Chapter 6: "Captain Shepard"
Shepard
They arrived at the Serpent Nebula at oh-eight-hundred Citadel time. Hackett was still on the Citadel, since they had only arrived back in the Serpent Nebula the prior evening. He was due to report back to his ship that afternoon, and had requested that she meet him in the human embassy before then.
As Shepard stepped off the Normandy into the docking bay, she felt her stomach flip. Already, the Keepers had repaired much of what she knew had been substantial damage. She had not seen any of the familiar Citadel neighborhoods when she had come up in the beam, but remembering the hallucinated corridor of rotting corpses and the strange shifting walkways made her skin crawl. She didn't know what of that vision had been real – only a few things were patently false – but it all blended together horrifically in her mind.
Garrus stepped onto the gangplank behind her and stood at her elbow.
"You alright?" he asked softly.
She shook her head.
"We can talk later," she told him. "I need to meet Hackett."
He nodded. "I'm meeting with the Primarch, but I have the afternoon free. Lunch on the presidium?"
She smiled up at him, gently brushing his carapace with her fingers.
"That sounds great," she said sincerely.
They walked in comfortable silence through the docking bay and to the elevator, parting with a quick smile at the embassy level.
She strode through the doors of the human embassy, C-Sec officers parting to allow her access. Hackett was waiting inside, his back to the door as he looked out over the presidium.
"Admiral," she said, announcing her arrival.
"Commander," Hackett turned, and a soft smile spread across his face. Shepard wondered for a moment if she'd ever actually seen him smile – but then it was gone, and he was back to his usual cool and reserved self.
"Thank you for coming, Commander. We have a matter that requires your attention."
"Sir?" she asked.
"Since the battle for Earth, there has been some unusual merc activity. The Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack retreated in unison from the battle once the Crucible had taken out the majority of the reaper fleet. Then, just two days later, a team of Alliance marines on Omega suddenly went dark."
Shepard raised an eyebrow at that. She already had a hunch as to where this was going.
"I wasn't aware we had Alliance forces on Omega," she said, giving him a searching look.
"They're black ops. We sent them to infiltrate Cerberus's operation back when you were earthside."
"When I was grounded?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We needed to get inside Cerberus's operations," he said, ignoring her prod, "and they were using Omega as a main transport hub. We sent a team there to see if they could get inside. They impersonated a Cerberus team during the chaos on Omega while Aria was fighting back."
"So we have a team inside Cerberus?"
"We did, until they went dark a few days ago. We have no evidence that their identities were compromised, and there has been no reaper activity detected outside of the Sol system, so we assumed the battle was contained to that system. There is no reason to assume reaper involvement on Omega, but as I'm sure you understand, we are taking all precautions."
"Of course, sir," Shepard responded.
"I've assigned two new marines to your command on the Normandy for this mission. As a spectre, of course, you can choose your own team, but I highly recommend these marines accompany you to Omega. They are two of our best new N7 graduates, and I would prefer you have an Alliance presence for this assignment."
She nodded. She had lost Ashley, and now Vega was pursuing N7 training on Earth. Aside from Joker and the crew, her team on the Normandy had been reduced to a turian general, an AI, an asari scientist, and a Prothean with a death wish. Liara wished to return to her work as the Shadow Broker, Garrus was about to become the turian councilor, and Javik – well, Javik wanted to return to his homeworld and commit suicide. That left her with EDI, and she could understand why Hackett might be a little unsettled by the sparse support.
"Understood," she told the admiral.
"They are reporting to the Normandy as we speak. Which brings me to," he paused, "less serious matters. There will be a ceremony this evening at eighteen hundred hours on the presidium. It will serve a dual purpose: as a victory celebration and commemoration of your role in defeating the reapers, as well as your promotion ceremony."
Her eyes widened at that.
"Sir – " she began, but he waved her off.
"Commander, your service to the Alliance – to the entire galaxy – goes beyond typical commendation. And your position as a spectre complicates matters. But all that said, a promotion is long overdue. All charges in the Aratoht incident have been dropped, and the Alliance Navy has seen fit to promote you to captain. You will retain command of the Normandy and your crew. And God knows what role you will play in our new galaxy. I'm sure it will be a grand one."
There was that slight smile again. He nodded at her, and then saluted. She returned the gesture.
"Dismissed, Commander. I will see you this evening."
Shepard left the room, her head still spinning. It wasn't that she didn't feel she deserved a promotion. It had just been the last thing on her mind.
I'm going to have to get readjusted to business as usual, she thought for the umpteenth time.
She still had time before she had arranged to meet with Garrus for lunch, so she set herself on a course for the docking bays.
A few minutes later, as she approached the Normandy, she caught sight of her new recruits. A tall, lean man in Alliance dress blues, his curly brown hair cropped short and neatly contained against his scalp. He stood straight, speaking in quiet tones with the blonde woman who leaned casually against the guard rails. She ran a hand through her short hair, which already had a devil-may-care messiness to it. From this distance, there was not much more Shepard could ascertain about these two, but as she drew close, the woman saw her coming and pushed away from the guard rail.
With a sauntering amble, the woman made straight for Shepard, pulling up into a crisp salute when she was a few paces away.
"Commander Shepard," she said, her voice strong and confident.
The man had turned at her sudden departure, and strode up to join her, his steps carefully measured. He saluted as well.
"At ease, soldiers," Shepard said, and the two relaxed into a softer stance.
She had pulled up their dossiers on her omni-tool as she had made her way to the Normandy, but she preferred to learn about her team in person.
"Lieutenant Ness," she said, looking at the woman whose entire being exuded conviction.
Lieutenant Tara Ness nodded, and Shepard realized that the woman was nearly as tall as her male companion when she wasn't slouching. She shifted her gaze over to the aforementioned – she checked her omnitool – Lieutenant Whitney Hanson.
"And Lieutenant Hanson," she added, looking the young man directly in his brown eyes. While Tara projected boldness and candor, Shepard read warmth and depth in this quiet man's eyes. She suspected he would be the more difficult of the two to loosen up.
Then again, she thought to herself with a quick, wry grin, I've managed to connect with a tank-bred krogan, an asari justicar, and a geth. Surely two Alliance marines won't hold a candle to that.
"Welcome aboard, lieutenants," she said, moving swiftly towards the ship. The two fell in line comfortably behind her.
"This is the SSV Normandy," she said. As the airlock hissed open in front of her, she directed them towards the currently-empty cockpit. "Get to know the crew. They are the heart and soul of this ship, especially our pilot, Jeff Moreau. Just call him Joker – only his girlfriend calls him Jeff."
Whitney nodded seriously, while Tara focused her intense gaze on every part of the Normandy. Shepard smiled at her eagerness – she had felt the same way the first time she boarded the Normandy. Hell, sometimes she was still in awe of this ship.
They hopped in the elevator towards the crew deck.
"Now, as a Spectre, I run a somewhat unorthodox operation," she explained to the recruits as the elevator hummed down to the lower floor. "I have an open-door policy, so if you run across anything that you don't… understand," she chose the word carefully, "I want you to know that you can come to me, no matter the situation. That goes for personal matters as well. My crew has to trust me – and I have to trust them. Loyalty has saved our asses more times than I can count."
The elevator opened and she whisked them out and around the corner.
"The medbay is ahead to the right. Doctor Chakwas is the best doctor I've had the opportunity to work with, and we're damned lucky to have her on this ship. She's an expert in xenobiology," Shepard noted the sudden upward tilt in Tara's chin at that, "and has patched me up more than I'm sure she'd have liked."
Tara continued to peer with interest at the medbay as Shepard led them into the mess hall, where Joker and EDI were sitting at the table, hands clasped together as Joker sipped a mug of coffee. Whitney's eyes widened when he caught the metallic digits interlaced with soft flesh and bone fingers.
"Like I said," Shepard said, "things are run a bit differently on my ship."
She caught his gaze and held it for a moment, searching for his reaction. He relaxed and nodded.
She faced Whitney and Tara and checked her omnitool for the time.
"Make yourselves at home. As long as Doctor T'Soni is with us, she will be in the XO's office," she nodded her head towards the office on the far side of the mess hall, "and she likes her privacy, though I think you will find her one of the most approachable of my team outside her quarters. We depart at oh-eight-hundred hours tomorrow, and until then, your time is yours."
She paused, watching the two lieutenants.
"Any questions?" she asked.
"No, ma'am," Whitney responded right away. Tara looked more pensive, and Shepard raised an eyebrow.
"Well, please don't hesitate to contact me if you ever do. I'm serious about that open-door policy."
A burst of laughter came from the table, where Joker was reacting to something EDI had said. Shepard smiled:
"Welcome to the team."
Garrus
The Primarch had already shown him to the turian councilor's office. Of course, the Hierarchy would be anxious to bring order back. To be without a councilor, even for a short while, was difficult for the strictly regimented culture of his people to stomach.
He had sent a private message to Shepard to meet him in the turian councilor's office. His office. He shook his head. He had gone by a dextro restaurant on the Presidium and purchased a light turian lunch, then stopped by a levo restaurant and picked up something for Shepard – he wasn't quite sure what it was, but he had seen her eating it before in the Normandy's mess hall.
Now, he stood gazing out the window, the food cooling on the desk, waiting. The room was large with vaulted ceilings. It was quiet.
It reminded him of his C-Sec days. It had been over two years since he had been in a quiet office like this, and even then, he had shared that office with multiple other C-Sec officers and there had been a constant buzz of activity around him. On the Normandy he had had the hum of the engines. This was… strange.
He turned when he heard the whir of the door opening behind him. Shepard strode in, the soles of her Alliance uniform boots padding softly against the ground. A little flutter in his stomach jumped to his throat when she smiled widely at him.
"Shepard," he said.
"Hey, Garrus."
Her voice was softer than usual, affectionate. He crossed to her and pulled her into an embrace.
"I thought we could use a quiet lunch alone," he said, "in my new office."
She pulled back, and he saw a flicker of something cross her face. Those expressions were so fleeting – he hadn't learned to read them all yet.
"Wow," she said quietly. "You really are… the turian councilor."
She looked around, taking in the surroundings with her intelligent, observant gaze.
"So you're starting right away," she said – a question phrased as a statement.
"Yes," he said softly. "They've provided me with an apartment, this office, a security team, and Spirits know what else. It's still sinking in. Councilor Sparatus - well, it's not like he was expecting to be replaced, so I'm going in cold with no context. It'll take weeks to sort through all the paperwork, not to mention the briefings with the Hierarchy…"
He trailed off. Shepard was watching him, her gaze inscrutable, placid. But he knew something was going on in that head of hers.
"Garrus, are you sure this is what you want?"
He sighed. Of course he wasn't sure. And of course, she knew.
"Shepard," he began, finding himself already tripping over the thoughts before they could emerge as phrases. "I just want to make a place for myself. Do some good. I – I don't know how else to do that right now. I can't go back to being a vigilante, and C-Sec…" he paused, a small, ironic laugh escaping him, "well, after the reapers, C-Sec feels like small potatoes."
She smiled at that.
"No matter what you do, I'm behind you," she said firmly. "But remember there will always be a place for you on my team."
"Just on your team?"
She smirked at that, the corners of her lips turning upwards, and pushed herself up to her tiptoes to kiss his scarred mandible tenderly.
"You know you'll always have a place in my heart, Garrus," she whispered.
A shiver ran down his neck at the way her soft breath tickled his skin. He wrapped his arms around her, bracing her waist and dipping her down for a deep kiss. When he pulled her back up, she was grinning again.
"Charmer," she teased him. "I know your tricks."
He led her over to the desk and handed her the carton of food he had purchased for her. Taking his own meal, he sat on the couch, and she joined him, curling her legs up beneath her. He had never seen her do that anywhere but in her cabin – alone, with him. It was another clue he had learned meant comfort, ease. He smiled.
They ate, trading pleasant conversation with pauses as they took in the nourishment. The food was always better on the Citadel than the Normandy, and Garrus couldn't help but feel an excited tingle rise through him when he thought of the life they could build here. When she wasn't off on assignments, his Spectre mate would return to him – to the home he would make for her in the councilor's quarters.
And one day… well, he would save that topic for another time.
Shepard
"Attention to orders: the Prime Minister of the Systems Alliance, acting upon the recommendation of the commanding office of the fifth fleet, has…"
Shepard tried to focus as the head of the N7 program recited the customary words for a promotion ceremony. The Presidium was packed with people of all races. She could see Garrus, his eyes sparking with pride as he watched her. Liara stood beside him, her beatific smile brighter than Shepard had ever seen it.
Hackett stood by as well, her new recruits by his side – she was anxious to get to know them better. Her team was important to her. Not everyone she had served with had been her choice initially, but she had managed to build rapport with each and every one of them. These two would hopefully be no different, but since they departed first thing in the morning for Omega, she was concerned about the timing. Garrus would be remaining on the Citadel, and while she still had Liara for now…
She realized she had stopped listening to the ceremony – her ceremony – and snapped her attention back.
"…Shepard is promoted to the grade of captain, Systems Alliance Navy."
She raised her right hand and read the oath of office in a calm voice, augmented and broadcast across the Presidium to the farthest reaches of the crowd. They pinned the badge to her uniform – a new stripe would be sewn into the shoulders to indicate her new rank.
She saluted her superior officer, who returned the salute. A line of Alliance marines shot blanks in unison, the symbolic gunshots a celebration. Music began, and as she relaxed out of the salute, she knew the party was only beginning. The Citadel would celebrate tonight – the victory against the reapers, despite the heavy losses, was deserving of a party like no other.
As she stepped away from the raised platform where the ceremony had taken place, she caught a familiar face at the bar nearby.
"Bailey!" She smiled, clapping him on the shoulder, gently. He was looking a little worse for the wear, leaning heavily on crutches, an ugly scar pushing its way down his face.
"Comma – er, Captain Shepard," he said, smiling back at her. "I think a thank you is in order."
"Just doing my job, Bailey," she said. "Glad to see you made it out alright. I hear it got pretty hairy on the Citadel when the Illusive Man arrived."
"Bastard cut through my forces. I lost a lot of good men – nearly lost my own life. I just wish I could have stopped him. This whole mess coulda been avoided."
"He was a step of ahead of all of us, Bailey. There was nothing more you could have done. Hell, if I had stopped him on Thessia…"
She stopped. Bailey was giving her a quizzical look. She sighed.
"It's all in the past," she said. "We made it out, and the galaxy survived. I'd say that's one hell of a job well done. On everyone's part."
"I can drink to that," Bailey said, raising his glass. "Can I buy you one?"
Shepard glanced over at Garrus, who caught her gaze and nodded to her. She had to mingle – as the honoree of the evening's festivities, she could hardly steal away – but he had promised to wait for her, to take her back to his new apartment at the end of the evening for one last night together before she departed for her new assignment.
She felt a pang in her gut, knowing he would not be coming with her. Her romantic feelings toward him aside, she always felt better when he was at her six.
But she supposed this was all part of settling into this new routine. And tonight, at least, they would celebrate. And break in his new apartment, she thought, feeling the smile at the corner of her lips become something a little deeper – a secret smile whose meaning only she and Garrus knew. And she saw from the way he looked out at her from beneath the ridges of his brow, his blue eyes smoldering in the darkness of the crowd, that he had read the meaning in that smile.
Late that night, once they had exhausted their passion, she lay awake, watching the stars and the blue-purple gas clouds of the Serpent Nebula. Garrus slept soundly beside her, his chest rising and falling in a peaceful rhythm. The night was quiet around them, and Shepard felt a quiet energy growing within her, setting her on edge in a way that was both frightful and beautiful.
It was unsettling, this new galaxy. She hadn't felt this way in years – since she set foot on the first Normandy. She had felt, then, an impatient thrill at all that was to come – all that she had not yet experienced, not yet mastered, not yet challenged.
The future – a future with Garrus, a future as a Spectre, and as a representative of humanity – it was exciting, she realized. The tedium and sluggishness she had expected was nowhere to be found. There would be more challenges – new obstacles to surmount. Yes, the reapers had been the greatest threat the galaxy had ever faced – probably the greatest threat it would ever face. But she would be damned if she let that stop her from finding new adventures.
She was Commander – Captain – Shepard, and she had a future to build for herself
Author's note: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed - and many thanks to my awesome beta, CyberianTsuinami. It should only get better from here, folks :) See you next chapter!