Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait! There is a bit of buzz for this story! Thanks for humoring me, guys! I appreciate it. As I said, this won't be a carbon copy of the original. There won't be a lot of lines that are word for word, just so you know. I'm happy to hear from you all! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Warnings: Language maybe and OOCness.
Word Count: 5,811
Shepard is standing outside of Doctor Michele's office and a ways away. She's not looking at the door leading into the office that's a good twenty feet to her left. Instead, she is watching the ships coming and leaving the Citadel. Watching them go reminds Shepard of Cortez and makes her wonder what he's doing at this time. As soon as the thought came to her, she immediately thought about Ferris Fields. About Cortez's husband. The colony was still there - all of the colonies were - because the Collectors haven't began abducting them for Harbinger to make the human Reaper yet.
Shepard forces the thoughts away. She can't think about this, not right now. If she did somehow see the future, she has time to deal with that later. Instead her focus turns to something a little closer to now. Ashley. She can hear the Gunnery Chief pacing back and forth behind her, anxiously, trying to be quiet about it, but it's obvious that she doesn't appreciate the silence.
It was strange having the girl by her side again, sure they haven't rebuilt their friendship yet, but there was nothing that couldn't stop Shepard from being practically filled with joy over seeing her again. She hated that she couldn't just throw her arms around the girl and tell her she was ship bound until the Collectors attack, but that wasn't for Shepard to decide - in a way, this was still Ashley's job, she can't just not do anything - and Ashley wouldn't want her to do any of that. She couldn't want to be held back, from anything. And Shepard wasn't the type of person to hold someone back. Ashley is damn fine soldier, and perhaps it's because she feels like she's living two separate lives, but she'll do nothing to stop Ashley from honoring her family and her sisters.
"Commander," Kaidan says from where he's leaning against the rail next to her, watching Ashley pace with doe brown eyes, "I think Williams is going to run a rut into the walk way if we let her persist."
Shepard glances over her shoulder to see the white and pink armored woman pauses, mid-step, blushing embarrassed. She clears her throat and glares a bit over the top of both Shepard and Kaidan's heads before lowering her gaze to Shepard's light green eyes.
"Permission to speak freely, ma'am?" Ashley asks, turning to face Shepard.
Shepard turns around and leans against the railing too, resting her hands against the rail behind her, head tilted. "Permission granted, Williams."
She squares her shoulders and lifts her chin. "What are we doing, ma'am? Shouldn't we be looking into Saren? How are we going to find this proof? How in the world are we going to get evidence against a Specter? Is there any sort of plan, ma'am? We've been here almost fifteen minutes now, staring at the ships passing by." She makes a waving gesture toward the ships as if Shepard didn't know what she was referring to. She sighs. "I'm just confused."
Shepard stares at her without even the slightest shift in her facial expression, not even when she catches Kaidan - who's also interested in what she had to say - looks at her from the corner of his eye.
"Questions are good," Shepard finally says. "I'm just killing time. I know I should go speak to the shithead Harkin, but I'd rather not get sexually harassed." She lets out a long winded sigh. "But, I think we've killed enough time, come, there's a doctor I want to talk to."
"Doctor?" Kaidan and Ashely ask in unison, sharing a look for a moment before Kaidan continues, "Are you feeling unwell?"
"A bit," Shepard says. It's not really a lie, she still feels like she's just died for a second time, but it's a pain that she can ignore for now. She walks over calmly, as if there was no reason to expect anything wrong was going on even though she knows that both Garrus and Fist's men would be waiting on the other side. She stepped up to the pressure door and they opened up, revealing what she was waiting to see: Garrus sneaking up on a few of Fist's men threatening Dr. Michele looking for Tali.
Like before, the door opening alerted the men of intruders and they turned on Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley. It was in the midst of fighting that Shepard had to wonder why her walking in alerted them when Garrus had to come in some way. How did he get in undetected where she could not? There was no vents that she could see big enough for his armored ass to crawl through to get inside, so how? Shepard never originally gotten around to asking Garrus how he did that. All she cared about was the fact that he had put the hostage, namely Dr. Michele, in danger.
Garrus looks at them right as they walked in, waiting only a moment, before jumping up and shooting the mercenary in front of Dr. Michele, freeing her from his grasp before getting in between her and any more danger. Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan take care of the rest of them quickly and efficiently.
"Nice going," Garrus says, looking at Shepard.
There was a slight pause, before Shepard raises her eyes to Garrus's. "That was reckless of you. You could have endangered the hostage," she says flatly, not angry this time, but still wanting to get the point across, she wouldn't want anything to risk the chance of changing the turian she ended up falling in love with. Even if there is no way he's interested in her now, she still loved him and was willing to wait for his love. If he ended up loving her again.
"Oh," Garrus says, looking around for a moment, suddenly embarrassed. He turns toward Michele. "Doctor Michele, are you alright?"
She nods, shakily, obviously frazzled. "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you."
"Who were they?" Ashley asks, strapping her gun back onto her back.
"They work for Fist," Doctor Michele says.
Shepard turns away, looking toward the door as they grill her about what happened. Everything was as she remembered, not a word out of place. She is already mentally going through the next couple of hours in her head. They need to go to C-Sec offices to pick up Wrex, attack Purgatory to get Fist, learn about Tali, save Tali from Saren's men and show the council that Saren is no longer on their side.
Shepard let out an exasperated sigh. She knew how all of this was going to work out. No matter how she tried to convince them to believe her, is she really going to go through all of this to stop Sovereign and then still be brushed off about the Reaper threat? The hard part hasn't even started and she's already exhausted thinking about it.
Shepard really needed to sit down and think about how she was going to speak up the preparations for the Reapers Invasion. No one, other than her crew and a few select people who could really do very little to help prepare, would believe her, if she did everything according to how she did it the first time. But a lot of that was spur of the moment improve, she hopes that she remembers enough to get similar results, if not better ones than before.
This entire thing is tiresome. Almost nothing has happened yet and Shepard can already feel her patience running thin. She doesn't have time to waste on people who aren't going to ultimately help the cause. Sure, there is life outside of the Reaper invasion - especially if they succeed - but as bad as it is, Shepard has to start thinking about protecting the masses. If she started working now, than maybe she would be able to save more people.
She didn't know about the numbers, just estimations throughout the war, but they were staggering. The universe is a big place, until it's under attack, and then it couldn't be smaller. There couldn't be less places to hide.
Shepard rubs her face, exhausted alright. "Shit," she mutters. If people don't believe her... if things keep the way they were in the beginning... this entire thing made her want to just fall to the floor and lay there until this all ends. Or until the Reapers come.
No. No. That wasn't right. There is no way she is going to let the Reapers win. Even if it kills her. The Reapers learned that she was a force to be reckoned with, and she's going to prove it again - ten fold.
"Commander?" Kaidan asks, staring at Shepard with wide dark brown eyes.
Shepard blinks a few times, forcing the thoughts away for now. She could drive herself crazy trying to wrap her mind around what had happened and exactly what to do at the moment. She had to deal with what is going on now, and find some kind of confidant when she can. Right now she has to recruit Wrex and save Tali, lest something happen that can never un-happen, and heaven forbid that it is something that takes one of her friends away.
A flash of Mordin, grinning, singing that silly song that Shepard liked to listen to. Even if it was weird. The tune was catchy.
A flash of Legion, asking, quietly, if he had a soul. Calling her Shepard-Commander.
A flash of Anderson, like a father to Shepard, telling her that he thought she would have made a good mother. She never thought about things like that. Such a thing wasn't possible with Garrus, but that didn't mean that they couldn't adopt. There was plenty of children in the universe that deserved to be loved. Especially after they thwart the Reaper invasion.
"Commander Shepard?" Dr. Michele says, stepping forward and putting a hand on Shepard's shoulder, pulling her from her thoughts again. "Are you alright, Commander? Do you need to lie down?"
"No," Shepard says, simply, then forces a smile, realizing that her response came out chipped. "No, thank you, Doctor Michele. I've got some things on my mind. It's nothing to worry about." She forces that thoughts into the back of her mind and focused on the people around her. "Alright, we need to go see Fist."
"Officer Vakarian was just telling us about a krogen bounty hunter named Wrex brought in by C-sec for interrogation that is claiming to be after Fist," Kaidan says, glancing over at Garrus to make sure he got that right.
Garrus nods. "Yes. Maybe we can enlist his help?" He offers slowly. We. He said we. He wanted Shepard to approve of him coming along. As if she could say no.
"Good idea," Shepard says. Garrus's shoulders sag a bit in relief before straightening up with renewed vigor. "Alright, Alenko," Shepard says, looking to the brown haired man, he straightens up, "you come with me and Officer Vakarian to go and speak with Wrex. Williams, head back to Udina's office and tell Anderson what's going on, make sure to keep him in the loop. Let's go." She wasted enough time day dreaming, they've got to move.
If Kaidan or Ashley had any complaints, Shepard didn't stay around long enough for them to voice them. She moves quickly. She really did waste a lot of time. Any that she gained already knowing where Garrus would be was already used up while lost in her thoughts. Thankfully Shepard was known for being a fast walker and Kaidan already knew that and was prepared to keep up and Garrus already has long legs and is easily able to keep up with her fast pace after a moment of being left behind.
Now that Shepard knows where everything is at the Citadel, she's able to make it to C-sec headquarters in record time. They got in, got Wrex and used rapid transport to get herself, Wrex and Garrus to Chora's Den. She didn't say much, figuring she didn't have to as they entered the firefight. In some weird way, Shepard found solace in learning that even though she knows she's been here before, the bad guys weren't all in the exact same place. This could be attriputed to many different things: time of arrival, alternate situations, etc., but it still calmed her in a way.
The future isn't set in stone. She could still save everyone. All of her friends. Everyone.
It was such a silly thing to think about while in the middle of a fight. But she was, and it somehow cleared her head enough to focus on it more than perhaps she would have. They were easy to dispatch, just merchs, Shepard has taken down Reapers before and her muscles remember, easy. It wasn't until she met with the two workers in Chora's Den, holding their pistols aimed at Shepard that something else she hadn't originally thought of came to mind.
It wasn't just about all the people that she watched die as the Reapers burned worlds, it was about all the people she helped and met along the way, no matter how insignificant it may have appeared in the grand scheme of things each life - each good life - deserved to have the chance to fight. Shepard never saw these two again, and had no idea what ever happened to them, but they could have been two of the thousands of workers on the Crucible - making it's creation possible - and if she didn't try and keep some of the fundamentals of her first chance in this one, she may end up losing altogether.
Shepard isn't certain if what she saw - lived through? - was actually her life, or if it was all a vision from the beacon on Eden Prime. The lattermost one she highly doubted, but she wasn't sure how she got here other than a vision, that she didn't live through any of that at all. But at the side time, she didn't want to think about what she experienced as anything but genuine.
"Commander?" Garrus asks, tilting his head to the side. "Are you alright?"
"Spacy, are we?" Wrex mutters, giving his head a shake before rolling his shoulders back. "Let's get moving, shall we? We don't want to keep Fist waiting."
Garrus glances over at Wrex for a moment, contemplating something before deciding it doesn't matter and looking back down at Shepard. "Wrex is right, but still. Do you need a moment...?"
Shepard shakes her head. "No. I'm fine. Come gentlemen, it's rude to keep Fist waiting." She fast walks to the door, keeping herself armed before pressing her back to the side of the door, happy that without having to say anything, Wrex and Garrus easily fell into step with her. She nods once and Garrus opens the door before stepping back, letting Wrex and Shepard in first with him hot on their heels. They spot Fist right away, and the two turrets.
"Move!" Shepard yells, diving behind cover, Wrex and Garrus doing the same. They easily take out the turrets and then Shepard pops up from behind cover and shoots Fist in the leg, cowing him immediately.
"Okay, okay!" Fist says, kneeling down and holding his hands up in surrender.
Shepard steps up to him. "The quarian, Fist, how much time do we have to get to her?"
Fist stares up at her confused. "Wait, what?"
Shepard narrows her eyes. "She's not here, and I would think a sleaze-ball like you would be smart enough to know keeping a quarian technician anywhere close to the systems that have access to the Shadow Broker, so where is she?" It was legitimate, thankfully, and maybe people will stop looking at her like she was crazy - even if she felt like she just might be - and she didn't have time for that.
Fist looks at Garrus and Wrex, like he didn't know what to say. "Um..."
Shepard sigh. It's only the beginning of this journey and she's already done dealing with people like him. She turns on her heel and walks toward the exit, not even pausing when Wrex pulled out his gun and shot Fist. She heard Wrex grunt and mutter something under his breath about Fist that she wasn't able to make out, but ignored that too.
"Where are we going, Commander?" Garrus asks, falling into step next to her.
"To save Tali," Shepard mutters, picking up her pace.
They managed to make it to Tali in time to help her finish off the remainder of Saren's men. It was a little closer than Shepard would have liked, though thankfully everyone appeared to be alright at the moment. She took a moment to look around at everyone as Tali sputtered out her thanks, pausing a moment in hesitation when Shepard didn't immediately accept the gratitude.
Shepard quickly brings her eyes back to Tali. "Sorry. You're welcome. I'm just glad that we could be here to help. You're unhurt, right?"
Tali nods, tipping her head a bit, nervously. "Commander Shepard, I think I might have something that can help you out. I might have something you may find useful."
Shepard smiles, faintly. "Good. Come on, let us head back to Udina's office. You can show us what you got there." Tali, who lifted her arm to play the recording she got off the Geth archives, pauses, glances up at Shepard before nodding and lowering her arm again.
"Ah, yes. Please, lead the way, Commander."
Shepard listens closely to the recording, trying to hear something, pick out the smallest detail she might have missed the first time around. But it was all as she remembered it. There wasn't a single added detail, nothing she could use to somehow start the Reapers-are-real-and-a-huge-god-dammed-threat rollercoaster going, much to her disappointment.
But all she could do is stand around, throw in her two cents - this is irrefutable proof that Saren is no longer working for the council, they can't ignore this - and agree to go with them to present the evidence to the council.
Matriarch Benezia's voice echoes through Shepard's ears. The return of the Reapers. She originally got a weary feeling when she heard those words, but hearing them again now, makes her fingers curl into fists at her side.
"What is this 'Reapers' that they spoke of?" The turian councilor asks, looking over at the two other councilors. The salarian councilor shook his head while the asari shrugged her shoulder but turned toward Shepard.
"While I know nothing of that, I do recognize the other voice. Matriarch Benezia," the asari councilor says.
"Yes," Shepard says. "I've heard of her."
The asari councilor looks impressed. "Have you?"
Shepard nods. "Yes, her daughter is famous, a prothean expert by the name of Liara T'Soni."
The asari councilor nods. "What you've said is correct. If anyone has any idea of where Matriarch Benezia's whereabouts could be, it would most likely be her daughter. I'm glad that you have your ears to the ground, Commander. That will be useful for your journey."
Shepard tips her head respectfully. "Thank you, councilor."
There was a minute or two more talking about what they were going to do. Moreso, Udina asking what the council is going to do, and them essentially saying "nothing" before they deemed that Shepard would become the first human Spectre.
The first time this happened, there was honor, and pride, and a lot of anxiety, but Shepard knew that she needed to do this in order to stop Saren from whatever he was doing. So she was willing to swallow the nerves and the fear to do what she had to do. But now, Shepard knows about everything, and this was all just a formality. Being a Spectre wasn't an honor anymore - well, it was but it didn't give Shepard the feeling it did this time like it did the very first time - it was a necessity. She needed to have free reign and Specrtre status to be able to commence with her "investigation" into Saren.
"Thank you, councilors," Shepard says, bowing her head a bit respectfully. She steps forward and listens to them give their speeches' about honor and such and being the arm of the council and something about keeping the peace, but she wasn't really listening. She was standing, back straight, legs slightly spread, chin held up and eyes forward and focused like the perfect soldier, but in her mind's eye, all she could do was see the Reapers, landing on Earth's surface.
Flying away from Earth to try and find it help, Shepard watched the homeworld of her people, burn beneath the Reaper's lasers and be crushed beneath their literal presence. Shepard may not have been born on Earth, but there was something significant about it because it was the human homeworld. But that wasn't the only part of it. There were people there. Billions of people there that was dying that was looking to someone - Shepard and her crew and the alliances that they have to form - to protect them.
After the ceremony - if it could really be called that - was over, Shepard turned away from the councilors, and the gathering crowd to walk down the few steps to Udina, Anderson, Garrus, Kaidan, Ashley, Tali and Wrex, who were waiting for her at the bottom. Garrus, Kaidan, Ashley and Tali all looked shocked, and awed while Wrex looked amused and Udina and Anderson looked grim.
Anderson relinquishes his control over the Normandy to Shepard and like the first time, it brings a great pain to her chest. She loves the Normandy. It is her home and place of great serenity for her but still hearing Anderson stepping down hurt her heart. He hadn't been command of the Normandy for an overly long time, but in some ways, she did still see it as her stealing it from him. And maybe, secretly in the back of her head, she thought that if had been the one in control of the Normandy when Earth was attacked, he might have lived instead of dying inside the Citadel trying to fire the Crucible.
Then again, without Anderson Earth-bound, more lives may have been lost while Shepard was running around playing politician. And peacekeeper. Maybe there was something that she could have done differently that could have saved him. Anything.
The Citadel. It was the center of the galactic community. And ultimately, it would be what would either save, or destroy them all. The Reapers would use it to launch their invasion if she didn't stop them this time around and then the Alpha Relay. But ultimately, it was just a stalling measure. The Reapers are a very real threat that can only be delayed, not stopped. Not yet. But there has to be something that she can do to start preparing now.
But there was little she could do now, except hope and pray that the answer becomes clear soon enough.
"Thank you, Anderson," Shepard says slowly, frowning deeply. "I feel like I'm stealing her from you."
Anderson shakes his head. "Nonsense. You're a Spectre now. You can't very well have a ship that you cannot command. Besides, I think you'll need her for where you're bound to go."
"Tell me about it," Shepard mutters.
Anderson raises an eyebrow. "What?"
"Nothing," Shepard says, shaking her head. "One moment." She turns to her eventual crew. "Listen, guys, this mission... you aren't required to come with me. I appreciate all the help you've given me thus far, but I don't want to disillusion anybody about this. Saren is bad news. Very bad. That ship we saw on Eden Prime..." she hesitates, wondering how much to allude to. Carefully, she continues, "We don't know anything about it and it's design was particular. Besides that, even if the council brushed it off, I believe that the Reapers are a definite threat. There is a reason that Matriarch Benezia and Saren are trying to bring them back. I doubt it's anything good," she says bitterly. She shakes her head and lets out a long sigh.
She takes a moment to look at her crew. Kaidan and Ashley, standing side by side stare at her in amazement and wonder. Like she was something ethereal before them. They were taking in her words and were slowly shifting from wonder to worry. There was much they didn't know. Yes, the definitely knew less than Shepard and in a way, that was a good thing, for now. She's not sure how they would react just yet about what was going on. In some ways, she wished that she was back to being so ignorant. But she couldn't afford it.
Not now. Not if she has the chance to change things: for the better.
But she could tell by their faces, Ashley and Kaidan were definitely in.
Tali looked nervous, wringing her hands in front of her for a moment, looking around indecisively before she rolls her thin shoulders back and raises her helmeted head up high, eyes glowing brightly beneath her mask. She looked scared, but she was strong. She wanted to prove herself. She wanted to do something notable for her Pilgrimage, and if the Geth were involved, she was an expert. In a way.
That made Shepard think of Legion, but she quickly shook him away, not wanting to feel the pit in her stomach get any deeper.
Wrex looked interested. To be painfully honest, at this point in Wrex's life, he truly had nothing to live for. He was a mercenary with no aspirations of returning to Tuchunka and unite the clans just yet. Shepard was probably the most interesting thing that's fallen into his lap in a long time. Going with her promised lots of fighting which is currently what he thrived on. It was a given, he'd go.
And finally, Shepard's eyes fall onto Garrus. Sweet, kind, innocent Garrus, with his blue eyes wide and mandibles twitching in excitement at the prospect of being able to "actually do something" as he had once told her. He would finally be able to go out and make a difference in the galaxy. Shepard can respect that but she also knew that while Garrus is unbearably adorable and sweet and charming, his dark side does exist. He, more than most others, will push his boundaries in this entire thing. He has such a strong sense of justice that it'll lead him to hunting that black market dealer - what was his name again? - and ultimately head to Omega and start a rag-tag group of freedom fighters.
"Listen," Shepard says slowly, pulling her eyes away from Garrus to just scanning the crowd, "this mission is going to be dangerous. I can feel it in my bones. Something big is at play here and we can't lose sight of that, but at the very same time, while I'm positive that all of you would be an indispencible part of the team," she says, then immediately continues when Wrex opens his mouth to retort, "And no, Wrex, I'm not blowing hot wind up your skirts, I'm merely stating a fact." Wrex seems pleasantly surprised that she seemed to be able to read his mind.
After a moment's pause, he says, "'Skirts' wasn't the word I was going to use, but I suppose it fits just as well." Tali, Ashley, Kaidan and even Garrus shoot him a surprised look. It was such a vulgar thing to suggest in front of what would be their commanding officer, but Shepard let out a bark of a laugh, feeling a wave of relief washing over her. Wrex was still Wrex, regardless of if she knew him for ten minutes or ten years.
Wrex seemed pleased that Shepard found that humorous.
"Gross, Wrex," Shepard says, shaking her head. She turns her gaze toward her shocked companions. "Wrex just explicitly assisted me into sorta my next point."
"Oh, goodie," Wrex rumbles, obviously amused. Shepard had to wonder if he was intentionally trying to see how far she would allow this to go. It was a bit uncharacteristic of the Wrex she knew in the beginning, but at least this was a sign that he was starting to like her, which would ultimately lead to trust and that is key to build up in preparation to Virmire.
"I said, sorta, Wrex," Shepard says simply before continuing, "I want you all to look at everyone in this cute little circle of ours." She gave them a moment to do just that before continuing, "We are not humans, turians, quarians or krogan. We are a team. We will step off this Citadel strangers and onto the Normandy as a team. I know that we won't all go out drinking anytime soon to talk about the good ol' days, but we are in this together. I expect that you will go into battle with the intention of protecting every single person in our team. Forget past grudges, family feuds, arguments moments leading up to the battle, when we get there, I expect you all to do what you can to protect each other and yourselves.
"I am in charge of my ship," she says calmly, light green eyes scanning the group. "But, all of your opinions are important to me. While I'd like to believe that I can figure out what's best, I'm not perfect. If any of you see something that I don't, let me know. Each of you holds skillsets unique to you that I want to utilize to the upmost I can. This isn't about chain of command. It's a respect thing. You are just as much part of this team as I am, we all must carry the burden and work together. That is the only way this can work," Shepard says, voice even and serious. "I don't expect you to all love each other, but when one of you speaks, we will listen. We may not all like the decisions that we all make, but I do expect us all to respect them."
"Yes, ma'am," Kaidan, Ashley and Garrus say at once, standing taller. They all glance at each other for a moment before turning their attention back to Shepard.
She smiles, slightly. "And from this point on, I'm Shepard. We are all in this together." She gives a huff, shaking her head a bit before looking at each them in turn. "I am Jane Shepard. It's nice to meet you all."
She glances over at Kaidan and nods. It takes him a split second before he smiles at the group, relaxing a bit. "Kaidan Alenko."
Ashley shifts a bit, offering a small, tentative smile. "Ashley Williams."
Tali is positively jubilant. "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." She waves her hand around a bit in her excitement and Shepard smiles more at that.
Garrus rolls his shoulders back, straightening up a bit. "I'm Garrus Vakarian."
And finally, "Urdnot Wrex," Wrex says, red eyes scanning the crowd. No one says anything right away and he huffs. Shepard rolls her eyes at that before returning her attention to the entire group as a whole.
She pulls up her orange Omni-tool and begins to type away before scanning the people in front of her. "Alright, I just added all of you to a private channel. We will communicate with this. You have until ten tomorrow morning to tie up any loose ends here before we depart. If something happens, let us know and we will all come help." Ashley holds up a hand a bit, awkwardly, not knowing how else to get Shepard's attention. Shepard nods at her. "Yes, Ashley?"
Ashley seems mildly surprised at the use of her name before quickly covering it up and asking, "What do you mean by that, ma'am?"
"By what?" Shepard asks, wondering where she could have been misunderstood.
"By 'if something happens'?" Ashley clarifies, lowering her hand.
Shepard leans on one hip. "Tali was attacked not two hours ago, by Saren. Now that we've all sworn to hunt him, we are all targets. That's what I mean."
Ashley nods quickly. "Understood."
Shepard nods. "Good. Dismissed. Remember, tomorrow at ten be outside the Normandy. Let me know if you're going to be late or we'll assume you don't want to take part." She nods once more and they immediately departed. Shepard turns back to Anderson and an annoyed Udina.
"Cute," Udina says sharply. "Now, Commander, get on this as quickly as possible. You know what you have to do. Don't let humanity down, Shepard."
"Yes, sir," Shepard says, straightening up a bit, even though it burned her a bit to do so. Udina isn't a bad guy yet. Or, if he is, he hasn't shown his true colors yet. He's just crotchety at this point. With a huff, Udina spun on his expensive black shoed heel and walked away. Anderson and Shepard watched him go in silence for a moment before turning to each other.
"That is a good foundation to start building your team on," Anderson says simply, eyebrows raised.
Shepard grunts, rolling her eyes. "Thanks. But, sir, do you have a moment to talk?"
"Not with that language, Shepard," Anderson says and at Shepard's confused look, he elaborates, "There is no 'sir' here, Shepard. How long do you think we've known each other?"
Shepard smiles, letting her shoulders sag a bit. "A long time, Anderson."
"Good," Anderson says simply. "Now, what did you want to talk about, Shepard?"
Shepard turns her light green eyes toward Anderson's dark brown ones, keeping her voice low and serious. All traces of happiness and playfulness is gone from her face too. "I want to talk about the Reapers."
For the Reviewers:
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