Anya entered the mess hall and came to a sudden stop as she saw what was there. Crado bumped into her and then froze as well. The hall was packed. And not just with Turians.
"To the Captains Solinus!" Chief Mudok called from the side. "Long may they be together!"
A cheer sounded from many throats as all of the assembled beings saluted. All wore distinctive red and black armor. Anya had selected those colors for the team during the war, to form esprit de corps and because the colors were distinctive. It was always easy to tell where the team was on the battlefield, especially on places like Noveria. Any armor with the proper gear could change colors at any time, for camouflage. But Reapers rarely used the visual spectrum. Armor had jammers built in of course, so colors mattered very little. Except to make people feel like part of a team, part of something greater than themselves. It had been...interesting convincing various people to use the colors, but it HAD worked. Even the Krogan had eventually taken part. Indeed, the final colors had been a Krogan idea. They liked the intimidating look.
"Chief?" Anya asked slowly. "How the hell...?" She stammered, looking at all the smiling faces around her. Humans, Batarians, Asari, Krogan, even... She paused. "Raan'ita?" She asked, incredulous. "Is that you?"
"Hello Captain." The female Quarian wearing what looked like a Quarian exo suit without a face plate said with a smile. "It is good to see you." She said as she came up to where Anya and Crado stood, stunned.
"Things... have changed..." Anya said slowly as she looked the other female over. The Quarian's eyes were glowing, indeed, everyone's were. But this was the medic she had known. "Your immune system?" She asked cautiously.
"I am taking several enhancements. But I can be without the helmet for some time now. I had some help strengthening my immune system." The Quarian that Anya had known as Raan'ita vas Orenli replied. "And someone would like to talk to you." She opened her omni tool interface and a Geth's head appeared on the screen.
"Captain Anya." The Geth said in the mechanical tone that their kind used. But it was familiar. "I am pleased to see you corporeal again. While I cannot be there in person, I wanted to send my well wishes and the well wishes of the Consensus to you and Captain Crado." Anya froze.
"T-9-001?" Any asked, feeling a bit faint. "Is that you?"
"Yes, Captain." The machine intelligence said quietly. "My hardware is in storage aboard the Merciful Flight and I reside currently within Captain Raan'ita's secondary suit processor."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Anya said, holding up a hand in a 'pause' gesture. "Merciful Flight? Captain?" Raan'ita nodded, her face grave.
"The Merciful Flight is my ship." Raan'ita replied evenly. "My name is Raan'ita vas Merciful Flight now. Joruz is my XO. He wanted to come, but we had to leave SOMEONE to mind the place. We have three cases still in recovery."
"Huh?" Anya asked slowly. "A hospital ship?"
"Yes." Raan'ita said with a smile. "She was an Alliance cruiser. After the war ended, she was going to be scrapped. There was nothing wrong with the ship." The youthful captain protested. She shook her head. "I asked for the ship, would have paid for it. Then T-900-1 got involved and some others, had the crazy idea for a fast response med ship. I liked it, and we ran with it. The Geth helped rebuild it into a mobile hospital and here we are."
"You didn't like Geth as I recall..." Anya said slowly aware that a crowd was forming around her. "So what happened?"
"Things changed." Raan'ita said sadly. "I was in a separate fleet when the fleets sent the Crucible to Earth. The science and hospital ships were not geared to fight."
"Earth?" Anya paused and then nodded. "Someone said something about the Citadel being at Earth, but..." She shook her head. "History later." She smiled widely. "May I?" She asked, opening her arms.
"Oh Anya!" Raan'ita sobbed as she embraced the human woman. "I missed you! You made us what we became. We all owed you our lives and we failed you."
"Oh not you too!" Anya snapped. She sighed deeply and stepped away from Raan'ita before speaking again, this time in a louder voice. "Ok, let's have it out. Who else here thinks they failed me somehow?" Every hand in the room went up and Anya sighed. "Dang it, people, I thought I taught you better than that! I lost situational awareness and I got caught and shot because I did. My fault!"
"Anya." An ageless voice sounded from nearby and Anya smiled as an Asari moved sinuously through a crowd. Lorinia, as always, drew attention to herself just by moving, but then again, she WAS poetry in motion. It was easy to forget exactly how dangerous she was. "Brutiz, Crado and T-9-001 all blamed themselves because they could not save you. The rest of us blamed ourselves because we were not there to help. You made us what we were. Many of us had given up hope and you kicked it back into us. After Thessia I wanted to DIE and you wouldn't let me. You just..." The young looking commando (she was three hundred and seven) sighed. "You just wouldn't quit pestering me to get up, to fight, to stop moping. And then, you were gone..." Anya stiffened. Was the Asari crying? Yes. Yes she was. "It is not logical, but you cannot expect us not to blame ourselves for what happened. If we had been there..."
"You probably would have died. They were set up to catch or kill biotics. I think they were targeting me specifically, but I have NO idea why." Anya said sadly. "Brutiz?" She said to a Krogan who seemed to be trying to hide near the back. "Come here."
"Captain." The Krogan said slowly as he eased his way through a path that was made for him. He froze as Anya embraced him. "Wh-?" The Krogan stammered, taken off guard.
"Thank you." Anya said soberly. "Thank you for saving Crado. Thank you for obeying my orders." Her smile turned into a smirk. "For once." A soft laugh circled the crowd around them.
"They were not worthy opponents. Skulking and hiding and those pesky exploding human things!" Brutiz did not move, as if afraid to hurt the small form that was hugging him. "And you always said the mission came first."
"It did." Anya said, tapping him gently on the head with hers. He stared at her, dumbfounded. Anya paused and spoke softly. "Gnarlz? Kolmro?" The Krogan shook his head and she sighed. "So many lost." She said sadly. "So many sacrificed. In the end, we won, so I guess it was worth it..." She said dubiously. "But it doesn't feel worth it." She shook herself, stepped back and slapped Brutiz hard on the shoulder. "What have you been up to? Causing trouble I bet." She asked in a knowing tone.
"Well..." He said slowly. "I..." He actually looked embarrassed. Anya hadn't known that Krogan could look that way.
"Do I want to know?" Anya asked slowly.
"Brutiz is a dad." Lorinia said from the side. "Twins." Anya's eyes went wide and she smiled as she hugged the seriously embarrassed Krogan again.
"I bet you make a great father." Anya said gently as she retreated to give the Krogan time to recover. "You always were a rock, a stable place in a turbulent world."
"Wasn't always." Brutiz said with a sigh. "Didn't care before you recruited me. Just a wandering killer. You made me better, made me see a better way."
"Huh? Has someone else dropped you on your head recently?" Anya asked acidly. Brutiz looked pained at that and several people who knew the story laughed. Anya relented after a moment. "What are their names?"
"We...compromised." Brutiz said with a shudder that almost hid a grin. "My mate Pordla wanted to name them after Shepard and Mordin, the doctor who cured the genophage. I wanted to honor you." He said quietly. Anya groaned.
"You didn't...?" She asked, almost begging. "What a horrible thing to do to a child. Saddle a poor kid with MY name..."
"My daughters' names are Mordyna and Anya." Brutiz said softly. Anya stiffened and Brutiz smiled. It was a surprisingly tender look on the huge alien. "It is traditional, on Tuchanka, Captain." He said soberly. "When a great leader passes, we remember them in our children."
"I was not a great leader, Brutiz." Anya started to say, but was cut off by a rap on the head. She spun in place only to be swept up in a hug. Lorinia held her tight.
"Begging the captain's pardon." The Asari said gently. "But you are wrong Anya. You were. You were what we needed. A bluff, no nonsense, no political BS person who could kick us in the tails and get us to do what had to be done. It was a war, Anya. There were casualties." She broke off and her face fell. Anya remembered that Lorinia's daughter had been on Thessia when the Reapers had hit.
"I am sorry." Anya asked slowly. "Did you ever find out what happened to Liselle?"
"Yeah." Lorinia said sadly. "She held the line, held her position until it was overrun. Then she detonated a series of improvised mines, took a bunch of bad guys with her. They only found traces of her DNA, nothing else but blast residue. She was bound and determined not to wind up a banshee." She shook her head. "She wouldn't want me to mope any more than you did." The Asari said with a small smile.
"Well, no catfights this time." Anya said with a smirk. "Besides, you cheat."
"If you are not cheating, you are not trying hard enough." Lorinia said with a grin. "Who taught us that?" She asked the room.
"Anya!" A loud cry came from every throat. Anya stood, flabbergasted as the crowd suddenly started to applaud.
"I..." Anya felt her eyes start to burn and suddenly she was crying. "I..." Several pairs of arms hugged her and others touched her, offering support.
"We are here for you." Raan'ita's gentle voice sounded from nearby. "As you were there for us. Any single being -no matter how powerful- is vulnerable. But a team, a group that works with each other, is mighty beyond belief. You taught us that. We learned. Easy, Anya..." Raan'ita crooned. "We are here for you."
"So many lost." Anya said, shaking herself. "So many missions..." Then she was shaking and couldn't stop. "So many dead and hurt..." Her breath was coming in short gasps and she couldn't see past her tears.
"Too many shocks." Raan'ita's voice seemed to come from far away. "Here, Anya. This will help..." A hiss and soothing numbness spread from her unsplinted arm, calming her body. "You are not healed yet." Disapproval sang in the medic's tone.
"Too much to do." Anya said slowly. "I..." She took a deep breath and sighed. "You are always putting me back together, Raan'ita."
"Once more unto the breach, Anya." Raan'ita said gently. "Then I am going to take you home and put you to bed."
"Gotta talk to people." Anya protested through the soothing numbness. "Lots to do."
"Well, as your medical practitioner..." Raan'ita said in a haughty voice. "It is my opinion that you are overstressing yourself and should..."
"Stuff a sock in it, Raan'ita." Anya said after a moment. "I love you, but geez you are a bossy boss. I am not in your sick bay."
"Yet." Raan'ita said with a grin as she stepped back. The crowd around Anya slowly dispersed. "Chief?" She called. "We need to make this quick. She is tiring."
"Right." The voice of the chief came from nearby. "Make a hole, people" He called and a wide space appeared in front of Anya. "Anya... This is a gift from the from the N7 Ops Team Dark Storms to their commander congratulating her on her escape from oblivion." He smirked. "And on newly wedded bliss."
Anya stared as he stepped aside and a large cake appeared on a table behind him. It was shaped and colored like an Alliance frigate and on the top of the sensor cluster that was at the back of it... Her eyes went wide as she saw the two figures there. The human female and Turian male were NOT standing side by side, or even clothed. Indeed, it looked like they were acting out a scene from Veaenia. She felt her face heat.
"Chief!" Anya snapped, shaking off the waves of lethargy that were seeping through her.
"What?" The chief asked, hurt innocence in his tone. "Don't tell me you two haven't tried that yet."
"I am so going to hurt you..." Anya said in a soft, dangerous voice.
"Wasn't my idea." The chief said, backing up a hasty step. Anya looked at Lorinia who smirked but shook her head. Then Anya's eyes were pulled to the wall, where Crado stood, his face a mask. A slow wink graced one eyes and she felt her face heating. Later... She told herself.
"Well..." Anya said with slightly savage grin. "Whoever it was I am going to have to explain some things to. Later." More than one person laughed at that. "Who does the honor?"
"Your cake, Anya." Lorinia said with a smile. "Tonight, you are the boss again. "
"Tomorrow, we may all go our separate ways." Anya said as she strode for the table, feeling rather than seeing Raan'ita pacing her. "But nothing can take our memories from us. We are a family. An odd one." A snorted laugh followed her from almost every throat. That was so true. "But a family. We went through the firestorms and came out changed, but mostly intact." She paused as the chief held out something to her. A big knife. No it wasn't knife! It was a Cerberus Phantom's sword! "You and your trophies, Chief." She took it gingerly and with a smile, cut the cake.
Just a head's up. I am moving into a new house with no internet connected, so updates will be sporadic for a while. I should have LOTS of updates when I get back though. Lots of time to write.