Hello hello!
This chapter is basically a cutscene before all of the action on the Citadel, so you don't have to worry about the massive word count this time. It's also mostly Emily centered this go round but I promise that both siblings will get more or less the same amount of attention.
Thanks again to all who have read, reviewed, and or added this story to their favorites. I'm honored.
Emily's eyes opened slowly, taking a few moments to bat away the feelings of disorientation and grogginess. She ignored the brain splitting pain in her head as she attempted to sit up to get her bearings. At her movement John stirred.
"Doctor, Doctor Chakwas! I think she's waking up!" he bellowed as he moved to help his sister sit up, only to be batted away with a dismissive flick of the red head's hand.
She groaned and held her head as the good Doctor walked into the room.
"You had us worried there Shepard," she stated calmly, her words filled with amused relief, "How are you feeling?" she asked in a more professional tone of voice.
"Like I've just taken a krogan headbut to my skull. Besides that I feel pretty chipper Doc," she replied, shaking her head a bit, causing her hair to swish against her face, "And I'm calling first dibs on the shower."
"I'm afraid you've woken up too late for that my dear, you've been out for a good while now. But I'm sure you'll find the facilities open, complete with fixed water heaters."
"How long was I out?" Emily inquired, slightly curious.
"About fifteen hours. Something must have happened down there with that beacon I think."
"It's my fault," Kaidan's voice wrung out apologetically as he stepped from the shadows where he had been sitting quietly, "I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way."
John, still having not forgiven the man in the slightest spat in reply, "We expected better of you Lieutenant, you endangered not only my sister's life but the entire mission!" he finished, slamming his fist against wall beside him to emphasize his point.
"Don't be so hard on him Commander," Chakwas retorted, curbing the male Shapard's anger, knowing full well if anyone else had tried to correct him, he would have blasted them through the walls of the ship; "We have no idea if that's what set off the beacon. Unfortunately, we will never get the chance to find out," she continued as she checked Emily's vitals.
Kaidan remained silent and John watched as the good Doctor checked his sister's response to visual stimulation, resisting the urge to grab her hand as she flinched away from the harsh light of the small scope. Instead he continued with what had happened, knowing his sister hated being left in the dark, "The beacon exploded, a system overload maybe. The blast knocked you out cold. Cheif Gunnery Williams helped me carry you back to the ship," he continued, making a mental note to boost up his strength so he would never need help carrying his injured sister again. Assuming she'd ever get hurt again. That certainly wasn't going to happen anytime soon on his watch.
After Chakwas pulled away she began scribbling on her datapad and the red head asked, "What's the damage?"
"Physically, you're fine my dear," she began, scrolling through the report, "But I've detected some abnormal brain activity -abnormal brain waves," she clarified before continuing, "I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, which for you my dear is saying something. Of course such signs are typically associated with intense dreaming..." she trailed off.
"More like a nightmare Doctor…" the N7 replied softly.
"Oh?" the Doctor asked, her interest piqued.
"I saw…" Emily began before faltering, she looked at her brother and towards the Lieutenant before wringing her hands and lowering her head, suddenly afraid to admit anything; "I'm not sure what I saw. I saw death. Destruction," she continued, raising her gaze to the doctors, "Nothing's really clear."
"Hmm, I better add this to my report. It may— Oh, Captain Anderson," she said, not at all surprised to see him checking up on the girl.
"How's our favorite XO holding up Doctor?" he asked, tossing the red head a wink.
Emily smiled lopsidedly as Chakwas replied, "All the readings look normal, I'd say the Commander's going to be fine. Emily too," she added, grinning at the joke as John and the Captain chuckled. Truthfully, neither the Captain nor the Doctor knew which sibling technically held the title of Executive Officer, but as the pair functioned as one well oiled machine neither cared enough to get picky.
"Glad to hear it," the Captain responded before dipping into a business attitude, "I need to speak to Emily, in private," he added as he glanced at John and Alanko.
"Ay aye Captain," Kaidan replied with a stiff salute, speaking for the first time since his reprimand, "I'll be in the Mess if you need me."
Ignoring him completely, John placed a hand on his sister's shoulder; "I'll be outside the door if you need me Red," he offered standing up; he only turned to leave when the red head nodded, seeing the worry lined across his face.
Chakwas nodded at the remaining Commander but stayed silent as she left to her stock room.
The Captain took a seat on the edge of the cot, "Sounds like that beacon hit you pretty hard Commander, you sure you're okay?"
Emily looked at her hands and the scars marring them in silent contemplation before replying, "I feel bad for Jenkins. It was my fault he died. He was just a kid…"
"Now Shepard," he tsked, placing a hand on her shoulder, "That wasn't your fault, and if I remember correctly you said yourself that marines die? That all we can do is make sure their deaths are not in vain?"
The words suddenly triggering her memory of the Gunnery Emily asked sharply, "Did we leave Gunnery Chief Williams back on Eden Prime?"
He nodded in the negative, setting the red head at ease, "I figured we could use a soldier like her. She's been reassigned to the Normandy."
Nodding contently Emily replied absently, "Good, Williams is a good soldier… She deserves it."
"Your brother and the Lieutenant agree with you. That's why I added her to our crew," he replied proudly.
Sensing an air of seriousness creeping into the room Emily asked softly, "You said you needed to speak to me in private Captain?" her head slightly lowered; she was suddenly very afraid that she had done something very, very wrong.
"I won't lie to you Shepard," he replied, standing up, "things look bad, Nihlus is dead, the beacon was destroyed and the Geth are invading. The Council is going to want answers," he finished with his hands clasped behind his back.
"The Geth would have wiped out the entire colony if we hadn't stopped them Sir," she replied, her heart in her throat, "And Johnny never used the phrase."
"I'll stand behind your report Shepard," the Captain nodded before turning away, "You and your brother are damned heroes in my books. That's not why I'm here," he continued, turning to face her once more, "It's Saren, the other turian. Saren's a Spectre, one of the best. A living legend. But if he's working with Geth it means he's gone rogue. A rogue Spectre's dangerous Red, and it means trouble. Saren's dangerous, and he hates humans."
"Why?" she asked with as much innocence as curiosity.
"He thinks we're growing too fast, taking over the galaxy. A lot of aliens think that way Shepard, but most of them don't do anything about it. Think of it as a rival gang springing up out of nowhere, trying to take over your city if it helps; Saren has allied himself with this "rival gang" and I don't know how. I don't know why. I only know it had something to do with that beacon," he admitted sadly, "But you were there just before the beacon self-destructed. Did you see anything?" he asked hopefully, "Any clue that might tell us what Saren was after?"
Leaning back the woman nodded slowly, causing the Captain hold his breath, "Just before everything went black… I had some kind of vision."
"A vision?" he asked as he started to pace, his mind whirling with the possibilities and implications, "What kind of vision? What did you see?"
"A warning of some kind… There was red everywhere… Pain. Death. I saw synthetics."
"Geth?"
"I don't know," Emily replied before her eyes glazed over slightly as she strove to remember, "There were hands reaching down… Massive. People Butchered. Slaughtered. Chaos… and fear…" she whispered, her head in her hands, her body beginning to shake.
If it had come from anyone else's lips, Captain Anderson would have dismissed the claim as a trauma induced nightmare. As it was, the woman before him had never once steered him wrong; "We need to report this to the Council Shepard."
"What are we going to tell them Sir?" huffed with a grim snort, "That I had a bad dream? Or that the Butcheress has lost her nerve?"
"We don't know what information was stored in that beacon Shepard. Lost Prothean technology? Lost blueprints for some ancient weapon of mass destruction? Whatever it was, Saren took it. But I know Saren, I know his reputation. I know his politics. He believes that humans are a blight against the galaxy… This attack was an act of war!" he accused as Emily slid of her cot and stood up, "He has the secrets from the beacon. He has an army of Geth at his command. And he won't stop until he's wiped humanity from the face of the galaxy!"
"John and I will find some way to take him down Sir," the Commander replied in earnest sincerity.
The captain shook his head, and sighed, both pleased with the pledge and disheartened at the journey ahead; "It's not that easy son. He's a Spectre. He can go anywhere, do almost anything. That's why we need the council on our side."
"Sir, if I may…"
"Yes Commander?"
"Why are you telling me this instead of John?"
The Captain sighed and offered her a small smile, "Because John doesn't care about anything that you don't care about. If you say jump, he asks you how high. -If we want any chance in succeeding you have to want Saren stopped. You have to show the Council that you won't stop until he's down, -Respectively," he corrected with a slight chuckle, "Lord knows your brother would tell them off before they said good morning. He can't stand politicians anymore then I can."
"So all I have to do is talk pretty to the Council, tell them Saren's gone rogue and convince them to withdrawal his Spectre status?"
The Captain nodded; "Simple as that. -I'll contact the Ambassador and see if he can't arrange an audience with the Council. He'll want to see us as soon as we reach the Citadel. We should be getting close come to think of it; I'll have a word with your brother while you tell Joker to bring us in to dock," he firmly suggested as he headed out of the medbay.
Emily waited a few minutes for the man to get a decent head start and tested her mobility by taking a few cautious steps. When she failed to topple over or have her knees buckle beneath her, the redhead plastered on a lopsided grin and marched out of the medbay, pausing long enough only to make sure that her brother and her Captain where nowhere in sight before beginning her journey to the cockpit. On her way however, she was called out to by Lieutenant Alanko and absently made her way over to the man.
"Glad to see you're okay, Commander," he shouted briskly, looking the red headed woman over before giving a quick salute.
"Lieutenant."
"I'm glad to see you're alright Mam'am," he repeated, to emphasize his sincerity in the matter, "Losing Jenkins was hard on the crew, and I'm glad we didn't lose you too."
Guilt momentarily panging her conscious, the N7 replied, "Yeah… I wish I could have done something to save him… Stupid kid," she continued with a shake of her head, "What about you? How are you holding up?"
"Between you and me Commander? You're brother scares the shit outta me. But besides that I'm fine enough. And don't beat yourself up about Jenkins ma'am, I was there, you did everything right. It was just bad luck."
"Good to hear you hold me in such regards Lieutenant. And don't worry about Johnny," she added, her violet eyes sparking brightly in the flickering lights, "he's great once you get on his good side."
"After what happened on Eden prime ma'am? I don't think I deserve to be on his good side," he replied with a shake of his head, "this has been a hellava shakedown cruise. Our first mission ends with one Spectre killing another. The Citadel Council's not going to be happy about that. Probably use it to lever more concessions out of the Alliance."
"You sure don't walk around with your eyes closed do you Alanko?" Emily replied grinning, "You a career man?"
"Yes ma'am. A lot of biotics are, I'd figure you know a bit about that too. We're not restricted but we sure don't go around undocumented either. Might as well earn a paycheck for it… Besides my father served, made him proud when I enlisted. …Eventually that is. What about you? Is that why you're here? Your family?"
Though the question was innocent, Emily's eyes darkened and the scar along her lip became more pronounced as her face grew bleak, "I've never met my parents. If they wanted to claim me they would have contacted me after that mess a few years back. If they ever contacted Johnny, he never said."
"Ah, that's right… Torfan. Uh, Didn't mean to bring up anything unpleasant ma'am," he backtracked quickly, fumbling over his words.
"Just don't mention it again and I won't have to feed you to the airlock," the red head replied happily, her smirk firmly in place; "And as a preventive measure for your safety L-T? Don't let my brother hear you talking about it either."
Emily walked off, grinning devilishly as she heard a faint gulp from the Lieutenant behind her. She didn't get very far before she was hailed by the Chief Gunnery.
"Williams," she answered, and feeling particularly pleasant, she trodding over with a nod.
"I'm glad to see your okay Commander, the crew could use some good news after what happened to Jenkins."
"You've heard about that?"
The gunnery nodded, "For what it's worth I offer my condolences."
"He was a kid. Foolish, reckless. I warned him… I just wish it had been enough."
The Gunnery nodded once more; "Part of me feels guilty over what happened to Jenkins Ma'am, if Jenkins was still alive I might not be here."
Emily snorted, making the Chief's eyes mist over in confusion, "You're a good soldier Williams, you belong on the Normandy. I told Johnny so."
"Thanks Commander, that means a lot," she replied, her eyes beginning to light up.
"So are you holding up okay?"
"I've seen friends die before Commander, it comes with being a marine, I guess you can understand that pretty well. But I saw my whole unit wiped out… and you never get used to seeing dead civilians."
"Actually dead civilians are nothing new to me. Saw them all the time back on Earth in the gutters. My brother and I used to put several of them there too come to think of it…"
The Gunnery's eyes opened in surprise, unsure what to make of the revelation, "That must have been horrible, ma'am."
"It never bothered me, but John might not have gotten over it, but trust me when I say it all gets easier as you go along."
"Thank you Commander," Ashley replied, "I must admit I was a little worried about joining the Normandy. It's kinda nice when someone makes you feel welcome."
"Well I think you're gonna fit in just fine Williams, and I know my brother feels the same."
"Thanks Commander," replied the Gunnery with a happy salute.
Emily nodded before taking her leave to finally have that chat with the pilot. When she reached his chair he turned and grinned at her.
"Good timing Red, I was just about I was just about to bring us in to the Citadel. See that taxpayer money at work…"
As Emily raced to the window to get a better look she was soon joined by Alanko and the Gunnery.
"Woah," Ashely exclaimed at a strange looking ship beginning to dock on the citadel, 'Look at the size of that ship!"
"Which ship is that?" Emily asked softly, her face almost pressed to the glass.
"The Ascension. Flagship of the Citadel fleet," Kaidan added in wonder.
"Well, size isn't everything," Joker replied dryly.
"Why so touchy Joker?" Ashley taunted, earning a snicker from the redhead.
"I'm just saying you need firepower too," he replied indignantly.
"Look at that monster!" said the woman, her face lighting up, "Its main gun could rip through the barriers of any Alliance fleet!"
"Good things it's on our side then," Kaidan replied, earning a nod from the redheaded Commander.
Ignoring the three other people in the pit, Joker opened connection to the Citadel; "Citadel Control, this is the SSV Normandy requesting permission to land."
"Stand by for Clearance Normandy," came the reply as Joker carefully steered them through the air riddled with other ships; "Clearance granted," the voice rang out again, "You may begin your approach. Transferring you to an Alliance operator."
"Rodger, Alliance Tower," Joker replied, smiling all the way, "Normandy out."
"Normandy, this is Alliance Tower, please proceed to dock 442."
"Rodger that, Normandy out," Joker finished, cutting connection. He turned to the Commander, smile still plastered on his face; "So Reddie, you come all the way up here for my charm or my good sense of humor?"
"Neither," Emily replied, her face losing all pleasant expression, causing Joker to become uneasy; "I came to steal your hat," she finished, grinning, as she darted forward and stole the hat from the pilot's head despite his crieds for mercy.
Emily giggled and popped the cap on her head, tucking a few stray hairs behinds her ears and stood a few feet away.
"I hate you, ma'am."
Kaidan and the Gunnery couldn't help but chuckle. They soon stopped however when they heard footsteps approaching the pit. All but Emily nodded respectfully at the male Commander, his sister taking a more childish approach by sticking her tongue out at him. He snorted and plucked the cap from her head and held her at arm's length as he gave it back to the pilot, nodding with a smirk.
"No harm no foul, Sir."
"Glad to hear it Joker," he replied before turning to his sister; "Go hit the showers, we're going to the Citadel in an hour."
Emily nodded before tossing the other three a lopsided smile and trotted off to the nearest bog to wash up.
Aww I'm sorry, I know I promised a shower scene. But I think I'll save that for when it'll be enjoyed the most. maybe.
So writing Captain Anderson and Emily talking was strange in a he's-kinda-like-her-dad-but-isn't kind of way, which is weird, for me, because I don't have much to go on in the way of "father-daughter" interaction. I'm assuming that a military based respect themed relationship is a good way to go about it for the story. I mean, the Captain seemed pretty paternal in the game. But that could very well just be me.
-Also, writing Emily in general is at times problematic. She's one fourth of a normal badass shepard, a fourth of a child savant, a fourth of a saint, and a fourth of a monster. ~at least that's how I have her in my head. she might not come across that way at all to anyone reading the story. Don't know. but i do believe this quote is fitting:
"People aren't either wicked or noble. They're like chef's salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict."
~lemony snicket, the grim grotto.
let's see... This was another "get to know everyone" chapter, providing the basis for how all all characters are going to interact with each other more or less. I'm sure there's a proper word for that but its 2AM and I can't think of it at the moment.
why do i do all my writing this late/early in the night/day you ask? simple. can't sleep. ever.
moving on, I still don't know who John is going to be paired with and i think i'm just going to let the story take its course in that regard as its still far to early to be worried over it.
on that note, Emily will be going with Liara. if that's going to bother any of you, I'm pretty sure the most painless thing to do would be to just quit the story now before it's too late.
as an unrelated sidenote, there has been rumor that bioware has actually listened to the fans and plans on fixing the ending. I dont know if this is true or not, but i'm hoping that by the time i get to the ending of this story, the games will have been "fixed."
final summation: TL;DR: Next Chapter is what goes on at the Citadel...