Chapter 19
"Well, well," Gary Stannis said, rubbing his brow when the camera returned to him, "that was quite the show."
"You said it, Gary," Carolyn stated with a forced smile. The wavy blond turned to look at the camera directly. "Already, statements from both members of the audience at the hearing of Krishen Jaervo and those who watched live are pouring in and flooding the extranet's social outlets. Admiral John Shepard and the Normandy squad's newest escapade was always expected to make its rounds, but we are seeing a near unprecedented response, rivaling that of Shepard's original induction into the SpecTRes."
The camera returned to Gary Stannis, who was forcing a grin as well. "Details are scarce at the moment, but we can be sure that the situation will not remain that way for long. Stay tuned to Alliance News Network as we continue our coverage on-" He was cut off when the TV was deactivated by Gary.
"Bunch of tabloid jackasses," he snided.
"Gary!" Dawn reprimanded him. "That was really important!"
"Oh, come on, Dawn," he threw the remote onto the couch, "we all know they're just trying to cover up all the crap that's really going on. They didn't even mention everything that's going on in the Terminus. Even the Council hardly acknowledged it."
"He's right, you know," Brock added. "It seems that the Council tried to dissolve the trial before things got out of hand. I'll bet they didn't like Jaervo making a big case over the whole thing in the Terminus."
"The galaxy's," Misty said, "trust in the Council is obviously not stable to say the least, so it's only in their best interest, regardless of how moral it actually is, to try and smooth over the situation in any way possible."
"I think we have bigger concerns now," Ash said.
Eyebrow raised and arms crossed, Gary asked, "And what would that be?"
"Shepard's leaving for the Relay soon, and we've got to find a way to go with them."
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Dawn asked. "Not that I don't want to go on a major scientific expedition, but we're not exactly soldiers. We don't have training, weapons or armor. Why would they take us?"
"When we first met him, my father was convinced that something major and likely terrible was about to happen. I've had more than enough time to think over the whole thing, and I'll admit, it wasn't exactly easy to accept the fact that Arceus was my dad, or even that I have a dad, but as I thought about it, it started to make more sense."
"Meaning?" Brock asked.
"Well, even you guys could never have thought that all our adventures were just coincidence. C'mon, we've met more Legendaries than anyone at least I've ever heard of. What 'Arc' said made sense," he paused, his head dipped slightly, "I guess my heritage would tie me to those Legendaries. I can barely understand it myself, but I just know that we've gotta be there when the Normandy sets off."
His little speech was enough to leave the room quiet for a minute, his friends appearing to be in the midst of pondering words. For a moment, Ash thought he might've said something wrong; maybe got a bit too idealistic and carried away, that is, until he felt a smooth and light hand lace his fingers. It was Misty's, naturally, who gave him the same supportive yet slightly cocky grin he had grown so fond of. It was only in recent months that he gained a newfound respect for her face and the many expressions it could make. There was something about the contours of her features in tangent with the framing of her hair that practically intoxicated him. Getting to wake up to her contented smile was a gift in itself.
"Well," Misty said, "of course, I'm right behind you, Ash. That is, if we even get to go with them."
"Always the realist, aren't you?" Ash asked.
"I try."
"Count me in," Brock added. "No way I'm gonna let you go on another epic adventure without me." Ash couldn't stop the child-like smile that sneaked to his face.
Dawn stood up from her seat, placing her hands on her hips in determination. "I wouldn't miss this journey for the world, Ash," she said. "I'm ready for deep-space travel when you are."
Gary stood up as well, unfurling his arms and adopting a conceited smirk. "Gonna need someone to watch your ass out there," he snided, "so I'm all for it."
"Great, guys," Ash said, standing up to join his friends. "So, who's ready to finally get off this station and go save the galaxy?" His response was cheers from both his friends and Pokemon. "Alright," Ash said, making a fist, "when we get the news from Shepard, we're gonna make sure he takes us with 'em." He turned around to look out the window into the city. "Let's go become space marines," he said, then the video phone rang.
The ride back to Shepard's apartment had been far less exuberant than the previously described party. The Admiral drove in almost complete silence with Miranda in the passenger seat beside him. She knew better than to press him on the matter, at least at the moment. Miranda primarily kept her eyes forward, but her mind was like a hurricane, constantly trying to process a thousand thoughts and feelings, the latter of which was still a partially foreign concept to the almost robitcally logical woman. When she would sneak in a quick gaze at Shepard, his expression never changed from the same glare into the middle distance. He hardly blinked or checked his mirrors, even seemingly breathing less. Miranda had rarely seen John so visibly stressed, not since before the Battle of London, and she knew full well that there was very little if anything in her power she could do to relieve him, regardless of how much she wanted to.
Arriving at the apartment complex, they got out of the car as silently as they had ridden in it, and walked with a brisk pace to the penthouse, with Shepard maintaining the same steely glare he had worn since leaving the Council Chamber. Miranda's caring had now mixed with annoyance and she knew that she had to something about it.
"Shepard?" she said to grab his attention, stopping in her tracks in the middle of the hallway.
"What?" he asked curtly.
"I just want you to know," she said slowly, "I'm proud of how you handled the hearing. You did well, just like I knew you would."
Shepard smiled sadly before responding. "Whatever I did, it didn't exactly heal the Council peoples' divide. I was too focused on putting Jaervo behind bars, that I never even tried to relieve the situation with the politicians. I could've done more," he said morose, "I should've done more."
Miranda lightly touched his shoulder, and peered into his eyes with a consoling glare. "You may be a living legend," she said, "but you're still human, just like the rest of us."
"Never thought I'd hear you say something like that."
"If I can learn to accept my humanity," she started walking down the rest of the hall, "then so can you." Moments later, the door to the penthouse was in front of them. Shepard immediately noticed that the door didn't automatically open, which was abnormal.
"Maybe it's stuck," he said. Miranda was confused as well. Shepard tried to open the door manually by pressing the holo-button, but was only answered with a negatory beep.
"What the hell?" Shepard said.
"Password," responded an inhumanly deep voice.
"What's going on?" Miranda asked. "Is that-?"
"Password," the same voice cut her off. Catching on, to a certain extent, to what was happening, Shepard smirked.
"Urdnot's the strongest clan."
"Correct," came the voice, sounding this time almost jovial. "Come in." The door opened, revealing a large Krogan in blue and white armor standing in the doorway. Shepard and Miranda immediately recognized him.
"Grunt!" Shepard said with arms out. "What are you doing here?"
"Pranking you," Grunt deadpanned. "Everyone else thought it would be funny."
"Everyone else?" Miranda asked.
Suddenly, the entire Normandy squad, including the Pallet group, popped out from behind the various furniture, all shouting in unison "Surprise!" And a surprise indeed it was.
"What's all this?" Shepard asked as he walked into the foyer.
Coming out from behind the sofa and holding a beer, Garrus handed Shepard the bottle and said, "Admiral, the Normandy is setting out for its last mission tomorrow, meaning it's the last night of shore leave," obviously already having had a bit of drink, Garrus continued saying, "and we're all gonna have a damn good time to close it out!" Cheers and "here-here!"s roared throughout the apartment as the squad congregated in the foyer, exchanging greetings.
Suddenly, a larger, older Krogan in rusty red armor came out of the kitchen, smiling and saying, "Shepard!"
"Wrex!" Shepard responded, reaching to shake his hand "Good to see you again."
"You too, Admiral. You too. Quite the party your friends cooked up. We'll have to catch up when you get the chance; it's been too long, kid."
"Likewise." The Pallet group came up behind the team rather sheepishly, staying quiet while some music started playing throughout the apartment.
Shepard and friends caught sight of the teens awkwardly standing behind the rest, and the Admiral decided it best to make them feel a bit more welcome.
"Hey, guys," he said, smiling and raising his beer, "you get all caught up in this too?" The awkward feeling they shared was beginning to fade with the welcoming smiles of the Normandy squad.
"Liara called us about an hour ago," Dawn spoke up, always being one a bit of a social butterfly, "and just told us to come over immediately."
"When we got here," Ash added, "they told us all about your next mission, and said they wanted to throw a party to send you all off, and that they wanted us all to make an appearance."
"Good thinking," Shepard said. "These crazies treat you guys right?"
"Are you kidding?" Gary responded. "They've been great! Feels good to get out of the apartment for a while."
"Glad to hear it. Well, let's not just stand around. Let's get this in gear." Shepard took a drink of beer, and the party then seemed to officially start.
It did not take long for the group to begin mingling, such as Dawn having a long chat with Liara and EDI about advanced science, the azure haired teen staring bug eyed in amazement at all the information. Gary joined them not too long after, his scientific curiosity getting the best of him, though his normally more informed conversations were not quite up to par after having a couple beers, or "space booze" as he referred to them. Even some of the Pokemon got in on the action, with Specialist Samantha Trainor taking a considerable liking to Pikachu, who found her lap to be more the satisfactory. Misty found herself in interesting yet endearing company with Miranda, Jack, and Tali, who's conversation covered a bevy of topics, from inter-planetary politics to contemporary beauty products. Brock naturally gravitated to the more rowdy guys, growing rowdier with time.
Ash, however, knew that he would have to discuss the matter of accompaniment on the Normandy on the mission with Shepard, a conversation he was more than a little apprehensive about. He figured it would be advantageous to wait until Shepard had had a few before getting him to talk. Shady? Possibly, but he couldn't think of any better ideas. A couple hours passed, and Ash managed to pull himself from the fun of a card game, deciding to finally catch up with the Admiral. Walking through the foyer, Ash noticed a familiar tightening in his gut; he was still a little nervous, but he knew what he had to do. Shepard was busily chatting with Kaidan and Wrex, while the latter two slurred every few words. The island they were standing at was covered in half-empty wine bottles, dishes, and other food items, all of which had been surprisingly good to Ash, who had not lost his famous appetite since his childhood years.
"You guys seem to be having fun," Ash remarked as he made his way into the little group.
"I'll bet you've been too," said Kaidan. "Shepard here may be a hard-ass marine, but he sure knows how to throw a party."
"You're too kind, Alenko," Shepard said sarcastically.
"Oh, I know, but it's still true, Command- oh, I mean, Admiral."
"Look at this one," Wrex motioned towards the human clumsily, "can't hold his liquor enough to even get his CO's rank right. You'll never see a Krogan get that way after only...how many have you had, Kaidan?"
"Four."
"After only four!" Well, this was turning out rather pleasant.
"So, kid" Wrex addressed Ash, "you're one of the 'other dimension' groups, right? Now, I've heard a lot of crazy stories in my life, and seen things you could hardly imagine-"
"Try me," Ash retorted confidently.
"Oh, this one's got a mouth, Shepard. Good, at least someone here's got some backbone."
"Are you implying," Shepard inquired, "that we, my crew and I, that is, the same crew that you felt with for a year, stopped Saren, the Collectors, and cured the Genophage, doesn't have backbone?"
"Not at all," said the huge reptilian beast, "I'm just making note that the tot's got guts."
"Tot?" Ash asked. "I'm eighteen."
"And I'm over four-hundred," said Wrex.
"Oh."
"Now, back to what I was saying. I haven't heard much of your story, Ketchum, but what I have heard is very interesting. Care to enlighten me?"
"It'd be my pleasure," Ash said, his confidence turning to cockiness.
"Come to think of it," Shepard added, "none of us no much about you guys before the Reaper. I'd like to hear some too."
"Count me intrigued as well," Kaidan butted in.
"Okay, okay," Ash said. "I guess I've got a few stories to tell."
Quickly, their conversation turned into a sharing of stories among the three men, which soon turned to four then five. As more and more people came in to tell their sides of the various adventures, thy moved into the living room, and spent the next hour discussing their respective journeys. Both groups ended up becoming a bit closer in light of the Pallet group's recent relative isolation, but soon, Ash remembered the very reason he had tried to talk to Shepard, and as the storytellings wrapped up, the teen took the initiative to talk to the Admiral.
Before Shepard could get distracted again, Ash quickly tapped him on the shoulder. "Shepard," he said.
"Ash, those were quite the adventures you had. Almost rivals some of mine."
"Yeah, thanks," Ash said quickly, "but there is something I really need to talk to you about."
"Sounds important."
"It is." Alright, here we go. "Can we speak in private for a minute?"
"Sure." Shepard led him to a lounging area on the upper floor. and they sat down at two couches with a coffee table in between. "What's up?"
"Well, first," Maybe I should butter him up a bit first. Can't be too careful. "I wanted to say that you actually did really well at the hearing today. Can't imagine something like that was easy, but you handled it about as well as anyone could, I'd say."
"Well, thanks," Shepard said, wondering just where this was actually going.
"Also, I wanted to ask you about your next mission."
"Oh? Do tell, er, ask." Good, the drinks getting to him, Ash thought. This might end up being easy.
"Remember back when we first meet, and you met my father, Arceus?"
"That's not the kind of thing you forget easily, so yes."
"And he said that we would get tied up in some dimensional hero business, or something like that?"
"I do," Shepard raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I wanted to ask, if it's okay with you," Here goes nothing, "if my friends and I could go with you on your mission to find the Salarian ship."
Shepard's eyebrow remained raised, even as he looked down at his drink in thought. Ash wasn't normally a patient man, and the waiting was almost more than he could bare. The Admiral slowly looked from his glass to the young man in front of him.
"None of you are exactly trained, Ash," he deadpanned. This didn't sound like the beginning to the response Ash had wanted. "I don't want you to become a liability."
"Trust me, we won't. You've heard all the stuff we've done, it's not like we haven't defied death before. Besides, you'd have a bunch of superpowered monsters on your side too."
"True, but how well do you think they'll do if they get hit by a gun?"
"Depends on the pokemon, I guess." Shepard still didn't look convinced.
"I don't know, Ash," he said.
"So, you were just gonna leave us here then?" Ash pressed. "Thought we'd just sit tight for god knows how long while you're all off doing my dad's work?"
"Hey," Shepard said, considerably louder and sterner this time, "don't go getting defensive with me, Ash. I'm well aware of what your father tasked us with, and don't think I haven't thought about it, but the truth is I just haven't thought of a good solution. You may have had your fair share of adventures, but you've never fought in a war. You don't need to get mixed up in the politics of my world."
Ash rose form his seat. "This is about more than just your world!" he proclaimed, taking Shepard aback slightly. "My home town got blown to hell just a few weeks ago, people I knew died, vaporized by a giant robot bug. Whatever's going on out there, it involves a lot more than just the political shitstorm that is the Citadel. My friends and I don't want just another adventure, we want to help people, save people, keep whatever happened back home from happening anywhere else. That's why we want to go, Shepard: we want to stop a war, not charge into one." Shepard stared into Ash's large, dark eyes for a moment, his face colder than stone. Ash immediately thought he may have gotten carried away, then Shepard rose form his seat, and Ash thought he looked taller than usual, more intimidating.
Shepard exhaled slowly, then said, "You're not soldiers, Ketchum, but you sure do have the spirit of one." Ash's spirits lifted a bit. "If you can follow orders to a 't', do exactly as you're all told, then we just might find some use for you." Ash couldn't help but smile. "Okay, wipe that dumb grin off your face and tell your friends to not get too drunk. We leave at 0800 sharp. Get moving."
"Thanks, Shepard, er, sir!" Ash stuttered, performing a sloppy salute before running back downstairs to the foyer, leaving Shepard alone, or so he thought, before a voice spoke up form behind him.
"You're really taking them with us?" Miranda asked, coming out from behind the corner.
"You're really eavesdropping?"
"You get some of the best information form eavesdropping, Shepard, you should know that. And I think I've just proved my statement."
"Look, I know you're mad, Miri-"
"I'm not mad, John," she interrupted, "just...concerned. They're nice kids, all of them, no doubting it, but you said yourself that they're not trained a bit."
"Relax, I didn't plan on throwing them into a firefight."
"But who says they won't still end up in one?" That was a point Shepard couldn't ignore.
"Sometimes I forget how insightful you can be."
"I'm aware, and I don't take much pleasure in having to remind you. I have no problem with taking them along, and I doubt the crew will as well, but do be careful, John. Don't expect much from them."
"I won't. Promise."
The party continued a little while longer, and Shepard formally made the announcement of the Pallet group's "inductment" into the Normandy crew, something the crew did take to considerably well, but from that point on, the party had a slightly less jubilant atmosphere to it. Space was calling, and one never knows just what they will find when they reach for the stars.