Shepard was acclimating quite well to her new posting. She forgot how much she enjoyed ship life. Everything came flooding back to her. The bustle of the ship around her, the steady shuuuuum, shuuuum of the ventilation system above her, and the thrum of the drive core below her all contributed to lead her analytical mind to a clear verdict; the SR1 was alive. Intellectually, she knew this was untrue, but she liked the metaphor, so she did not banish the thought from her mind as she was want to do with more frivolous musings. She also reflected, albeit briefly, that if the vessel was indeed alive, then she was one if its physicians. At least temporarily. Captain Anderson had been right about the chief engineer press-ganging her into service. He'd wasted no time in requesting her assistance in performing system diagnostics across the vessel. She'd eagerly accepted, it must be said. Dr. Chakwas was a brilliant conversationalist, but Shepard infinitely preferred busy her hands and mind than let either grow idle. Her tests on ship systems had taken her from the cryo pods to the ship's bridge. Unfortunately, it was occupied. She'd been correct on both her diagnoses of the man she'd seen in the C.I.C. earlier. He was both the pilot, and clearly a victim of Vrolik's syndrome. What she had not predicted was his predisposition towards talking others' ears off. By the look of his copilot, Shepard was not the only one who wished they were anywhere else at that moment.
"...what do you think, doc?"
It took Shepard a full twenty seconds, and a rather pointed look to realize she'd been addressed. In her defense, no one had ever called her "doc" before.
"About?" Shepard deigned to respond, still engrossed near fully in her work.
The pilot, who she had learned to be called "Joker," presumably out of irony, as he had yet to say anything remotely amusing, rolled his eyes at her, and looked exasperated at his copilot, a Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko.
"About the turian the Captain brought aboard." He said it as if it were the most obvious thing outside of mass effect field equations.
"Oh." Shepard replied absentmindedly as she checked the readout again. "You mean the SpecTRe."
"What!?" Joker cried, looking, blessedly, utterly speechless. That was not to say that his mouth stopped moving, however. Even when words were not availed him, his mouth kept running. Perhaps it was habitual? Muscle memory? A shame she'd left her bio scanner in her new quarters.
"Yes. Nihlus, I believe his name was. Scootch over, Lt. Moreau; let me see that display there."
Even as he did so, he found his voice, and the questions returned. "How did you-"
Shepard nearly smiled. Another opportunity to say that one phrase that she never failed to relish the utterance of. "Elementary, really."
"Gah!" Joker threw up his hands as Shepard tested the last display.
She hit her comm, contacting engineer Adams several decks below and aft. "Adams, please raise the hydraulics KSI up by one. I need manual confirmation on the bridge display." A moment , the change registered on the bridge monitor. "Now down by one half." Another change. Shepard chewed the inside of her lip. "We're off by .004 KSI. Calibrating. After this, we should be finished."
"Shouldn't we have checked this sort of thing before takeoff?" Joker mused.
"Good." Came Adams' reply over the intercom. "Cause the Captain just rang. He wants to see you in the comm room before we hit the relay."
"Better hurry, then." Joker quipped. "We go FTL in thirty."
"It will not take me that long to finish the corrections, Lieutenant." Shepard scoffed indignantly as she typed.
"I meant thirty seconds." Joker grinned, pointing ahead, out the window. Shepard momentarily considered how the Sol relay was much closer than the last time she'd looked. The Normandy certainly was a swift vessel.
"And I'm already done." Shepard retorted as her omnitool beeped. Then she was off, heading at a brisk pace for the comm room. Joker began the shipwide countdown to relay transit. The door to the comm room slid open to admit Shepard just as the ship lurched beneath her.
Anderson was nowhere to be seen. Nihlus was there though.
(Wonderful.)
"Dr. Shepard." He grinned, flashing his inner mandibles (A decidedly predatory gesture). "I was hoping you'd get here first. I would welcome the chance to talk."
"Then please," Shepard folded her arms across her chest, "don't let me impede you."
He smiled at her. Smiled at her. "We're en route to Eden Prime. quite the verdant world, I understand."
Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Not unnaturally so. Why?"
"You've been there." Nihlus stated. "I would like your opinion on the world."
Shepard came to a realization with a jolt, chastising herself at her surprise. (Of course he's read my file.)
"I spent a summer there studying some of the various prothean ruins in the northern hemisphere. I understand the primary settlements are in the south." Shepard frowned as her brain fired off at the same speed as the Normandy itself was currently moving. "I believe that one of our marines grew up there," she said, recalling a conversation she'd overheard on the way to the comm room, "why not ask him?"
"Corporal Richard Jenkins is…" Nihlus pause, now beginning to circle Shepard (like a shark), never breaking eye contact. "...beneath my notice. You are not, doctor. You are different."
Then Shepard's brain just clicked. She was about to open her mouth to speak when the door behind her slid open. Nihlus ceased his prowling as Captain Anderson walked in. The door locked behind him.
"I think," Anderson began, "it's time to tell the doctor what's really going on."
"No need." Nihlus smiled, glancing at the look on Shepard's face. "She's already figured it out."
Anderson glanced anxiously at her.
"You've found something on Eden Prime. Something suited to my expertise. It is most probable that it would be a prothean device. That's why you recruited me." She turned to Anderson. "Needing a science officer was just the premise."
"Shepard-" Anderson began, but was unable to interrupt Shepard's train of thought.
"But why the secrecy? And the SpecTRe? The SpecTRe suggests a Council interest, but one that needs to be keep secret from all others. Alliance colony, prothean device, Council involvement…" It hit her with the force of a Kodiak. "It's...we found another beacon. Didn't we?" Shepard asked, her lung suddenly devoid of oxygen.
Anderson could only nod. Nihlus' mandibles were contorted in the turian equivalent of a smug grin.
"Anderson recommended you for the beacon's management in transit." Nihlus spoke, his voice vibrated with amusement. "After reviewing your file, I concur. We will retrieve the beacon, and escort it to a classified research vessel. Once we arrive, you will be cleared to join the research team."
Shepard had to struggle for breath. This was...quite simply...incredible.
"Shepard…"
"Anderson," Shepard gasped, "If you apologize, I will have to hit you."
"I told you she wouldn't mind the deception." Nihlus gloated.
Anderson still looked uncomfortable, but now that he recognized Shepard's reaction for joy, he was less concerned over it.
"Captain?" Joker's voice echoed over the intercom with a severity in his voice that was oddly out of place coming from him. The room's three occupants all looked to the ceiling, each subconsciously frowning. "Transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You'd better see this."
"Put it on-screen." Anderson ordered, despite a sudden rock that formed nearly instantaneously in the pit of his stomach.
The screen flickered to life.
The video played.
And then the mission parameters changed.