Normandy, deep space.
Citadel. Jane was sure glad to see it again. Especially after being dead for two years. Despite less then fond memories of her treatment by the Council at certain occasions, she braced herself, hoping at least that saving their lives against Sovereign and having Anderson as councilor will make her case easier to make this time.
She sat at the desk in her cabin and did a short review of business that had to be done while at the giant space station. She already picked her ground squad, Garrus and Mordin would follow her. Her best friend who she had just few days ago saved from certain death on Omega was in a bad mood over death of his squad. Jane hoped tour of old places would lift his spirits a bit. As for salarian scientist and former STG member, he has almost openly invited himself, offering to help with his expert knowledge in the commander's plea to the Council. Even though he had just started working on the Collector's samples, good doctor was already making progress.
Checking the rest of the list, Shepard send a short message to Jacob if any additional supplies are needed for armory, beside the ones he already request for. She also memorized the code word for a meeting with her next recruit, thief named Kasumi Goto. And lastly, she wrote down to buy supplies Mess Sergeant Gardner asked for.
Jane looked at the time and saw that dinner is almost over, so she took an elevator and exited in almost empty mess hall. Dr Chakwas was on the right in medical lab, and give Jane a polite wave of hand, obviously still quite happy from Ice Brandy she bought her on Omega. Shepard approached the table to pick up her dinner and saw that Gardner wasn't there. Instead, crewman Zach Matthews was serving the last meals.
"Evening, commander. What can I get you?" he saluted her.
"At ease, Matthews. I thought your duties didn't include anything outside command deck?"
"Well Gardner also has several others duties to attend to, so sometimes someone of the crew has to make something instead of him." crewman grinned and brought out a bowl of stew for the commander.
'Someone made something' definitely described the brew properly by the looks of it. Shepard took a seat and tasted the stew. Way too salty. She took a lot of bread and water with it, just to make it passable. Jane wondered if dextero dinner for Garrus was just as bad, or did the poor turian took a nutrient paste to save himself the trouble. After finishing the meal Jane took a short walk to Miranda's office and knocked on the door. After getting conformation from her new XO he walked in.
"Commander. How may I be of help?"
"Just a minor thing, regarding the dinner." Jane said.
"Ah, I seen you tasted crewman's Matthews work of art as well?" Miranda smiled.
"Yeah, I did. Is he really the most qualified substitute for Gardner?"
"This crew is primarily trained to operate a warship, commander. And most of them are ex-alliance, used at eating at the mess halls and food with a lack of flavor." Miranda replied "Beside, if Gardner hasn't informed you, we are bit low on quality supplies at the moment."
"He did tell me, I plan to correct that at the Citadel. I am more concerned what will happen after I get them. Does any of the crew know how to cook dextero meals beside Gardner? Or any decent meals at all?" Jane inquired.
"I wouldn't call them experts, but I don't see much trouble with occasional low-grade meal. If you are worried about what would your gunnery chief eat, I'll point out to Gardner to make all the dextero meals himself. " Miranda said.
"Low-grade meals might be a small thing now, but in a long run can be a problem, Miranda. By Illusive Man's list we have a krogan warlord and a biotic convict to recruit. Those two alone will eat like half the crew and I doubt they would be quite happy with too much bad meals. And let's not forget the people we need to recruit after we finish with them."
Miranda sighted "So, what do you suggest? We put Gardner just in charge of the kitchen? He does lot of other minor jobs on the ship, it will take several crewmen to replace him on those as well."
Jane took a seat in the chair and paused to think. After several minutes her eyebrows rose up with an idea. "I know. Can we request from Cerberus another cook?"
"Commander, in case you forgot, Cerberus isn't exactly kind of organization that is attractive to chefs." Miranda said, almost sarcastically. "Beside, all the current crew is selected for their tolerance for working with aliens and has been specially debriefed and trained to fight the collectors. I think Illusive man would find a little waste of his resources to repeat whole process just for one chef."
Jane sighted "Ok, how about we hire someone from the side?"
"We are not having non-Cerberus personnel on the ship, commander." Miranda said.
"What about all the people we are recruiting?" Jane replied.
"Their records have been thoroughly examined, commander, and Illusive man has high trust that you can make them work as a team."
"So HE trusts me to make a group of highly dangerous people act nice, but YOU don't trust me to bring a civilian chef on board?" Jane said with slight emphasis on the few chosen words.
Miranda remained silent. Jane smiled back. She sighted.
"Fine, have it your way, commander. I will still need to do a background check on whoever you choose and they would need to sing a no-disclosure contract with Cerberus." Miranda said.
"No contracts, Miranda. I doubt I will find anyone if they have to sing anything that makes them officially part of Cerberus."
"Commander, it's a standard to..."
Jane cut her midsentence "No." There was a brief silence.
"Miranda. I promise I will find someone reasonable who won't spill everything they see here as soon as they reach first extranet terminal, okay?" Shepard said.
Miranda had to sigh once more "Very well, commander, but I will have to include this in my report. Will that be all?"
"Yes. Thank you for being reasonable, Miranda. Good night." And with that Jane Shepard went for her cabin.
Day later, after meeting with the Council.
Jane took a deep breath. Things could have gone worse, but then again they could have gone a lot better. She was a Spectre again, but story about the Reapers was buried under the rug. At least Anderson was still there, doing what he could. Now she had to what she could as well. It was a long day of recruitment, various errands that needed to be done and conforming with authorities that she is indeed alive.
"I need a drink." Jane said "And something that isn't poison, either."
"Hitting the club already, Shepard? It's not even evening." Garrus teased.
"No, someplace calmer. I just need to sit for a few hours."
"Good idea. Could use a break myself. Had many ideas in last forty minutes. Need to write them down. Break will be useful." Mordin added.
"Mordin, you do realize breaks are used to stop working?" Jane said.
"Yes, very much aware. This is not working. Mere taking of notes. Like you said. A break." salarian smiled. Jane gave up.
"We could go to Elijah's place. It's still in the old location." Garrus suggested.
"Great idea. Let's go." Shepard said.
About ten minutes later they arrived at a packed place. Restaurant's facade was fully renovated, inside seemed like there was not a single free seat left. As the trio stepped in, the waiter walked up to them.
"I am sorry, madam, but weapons aren't allowed inside. You can leave them at the locker over there." he pointed.
Jane just smiled, activated her omni-tool and showed her Spectre authority to the waiter. His eyes went wide. He excused himself to check with the owner.
"Abusing power already, Shepard?" Garrus joked.
"What can I say? I'm a bad girl." Jane smiled.
A minute later behind the door their old acquaintance showed up. Elijah's eyes were even wider than the waiter, but his mouth were spread in a huge smile.
"Shepard! The stories were true, you are alive!" he laughed as he gave Jane a strong handshake, his voice booming with happy laughter. He turned to see Garrus behind her.
"Vakarian, you are alive as well!" he shook his hand as well "Such joy, such joy! Tali was asking about you, your father came here as well to look for you."
Garrus give him a polite smile "Yes, I know. I heard from both of them. Good to see you too, Elijah."
Jane pointed at their third member "This is a new member of our crew, doctor Mordin Solus."
Elijah gave him a firm handshake as well "Good to meet you, doctor."
Mordin returned a polite smile "Likewise. Is there a place where we can sit?"
Elijah looked like he was waiting for that question specifically since his smile got even bigger. He pointed his hand upstairs. "Of course. Follow me. But first!" he stepped to the framed picture of Normandy crew that was hanging on the wall and ripped off the little black ribbon that stood on it. Then he took the trio upstairs.
Elijah had them placed in a small VIP section. He took a couple of hours off and joined them for a drink. They started sharing stories about what happened in the last two years. Garrus was brief about Omega, not wanting to tell gory details of recent events. Shepard told little there was about her. The death, the resurrection, the mission of Freedom's Progress, the Cerberus,the Omega and the new Normandy. Elijah listened to it all, trying to cope all of it. Shepard took a chance to take a look at Elijah. The man has changed. Hair on side of his head has grayed up, leaving only top black. From his stories, Elijah was very stressed when Shepard died, fearing what would happen when Reapers come. At least his mind was more at ease now when he saw her alive.
He also had a huge scar across his forehead. She inquired about it. Elijah smiled and told a story of a particularly bad krogan customer whom he had to headbutt into calming down. Not the smartest move, but the leftover scar was very distinctive of krogan crest, which kept most of unruly customers in order if needed. Jane and Garrus laughed. Also - having a scar and a reputation helped to attract high-class patrons, since he earned not one, but two Michelin stars. Admiring his skull, Mordin inquired about Elijah place of origin.
"Balkans."
"Ahh, southeastern Europe. Highly mixed population. Also region with specific bone mutation - tends to be thicker than normal humans. Headbutting krogan." Mordin inhaled "A survivable action."
Elijah looked at Jane "Interesting addition to the crew you have, Shepard."
"Yeah he does that." She finished her drink.
"Where are the others? You told me about Tali and Joker. I heard from news that Wrex is on Tuchanka. What about Liara and Kaidan?" Elijah inquired.
"Last I heard, Liara is on Illium, working as information broker. Kaidan. I have no idea where he is." Jane said.
"You'll find him, I'm sure."
"Eventually, I hope." Jane looked at her omni-tool. They should be going back soon. "Listen, Elijah, while I am here, can I ask you for a favor?"
"Go ahead, Shepard."
"I'm looking for a Mess Sergeant on my ship. One we have now is kind of busy with other tasks sometimes and his replacements are not top notch. We are going on dangerous mission and we would need a proper cook, one who could keep his cool and be silent about his work. Do you know someone who could fit?"
Elijah contemplated the question for a bit. "I did meet a fair amount of army cooks, but I never was a close friend with any of them. Cooks I know well … are mostly too young or very busy. Or family people, doubt they will go on dangerous mission." He fall silenced again. Then he gave Shepard a look and smiled. She understood instantly what he was thinking.
"You are thinking about being the cook yourself, aren't you?" Jane said.
"Yes, I am."
"Elijah, I know my reputation precedes me, if you are doing this because of some hero worship, I want you to reconsider this. I can look for someone else."
Chef's voice took a very deep tone. "Commander. I am well aware how dangerous job will be and I accept the risks. My restaurant can run without me, staff is very trained and professional. I don't have no wife or child to worry about and my family will understand if I go with you. They are one rare people who see your actions in proper light."
Shepard's spoke in her commander voice. "Very well, but I want to make this very clear. You don't work for Cerberus, you work for me. You will receive proper payment at the end of this. There will be some heavy hours to work, crazy and dangerous people to serve. We will fly into lawless part of galaxy, there is good chance of being shot down or captured. I also expect you to cook regular food. Wonderful as they are, I don't want my crew living on cakes and pastas. Once you board, you can tell no one what exactly you do, unless it's authorized. As far as everyone knows, you are on a warship. Can you deal with all of these?"
"I have two Michelin stars. I can do what you need."
Jane smiled. "Welcome aboard, Elijah. How much time do you need to prepare for departure?"
"Hmmm. Five hours, give or take."
"Take seven. We will be waiting for you at the dock. See you soon." Shepard said as the trio left, Garrus and Mordin waving as well.
Elijah took a few moments to think before opening his omni-tool and calling his brother about recent and future events. Then he stopped. Shit. He couldn't tell he will work for Shepard. Someone might use his family to blackmail him. He would have to think something up and hope his parents figure out now to look too deep or inquire too much about his story.
Six hours and forty minutes later, Citadel docks.
Elijah was approaching the Normandy ramp, with a bag and a backpack. He was greeted by a very hot dark-haired woman in a white catsuit. Pretty as she was, her face all spoke "business".
"Mister Elijah Hrastovic?" she asked.
"Yes. I was told to meet Miranda."
"That is me. Please stand still for a minute." Miranda said as she took her omni-tool and scanned Elijah and his omni-tool as well.
"Standard omni-tool. No hidden programs or listening devices. Very well. I see Shepard picked someone who's sensible enough to stick to the agreements. Follow me."
As Elijah stepped in, Normandy slowly began to take off.