Jonathan enjoyed talking to his crew. It was something he thought gave his troops a sense of loyalty, and in turn made the mission go a bit smoother. 'Show your troops that you really care and that you are all in it together' had easily become one of his mottos as a Commander.
He had made his rounds talking to his newfound crewmates. He hadn't forgot about all the old ones, but he made sure to take his time talking to the newest recruits, Keenah and Tali. On the surface, Keenah seemed like a pretty plain guy. After talking to him a bit, however, Jon felt like he got a glimpse into who he really was. Keenah's pilgrimage was a heartwarming adventure; one that taught him a very valuable lesson. He had been working for a ship junker, trying to make a few credits every day, barely making enough to survive.
His employer was a crotchety old man who always had a rock-hard and bitter outlook on everything. Keenah had inadvertently touched his heart anyway. He was always to work on time, never complained, and was always willing to help the old man in any way he could. The old man eventually began to look at him as his own son.
One day the old man got drunk and as he did, he started getting sentimental. He began to dwell on the fact that his life was nearing completion and that all he had ever done was shut people out. Keenah sat down besides the old man and began to talk to him. Keenah told him all about his people, his life on the Flotilla, about his ancestry and their beliefs. He felt that even though the old man seemed bitter and distant on the outside, on the inside he was just scared to let anyone in.
This resonated with the old man; he made a choice to change his life. He didn't want to be alone anymore; he planned to close his junkyard and go back to the family he had estranged himself from years prior. Before he left, he decided to say some passing words to the young pilgrim.
"Thank you boy, for everything," the old man said, handing him a credit chit with 10,000 credits on it.
"Sir I can't take this… It's too much!" Keenah protested, trying to hand him back the chit.
"No listen here. You have earned every single credit on this chit. What you have given me, it's much more valuable than some credits. You gave me my life back. Oh, by the way, name's Jackson," The old man smiled a heartwarming smile before leaving the old junkyard, stopping a couple paces out to take one last look at the place.
"Goodbye, Jackson," Keenah smiled behind his visor. He felt better than he ever had in his life. It was time to go home.
Jonathan sat at the bar, mulling over everything Keenah had told him, his thoughts eventually drifting towards Tali. When he first met her, two lines of thought crossed his mind: she's a scared young woman, and that she had an amazing body on her that he hoped to explore. The latter of the two thoughts, Jon figured, was just a passing lust that would subside, once he had finished rubbing one out. Despite this, his curiosity burned with even more fire than before. "Why do I even want to know more about her," Jonathan thought to himself. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had met her somewhere before, accompanied by a sense of comfort; a sense of home. Perhaps that's the reason he enjoyed being near her so much. Whatever the reason, he decided it may be best to distance himself from her a bit, lest he make an utter fool of himself.
From Tali, his thoughts drifted to the war. The war. No matter what he did, the things he had seen in that war continued to haunt him. He had lost a lot of good friends in that war; seen a lot of civilians and fellow soldiers massacred. Whenever he found himself remembering that god forsaken war, he found himself wanting to forget it, found himself at the bar.
He stared down into his whiskey, the bottle it originated from not far away. He had already had a few drinks, and decided that although drinking sometimes helped him, it wasn't going to make all the bad go away. In his drunken state, he made his way to the elevator, finger inches away from the button that would take him to his quarters, when he decided to make a quick detour to the mess. Figured he could get himself a cup of decaf to sober him up a bit before he passed out. Sitting down, after finally managing to pour himself a cup, he realized that he wasn't alone. Across from him, sat a figure he recognized belonged to a quarian, two small glowing orbs staring at him.
Deciding the break the silence, he spoke up: "What's wrong, Tali? Couldn't sleep?"
"Yeah, I guess I'm just having a hard time adjusting to the new environment." Tali said, looking at Jon. "I guess I'm just worried because my pilgrimage hasn't exactly gone as planned. Most people would tell me just to give it up, that it doesn't matter anyway so I don't really need to worry about completing it. They don't understand it, what it means to me." The ship hummed quietly, almost to where it was silent.
"I understand, well. I would like to think that I do in some way. It's about honoring your past, your ancestry. Remembering where you came from so you never forget where you are going," Jon said looking straight ahead of him, eventually looking down into his dim reflection in the coffee.
"Yeah, that's… right. No one else ever really understood. I'm glad someone else gets it, at least a bit." Tali smiled behind her visor. The conversation she was having with Jonathan now was pleasant. She was glad that there was more to him than just raw sex appeal, or the coy nature he put forward. It made him more interesting. She couldn't help but wonder what else there was to the man.
Some time passed, and they continued to make small talk as the ship kept humming away silently. The hum was soothing to Jonathan, waging a war of attrition against the increasingly weary soldier's will to sleep, which of course began to win once he started moving.
"Well Tali, I'm going to bed. Please try to get some sleep, seeing as we touch down on Mars in 6 hours. Sounds like it is going to be a busy day." With that, Jon went back to his quarters, considerably sobered up and quickly passed out.
…
The next day, Shepard reported to the cargo bay bright and early, where he was given a quick briefing regarding their delivery of the artifact. It was going to be a standard drop off procedure. Bring it there and leave. Jonathan wasn't quite sure where they would be heading off to next but he was nonetheless eager to prove his N7 eligibility.
Stepping off the ship and onto the Mars landing platform, Jonathan was mesmerized by the beauty of the planet. Large scale terraforming efforts were always underway to turn the barren rock into a lush garden world, and looking around; he could see the efforts were paying off. It was gorgeous.
The Alliance needed it to look good, because it had essentially become the galactic center for research. As a gesture of good will, the Alliance had poured billions of credits into making Mars a haven for scientists and engineers alike. After the First Contact War, they felt like such a measure was needed to improve their standing with the rest of the galaxy. They invited scientists from all over the galaxy to take up residence there, where they would be largely undisturbed by the outside, non-scientific community. Although the planet was still largely regulated, it was a melting pot for scientists of all species.
Jonathan had only ever been here once before, and he felt that he would never get sick of seeing it in his lifetime. His musings were interrupted by an asari, who politely coughed to get his attention. Seeing him snap out of his musings, she chuckled lightly. "Hello, I am Doctor Liara T'Soni, and you are?" She politely held out her hand, and he quickly shook it. "Name's Jonathan Shepard, Alliance engineer and soldier. We got a package to deliver here for you." He tapped a few holographic buttons on his omni-tool as the beacon slowly descended onto the platform, being suspended by a little flat circular hovercraft that Jonathan had designed and constructed himself. Liara's face lit up a bit in surprise when she seen the way the beacon was brought off the ship.
"You make that yourself Jonny?" Keenah clasped Jon's shoulder as he, Tali, and Kaidan made their way down onto the platform.
"Yeah it's a handy little piece of hardware I cooked up by subjecting the eezo within to a very light electrical current. Clockwise current to raise it, counterclockwise to lower it and if you…," Jonathan began to passionately explain how it worked before he cut himself off and noticed that they were all staring at him. Breaking into an embarrassed grin, he briefly ran his fingers through his hair before coughing and urging the doctor to lead them on. Liara again let out a chuckle, very subtly checking Jonathan out, before speaking again. "I'm surprised that you did not attend Mars University. A bright man like you surely would have gotten in without a hitch." Jonathan, ever the modest man simply shook his head, "No, I joined up with the Alliance as soon as I could, and I ended up attending Shanxi after the war. When I go for my Master's, I hope to get admitted here," Jonathan said. Liara smiled at him, "Well, I look forward to that day, Shepard." Jonathan didn't really notice the doctor's subtle enthusiasm at the prospect of him attending University there, but Tali did and she couldn't help but furrow her brow behind her visor.
The facility that they were entering was one located within the southern hemisphere of Mars. This facility was particularly focused on research regarding everything left behind by the Protheans. The architecture of the facility itself seemed to emulate the Protheans in every aspect that their technology and understanding of them would allow. Jonathan felt breathless as he entered, marveling at it all.
Every door they passed contained something as they walked down the long corridor to the doctor's lab. In one, biologists were studying Prothean genetic structure, while others contained engineers attempting to reverse engineer various artifacts. Jonathan couldn't help but feel envious as he continued to follow Liara, but he had no regrets about joining the military.
As the beacon was brought into and gently placed within Liara's lab, Jonathan carefully removed his device from underneath the beacon moments before it was sat down on the ground. Liara immediately began to eagerly examine the beacon, scrunching her face in contemplation as she continued.
"The beacon has been badly damaged." Liara observed, gazing over at them inquisitively.
Running his fingers through his hair, Jonathan chuckled and began to explain what had happened and what the beacon had showed him. "I'm sure that if you wanted to interface with it directly, you could get one more use out of it before it would be destroyed completely," Jonathan suggested looking at Liara.
"Shepard, I'm not sure if that's a great idea," Kaidan quipped, grinning at him.
Liara jumped in stepping away from the beacon and closer to the four. "Yeah, as much as I would enjoy doing that, it's best that we try to extract the data from it through other, less dangerous means first. Though I must admit, I find it quite remarkable that you were able to handle it at all. You must be remarkably strong-willed. Shepard." Liara purred out seductively, as she stepped closer to Jonathan, sliding her hand down his forearm.
It took all the willpower Tali had not to slap Liara's arm off of him. He wasn't her boyfriend or anything, so she wondered why Liara's swooning had made her so upset. Much to her elation, Liara soon backed off, returning her attention to the beacon. Kaidan gave Shepard a quick grin.
They stayed there for an hour more, giving Liara a detailed explanation of what had occurred and the visions that Jonathan had seen, before bidding her farewell and returning to their ship.
They then left the Martian atmosphere and began their two-hour journey to Arcturus Station. Koris hadn't informed Jonathan the reasoning behind the journey to Arcturus, but he was still excited to see the heart of the Alliance government once more.
The trip was short and Jonathan spent it playing soccer down in the cargo bay with the Kaidan, Keenah, and the rest of the ship's crew. After some small convincing, they even managed to get Tali to play. Shepard, Tali and half the crew made up one team, Kaidan, Keenah and the rest of the crew made up the other. The game lasted an hour and a half with Shepard's team coming out on top by one point. Kaidan's team, being the good sports they were, remarked on how close the game was and demanded a rematch shortly.
Shortly after, they arrived at Arcturus Station. Jonathan never got tired of staring at the massive station through the observation windows, though Kaidan and Keenah got a chuckle at his expense every time, calling him a man-child. Even Tali managed to get in on the fun, much to Jonathan's delight. He felt that she was alienating herself from the group which had him slightly worried.
Proceeding to the second floor of the ship, they found Koris and Anderson, already waiting for them by the main airlock of the ship. The two of them led the way through the busy station at a brisk pace, though that didn't stop Jonathan from admiring the scenery. They arrived at a large area, very akin to the Presidium on the Citadel and took an elevator down, presumably to a level that was normally restricted, and was it a massive one.
They finally stopped moving once they reached an office, stepping inside Hackett, Doctor Xen, and Jonathan's mother Admiral Hannah Shepard were waiting for them. With a very dry cough Jonathan said, "Hey… mom… nice to see you."
Hackett chuckled as Hannah accepted a hug from her son, "Well it's about damn time I see you again, you never contact me anymore. Honestly, even too busy for you own mother?" she said feigning disappointment. "However, a family meet-and-greet isn't why we're here today." Hannah motioned to the two quarians behind him forward, "I hear that you extracted something important from a geth."
Stepping forward, Tali acknowledged that they did and with a few taps on her omni-tool, she played the audio file she extracted.
"Eden Prime was a major victory, the beacon has brought us one step closer to the conduit." Saren's husky, turian voice was unmistakable, but was soon joined by another, smoother voice. "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."
The room went silent after the file was played. Hackett finally broke the silence, speaking up grimly. "We got a rogue Spectre on our hands here, and with his reach and freedom of operation, he presents a very clear threat. We need to present this to the Council so we can take him down immediately. We cannot have him assisting the Reapers, and putting the galaxy in grave danger. Whether the Council believes us or not, he needs to be taken down. We are going to send an N7 to the council along with the evidence." Hackett stared directly and Jonathan, and shortly after the rest of the eyes in the room looked at him too.
"What, I'm not an N…." he began to speak but silenced himself after his realization." I thought we had more missions to complete first before I was allowed into the N7?" he questioned Anderson.
"Son you handled that mission flawlessly, and proved to us that you are N7 material. Plus, the situation has changed. Think of this as another test. Of course, you are going to need your own ship and crew, but it looks like you already have the beginnings of your crew fleshed out. We already have a crew that would assist you in day-to-day operations aboard the Normandy assembled and ready to depart." Anderson put his hand on Jonathan's shoulder.
Jonathan shot him a look, "Normandy?"
Doctor Xen stepped forward and said with a smile; "Jonathan let me show you to our newest frigate, the Normandy." With that they got out of their seats and followed Doctor Xen to a massive hanger.
The paint job was a sleek, breath taking black and the ship looked like it was built to withstand just about anything. Doctor Xen continued to explain the ships cutting edge tech, and Jonathan being the engineering fanatic that he was could barely contain his excitement as they shifted to talk about the ships propulsion system; the warp drive. This peaked Tali's interest, too and even behind the mask one could tell she was practically drooling. "You cannot use the warp drive within the vicinity of the Citadel or other major locations in Council space, unless it is an absolute emergency. Showing off this kind of tech, is going to attract some greedy eyes," Doctor Daro'Xen warned them with a very firm tone.
Eventually, Koris interrupted them, finally having had enough 'nerding out' and urged a tour of the ship was in order. Unfortunately for him, the 'nerd-fest' only intensified once they got inside and got down to specifics, which obviously gave a great amount of enjoyment to everyone else.
…
Tali all but demanded to work with the drive core, to which Jonathan happily agreed. They met engineering Chief Adams, who was more than happy to greet his newest member of his engineering crew. The tour concluded when she introduced Jonathan to his helmsman.
"Pleased to be at your service, Commander," Joker said with a wry smile.
"Couldn't have been anyone else but you, Joker?" Jonathan retorted with his own wry smile.
"Ahh, come on Commander. We both know you would have gotten lonely without me," Joker laughed and with that turned back to the ship's controls, as he was familiarizing himself with the controls.
"Well Shepard, the ship is yours and your mission is clear. Before you go, however, due to the nature of your mission, we must ask something of you and your crew. Please report to Titan Hospital to undergo our anti-indoctrination injections, as well as psych evals and the like," Hackett said to him, tone serious. "In addition to that, we will present you with your new N7 armor," Hackett finally finished before he urged them to follow him to the medical facility.
…
3 days later, the Normandy's crew had reported to Titan Hospital and were once again aboard the Normandy, preparing her for her maiden voyage.
"All systems nominal, Commander," Joker reported over the intercom.
"Engine holding steady, Commander," Adams reported as well.
"Space: The final frontier
These are the voyages of the Starship, Enterprise
Its 5-year mission:
To explore strange new worlds,
To seek out new life and new civilizations,
To boldly go where no man has gone before," Jonathan spoke over the intercom, trying his best to stifle his laugh. He had always wanted to say that. Joker groaned in response, muttering something under his breath.
"Alright Joker make course for the Citadel, we got a rogue Spectre to start hunting down." Jonathan couldn't help but feel that this was the start of something big.
"No more Star Trek quotes, Commander?" Joker chided.
"Well…" Jonathan began.
"I had to ask!" Joker groaned loudly over the intercom.
A/N: One thing I need to make clear is that the events that are taking place in the present are effectively 20 or so years after the First Contact war and by this time a lot of the hatred has faded between turians and humans, and in fact thy are often very close. Also yes, Admiral Xen is no longer an Admiral; she left that to pursue her passion of scientific research.
I changed the way I am portraying Jonathan and Tali. I didn't want Jonathan to be some smug, coy piece of man candy. I wanted him to be an eager, enthusiastic young engineer and soldier on the biggest adventure of his life. He is not without flaws though. Tali is a bit more of a loner but that makes some sense regarding her childhood from canon ME but she is starting to warm up to the crew and Jonathan, discovering that there is much more to him. In future chapters I will certainly develop the romance between the two extensively.
B/N: Hey everyone, Random here. Just wanna say that I'm hoping everyone's liking where Ellie and I are going with this, and if anyone has any advice or suggestions toward the story, let us know in a review, or a PM!
