Miraculously they were on time to duties. Commander Shepard pushed her way past busy crewmen to the cockpit. Joker and Alenko where at the helm.
"Great." She thought. "An amazing morning and I have to deal with Kaiden." He'd left her alone, but he was still annoying.
Kryik was already there. They were making the FTL jump. Joker was giving the read outs. She loved this part.
"Board is green..." Joker's fingers danced over the console. "... in three, two, one.."
There was a slight sense of vertigo when the relay sent a giant arc of blue energy to the ship, sending her flying thought space.
"Thrusters; ..check... check... all systems on line. Drift; just under fifteen-hundred K." Joker read off the data.
"Fifteen-hundred is good. Your Captain will be pleased." Nihlus complimented Joker, but something in his voice didn't sound overly joyed. Shepard was only a few feet away. He couldn't let his guard down. What they had was worth protecting from everyone else. He turned and left the helm.
"I hate that guy." Mumbled Joker. Shepard gave him a look behind his back.
"Nihlus just gave you a complement, sooo you hate him." Kaiden commented.
"Remember to zip up your jump suit on your way out of the bathroom, that's good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pin head. That's Increasable. Besides, Spectres are trouble."
Shepard took a military posture behind his chair.
"I don't like haven' em on board. Call me paranoid."Joker continued.
"You're paranoid." Replied Kaiden. "The Council helped fund this project, they have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment."
Shepard thought that was probably the smartest thing Kaiden ever said, and probably ever would say. Pansy.
"Only an idiot believes the official story." Joker shot back.
"That's even better." Shepard thought.
"You two should stop speculating. Do your jobs." She told them and gave them both a narrowed eye.
"Yes, ma'm." they said in unison.
"Commander, is something wrong? You're not usually so... moody." Joker asked. Kaiden gave him a look. She was always moody with him.
"Joker, Status report." Anderson was on the com.
"Just cleared the mass relay, Captain. Stealth systems engaged. We're running solid."
"Good."
Sonya quit listening. The Captain sounded pissed and she didn't need to hear more of that.
"Better brace yourself, sir. I think Nihlus is heading your way."
She started listening again.
"He's already here." Said the Captain, clearly annoyed. Joker and Kaiden exchanged glances. Joker shook his head. "Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the com room for a debriefing." instructed Captain Anderson.
"Get that, Commander?" Joker teased.
"Yep, you made him mad. Now I get to pay for it." She teased back. She turned to go.
"He always sounds like that when he's talking to me." mumbled Joker.
"Can't possibly imagine why." Kaiden shot Joker a side long look. Shepard wanted to go back and punch Alenko in the face, but that would be bad form.
She was pleasantly surprised to see Nihlus waiting in the com room sans Anderson. She knew the Captain was on his way, but it was nice to share the air with just her turian. He was looking at footage of Eden Prime on the viewer. He turned to her when she stopped a few steps behind him.
"Commander Shepard, I was hopping you'd get here first." They exchanged quick, knowing glances. "Gives us a chance to talk." He kept his talons locked together in font of him. It made him look professional, and it kept him from putting them on her.
"About what?"
"I'm interested in Eden Prime. It's a symbol for your people. Something that says humanity can establish colonies across the galaxy and also protect them. How safe are they really?"
"Is there something you're not telling me?" She thought he'd told her everything the other night. Apparently, she was wrong.
"You're people are still new comers, Shepard. The galaxy can be a very dangerous place. It the Alliance truly ready for this?" He leaned against the console and crossed his arms. He lowered his head slightly. It was almost an apology for having to be so formal with her.
Anderson came briskly up behind her.
"I think it's time we tell the Commander what's really going on."
"This is more than a shake down run." Nihlus put extra emphasis on the word 'more'.
"I figured there must be something else going on." She played along.
"We're making a covert pick-up. That's why we needed the Normandy and her stealth systems on line."
"What's the payload, Captain?"
"A research team un-earthed a Prothean Beacon during an expedition. It'still in tact. We're taking to the Citadel where they have the facilities to study it." Anderson took a position next to the Spectre.
"Obviously this goes beyond mere human interests, Commander."added Kryik. "This discovery could effect every species in Council space."
"Are we expecting trouble?" Shepard asked, she looked directly at Nihlus. Why hadn't he prepared her for this if he knew battle was coming?
"I'm always expecting trouble." His voice rumbled as he walked toward her. She narrowed her eyes at him.
"There's more," Interrupted Anderson. "Nihlus isn't just here for the tests and the beacon. He's also here to evaluate you."
"Guess that explains why I bump into him every time I turn around." She was looking at Anderson, but teasing Nihlus. Anderson narrowed his eyes only slightly and gave them both a look.
"The Alliance has been pushing for this for a long time. We want more say in the Council's decisions. The Spectres represent the Council's power. If they accept a human into their ranks, it shows how far the Alliance has come." Anderson let his hands hang by his sides.
"Not many could have survived what you did on Akuze. You showed a remarkable will to live and to protect others."
He referred to when she held off an enemy army, practically single handed. She remembered going crazy and waking up to a lot of dead enemy bodies. Probably shouldn't tell him that.
"That's why I put your name forward as a candidate for the Spectres." He was having slight difficulty in keeping his tone of voice professional. A few words slipped into the softer voice he used in private. It un-nerved him that she had such a powerful effect on him. It wasn't something he'd considered having to face, but it didn't change anything he felt for her.
"Just tell me what I have to do." She replied.
"I need to see your skills for myself, Commander. Eden Prim will be the first of several missions together." His talons were locked behind his back in military fashion. He unconsciously swayed on his feet slightly. "The other colonies were mostly to buy time until certain arrangements could be made." He let his gaze stay on her a little longer than he should have.
"You'll be in charge of the ground team." Anderson interrupted. He needed them focused, whatever personal events had transpired between them, they needed to be solders right now. "Secure the beacon and get it onto the Normandy ASAP. Nihlus will accompany you though his own mission."
Shepard liked that part as much as Kryik did, but they had to do their jobs.
"Just give the word, Captain."
"We should be getting close to Eden Prime..."
"We got a problem, Captain." Joker's voice came over the com, interrupting the Captain. "We just got a transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You better see this."
"Bring it up on screen." Captain Anderson said.
They all moved toward the screen, Anderson in the they saw formed knots in their stomachs.
Gunfire, explosions. Military personnel were firing at something. One man grabbed the camera quickly giving a run down of the situation and requesting evac. He died mid sentence from a shot in the back.
Shepard looked to her companions. They stared at the screen, stone faced.
On the screen the camera shifted in the crazy way hand helds do when someone is running or walking with it. Then it came to focus on a large black ship hovering just above the colony. It had long fingers, like tentacles. It looked to Shepard like a squid. Then the camera jumped around again and there was more gunfire. It image went fuzzy.
"Everything cuts out after that. No com traffic at all." said Joker over the com.
"Reverse and hold at thirty-eight-hundred." Instructed Anderson.
The vid rewound and held. The image of the strange ship paused on the viewer. Arcs of energy leaped away from the fingers.
Kryik's mandibles twitched, just once.
"Status report." demanded the Captain.
"Fifteen minutes out. No other Alliance ships in the area." replied Joker.
"Take us in, Joker. Fast and quiet." He looked at Nihlus. "This mission just got a lot more complicated."
"A small strike team could move more quickly, without drawing attention." said Kryik.
"It's our best chance to secure the beacon. Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold."
Kryik turned to leave. As the doors slid open he chanced a quick glance over his shoulder to Shepard. The Captain was talking to her. Something in him twinged.
"Tell Alenko and Jenkins to suit up, Commander. You're going in." Anderson watched her as she looked at the screen.
What she saw floating over the colony made her nervous. She mentally cursed Anderson for sticking her with Alenko on this mission. She narrowed her eyes at the screen before heading up to fetch Alenko.
"Hey, Alenko... suit up." She was barely in the cock pit when she gruffly gave him the order and left.
Joker looked at Alenko and smiled. "I guess it's your lucky day, Kaiden. You get to go on a life threatening mission with the one person on this ship who hates you the most."
"Thanks, Joker. I feel much better about it now." Kaiden glared at Joker before leaving.
In the cargo hold Shepard and her team stood at the ready. Anderson was just walking toward them with Kryik.
"Your team's the muscle of this operation, Commander. Go in heavy and head strait for the dig sight."
"What about survivors, Captain?" asked Jenkins. Eden Prim was his home turf. He probably knew those people.
"Helping survivors is a secondary objective. The beacon is your top priority." Captain Anderson had to shout over the sound of the wind as the bay doors opened.
"Approaching drop point one." Joker said over the com.
Shepard saw Kryik walking up checking his weapon one last time.
"Nihlus, you're coming with us?" asked Jenkins.
"I move faster on my own." He replied, checking his sights. He forced himself not to look to Sonya as he jogged out of the bay.
"Kryik will scout ahead. He'll feed you status reports though out the mission." Anderson explained. "Other wise, I want radio silence."
"We've got his back, Captain." She tried to sound tough, professional. Her voice came out softer somehow.
"The mission's yours now, Shepard. Good luck."
Anderson held her gaze before they reached their drop point. He wanted her to do well, for the mission to be a success and for her to become a Spectre. Not the fist human to do it, though. He had screwed that up for himself, long ago.