Here is the next chapter where we get to have a look at Mallory for the first time in this fic. I have to say, although it is a bit to keep up with, it is so much fun having three Shepards. Anyway, please read and review, and as always, enjoy!
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Mallory sat at her desk reading over maintenance reports and a few status assessments. The Athens was a fine ship to say the least. It could not hold a candle to the Normandy, but it was a solid warship. Since the funeral, Mallory had been on assignment with the 8th Scout Flotilla, searching for any remaining pockets of geth resistance. In those three months, all they had found were mercenary groups, pirates, and a cult (which was the only interesting discovery as of yet).
Running her fingers over a holo of the Normandy crew on her desk, her lips parted in a small smile.
She missed them all of course, but Kaidan she missed most. She knew he was working for Alliance Espionage and Intelligence Service but surely he could get a message to her letting her know he was alright.
Tali and Liara still called regularly. Tali had been praised by the flotilla for delivering the geth data Claire had given her. According to her, she was put on the same project as her father as an acquisition specialist. She even had a team under her command. Mallory had a hard time picturing the sweet, little, innocent Tali they had rescued from a back alley in command of anything. But with her field experience and tech savvy, she would be a great choice.
Liara had become a little distant lately. She had mentioned something about Luke a few months ago, but Mallory had not paid much attention. According to Anderson and a few of her old comrades, Luke spent day and night at Flux drinking himself under the table. Although recently Anderson had not been very forthcoming about Luke and his whereabouts.
Garrus had all but vanished and Wrex was too busy on Tuchunka to talk to her very much. Not that they had while on the Normandy anyway. They had always been closer to Luke.
Of course Luke she had not heard from at all. The last words she had heard him say to her were that he wished she had died instead of Claire. They were both in mourning so that was understandable. But to fall back into his old habits of remaining so distant, not letting her know how he was or if he was still alive, that made her angry. He was such a brat, but Claire's voice whispered at her ears telling her to be the bigger person and go talk to him, call him, something to show that she still loved him. After all, it had been several months since the funeral, almost five months to be more accurate.
"Commander Shepard, please report to the comm room," the intercom announced. Mallory stacked the data pads neatly and straightened her uniform.
As she made her way down the corridors, marines and crewmen alike saluted respectfully. Discipline and procedure, that was the way to run a ship. Claire had been too lenient in Mallory's mind. Luke's destruction of the cargo bay, his prank with the extra planet on the galaxy map, and non-Alliance personnel having access to top-secret military hardware all demonstrated a lack of discipline. But that was Claire's ship, the Athens was hers.
As she entered the comm room, Capt. John Keller stood at the terminal looking nervous. Keller was a fine captain and had served in the first contact war. Mallory didn't think there was anything that could make him nervous.
"Staff Commander Mallory Shepard reporting as ordered, sir," Mallory recited as she saluted crisply.
"Come in Commander. We have a situation on Helyme in the Zelene System. It's in the Cresent Nebula. This is a very sensitive mission and must be conducted quickly and quietly," the captain explained pointing to the planet on the galaxy map.
"But sir, that's in the Terminus Systems. Alliance Military ships are not allowed to cross into Terminus space," Mallory stated. No wonder the captain was nervous. If this was a mission passed down by the brass, they were playing a very dangerous game.
"I know, but the mining facility there has been taken over by a mercenary group. The company that owns it has supplied the Alliance and other human colonies in the past with resources. It's a lot of political bull shit that I don't understand but that is the way it is. I want you to prepare a landing party, take however many men you think you might need, but they are not to wear anything that would signal that they're Alliance Marines. Do I make myself clear?" The captain looked extremely nervous to here her answer, and rightly so. This was no way for a soldier to conduct itself. If anyone asked, they were simply rendering aid to a facility that needed their help. Although, if the force controlling the facility was one of the larger mercenary groups, they could be in for a real fight and a political shit-storm.
"I'll have two squads ready to deploy upon arrival Captain. What's our ETA?"
"Three hours. Get them ready commander," Capt. Keller responded saluting. Mallory returned the salute before jogging from the comm room.
This was her chance. Her chance to show that she could command a ground team just as well as Claire could. She could be the hero for once rather than the Butcher of Torfan. If she could save those people, with little or no lose of her own men, then she would be well on her way to building a better reputation with the marines.
000
Mallory stood dumbstruck as she gazed about the facility. Civilians and mercenaries a like lay slaughtered across the floor of the main hallway and every room and corridor they had searched so far. Blood of nearly every shade decorated the walls like a cheap haunted house, but this time the bodies were real.
"Ma'am, I ran an analysis on the bodies and I found something kind of strange," the medic reported bringing up two separate sets of data on his omni-tool. Mallor y stepped to his side so she could read over his shoulder. "All the civilians that I found were all killed at least ten hours ago, but the mercs, they were all killed only about an hour ago. Judging from the wounds, I'd say it was a really well trained team. They were using biotics, drones, and military grade weapons. We must have just missed the team that cleared this place out."
Mallory removed her helmet and latched onto her belt. Did another unit get called in on this or had the company hired another merc group to do it for them? They needed to know if a new major player was in the Terminus. They already had blood Pack, Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Omega to worry abou, not to mention the Shadow Broker and all the corporation on Illium.
"I want this place searched. We know that Eclipse was the aggressor here, but I want to know who wiped them out," Mallory ordered as the group started checking bodies and desks.
Mallory wished they had an Alliance Investigator with them. They were paid to figure out things like this. Mallory made her way down the hall into the mainframe server room. She had picked up a few things from Kaidan about collecting data, but she still had a long way to go before she could be considered tech savvy with anything.
As she scrolled through the security tapes, most had been deleted but one small segment remained. A white shuttle with black and yellow markings landing on the pad and deploying eight heavily armored and well equipped soldiers. All the armor was white and black with yellow accents. She zoomed in on the photo and spotted a symbol on one of the soldiers' chests; the greek letter Alpha with a wolf head in the center. On the other side was a symbol that she had hoped never to see again.
"Cerberus." Mallory spat the name like it was poison. She had hoped that they had gotten rid of them during their mission against Saren, but it appeared that her hopes were short lived.
"Commander, we found something," one of the marines reported over the radio.
"Roger that, I'm on the way," Mallory responded.
How could Cerberus be here, and what was with the new symbol? Was it a new unit? A rogue faction? Were they extremists trying to frame Cerberus?
She made her way down the hall until she found a large open room with dozens of Eclipse mercs dead all across the room. Three of her marines gathered on the far side surrounding something. As Mallory approached, the men parted revealing an image etched into the metal column. As she stared at it, the familiarity of the image grew in her mind until she realized what it was. The pointed top, finger-like appendages off the bottom, and the message carved next to hit screamed one thing, Reaper. The message was short, 'Prepare yourselves.'
She photographed the image and looked back at her men. "Make sure to mention this in your debrief. We have to get this on record."
000
Luke sat at his terminal monitoring the distress channels and keeping an eye on the Alliance traffic. The operation on Helyme was a huge success. The Wolf Pack suffered no casualties, no one was even injured. The team had found a groove that everyone fit into in a few short weeks. All Luke wanted to do was find more missions to take them on, but nothing for Cerberus, rescue work, mercenary elimination, and missions that would help supply or support Claire when she woke up only.
"All gear is clean and stowed, Alpha. We thought we might hit the bar. Want to join?" Jacob reported leaning against the door frame.
"No time. I think I might have another mission. Small unit this time. Volunteers only," Luke responded typing a few notes on his omni-tool as his eyes set on a message coming over the intergalactic distress system.
"What's the mission?" Jacob asked.
"A freighter crashed on Neith, Amun System in the Eagle Nebula. Apparently, it started broadcasting a mayday after it crashed. Should be just a quick in an out mission. Nothing me and one or two others couldn't handle." Luke closed his terminal and locked it before making his way out of the small office.
The Wolf Pack stood silent in their uniforms waiting for Luke to give them the okay to leave. Luke felt awful taking a night that should be for celebrating and turning it into another mission, but he wanted to keep busy since progress on Claire was slow. They had only just started to grow the limbs that she lacked. He knew Claire would not be ready to wake up for a long time, so the least he could do was honor her and continue doing the kind of work she would do.
"I need two volunteers for a search and rescue op. I know we just got back from a merc ass kicking but this is a fresh call. Civilian freighter that crashed. We're just looking for survivors, investigating the crash for a cause, and looking for anything that can be salvaged. Who's in?" Luke announced. Gamma's hand immediately shot up followed closely by Sigma. "Great. Gamma, Sigma, suit up. The rest of you, take the night off and enjoy the bar."
"Wait, you don't want anyone else on standby?" Jacob asked stepping to Luke's side.
"No this is an easy mission. In and out maybe an hour or two. We'll be back in no time," Luke said turning to the lockers and waving for his two volunteers to follow.
"You know nothing ever goes to plan," Jacob shouted after him.
"That's why I'm not going alone," Luke replied.