Chapter IV

"Come on sweetheart; you need to wake up now. People need you. It's chaos out there and they need a leader; that leader is you! You know, I've always known you were meant for great things. Ever since you were a little girl; you would play with your little model ships saying that one day you would captain a great ship and have a great crew behind you. You would fly through the galaxy defeating bad people and rescuing the innocent. And you know what? I never doubted it for a second, even though you were only 8 when you said it." Hannah Shepard broke off and laughed to herself.

"How do you always know when I'm awake?" A hoarse voice came from the bed.

"You flare your nostrils when you sleep." Shepard groaned and opened her eyes. "How do you feel?"

"Like I had a fist fight with a 2 mile high Reaper… and lost." She joked. Hannah smiled.

"Well you didn't lose. The crucible fired, a green beam, it went through the planet and all the ships in orbit; including the Reapers, then it activated the mass. I don't suppose you could explain to me exactly what happened because I'm having a little trouble wrapping my head around it?" Hannah Shepard, like her daughter was known for her glib and often sarcastic comments. Shepard could tell from her tone that she neither blamed, nor disapproved of the dramatic change brought about by her daughter.

"Well…" Shepard winced in pain as she tried to prop herself up on a mountain of pillows behind her. Hannah immediately moved in to help. "Ah… I went up in the beam into some part of the Citadel I'd never seen before; an AI told me he was the catalyst, and that the Citadel was a part of him, not the other way around. He gave me a choice, and I made it." Shepard gave the cliff notes version of what actually happened; she knew she would have to recount this story hundreds of times so for now the abridged version would have to do.

"And Anderson made it up too?" Hannah asked.

"Yes." Was all Shepard could manage; a lump caught in her throat.

"And he didn't make it back down?"

"No. Can we talk about that later? I need to see my crew, where are they?" Shepard had been aching to see them and the Normandy ever since she woke up but figured she had to remain patient in front of her mother since it looked as though she had slept at her bed side for days. "Have you heard from Daniel?"

"We don't know where they are. We lost all communication when the Crucible fired and the Mass Relays are down, so if they went through just before the beam…As for your brother, I haven't heard from him since the two of you set up that base on Prospect, complete radio silence, remember? That was quick thinking though - the food, and medical supplies they sent saved a lot of lives." My crew are stranded in empty space, running out of supplies and neither they nor Daniel would have any way to get back or tell us where they are.

Shepard didn't believe that; she couldn't, no way was her ship, crew and brother stuck and helpless. She remembered the promise she had made both Joker and Edi make - to save the ship and the crew; abandon her and get to safety; as far as they needed to go - but somehow the Normandy felt close. No, Daniel was alright; that base was far beneath the surface of a long abandoned world in the Iera system and they made their own supplies - that was the whole point of the base. She'd discovered the planet on her searches through the galaxy looking for raw resources to upgrade the Normandy. From what she could gather the planet must have been used for something pretty similar to what she needed it for; mining heavy metals - the equipment and infrastructure were already in place, but long abandoned. Any civilians she found that wanted to help with the war or a safe haven from the fighting, she sent to the base and her brother took care of them. The small colony on Venture and any refugees that fled to Horizon were all welcome. She even set Oriana Lawson up on the base. And she knew for a fact that the Reapers had never been to that system. She kept strict control over communications and flights.

She let it go for now.

Shepard switched to the only way she knew how to cope with bad news; she went straight back to work. "So what's the situation out there?"

The already slightly wrinkled face of her mother, frowned. She took a deep breath. "Ever since you were brought in here Hackett has been desperate to get in; he needs information on what happened and on what's happening now."

"What's happening now?" Shepard almost shouted in alarm.

"The Reapers… They're claiming that they are on our side now; that they are a true AI and want to help us. They're actually working on the Mass Relays; the Sol Relay is almost fully functional again. The people are scared; they don't know if they can trust them - or even should trust them - if this is some kind of trick? But that beam… That did something - it changed us - everyone can feel it but they're not saying anything. If they don't get answers soon…"

Shepard knew exactly what she was thinking - if they're kept in the dark much longer, complete anarchy would break out.

"Hackett is doing his best to keep everything under control but people are confused; the reality of what they've lost is starting to sink in and getting people to focus on anything has been difficult. He has a team of the best engineers from every race working on bringing the comm. buoys back up. The remaining Rachni that stayed on the Crucible have been a big help in diagnosing the problems with the Relay and buoys; the other races are helping of course but most are…"

"Battle-scarred and bone weary?" Shepard added helpfully.

"Exactly."

"Why aren't the council getting involved? They should be leading their races; rallying them to keep going."

"The councillors are dead. The races out there in their ships, lying in these halls and down there on Earth, for the first time, have no leader. They're lost" Shepard senior hesitated.

Shepard understood; this is going to be one hell of a transition period for the entire galaxy; and she had work to do.

"How bad are my injuries? When can I get out of here?"

Taken aback by Shepard's abrupt change in topic, she hastily began explaining as a frown formed on her face. "You have a lot of muscle and tissue damage, some bone damage as well but the doctors say you won't need a bone graft. You're on as high a dose of Medi-Gel as they can give you and it seems to be working; your implants are healing the damage but they can't keep you on the Medi-Gel forever. Sooner or later they're going to have to take you off…"

"So when can I get out of here?" Shepard interrupted impatiently.

Hannah frowned. "They would be willing, although not happy, to release you in a few days. They'll need to wrap up the most damaged areas to give your muscles enough support. I told them that you would give them more trouble than they could handle if they forced you to stay here and that you would likely find a way to leave with or without their permission." The famous glibness came through in the Admiral's voice again; so similar to Shepard's own.

"Thanks." Shepard said sheepishly.

"You're welcome. Although I did give them my word that you would check in at least twice a week to have your bandages checked; I figured every day was pushing it a bit."

"Yeah…" Shepard laughed.

"And I'll be checking in with your doctors to make sure you are checking in, so don't bother trying to ditch the doctors the second your out of here!"

"But…!" Sheppard senior silenced her with a look. "Alright. Twice a week."