was no expert at interpreting Human facial expressions – only the Asari could really do that without recourse to study materials as their own faces were just as expressive as Human ones – but there was a definite suspicion in Shepard's blue eyes, something that confirmed he knew that there was more going on than he was being told. Very good, he thought.
"I can see why you would think that," Nihlus said aloud falling back on the answer he'd been instructed to give, at least till the time was right to tell Shepard what was really going on and the honour he was being considered for. "The Normandy represents a quantum leap forward in starship technology, especially if the stealth systems work as designed. As you can imagine this has both the Spectres and the Salarian Special Tasks Group very interested as the potential tactical advantages it offers over our enemies are to numerous to easily list.
"There is also the fact that the Normandy is a product of a joint project between your species and my own, the first such project we've embarked upon. A project that some political extremists on both sides would like to see fail," Nihlus continued. "I'm here to make sure that does not happen."
Aldrin frowned not quite buying it. The explanation Nihlus was giving for his presence was logical and he was fully aware of the fact that there were hard-line groups among both Humans and Turians who would like to see the Normandy Project scrapped, Terra Firma readily leapt to mind as they'd already gone on public record against any joint projects with aliens and Turians in particular. But he didn't think that they would be stupid enough to try and sabotage the Normandy, certainly not this close to Earth. Though I could be wrong considering all those 'accidents' there have been with freighters over our worlds since the link between in utero exposures to dust form eezo and biotic potential was proven, he thought. Indeed once such 'accident' was responsible for his own biotic abilities as a colonial supply transport had crashed on Mindoir six months before his birth – spreading dust form eezo from its ruptured FTL drive core over a large area of the colony's capital – and only - city, including the house where his pregnant mother had been staying with friends while the farmhouse where he'd grow up was finished.
Mentally he shook off the thought of the spate of eezo exposures that had occurred after the First Contact War and the following revelations about biotic abilities, turning his full attention back to the here and now; and the Spectre who was standing in front of him waiting for him to respond.
"Is the threat from the extremists that serious," he asked in concern.
"I don't know," Nihlus replied. "But the Council doesn't want to take any chances."
Aldrin sighed softly in resignation at the answer. It was obvious Nihlus wasn't going to tell him the real reason why he was here. I wonder if Captain Anderson knows, he thought, I'll have to ask him later. First off though…
"We should go," he said. "Our departure window is only a few hours away and there is much to do before then."
"Indeed. Lead on commander."
Aldrin nodded and started walking again, heading in the direction of the bay where the Normandy was birthed. As he walked he began thinking about what the real reason for Nihlus' presence could be as it certainly wasn't just to observe the Normandy's first flight and ensure everything went off without a hitch. No matter how concerned they were it didn't make sense for the Council to give a Spectre such a trivial and routine assignment – if they'd felt that way about it they could have gotten the Alliance to agree to have some people from Citadel Security or the Salarian STG present on the Normandy. Something else had to be going on the question was what? He supposed that only time would tell what that something was. He just hoped this secrecy didn't turn around and bite them in the ass.
It didn't take long to reach the bay where the Normandy was birthed. Arriving in the observation deck above the umbilical connected the station to the ship Aldrin got his first true look at the new ship and despite having seen some pictures of her he was impressed by what he saw.
The Normandy was very different in design to the norm for Alliance vessels. The ships sleek dart-like design was classically Turian as opposed to the elongated delta-shapes Alliance ship designers favoured though the hull lacked the overlapping dense metallic armour plates of Turian warships. Instead the hull was smoother more like the metalloceramic ablative armour of an Alliance vessel though if he remembered the design specs he'd seen correctly it was slightly lighter while being more durable than standard Alliance armour. There were small ports here and there that almost certainly concealed portholes as well as the torpedo tubes and GARDIAN laser turrets of the frigates armament. In addition to being smooth the hull was coloured black and white with the occasional red highlight – giving the ship the appearance of already being in motion though she was sitting still in dock – drawing the bulk of her power from the station for the time being.
"She's beautiful," Aldrin commented as he studied the sleek lines of the experimental frigate. Though he was no tech geek he could appreciate the engineering skills that had gone into the development and construction of the Normandy. She truly was a beautiful ship.
"The Normandy is impressive," Nihlus agreed before ceasing on an opportunity to ask a question that had always puzzled him. "Though I am curious why do you Humans always refer to your ships as she?"
"Tradition," Aldrin answered. "For centuries the ships that sailed Earth's oceans like the seas themselves were referred to as female and that's carried over into our spaceships as well. No one's ever thought of changing it at least I don't think so. There is some superstition involved in the whole thing."
"I see," Nihlus replied happy with the answer as it wasn't unreasonable. His own people after all had there own beliefs and superstitions about ships of all descriptions but especially warships whose spirits were highly regarded in the very martial, public service orientated society that Turians had. "We should go aboard."
Aldrin nodded in agreement. "This way," he said leading the way to a set of stairs that led down to the station side airlock itself. Nihlus followed closely behind and immediately noticed two Humans dressed in heavy combat hardsuits standing guard on either side of the airlock. It appeared that the Alliance wasn't taking any chances with the security of their new ship as both marines were heavily armed with a full array of weapons from assault rifles to pistols and shotguns.
Nihlus quietly nodded his approval as the two marines straightened up and demanded identification from both himself and Commander Shepard. They both activated there omni-tools and transmitted there orders and clearance to board the Normandy. For a few moments nothing happened as one of the marines communicated with station control and checked there authorisation before letting them board the craft. Stopping in the airlock as the outer doors closed and a fine greyish mist began to fill the compartment.
"Stand by shore party, decontamination in process," the generic female voice of the Normandy's virtual intelligence said as a translucent white field of energy appeared ahead of them and began sweeping slowly back and forth across the compartment.
"I hate decontamination," Nihlus said softly as the energy wave washed over him again and again, neutralising any kind of bacterial, chemical, radiological or viral contaminant that might have been on his body.
"I know what you mean," Aldrin agreed as the exposed skin on his face, neck and forearms tingled from both the energy and the antiseptic mist. "It always seems to take forever. Still if we didn't go through it one time you could almost guarantee that would be the time something nasty would get onto the ship."
"True, true," Nihlus acknowledged resisting the impulse to sneeze as the mist made his nose itch. Dissolving into a sneezing fit in the middle of the airlock would be quite embarrassing and most undignified for a Turian Commando turned Council Spectre. "Though how do you know that something bad would happen the one time someone forgets to go through decontamination?"
Aldrin grinned. "Murphy works that way," was all he said. Nihlus frowned and was about to ask the big Human to explain when he realised what he was talking about and chuckled. He'd dealt with Humans before – one of the main reasons why the Council had tapped him for this mission as opposed to another Spectre less experienced with Humans – and knew about Murphy's Law. It helped that Turians had a similar saying.
"Decontamination cycle completed," the VI said breaking the silence that had descended on the airlock chamber. The energy field disappeared and with a soft whoosh of powerful vents the antiseptic/antibacterial mist was evacuated from the chamber and replaced with clean air. The door to the interior of the Normandy opened and the VI spoke again. "Logged XO Shepard and Spectre Kryik are aboard."
SSV Normandy
A Few Minutes Earlier
Flight Lieutenant Jeff 'Joker' Moreau knew he was grinning like an idiot as the latest set of diagnostics on the navigational control systems came back. All systems were fully in the green – with the exception of course the fusion fuel storage cells. The readings were climbing slowly though as utility umbilical's transferred a few thousand litres of deuterium and helium three cryo-slush a minute from the stations massive storage tanks to the Normandy's thirsty fuel cells. In another half hour fuelling would be complete and engineering would be able to shift the Normandy fully over to internal power and begin warming up the drives.
"What are you grinning about Joker," a voice that Jeff had gotten to know over the last few days asked from the co-pilots station. A quick glace confirmed that Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko was giving him a curious look though you wouldn't know if you didn't look right into the other mans brown eyes as his face was as always perfectly calm and controlled. The fact that Kaidan was always so controlled never ceased to freak him out somewhat as it didn't seem well right to always seem to have a titanium rod stuck up your ass like what the biotic seemed to have.
"Nothing," Jeff replied. "Just the last diagnostics have come back; all propulsion and navigational systems are in the green. All we need to do now is wait for fuelling to finish and for the last of the crew to arrive and we'll be ready to rock and roll. I can't wait to see what I can get this baby to do once we're out in open space."
"So you've been saying for the last two days," Alenko deadpanned back.
"Can you blame me? I've been training on the simulators for this ship for months now we're almost ready to finally stretch her legs and see what she can do."
"I suppose not. I must admit it will be nice to finally get our mission underway, even if it's only a shakedown run to Eden Prime."
"Which strikes me as odd, why Eden Prime? Its only one mass relay jump from here it's not really going to be much of a test of our systems," Jeff commented. "We really should head for somewhere further away like Shanxi or Elysium to really give our systems a workout. And why are we getting a full crew for a shakedown run? I've been on shakedown runs for new ships before and we've never had full crews so what's different now?"
Kaidan shrugged his broad shoulders. He had to admit that had bothered him a bit as well and he wasn't the only one. He knew that practically the whole crew were wondering about what was going on, with Navigator Presley and that painfully young and very wet behind the ears marine Corporal Jenkins – who he had to admit to having become fond of – being the most suspicious about what could really be going on. Especially as Captain Anderson wasn't talking though it was obvious from the way he'd been pushing the crew the last few days that he knew what was really going on.
"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough," he said.
"Yeah it's what will happen when the brass decides to tell us that worries me. The brass being this secretive is never a good thing."
Kaidan rolled his eyes. "Joker has anyone told you your paranoid?" he asked a slight smirk appearing on his lips.
"I prefer to think of it as being realistic. You have to admit something is going on. Toby from engineering told me this morning that Adams has been really pushing to get the Tantalus core and all the stealth systems working at full capacity for this run. And Ian told me that our weapons banks have been filled to the brim, we're carrying full loads of disruptor torpedoes and armour piercing HE slugs for our mass accelerator. That's not normal for a shakedown run. Yeah we'd have some weapons in case we encountered pirate or merc trouble but not a full load out.
"And by the way has anyone told you yet who our XO is going to be," Jeff asked changing the subject so quick that Kaidan blinked.
"No," he asked.
"Weren't you were onboard when the captain announced it this morning?"
"I was, but I was asleep in sickbay, migraine."
"Again," Jeff asked looking over at his friend and frowning in concern. "You know you should really get someone to look into that. It's not right that you keep getting migraines the way you do."
"There's nothing they can do about it, all Chakwas and other doctors can do is give me some extra-strength ibuprofen to ease the pain and knock me out until the headache subsides. As for the reason I get them, it's a side affect of my implant."
"You're an L2 aren't you," Jeff questioned feeling a twinge of sympathy for the other guy. He'd heard of some of the nasty side affects that biotics wired with the L2 series implants suffered from, hell one of his friends in flight school had been an L2. He'd not forgotten the three times he'd seen Eric go through a flare up. To see a guy who looked like he could beat even a Krogan to a pulp racked with convulsions or immobilised by pain was not pleasant and had more than once made him realise that he was lucky. Yeah having Vrolik's Syndrome meant he could break a leg if he even put his foot down wrong but at least it didn't leave him completely unable to function or inflict so much pain that he felt like he was going to go mad.
"Yep," Kaidan confirmed. "As far as side effects go I'm one of the 'lucky' ones in that I just get migraines."
"That sucks."
"It does a bit," Kaidan agreed. "But I'm used to it. So who's our XO?"
"You might not believe this but it's Lieutenant Commander Aldrin Shepard."
"Shepard?" Kaidan repeated his eyes widening in surprise and recognition "as in Lion of Elysium, Shepard?"
"The very same," Jeff replied grinning. "The brass is really pulling out all the stops to get us the best crew in the fleet."
"That's odd," Kaidan commented frowning thoughtfully. "The brass doesn't normally assign two biotics to the same ship or at least to one as small as a frigate."
"He's a biotic?" Jeff asked surprised having not heard that about Shepard, but then again he hadn't really known anything about the man bar his name and the fact that he'd somehow managed to hold off an entire army of Batarian-backed slavers by himself during the Skyllian Blitz. An incredibly impressive accomplishment that commanded respect as the slaver rings the Batarian Hegemony backed we're usually very well equipped at least there ground forces were. Having flown against them in battle a few times since he qualified as a pilot Joker was well aware that the slavers ships were usually another story being little more than converted freighters with a few low-powered GARDIAN laser turrets and occasionally some poor quality disruptor torpedoes – no real match for even smaller Alliance warships which could shoot them down without even breaking a sweat. Only occasionally would they have a warship with them – usually a 'surplus' frigate or light cruiser and usually very outdated compared to the modern designs of Alliance vessels.
"Yeah he's a vanguard a very strong one. For all that he's wired with an L3 implant his powers are very strong, he's easily as strong biotically as I am."
"How do you know? Is there some Facebook group of serving biotics?"
Kaidan smiled at the mention of Facebook. The social networking site was going stronger now than it ever had now that humanity was connected to the extranet. Facebook had become hugely popular in Citadel Space especially with the Asari, indeed he'd heard that there were now more Asari signed up to Facebook than there were Humans. Given the extremely social nature of Asari he could well believe it.
"Well there is a group like that on Facebook. But I don't know him from there, I know him because I've met him before," he said. "A few years ago – just after I signed up – the Alliance tapped me to help train a few N7-program recruits who had biotic abilities. Shepard was one of them. I only briefly interacted with him teaching basic biotic combat and defence techniques like making barriers, using throw, warp and pull. One of the Asari Commandoes the Alliance contracted to help took over from there, just as well since I'm a sentinel. My powers are strong but charge is not in my biotic repertoire."
"What's charge?"
"A kind of biotic move, basically it allows someone to move either up to or away from an opponent too fast to see as anything other than a blue blur. Its very energy demanding and controlling the mass effect fields on impact takes a lot of skill. Especially as you can use them like a weapon to throw an opponent off balance."
"And you can't do that? I thought you said you're as strong as Shepard is."
Kaidan shook his head and could tell that Joker was about to question why he couldn't – which was complicated to say the least requiring a decent knowledge of how eezo nodules interacted with Human neurophysiology to understand – when the airlock cycled open and the VI spoke up. "Logged XO Shepard and Spectre Kryik are aboard," the generic female voice.
Kaidan and Joker exchanged a surprised look at the latter part of the statement. A Council Spectre here? They didn't have any time to discuss it as the two aforementioned individuals stepped through the airlock into the area just behind the cockpit. Putting aside his confusion and surprise at the Spectre's presence he stood up from the co-pilots station and moved to greet the two individuals.
"Commander Shepard, Spectre Kryik welcome to the Normandy," he said in greeting stiffening to attention and offering a salute as Shepard turned to look at him, he repressed the urge to smile when he saw recognition flash in Shepard's eyes.
"Stand easy," Shepard instructed responding to the salute with one of his own, then grinned and held out a hand. "Hello Alenko it's been awhile."
"That it has sir," Kaidan replied taking the offered hand and shaking it.
Nihlus looked between the two Humans and immediately realised that there was some history between them. Interesting, he thought. "You two know each other," he asked seeking confirmation.
Shepard looked over at Nihlus and gave a small smile. "You could say that. Lieutenant Alenko here," he said nodding at Kaidan "was one of my first instructors during N7 training. He taught biotic combat and defence techniques." He looked back at the slightly older biotic. "I'm surprised you're still not teaching at the academy."
"There are not many biotic recruits for N7 at the moment, sir and the one that there is an adept a strong one way beyond my ability to train," Kaidan replied. "There was talk for awhile of transferring me to basic so I could teach new biotic recruits but that plan was ditched. Especially as now the Ascension Project has taken over such things."
He didn't add that he'd been approached by recruiters for the Ascension Project to act as a teacher for the biotic kids but had turned them down. Though it was run by completely different people and with different goals Ascension brought back to many bad memories of Conatix and the living hell of BAaT for him to really be comfortable there. Besides he wasn't the best at dealing with kids at the best of times as his nephew and niece could both attest to.
"So you're back out on ships," Shepard asked.
"Yes. I'm in charge of the marines on this ship."
"Anything I need to know about them?"
"Not really some are a bit enthusiastic and wet behind the ears especially Corporal Jenkins," Kaidan replied with a faint smile as he remembered what had happened shortly after he'd met Robert Leroy Jenkins and the younger marine had found out he was a biotic. He'd used pull to lift Jenkins into the air only to accidentally drop him as he didn't really create a pull field strong enough for his weight. The result of Jenkins popping up and yelling how awesome the experience had been had been funny – though afterwards Doctor Chakwas had given him a right earful about it. "He's alright just overenthusiastic and very green. Word of warning he might start pestering you though sir. Especially if he figures out that you're a biotic as well – he's kind of in awe of what we can do."
Aldrin smiled and shook his head. "I'll bear that in mind," he replied grinning, he had dealt with people who'd either been in awe or terrified of his biotic abilities in the past. He knew how to deal with them. After a moment though he turned serious. "We'll have to catch up later but right now back to business. Where is Captain Anderson? I need to go check in with him."
"He's in his quarters drowning in a sea of paperwork," came the irrelevant sounding reply from the cockpit. Aldrin looked over in the direction the voice had come from and found that the pilot had swung his chair around and was looking at him with a cheeky grin on his face. He gave the pilot a quick once over noting the distinctly non-regulation hat and beard along with the braces around the guy's legs. Wonder why he needs those, he thought surprised to see them as most conditions that would have required the use of leg braces in the past were now easily cured.
"And you are?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau helmsman," the other man answered serious for a moment before the cheeky and cocky grin returned, "you can call me Joker though, everyone dose."
"Joker huh you must have quite the sense of humour to earn that call sign."
"That's me I'm a barrel of laughs as well as being the best damned pilot in the entire Alliance fleet."
Aldrin raised an eyebrow at the cocky response. "You certainly don't lack for confidence," he observed all the while wondering how much of the pilots confidence was justified and how much of it was simple bravado.
Joker grinned. "Nope I'm the best and I know it," he said. "I'll prove it to you when we jump."
"I look forward to it," Aldrin deadpanned back. "As much as I would like to stand here and chat I should be going. Come on Nihlus the captain will be waiting for us."
Without waiting for a response from Nihlus he turned and started walking back through CIC towards the doors at the back of the deck – doors that if he remembered the ships schematics correctly led to stairwells down to the deck below. Faint footsteps let him know that Nihlus was following him and from behind him he heard Joker speaking.
"… think I'm going to like him," the pilot was saying presumably to Kaidan. Inwardly he shook his head Joker seemed to be quite the character. One who he was either going to really like or really want to use for biotic target practice before the shakedown cruise was over. Probably both, he thought with a wry smile.
Captain's Quarters
SSV Normandy, A Few Moments Later
Captain David Anderson took a sip of a lukewarm mug of tea before continuing to read through the latest report to have come to his terminal. The report was a systems status report from Adams down in engineering and he was pleased to note that all systems were reading as fully operational, including the stealth systems which were absolutely critical for the Normandy's true shakedown mission. As soon as they were finished taking on fuel for the fusion reactor they would be ready to break seal, slip their moorings and begin the relatively short flight to the Utopia system and Eden Prime.
For a few moments he leaned back in his somewhat comfortable chair and thought about the Normandy's true mission to Eden Prime. He didn't like having to conceal what they were really going to Eden Prime for from his officers, but he was under orders. The Systems Alliance Parliament, Alliance Command and the Citadel Council were all adamant that only those on his crew who needed to know about the beacon uncovered weeks ago on Eden Prime be told.
This was basically himself and Adams – who'd been told so he'd know to prioritise getting the stealth systems online – at the moment. He could understand some of the reason for secrecy as the Attican Traverse was not the most stable area of Citadel Space – next to the Skyllian Verge it was the most trouble prone area due to the proximity to both the Terminus Systems and the Batarian Hegemony, both of whom wouldn't hesitate to risk a confrontation if they thought they found out that they could get an intact Prothean beacon and its secrets from Eden Prime albeit at the risk of potentially running into the assembled might of one of the fleets stationed at Arcturus – but that didn't mean he had to like it. He would have to tell Shepard before they got there and likely whoever accompanied Shepard and Nihlus on the ground team, just as he had to eventually tell Shepard the real reason why Nihlus was coming along.
"I just hope things go better with Shepard and Nihlus than they did with me and Saren," he said softly remembering what had happened twenty years ago when he'd been the one being considered for the Spectres. Even today he couldn't forgive Saren for nearly killing him and Kahlee Sanders when he blew up that Batarian eezo refinery on Camala killing over five hundred innocent workers and their families. The fact that Saren had added insult to injury and blamed him for all those deaths had only made it worse.
Shaking off the memories of that unpleasant mission with Saren, and the sound of the fires and explosions tearing the Batarian refinery apart, he forced himself to focus on there here and now. And the mission that was before them, it seemed to be simple enough and a good test of the Normandy's stealth systems but at the same time he knew they couldn't afford to be complacent. There was always a chance of something happening – however remote.
The sound of the door chime broke the silence of his quarters. "Come in," he called looking over at the door before getting to his feet to greet whoever wanted to see him. The green holographic console over the centre of the door flickered and vanished allowing the door to open with a soft swishing sound. Two individuals came into the room and though it was hard to make out precise details in the dim light of most of his quarters he could tell from the silhouettes that they were a Human and a Turian.
As the two figures approached and came more into the more brightly illuminated part of his quarters he could see who they were. The Turian was Nihlus the Spectre he and Admiral Hackett had dealt with when the issue of Humans joining the Spectres had come up again and the first Turian to actually be quite enthusiastic about the idea providing they found the right candidate. The other he recognised as Commander Shepard, he'd met the man briefly a few times over the last
Coming to a stop in front of him Shepard dropped his duffle bag to the floor and straightened to attention before offering a salute. "Lieutenant Commander Shepard reporting for duty sir," he said formally.
"Welcome aboard commander," Anderson answered returning the salute before smiling and offering a hand. "It's good to see you again."
"Likewise sir," Aldrin replied accepting the offered hand and shaking it. "I'm glad the circumstances are a bit better than our last meeting."
"Indeed at least this time there are no mercs trying to kill us," Anderson answered even as he noticed the interested look Nihlus was giving them. "Welcome to the Normandy Nihlus."
"Captain," Nihlus replied with a polite nod. "You and the commander have met before?"
"A few times though only briefly each time," Aldrin replied, "the last time was about eight years ago. The captain led a squad that ended up pulling my squads tails out of the fire. We'd just finished breaking up a red sand manufacturing operation when we got ambushed by a large pack of Blue Suns mercs with assault drone support."
"Ouch," Nihlus commented with a wince knowing from experience that the Blue Suns were a merc group that was not to be taken lightly. In his career as a Spectre he'd had a number of run ins with them and knew that unlike some of the other merc groups Blue Suns like Eclipse always armed its troops with state of the art weapons and armour and made extensive use of assault drones and mechs ranging from FENRIS mechs to the mighty YMIR mechs. When they ambushed you it was usually a death sentence.
"You could say that," Aldrin agreed, "that was a very close call."
Anderson nodded and brought the discussion back to the present. "So what do you think of the Normandy commander?" he asked.
"I haven't seen much of her so far but she looks like a very beautiful ship sir," Aldrin replied. "I must admit I was surprised to see Lieutenant Alenko assigned to this ship, isn't it unusual for two biotics to be assigned to a ship this small?"
"Somewhat but he was between assignments when I requested him so Admiral Hackett granted the request without any problems," Anderson told him. "I won't keep you here any longer commander. Your quarters are just aft of here so I suggest you go and settle in before touring the ship. We'll be leaving space dock in six hours. I expect you to be in CIC well before then."
"I will be sir," Aldrin replied.
"Dismissed commander."
Aldrin saluted again before picking up his duffel bag and leaving to find his quarters to get settled before investigating the rest of the hundred and ten metre long frigate and meeting some of the people he would be working with for the next few months at the very least. One thing is for sure, this is going to be interesting, he thought.
Nihlus watched Shepard leave and considered his first meeting with the Human. Shepard seemed to have quite an easy going nature that hid the fact that he was a very professional and competent warrior as well as being a very powerful biotic. He was also highly intelligent and had the kind of mind that didn't miss much, he obviously knew that there was a lot more going on than what he had so far been told.
"Well what did you think of him, Nihlus," Anderson asked wanting to sound the Turian out on his opinion of Shepard so far.
"He's a very interesting individual, he's also suspicious he knows something more is going. He didn't by the official explanation for my presence here," Nihlus replied then manipulated his mandibles into the position that was the subtle Turian equivalent of a Human or Asari smile. "Most impressive, if the rest of his skill set is as good then he could go quite far in the Spectres. Either way we will soon see."
"Yes we will."
"Has there been any additional information on the beacon from Eden Prime?"
"Last update I had indicated that the archaeologists were still working to free it from the ground, they're being careful as the beacon appears intact and they don't wish to damage it. It should be ready for transport by the time we arrive."
"Excellent," Nihlus replied. "I will leave you to your work now captain. I still need to stow my gear in a locker and claim a sleeper pod."
"Of course Nihlus. If you need any help speak to the quartermaster or Navigator Pressley."
"I will thank you captain."
As Nihlus left his quarters David Anderson sighed and turned his attention back to the mountain of electronic paperwork that was still waiting for his attention. He needed to get it all done in time for the Normandy's departure window in three hours time. If there is one bane of command its paperwork, he thought with another sigh before mentally knuckling down and resuming working his way through the extremely bureaucratic or extremely technical paperwork. At least he had a nice quiet cruise to Eden Prime to pick up the Prothean Beacon to look forward to, a mission that would be a good test of the Normandy's systems including the all important IES stealth systems but otherwise would be relatively easy and trouble free.
He had no idea how wrong he was.