Reply to reviewers:
OfficerDonNZ: Firstly the story is AU. Secondly, I want to keep a majority of the back story a secret till Therum.
eurodox59: Like I mentioned to OfficerDonNZ, all will be explained.
For everyone else, the story is AU in a covert, behind-the-scenes way. All will be explained in the fullness of time.
Chapter 6: Fidus, Fidelius, Verus
LCDR. Katherine 'Kate' Shepard's POV:
I slip in and out of consciousness. I am plagued by nightmares. Entire worlds burn. Races die or are converted into machines. Metal on flesh. And each time a planet comes into focus with a red star in the distance.
I then hear a whisper, of a voice that I never thought I would hear again.
"C'mon Katey-cat, wake up"
And my eyes fly open,while I gasp in a breath of air.
"Doctor Chakwas, Doctor T'Neria, the Commander is awake" comes a mellow baritone. The voice reminded me of what Anderson must have sounded like in his younger days.
"Rohit?" I croak as I look to my left. And a face from my past swims into view. He gives me a crooked grin, his black-brown eyes twinkling with humour.
"Hey there, Katey-cat" he said. I involuntarily smile at him in response. Then I punch him in the face.
Rohit falls off his chair and I jump on top of him and whale into him. He block most of my punches, but I get a good few in.
"Five years! FIVE! FUCKING! YEARS! YOU COULD HAVE CALLED! YOU COULD HAVE WROTE! WHY. THE. HELL. DIDN'T. YOU. CALL ?!" I scream at him while I hit him. I feel betrayed,angry,hurt and bitter over the five years I mourned him.
He grabs my wrists and stops me from hitting him while getting up into a sitting position. And for some reason the anger leaves me on seeing his black eye. I sag against his chest as the tears start to fall.
"I am so sorry Katey" he whispers as he wraps his arms around my waist. I pull him closer to me, letting his smell wash over me. Of cordite, gun oil and some musky smell that was him.
"Ahem" I hear a throat clear behind me. We pull away from each other to see Chakwas, Anderson, Kaidan, Williams, Kryik and Jenkins along with a purple-skinned asari in a doctor's uniform. The looks ranged from confused in the case of Chakwas, Williams, Kryik and Jenkins, to scandalised in the case of Kaidan, to angry in the case of Anderson, to smug satisfaction in the case of the asari.
"Captain Aggarwal,there had better be a damn good explanation as to why you led us all to believe that you were dead for the last five years?!" Anderson practically growls at him. We untangle ourselves as we get up.
"Captain Anderson sir. I do believe I owe you both an overdue explanation" Rohit replies, gesturing us outside.
He ushered me, Anderson, Nihlus and Kaidan into a conference room a few decks above the medbay. The elevator took us from Deck-103 to Deck A-3 in under a minute.
Wish we had one of these in the Normandy I sigh as I think of the as-slow-as-an-Elcor elevator we have on the Normandy. Rohit seemed to have caught it as he turns to look at me, his dark eyes analysing me.
"Humorously: Wishing you had one of these onboard the Normandy?" he asked. I barely turn my laugh into a snort. He chuckles a little bit and even Kaidan and Anderson sport small smiles.
We stop in front of a door, which opens up to reveal a conference room, with a reception committee waiting for us.
"Ohmigod!" I say and rush into the room. I just grab Jamshed, Hari, Jeevan and Miranda in bear hugs. Honestly, my face feels like it's gonna split from how much I'm smiling.
"While it's good to see you again Kate, would you mind not strangling us?" came Miri's strained, strangled voice. I loosened my hold on them while I stared at my best friends who I thought I would never see again.
I send a scathing glare at Rohit, who looks sheepish. He then cleared his throat and stood a little straighter, gesturing forus to sit down.
"Right, quick introductions. My name is Lieutenant Colonel Rohit 'Delta' Aggarwal, Commanding Officer of the Warwolves special operations unit attached to Task Force Invincible. Admiral Oleg Petrovsky" here he gestured with his hand to a man, in white flag uniform "is the Task Force Commander. General Adrien Victus" here a brown plated turian, with white face paint, nodded in acknowledgement "is the General Officer commanding the marine contingent of the Task Force . Master Chief Petty Officer Zaeed Massani is the senior NCO" here a tall Caucasian man with a ropey scar on the right side of his face, with mismatched eyes, grunts in acknowledgement "of the Marines of the Task Force, while Lieutenant Commander Miranda Lawson is our intelligence analyst attached to the Task Force"
The hell?! I think to myself as I listen tot he introductions. Captain Anderson voices the thought we are all thinking.
"Son, you have some explaining to do here" he said. Nihlus lets out a trill of acknowledgement as his face had registered shock on seeing the turian,if his slack mandibles were anything to go by. Rohit just grins in acknowledgement.
"Yessir. It all began on 3rd August, 2176, on Elysium..."
Dundundun...
And flashback mode begins! (only for the next 3 chapters)
It will be primarily from Delta's POV, with occasionally switching over to Lieutenant Arya 'Greyhound' Dunn's POV.
My exams are on so updates may become even more sporadic than before.
R&R!
