Kaidan found Shepard on the starboard observation deck, watching as Earth became smaller and smaller in the sky. It was strange to see her brace herself on her forearms and lean her head against the glass, almost the exact same posture he had found himself in night after night, whenever he couldn't sleep. They stood there in silence, he in the shadows by the door, she leaning against the glass, for some time. Finally, he heard her ask in a small voice, "How could you leave him? How could you just leave him there, and not even think twice about it?"
"Because he told me to." Kaidan's eyebrows drew together, suddenly angry. "Do you think I wanted to? Do you think he didn't mean as much if not more to me than he did to you? He was the one who was there for me when you—when you went off to wherever you've been for two and a half goddamn years. But he believed that saving you was more important, or that he could do some good on Earth, or both, so he ordered me to save you at the cost of abandoning him."
She rounded on him. "'Wherever I went off to?' Kaidan, I died. I threw Joker in the pod, there was another explosion, and then I was in space, venting oxygen, hoping you—" she stopped suddenly, the muscles in her jaw clenching. "Doesn't matter. Whatever my death didn't destroy, my being alive apparently has."
"That's not fair and you know it," Kaidan shot back. They stood there glaring at each other, neither willing to concede their position. Shepard opened her mouth to say something, but Joker interrupted. "Commander? We're about twenty minutes from the relay. Do we have a destination?"
She straightened, and Kaidan watched in amazement as she put away all of her emotion and personality, becoming the cold commanding officer he had met on Horizon. It sent a chill through him to see that becoming the strange new person he didn't know was something she did consciously. She might still be the same Shepard he knew somewhere inside, but this new person was what she chose to be.
"Set a course for the Hourglass Nebula, Sowilo System. Time to pay Liara a visit. Also, please have Miranda, Garrus, and James meet me in the medical center." She turned back to Kaidan. "Come on, I want to introduce you to the rest of the crew."
"I'm pretty sure I've met everyone."
"I'm pretty sure not. Not if they all followed my orders."
They arrived to find Miranda and Garrus studying Vega, who was leaning against one of the beds, cleaning a bit of dirt from under his nails. Shepard nodded to her two officers, and they fell into line, flanking her and creating a barrier between Kaidan and Vega and the door to the server room. Kaidan's head dropped slightly to the side, puzzled. 'Does someone actually bunk in there?' he wondered. 'If so, I' m not surprised we haven't met. People do seem to tuck themselves away in all kinds of strange places on this ship.'
Shepard pressed the button and the door slithered open. At first, Kaidan didn't see anything, but then a large form unfolded from a resting place in the shadows, a single glowing eye appearing. Kaidan tried to throw it as hard as he could, but a biotic barrier sprang up in front of the Geth, and Shepard stepped between him and the machine.
"Shepard Commander," it said, the words formed somehow in a combination of clicking parts and whining electronics.
"James, Kaidan, this is Legion, a terminal of the non-heretic Geth," Shepard said, her careful gaze moving from one man to the other. "He is part of my crew. As such, while you are all here, you will find a way to get along. Am I clear?"
There was absolute silence. 'She cannot be serious,' Kaidan thought. 'No, this has to be one of those dreams. We will fight, it'll probably tear her apart, and any moment I will wake up and she'll still be on Earth…'
"I thought the Geth couldn't talk," James said, eyeing it. "And…why does it have a piece of N7 armor welded to its chest?"
"It is 'inefficient' for them to speak in our language. It isn't like anyone has ever had the chance to stop and ask them before," Shepard said, a wry little smile turning up one corner of her mouth. "Anyway, when I died, apparently there were several factions fighting over my body. The Shadow Broker, who was working for the Collectors and thus ultimately for the Reapers, Cerberus, and the non-heretic Geth. Presumably, Legion used a piece of my armor to patch himself up in the field, though he has 'no data' as to why my armor specifically."
Kaidan's shock finally wore off. "Never mind that it can talk. What the hell is it doing on this ship, Shepard? It is a danger to the entire crew!"
"Odds are that if Legion had meant to do us harm, then he would have taken advantage of Commander Shepard's absence to do so," EDI said, her blue holographic head appearing on a console as she chimed in.
"Besides, Legion is a valuable ally, and gains us valuable allies for this war," Shepard added coolly. "This is EDI, the ship's AI." She shot a look at Kaidan that dared him to argue with her. "Her loyalty is not in question, either."
"An AI and a goddamn Geth?" Kaidan nearly yelled. "I thought it couldn't get worse than you working for Cerberus. Honestly Shepard, have you completely lost you mind?"
"They have saved out lives more times than you know," Miranda said quietly in an attempt to ease the anger they could all see building in Shepard, but the commander had built herself into a fine rage.
"If anyone on this ship attempts to harm any member of my crew, I will put them off on the next planet we come across, and I will not stop to ask if the locals are friendly. Is that perfectly clear?" she asked, absolute authority punctuating every word, making Vega stand at attention.
"Yes ma'am," he replied. Shepard studied him a moment, nodded, and turned to Kaidan, her frown deepening when he didn't say anything. "I mean it, Alenko," she said, and Kaidan reeled as if he has been slapped. She never called him Alenko. He nodded stiffly, anger and hurt constricting his throat.
"Good. Miranda, please get a message to Arcturus Station. Send them any data EDI managed to collect while the Normandy was on Earth. Garrus, you can make sure James is settled. I'm going to see if Grunt wants to play."
AN: Thank you everyone who has put this story on your favorite list or signed up for alerts. I hope you are enjoying my guilty pleasure. I have already planned out the general content of the chapters, but do let me know what you've liked, what could stand to be improved, and what you're looking forward to!
