Chapter 1: First Impressions
"XO Alexis Shepard is aboard, Marine OIC Meghan Shepard is aboard, Flight Commander Ella Shepard is aboard. Lieutenant Commanders Shepard are reporting for duty," the VI stated as the decontamination chamber opened to reveal the sterile metal walls of their new posting. Alexis briefly glanced behind herself to catch Meghan grinning defiantly at the dark haired Ella, who shifted her weight slightly as they waited. As the Alliance's poster girl, they'd all decided Alexis would go first into their new ship.
This would be the three friends' first posting together since the Academy and they were looking forward to it. However, their anticipation was dimmed by the fact that Admiral Hackett had cut short their first leave together in ages on Arcturus Prime to meet the Normandy on one of its refueling stopovers. They hadn't even had time to change and their belongings had been shipped ahead as if they were some sort of obnoxious VIPs. Alexis normally would not have been bothered much by such things; however, the circumstances surrounding their arrival had filled her with a certain discomfort.
"Discomfort," was an understatement for how she felt, though; it was closer to shame. Before the three of them had left for their night out, she had been more than agreeable to wearing the tight black skirt that had a tendency to slide up her thighs as she walked and the shiny ice blue halter top. Now that she had arrived at her first posting as ship's XO, she was more than a trifle mortified that she was standing at the airlock in these rather inappropriate clothes and sandaled heels, which showed that she had managed to find a shade of nail polish for her toenails to precisely match her top. Fucking great priorities for a Commander there, Lex, she chided to herself. She hesitated in front of the open airlock door, despite the fact that both Meghan and Ella were dressed in a similar fashion.
Meghan stood to her back left, dressed in faux leather pants and a backless V-neck red halter. Her golden blonde hair has been painstakingly curled at the ends so that it hung in a mass of ringlets below her shoulders. The thick black kohl over her eyelids made her green eyes appear even more vivid. The skyscraper-heeled black boots that came to her knees completed the outfit. Ella stood to her back right, staring at the ground, dressed in a little lavender dress. The pale color contrasted beautifully against the woman's naturally dark tones. Her hair was currently braided and beaded, and she had opted for a more minimalist look for her own makeup.
Of course, all of the careful planning for their appearances had been ruined by the bar fight that had ensued during their first night out, a bar fight to which Meghan and Ella had been central figures. Meghan appeared to be the worst off of the three. Her careful eye make up was smeared with a blackening eye, and her lower lip was split. Her knuckles were abraded and one of the straps of her top was ripped and hanging by a thread. Her faux leather pants were scuffed and torn along one seam and her meticulously curled hair was a rat's nest of snarls. Ella's lavender dress was dingy and covered in stains, several of which were apparently blood given their blackish red tinge. Additionally, the heel to her left shoe was currently missing, having been broken early in the fiasco.
Alexis, courtesy of her attempt to stop the bar fight, had been doused in someone's drink and could not escape the smell of stale beer. That, of course, had been before the MPs had arrived. It had taken a few hours, and the unexpected arrival of a cadaverously thin, officious young Lieutenant from the Admiralty Staff, to get them out of the trouble that fight had caused. Alexis had scarcely acknowledged either Meghan or Ella since leaving lockup. She was still feeling annoyed with her fellow commanders. Resisting the urge to rake a hand through her already disheveled blonde hair, Alexis led her fellow Lieutenant Commanders through the airlock Lieutenant Villanova had dragged them to without much in the way of explanation. He'd said it was their new duty station, a highly prestigious one, and wished them luck before disappearing back into the bowels of the Arcturus station.
The interior of the Normandy was sleek, and entirely too quiet. The sounds of their high heeled shoes echoed rather noticeably against the floor as Alexis and the other commanders entered. Glancing aft, most of the crew paid little mind to them, focusing at their work stations along the wall. She could see larger station at the end of the deck that took up the majority of the room.
"Oh, please, don't let this be a dream," a male voice uttered to her left.
Snapping her attention toward the sound, Alexis found herself staring into the bridge of the ship. A bearded man seemed to be the source, sitting in what she guessed was the pilot's seat, and half turned around and grinning mischievously at the three of them. He certainly made no attempt to even mask the fact that he was staring intently at them. To his right stood another man who was currently half bent over one of the consoles and not looking in their direction. His attention seemed split between the console and his Omnitool.
Wanting to get through this as fast as possible, Alexis took a few steps toward the two men, a small frown on her lips as she felt her skirt slide up a bit more. She smoothed it down without thinking, the bearded man's eyes following the movement of her hands. "Please inform the Captain that the Commanders Shepard have arrived."
"The Captain has already been notified. He should be along shortly," the other man stated, as he stood up and glanced back to them. A surprised, questioning look crossed his face briefly before he turned back to the console and resumed his work quietly.
"Of course, one of you fine ladies are more than welcome to wait right here," the bearded man said, patting his lap gently, eliciting a short laugh from Meghan.
"How about I shove my shoe heel first into that lap?" Ella spat out angrily, flexing the foot that still had one very sharp-looking heel.
"Ella…," Alexis sighed.
"Oh, I like her. She's feisty." Somehow the bearded man managed to grin even more.
"Joker!" the other man admonished, the light from his Omnitool flickering off as he turned to look at the man in the pilot's chair. From behind, the other man had seemed like just another nice ass in Alliance BDUs, but the rest of him seemed to be just as good, with his dark hair and tanned complexion. At first glance, he seemed far more fit than the typical Alliance recruit, his uniform conforming to the sculpted muscles of his chest and abs. That probably meant marine rather than shipboard tech, and that definitely meant that he was off limits.
"What?" Joker asked innocently, adjusting his ball-cap as he glanced over at the lieutenant beside him.
The other man sighed and shook his head before finally looking over at the three women standing just outside the bridge. Stepping forward, his dark eyes glanced between the three of them before finally settling on Alexis, as she was standing in front still. "You'll have to ignore Joker. He hasn't quite been housebroken."
"I'll break him for you. Starting with his jaw, so he can't speak," Ella stated, glaring as she crossed her arms under her breasts. Her aggressive posture was undermined by a slight wobble as she tried to balance on her broken shoe.
Joker laughed from his chair. "I can think of much better places you can start with, babe. And, besides, if you break my jaw, you'd miss out on the marvelous things I can do with my tongue."
Ella's mouth twitched slightly. When Alexis suddenly realized her friend was amused enough to say something equally outrageous, the icy blonde shifted slightly to her right to place herself immediately between Ella and the loud-mouthed pilot.
"Lieutenant, this is Flight Lieutenant Commander Ella Shepard. Your immediate superior. As amusing as you think you are, I suggest you remember that. No matter what she's wearing right now," Meghan said severely. Alexis could only hope it was enough to remind them both to behave.
The pilot let out a melodramatic sigh as he turned his chair around to face his consoles. The man standing in front of Alexis diverted his gaze past her to Meghan, one eyebrow arched slightly. "And you are, ma'am?"
"Marine OIC, Lieutenant Commander Meghan Shepard," the rough-looking blonde replied, her posture imitating her fellow LtC's.
The dark haired man nodded to Meghan slightly in acknowledgement. "Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. I'll be serving as your 2iC for the marine detachment aboard the Normandy."
Alexis looked from the Lieutenant back to Meghan. The other blonde rolled her eyes, wincing slightly as she did so. Alexis had to fight the sudden urge to smirk since the black eye was Meghan's own fault. Plus, she knew that no matter how much Meghan claimed first impressions did not matter, she could not be quite happy with how things were progressing. "Staff Lieutenant. I would like to meet in a few hours and go over personnel. Depending on the Captain's schedule, of course." Meghan's tone dared the Lieutenant to comment on any unprofessionalism.
"Of course, ma'am," Kaidan replied, his voice cool and impassive. He then brought his dark eyes back to Alexis, waiting expectantly.
"Lieutenant Commander Alexis Shepard," she said offering forward a hand to him. It felt a bit strange to actually introduce herself. At most of her postings, someone in the staff had always blurted out who she was before it was necessary, thanks in part to the extensive PR campaign that the Alliance had centered around her. It was actually rather refreshing for a change.
"Pleasure to be serving with you, ma'am," he said politely as he shook her hand. A small shock of energy rolled between their hands as they made contact. She gave him a curious glance, recognizing the biotic energy for what it was. She was a bit surprised that she had not noticed the additional crackling of static in her ears. Of course, both Meghan and Ella could drown out most other biotics' residual resonance, especially when they were angry.
"Oh, good. You're already getting to know some of the crew." All three women straightened up as they recognized the commanding officer approaching, followed closely by an older man dressed in Class As who looked rather perturbed.
Alexis let go of the lieutenant's hand and turned her full attention to Anderson and the officer accompanying him. "It's good to see you again, Captain."
"Oh, I wouldn't be too happy about seeing me. I've already received a report on what happened last night," Anderson said curtly. Alexis immediately felt a slight flush of heat spread to her face at his words, but the captain did not wait to see if any of the commanders would dare respond. "This is Navigator Pressly. He'll be working with both you and Ella."
"Commanders," Pressly said curtly as he looked to each of them with open disapproval. "I believe a troop of marines came barreling through here earlier with your belongings. I advised them to leave the bags by the lockers on the crew deck."
"Thank you, Pressly. I believe the Flight Commander may wish to speak with you later," Anderson said before turning his attention back to Alexis and the other commanders. "As for you three, I need to see you in the debriefing room. We have a turian guest."
"Of course. Permission to change first, sir?" Alexis asked.
"Denied, Commander. Consider this a reminder in professionalism," Anderson said before turning and heading down the gantry.
A cold knot of biotic energy twisted in Alexis's stomach a moment as the cutting remark from the captain lingered in the dead air. Refusing to even look at either Meghan or Ella, she stalked past both and followed the captain, her heels echoing loudly against the floor.
Fortunately, the walk itself to the debriefing room was short, and Alexis moved off to one side after following Anderson into the small round room. Meghan and Ella entered moments after her, but Alexis continued to ignore them to focus on Anderson, who had crossed the room to speak quietly to a turian.
The three commanders stood in a row at parade rest as they waited for the captain to give them his attention. The tall dusky-skinned human man stood next to an even taller turian in full armor painted black with red highlights and enough weapons to take over the Normandy strapped to his back. The human looked at his three new Commanders, his expression wry, his warm brown eyes narrowed at them. The turian's cheekplates flared out and down and his green-gold eyes seemed to take in their disheveled appearance without judging. "This is Nihlus Kryik, a Council Spectre." Anderson began. "He's here to observe the Normandy on her shakedown run, as a representative for the Council's interests." He stepped forward, arms clasped behind his back. "I specifically requested all three of you to be posted on my ship. I need each of you to keep your staff focused on their jobs. There's bound to be speculation running wild, and I want everything running at one-hundred percent."
The turian stepped forward. "I'm eager to see an Alliance warship at work. It shall be interesting to see how your methods differ from our own."
"You heard the man, Commanders. Let's show him what we can do," he ordered.
"Permission to speak freely, Captain?" Meghan asked, from where she stood next to Alexis. The turian's cheekplates flared downward and his brow ridges went up.
Anderson speared the youngest Shepard with his brown-eyed glare, "Permission granted, Commander. What's on your mind?"
"With all due respect, Captain, you want us to show a turian a top-secret Alliance frigate, including our procedures and tactics?" She directed her gaze to the turian in question. "No offense, sir."
The turian's cheekplates shifted upwards and he emitted a choked sound that may have been an aborted laugh. Anderson glanced from the alien in question back to Meghan. "He's not a turian, he's a Spectre."
A chastened tone in her voice, Meghan responded, "Understood, sir."
He pointedly looked at each of the women. "Unless there are any other questions?"
"No, sir," Ella responded quietly for all of them.
"You're dismissed." Captain Anderson nodded slightly towards Alexis. "I'll expect a pre-launch status report from my XO in two hours."
"Yes, sir," Alexis stated simply. Beside her, Meghan simply nodded and spun on her heel to leave with Ella right behind her. Once the other two women had stepped through the door, Alexis turned and followed as well. This was a hell of a way to start a new posting.
"Well, that went well," Meghan said, sarcastically as the door slid shut behind them.
"Gee, Meg, what the hell was your first clue?" Alexis asked bitterly as she walked past the other blonde.
"The smart ass in the pilot's chair? Or maybe it was the look on the Navigator's face." Ella sighed as she headed for the stairs.
"And here I thought it was when the MPs showed up last night," Alexis said with a shake of her head before falling in step behind the dark haired woman. The three Commanders made their way to the crew deck where several black duffels were stacked in front of a small bank of lockers. A weight felt as if it were lifted from her shoulders as Alexis spied their seabags. With the help of the other two, they quickly sorted which bags belonged to whom.
"If you'll excuse me, ladies, I'm going to go stop smelling like a cheap brewery," Alexis said dryly before heading off to the showers with her belongings.