Chapter 3: Regs

"Does biotics have mind-control abilities?" - John Shepard

In which Shepard admits he knows absolutely nothing about biotics.

Shepard found himself lying back down on a gurney in the med-bay.

"Doctor? Doctor Chakwas?" A voice. Williams, sounded like. "I think he's waking up."

He managed to pry heavy lids open and blinked a couple times. His thoughts recollected as a flash of light nearly blinded him. There was a basic lamp directly above where he lay. He tried pulling his body up with weary movements and planted his feet on the ground. His body felt just as heavy as he sat. Part of him just wanted to slump back onto the bed and sleep it off. His hand reached for the head that was thumping like crazy.

Shepard felt like death itself and that was putting it mildly. His brain was a complete mess. He remembered that very feeling back in his teenage years when he participated in underage drinking and woke up with his first hangover. It wasn't a good memory. Especially when he received the property-destruction bills the very day after. Worst thing, he remembered exceedingly little of the whole event. His friends weren't exactly helpful around the matter, either. They were the 'take pictures and laugh' type of people. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see Chakwas approach him. She slumped over with weary steps as if she had been on a twenty-four-hours-shift and was longing to get home.

"You had us worried there, Shepard," she said. Her voice was caring. Soothing. "How are you feeling?"

He groaned. "Like the morning after shore leave. How long was I out?"

"About fifteen hours."

It was well over halfway to a twenty-four-hours-shift.

Dr. Karin Chakwas wasn't known to give up on her patients easily and did everything in her power to help. She shared a special bond with Joker who had brittle-bone disease because she had treated him for a while and made sure he took his medication. If she didn't pay close attention, Joker would just ignore it, seeing as he despised taking medication. It wasn't exactly boosting his morale with the horrible taste needing flushed down with a ton of water to get the gist.

"Something happened down there with the beacon, I think," Chakwas added, shaking her head.

Williams looked nervous as she was shifting behind him with crossed arms, a concerned expression shrouding her face. She had big, hopeful eyes for well measure. Williams looked like a kicked puppy and Shepard couldn't help but feel bad for her. She apologized for what happened to him but Shepard reassured her that it wasn't her fault. She seemed to appreciate his words by revealing a soft smile, a faint blush in her cheeks as her eyes fell to the floor, which had him puzzled as he arched a brow.

Chakwas snapped him from his thoughts. "Physically, you're doing fine. But I detected some unusual brain activity, abnormal beta waves. I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs often associated with intense dreaming."

A heavy heel soon slammed into the room. Shepard quickly straightened up and snapped a salute when Anderson approached. After inquiring that he needed to speak with Shepard in private, he shared some classified information about Saren, saying he had worked with him before. A Spectre that had gone rogue wasn't good for business and he wanted to know if Shepard had seen anything.

"Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision," he said, as his back encountered the not-so-comfortable gurney behind him. "I saw synthetics. Geth, maybe. Slaughtering people..." Shepard's glare settled at Anderson. "Butchering them."

The information from the beacon could've been lost technology or blueprints for a dangerous weapon.

In the wrong hands, that could prove severe consequences, which directed them to Ambassador Udina. He was a living example of grumpy politicians. The Ambassador had always rubbed him the wrong way, but he had little patience for politicians in general, as he hated politics.

When he exited the med-bay not long after, he conversed with Williams and welcomed her aboard the Normandy.

"Dr. Chakwas." He made her aware of his presence, and she almost jumped. "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." Chakwas let out a relieved sigh and held up a hand to let him know that it was all right. "I noticed Lieutenant Alenko was by the med-bay as I for a brief moment regained consciousness. Was he or Williams wounded on Eden Prime?"

"You have nothing to trouble yourself with, Commander. They're both unharmed," she reassured him. "Kaidan takes painkillers regularly because of his L2 implant."

Shepard went narrow-eyed. "What does that have to do with it?"

"Well, most biotics now use the L3 implants," she replied, and raised a finger to the back of her head. "Lt. Alenko was wired with the old L2 configuration. Sometimes there are complications. Severe mental disabilities, insanity, crippling physical pain... There's a long list of horrific side effects. Kaidan's lucky - he just gets migraines."

He had to admit that he found himself intrigued by biotics, but it could also be his interest in the biotic himself. He would've lied if he said that Alenko wasn't attractive. He would do exceptionally well as a stripper or something if he went for it.

Realization carved into his mind, He would surely be a favorite judging by his looks...

"I see." He was curious at the imagery, and received a puzzled look from Chakwas with no clue what just went through his mind. Probably for the best. "In that case. Thanks, Chakwas. I had no idea."

"Are you all right, Commander?"

"Just great," he lied, moving towards the stairs to the upper level. "Thanks, Doc!"

Eyes not focusing on the path before him, he managed to barge his hip into the edge of the mess table. He winced at the slight prickling pain that seeped up his leg when taking after a chair to remain standing. A strangled sound escaped Williams' mouth as she covered it to hide the grin forming on her face. Chakwas took after her head.

Williams bit into her lower lip. "Easy there, Commander. You'll might break something."

He cleared his throat and straightened.

"Acknowledged."

The Citadel was a massive station in scope where the Council held place. The sheer beauty surely was a welcome sight. It looked like an inside oasis with skycars roaming the open area with rich architecture. Of course, most of it was fake, but it did remind him of home. Of Earth. He realized in that very moment how much he missed it. All the way from the sunsets to the rainy days surpassed his mind. He missed the natural daylight. The synthetic headlights encompassing their path just wasn't the same.

The Normandy docked at bay D422 without any complications.

Anderson brought Shepard, Alenko and Williams to the ambassador's office, where Udina couldn't resist bringing up Eden Prime and how they failed a simple mission. Throughout the entire conversation, Shepard was fighting the far too tempting urge to punch the ambassador in the face, but that would look bad on his résumé. He had better self-control than that as well. They had no idea what they walked into but were all aware that the mission on Eden Prime was important.

His concerns were justified. The fact that it failed bothered Shepard just as much as it bothered the ambassador. When they exited the elevator leading to the Citadel Tower, he overheard a rather heated conversation between two turians, both in C-Sec. One of them was looking for evidence that would secure Saren being stopped. He wanted more time for the investigation but his boss Pallin, being the other turian, dismissed the request. When his superior walked away, his attention settled at the ground team.

"Commander Shepard?" he asked, but didn't seem to need any form of confirmation. He introduced himself with a nod. "Garrus Vakarian. I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation into Saren."

"Seems like you really want to bring him down. Bad blood?"

Vakarian folded his arms across his chest. "Saren has always rubbed me the wrong way," he said, shaking his head. "Cocky bastard is what he is. Apparently, he's a raving lunatic, too. He's giving us turians a bad name."

"Yeah, I saw his handiwork on Eden Prime. Turians are known for their precision work, but instead of sniping Nihlus at an acceptable distance, he used a pistol. It's insulting."

He snorted. "I'm going to like you, Commander."

"You bet."

The hearing didn't go as smoothly as he had hoped. They didn't have enough evidence for the Council to strip Saren from his position. Not even a live witness that they encountered on Eden Prime was enough. During their investigation on the Citadel, they ran into several people willing to help with the mission. Tali'Zorah, a quarian tech-expert and Wrex, a krogan mercenary. Vakarian joined them as well.

Tali had an audio file that held evidence about Saren going rogue and confirmed that Saren wasn't working alone. There was also a woman. Tevos confirmed that she went by the name of Benezia. The audio file also mentioned 'The Conduit,' uncertain what it was, and a name that Shepard could swear he had heard before.

The reapers.

The reapers were sentient machines that existed thousands of years ago and brought destruction upon the entire galaxy. Those creatures appeared in the vision on Eden Prime. Saren wanted to bring the reapers back and that was enough evidence for the Council to strip him from his position. The Councilors were however not convinced that the reapers were real, and because of this, they wanted to stay out of it.

Sending their fleet into the Terminus System could trigger a war, so instead of doing that, they sent Shepard.

Tevos asked him to step forward to receive his new title of Spectre. Anderson turned to him with a proud smile and gave him a nod. Citizens in the Citadel Tower collected themselves around the Council.

"You are the First Human Spectre, Commander," the asari Councilor said. "This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."

Well... shit.

Anderson would step down as Captain of the Normandy so that Shepard could take over for the mission. He brought Vakarian, Tali and Wrex along, who would surely prove useful. They later set course for Artemis Tau to find a doctor named Liara T'Soni, being Benezia's daughter.

"Wrex, Alenko - you're needed on ground team." Shepard straightened his gauntlet as his fingers spread. "We have a doctor to find."

Wrex pounded his hands hard together. "Finally, some action!" he called. Shepard tilted his head up with a half-smile, not being surprised by his reaction. "My shotgun is cold, pyjak. Let's find something to kill."

"Noted," he replied, as they head towards the Mako. "Move out."

When they arrived at Artemis, it was revealed that T'Soni wasn't working for Benezia. They brought her to the Normandy to help with the mission. Asari were a very intelligent species and could see the images that had been projected into Shepard at Eden Prime. T'Soni offered to see if she could make any sense of it. Shepard accepted. She called it 'embracing eternity.' However, the beacon was too damaged to understand.

Their next destination was a colony by the name of Feros, which had been attacked by the geth, but it would take time before they arrived.

Shepard decided to check up on the crew to see if they had any second thoughts. Wrex retreated to the mess to basically raid the kitchen, Vakarian was doing some 'calibrations' and Tali was asking Engineer Adams even more questions about the prototype ship that she was more than fascinated about. T'Soni was still recovering from their 'mind-joining.' Shepard made sure that he had the chance to speak with everyone before they arrived at Noveria.

Kaidan saw Shepard calmly approaching him as he tapped on his omni-tool.

They hadn't exactly spoken one-on-one before if you look away from their brief conversation at Eden Prime. It had to be important if Shepard would so casually approach him. The first thing that came to his mind was, What did I do? It didn't exactly help that he at the moment had the start of a headache to be occupied with.

"Shepard," he said, eyes widening slightly while he straightened up - a little too quickly - because his head started to spin. He flagged it off. "Anything you need, Commander?"

"Yeah, I need you to relieve me from these reports," he replied, and his back came in contact with the concrete behind him. "I always get my ass handed to me when the politicians are around. Not to mention the damned lectures, reports and the need of control at every port. There's surveillance everywhere at the Citadel. Hell, I always feel like I'm being watched. Don't assume you can use those biotics of yours on the politicians?"

"I'm afraid not, sir. That's against the regs."

He frowned. "Damn... and here I thought my life could become a lot easier. Managed to get my hands on one of the cameras during shore leave, though. See, right here."

Shepard edged closer to him, giving a good view of the omni-tool and heedlessly bumped a shoulder into his because of it. It was an unexpected but not unwelcoming gesture. Kaidan let his hand wander across his face until it hovered over his mouth, blinked owlishly, cocking a brow and folded his arms across his chest. He leant his back to the concrete as well as Shepard and grinned at the vid that showed the owner of Flux, Doran the volus, dancing.

Shepard once again nudged a shoulder into him as if trying to activate a mechanism.

"Does biotics have mind-control abilities?" he added.

"Sadly, no. That's also against the regs."

"Shame... Always wanted to see a dancing turian Councilor."

Kaidan obliviously avoided the fact that Shepard stood less than two feet away from him. He didn't mind one bit, proving curious, as he didn't really let people get this close to him. It was different with Shepard somehow. There was something about him. Kaidan had a tendency to assume that Shepard had more important things to do in his spare time than speak with him, but Shepard didn't seem to appreciate that thought-process, because he appeared to care for his whole team. He always checked up on the crew and was willing to talk if they needed to.

His eyes were back to the omni-tool when he noticed a certain report on the side of the video.

"Speaking of politics... Were you planning on sending that in?"

"Yeah... no," Shepard hesitated. "Was about to. Wrote that in a bad mood. Decided to give it another look before Hackett got his hands on it. As you can see, most of this doesn't even sound like words."

...

ARCTURUS STATION

SSV NORMANDY SR-1

Office of the Commanding Officer

SUBJECT: Mission report on Artemis Tau, 2183

TO: ADMIRAL HACKETT, Fifth Fleet.

.

1. The following information is submitted concerning mission of the SSV Normandy SR-1, 2183

a. Shore party stationed at Artemis Tau in search for Doctor Liara T'Soni, daughter of Matriarch Benezia.

b. Sightings of geth are at significantly smaller - situation seems to be improving.

c. T'Soni proves to be on our side.

d. Met a krogan mercenary in pursuit of the doctor.

e. Mercenary eliminated.

f. Geth threat eliminated.

g. Tricky escape as prothean ruin collapsed.

h. No casualties.

i. Met up with Normandy at drop point.

.

PS: The beds ain't improving either, jackasses! How am I supposed to have my team at one-hundred percent when they're sleeping in fucking pods, for fuck's sake! Get your shit together!/blockquote

...

"Yeah, try to replace 'ain't' with 'are not' in the first sentence, and drop 'jackasses.' And less swearing in the penultimate sentence."

Shepard looked stunned. "Penultimate? For god's sake, Alenko. Speak English," he replied, the deadpan expression still on his face. "I can pretend the beacon indoctrinated me and start writing reports in prothean. Maybe that'll get 'em off my back."

He chortled, but stopped himself halfway, clearing his throat. Laughing didn't exactly help with his current condition. A small smile tugged at Shepard's mouth - almost mischievous - and shut the omni-tool off. Kaidan felt his muscles begin to relax, couldn't help but return one, trying to avoid the hammering in his head.

His CO sure had an amazing smile shown far too rarely.

This was a side of Shepard that he'd never seen. Once again, he had a completely different image on who Shepard truly was, and he had to admit he liked what he was seeing. The man was funny. Most commanders had 'a stick up their ass' if you use that saying. Yet, here he was, joking around in the company of his lieutenant and even stealing surveillance footage just for the heck of it. Shepard was a completely different person when they weren't in the field. It was amazing how quickly he could go from 'commander' to 'civilian.' Either way, he was his commanding officer, and Kaidan treated him as such. At the same time, he knew there had to be another reason for why he decided to approach him in the first place. The two exchanged looks and a small smile, but didn't hold it for more than a few seconds, as Shepard looked away.

"We spoke at Eden Prime, but never managed to finish the conversation."

He knew exactly where he was going.

"Commander -"

"I have eyes, lieutenant," Shepard said, folding his arms across his chest. "I've noticed you take after your temples once in a while. Chakwas told me you were an L2 and that there are complications along with it. She also told me you were lucky not to suffer worse side effects. Making sure my crew's content is just as important as stopping Saren, so don't sell yourself short. I need you all at 100 percent through this."

Of course it had to be about the L2 implant.

"Sorry, Shepard, but I'm fit for duty. You don't have to worry about it jeopardizing the mission," he replied, but his lids suddenly felt heavy. Eyes forced tightly shut for a moment. When he opened them again, Shepard could easily tell that he was about to have another one, pupils not focusing on any specific point. He almost felt like he was about to pass out, but snapped back.

"I won't let you down," he added.

"Alenko."

Kaidan softly exhaled and accepted the fact that he was caught red-handed. He might've had some kind of experience, seeing the signs of a migraine, but he was a tough man to read. Shepard rarely showed emotions, not entirely up to the point of 'keeping his tough-guy image,' but definitely close. Kaidan was convinced that he acted like that to hold onto the unwavering respect that he had gained in his life.

Releasing his arms, Shepard stepped forward. "Here, let me try something."

"Commander, you don't have to -"

"I know. I want to."

His expression mellowed at what felt like true sincerity. His body went rigid when he felt Shepard's fingers softly brush against his skin with a warm, comforting touch, much to his confusion that his body would react in such a way. Shepard moved his hands to each side of his face, thumbs resting at his temples, and Kaidan was flummoxed by the way his eyes pierced into his own.