Chapter 29: Assembling the team.
He was sleeping next to her in their bed. She looked at him for a while, thinking how strange it was that his chest didn't move up and down when he breathed, because of his hard plaques. She didn't mind that he was a turian; most of the times she didn't even remember. That was how natural it was for her to look at him. It was only during moment like those that she became conscious of the fact that she had fallen in love with an alien.
The sound of his breathing and the soft buzz of the fish tank were the only sounds in the cabin. Above them, the shutter was open, but through the glass she couldn't see a myriad stars. Instead, the only thing visible was the ceiling of the hangar, cold and pale.
The Commander got up. It was pointless to stay in bed when she couldn't keep her eyes closed. No matter how hard she tried to push them, to forget them or keep herself busy to think about something else, the words of the Illusive Man kept coming back to her: "The Reapers are far from gone, Shepard". Her mind had been playing tricks on her, following those words with the scream of a banshee when she was starting to fall asleep.
She dressed quickly, tied her hair, and walked over to her private terminal. She hadn't checked it in some time, and just as she expected she had a lot of unread messages. She skimmed through the subjects, looking for something interesting enough for her at that time of the night.
There was a message from Fairuza Yousif, one of the scientist working in the Mass Relays Collaboration and Ian McAllister's wife. The message said:
"Commander:
"I'm glad to tell you that we are making progress with our dark energy research. Javik, the prothean, comes here every day and help us trying to understand the patterns. He seems to like what we do here, although with him it's difficult to tell. Of course, we still need to figure out a lot of things, but I'm optimistic."
Shepard smiled, glad to know that Javik had found something to do with his life other than think about suicide. She hoped he wasn't giving Fairuza and the rest of the team a hard time. She shook her head slowly.
Another message was from Samara:
"Shepard:
I recently heard you have awoken after what happened to you on the last battle. I am rejoiced. I am living with Falere at the monastery for the moment being, trying to rebuild what we can. Trying to forget and live on. I hope you can do that too, after everything that happened."
"If only I could, Samara," the Commander thought, shaking her head. She typed a quick, deceitful reply that she knew wouldn't fool Samara, but she wasn't ready to tell her the truth. She then glanced at the sleeping turian in the bed. He was reason enough for her to live on, but nothing was like she had imagined it after the war. That is, in the brief moments she had allowed herself to imagine a time after the war.
The next message that caught her attention was a surprise for her, because it came from Commander Bailey. She had assumed than all the people living on the Citadel had died during the second Cerberus coup, when they took control of it and killed the Council. She was really glad to see his name on the 'sender' field. It meant he had found a way to survive. The message said:
"Commander Shepard:
I heard that you're alive and kicking, and thought about saying hi. I don't know if they told you, but C-Sec managed to get many people alive from the station using the docked ships. Aria T'Loak is among those people, and I'm glad we took her out, because she's keeping her mercenaries at bay here on Earth. I'm sure she's making a profit somehow, but she's being careful and that's all we need. Once an officer of the law, always an officer of the law, right? Finally I'm getting some real action instead of babysitting bureaucrats. What about yourself? Fancy a beer sometime?"
Shepard smiled. "A beer sounds fine, tell me when and where," she typed in reply to Bailey and sent the message.
She closed the terminal and left her cabin. The elevator left her on deck 3, and she walked to the small kitchen to prepare herself some coffee. When it was ready, she poured herself a cup and took it to a table in the mess hall. She sat and took a sip. It was awful, even to her standards. Smiling, she had to admit to herself that Garrus made a better coffee, even considering he was an alien and had a biology that wouldn't allow him to try it.
The Commander didn't realize when had she fallen asleep with her head and arms on the table. She woke up confused, and sat straight. She noticed Joker walking towards the table with a steaming cup. Her own was beyond cold.
"Did he kick you out, Commander?" the pilot joked sitting in front of her.
"No, I..." she started, shaking her head. "What time is it, Joker?"
"8 a.m." he replied.
"Good," said Shepard nodding.
"Did you prepare the coffee that was on the pot?" Joker asked, and she nodded. "I heated it and tried it, but was awful," he added. "How can you drink it?"
"I didn't," she replied with half a smile.
"I made some more," he informed and pointed at the kitchen.
She got up with her cup in her hand, washed it in the sink and poured some hot coffee. Then she returned to the table and sat in the same place, in front of Joker. She took a sip.
"Better?" the pilot asked.
"Much better, thanks," she replied nodding.
They both remained silent for a while, drinking the hot liquid, each lost in their own thoughts. After a few minutes, Jeff 'Joker' Moreau spoke again.
"Uh... how are you, Commander?" he started hesitantly, looking at one side and not directly at her. "I... I worry about you."
"You don't have to, Joker," she said shaking her head. "I'm a big girl."
"Yeah, but how comes you sleep at the mess hall," he said raising both his hands, grimacing and looking at her, "and not in your new bed with your old turian up there? Everything all right between you two?"
"The reason I was here has nothing to do with Garrus," she said moving her hand from side to side. "I just came for some coffee and fell asleep while drinking it. I mean, trying to drink it, anyway. Really, Joker, it's not a big deal."
"If you say so..." he said, not sounding convinced. After a moment, he added, "So, I heard we kicked the salarian and the asari in the butt?"
"So to say," she replied with a weak smile. She moved a little on her seat.
"Nice," he commented. "Not that kicking is the best think I can imagine one could do to an asari butt, but still..."
"Joker..." she said in her warning tone he knew so well. She didn't really mind those comments, but she knew that if she didn't stop the pilot, he could do much worse than that. To that point in her life, the man was practically her little brother, but she was still the commanding officer. She had to draw a line somewhere. She was responsible for keeping the respect of her crew.
"Right, sorry," he quickly apologized and gulped some coffee. "So anyway, are we gonna hang up on this new Council too?"
"I don't think we'll have to, this time," she said smiling. She took another sip and added, "But I'll let you know."
"It's true then?" he asked leaning back on his chair. "Our own Kaidan will represent humanity?"
"Yup," she replied nodding. "Not really my Kaidan, not that he didn't try," her mind added but the thought didn't reflect on her face.
"I guess that means we won't have him on the Normandy anymore," Joker commented.
"I'm not sure he even wanted to come back anyway," she said slowly shaking her head. "Things change..."
"You tell me about it." After a moment, he lowered his head a little and added, "Gunny wasn't among the refugees from Tiptree..."
"I'm sorry, Joker," she said in a sympathetic tone. She hadn't told him about the conversation she had overheard in Huerta Memorial between two asari, during the war. The Commander was almost sure that the girl named Hilary the asari commando referred to was Joker's sister, but he didn't need to know how she died. Gunny was her nickname. She was only fifteen at the time.
He finished his coffee and got up. "Yeah, there's work to do," he said, but it was just an expression to get out of there. After all he wasn't required to do anything specific. For the moment being he was the pilot of a docked ship.
"I'll be in the Alliance's base if anyone asks," she announced, getting up herself. She understood that Joker didn't want to speak further about the death of his sister and his father on that distant colony several months ago.
She got out of the ship and walked to the base. It was really near, and the walk gave her time to clear her mind.
When she arrived, she found Hackett and Alenko talking to each other upstairs, near the entrance of the Admiral's office. She waited, but they signaled her to approach. She walked over to where they were and saluted them.
"I was told that Liara is not very happy about the political situation," Hackett commented looking at Shepard.
"No sir," she said shaking her head, "but she'll still do the tasks that you assigned to her. She said very clearly that she had given her word about it and won't go back on it."
The Admiral nodded, but she unmistakably recognized it as the nod he did when he was worried. Kaidan looked at her and she could tell that he was thinking the same.
"You'll have to assembly your crew," said Hackett to the Commander after a moment.
She looked at both men, a million thoughts crowding her mind all at once. She honestly hadn't thought about it, but the Admiral was right. They didn't know what they were going to find out there in space. Most probably pirates and mercs, but considering how much of the galaxy was still unexplored, finding a new sentient race wasn't a crazy scenario at all. They could be hostile for all she knew. She definitely would need a crew. But who would go with her, from her former teams? She was already counting with Garrus and Tali. EDI had no choice to come with them even if she didn't want to, which she knew wasn't the case. Liara was not an option anymore. She could ask Javik, but she didn't know how enthusiastic he was about his new project regarding dark energy. Wrex and Kaidan both had other responsibilities at the moment. She decided on asking Grunt later. Still, if Javik didn't accept to join she would need a biotic. Both Jacob Taylor and Jack had made themselves clear about not wanting to come back to the Normandy, supposing she could find them.
"I need to ask a few people, sir," she finally replied tilting her head a little.
"I'll miss the Normandy," commented Kaidan in a dreamy voice.
"We have an excellent QEC system," she said smiling with one side of her mouth. "State of the art." She didn't know why she had said that, because she wasn't even sure that she wanted Alenko back in the crew, considering how he behaved. "Oh, who are you fooling," her mind informed her, "you do want him back. You'll forgive him anything."
"Thanks, Shepard," said the biotic shaking his head, "but I'm afraid I can't join you this time. I think I'm becoming too old for that."
"Let me know if you need me to forward you some profiles," offered Hackett.
"I will, thank you, sir," she replied.
She left the base shortly after that. Grunt wasn't hard to find. He was in the krogan's building, or embassy, or whatever that was. He was fighting with another krogan as Wrex and some others watched. It didn't look like a real fight, it was probably just a sport.
She had only visited the place the day before, but Urdnot Wrex walked over to her as soon as he saw her, and patted her on both shoulders at the same time.
"Ah, Shepard!" the large old krogan said enthusiastically. "We're happy! Thanks to you, the krogan now have a real place in the galaxy!"
"I'm glad about it, Wrex," she said honestly. She added with a smile, "I don't think I could tempt you to travel around the galaxy with me again? Like old times?"
"It depends," he said seriously, seeming to think about something. "Are you going to Tuchanka?"
"Not really," she answered shaking her head. "Why do you ask?"
"I need to be there," he replied and she could see the tension in him, his eyes glaring with rage and concern at the same time. "I know Bakara can take care of herself and our child, and she has other women around her protecting my little Mordin... but not all krogan on Tuchanka are happy that we aren't going to war with the salarians. I need to be there, Shepard. I need to crush the skulls of the krogan that threaten my baby."
"Wrex, if you leave Earth," she started cautiously, "who will keep in line the krogan that stay here?"
"Don't worry about them," he said shaking his head, "they'll behave." He took her to a corner where other krogan couldn't hear them. It wasn't too difficult, because they were screaming about the fight they were observing. "Shepard, if you tell me I have a transport, I'll kill the ones that won't behave that very same day. I have someone I can leave in charge here, you can trust the guy. I give you my word. Can you help me?"
She looked at him and nodded. She really cared about him. She had trusted him enough to cure the genophage even when she knew how risky it was for the rest of the galaxy. "Speak with Primarch Victus," she finally said. "He's about to send a fleet to help turian colonies. Tuchanka isn't that far away, I'm sure at least one of the ships will have to cross your territory."
"Thank you, Shepard," he said patting one of her shoulders again with his large hand. He seemed really happy, and she was glad about that.
"It'll take months to get there, though," she told him in a tone that expressed concern.
"I know," he said nodding, "but I don't care. I need to feel I'm doing something. Anything will be better than just sitting here while my two women are in danger." It really warmed her heart how he referred to baby Mordin as one of his 'women'. After a brief pause he added, "Anyway, what can I do for you?"
"Give me Grunt," she said plainly.
Grunt was thrilled about traveling back on the Normandy. He even mentioned how he wanted to crush skulls. The three of them were standing near Wrex's throne, after the leader of the krogan had called the younger member of his clan from his fight. There were other krogan around them, but they kept their distance.
"Grunt," Shepard warned him crossing her arms over her chest, "I can't guarantee that we'll find something to kill this time..."
"It doesn't matter, Shepard," said the young krogan enthusiastically. "Danger seems to follow you wherever you go. I want to be there to save your ass."
"Then pack your stuff," she said nodding and uncrossing her arms. "I'll see you later on the Normandy."
When she left the embassy – or whatever that was – she headed to the large research building that was the main base of the Mass Relays Collaboration. She had never been there before, but she had heard enough about it to know where to find it. She thought it was the best place to meet with Javik, according to what Fairuza had told her.
The Collaboration was using a building that previously had been one of the many universities in London. Just from the choice of the city, she realized that London had become a symbol of their victory over the Reapers for all species, not just for humans.
There where scaffolding around all the perimeter of the large structure. Even so, it was really a pleasure to see how they had repaired all the windows. She could tell because they looked brand new. The exterior walls still had some serious marks on the upper floors, but she could see people working on them at that very moment.
She entered the building. It was really busy, with people coming and going with datapads in their hands. She could see humans, salarians, turians and asari of all ages and colors. The Commander approached a salarian and asked for Doctor Fairuza Yousif. He informed her that she could find her on the fourth floor. She walked towards the elevator and pressed the button. When the door opened in front of her, two batarians exited. They seemed to be females, and were wearing lab coats. They walked past her, and stopped to talk with a turian. Shepard was surprised, because she had never seen batarian females and because she didn't expect to find them there, but she didn't stay to watch. She entered the elevator and pressed the fourth button.
She walked down the corridor, again crossing paths with many people of all species. The was even a drell with his gaze fixed on a datapad as he walked. Finally, she found Fairuza's name on a door. She announced herself and the door opened.
The Commander entered what seemed to be a lab, but not quite. There were some large tables, but also desks with chairs, cabinets and bookshelves, monitors and other devices she couldn't quite identify.
"Commander Shepard!" greeted Fairuza Yousif, getting up and coming to her encounter. An asari and a human male working at other desks looked up, intrigued. In the background, she could indeed see Javik the prothean sat at a desk, reading something. He rose his gaze when she entered, but didn't make any attempt to come and meet her. Fairuza continued, "I didn't know you were coming. What do we owe the honor to? Oh, may I offer you something to drink? Some coffee?"
"Thanks, I had some already," she replied. Although she wasn't used to it, she had to admit to herself she really liked the ebullience of the young scientist. "I came because I didn't know the building. I bumped into two batarian women..."
"I don't know who they might be," Fairuza replied shrugging, "we have many working here."
"I didn't expect batarians would take part in a research project that has humans in it," Shepard said honestly, because she knew that batarians normally discriminated against other species and especially her own.
"I know, right?" said the scientist with a smile on her face. "I guess they want to go home as badly as everybody else, and who can blame them? We have all kind of people working here, even some krogan and vorcha technicians, and of course, quarians and geth. Basically, everybody that has at least some scientific training or that know how to repair something."
"That's good," the Commander said nodding. "Need anything from me?"
"Not for the moment being," she said pointing at Javik with her head, "but thanks, Commander."
"I need to speak with him," Shepard said looking at the prothean. She tried to use a neutral tone, but she realized it came out as an order.
"Of course, Commander," replied Fairuza, and walked away. She sat back at her desk and almost immediately seemed to be lost on something on her screen.
She approached Javik, and saw him finally getting up and walking towards her. Shepard signaled him a corner of the room with her head, and he followed her. They where far away from other ears enough to ensure some privacy for their conversation.
"What can I do for you, Commander?" asked Javik standing in front of her, with his arms crossed over his chest. The light of the sun that entered through the windows bathed his strange features.
"We're about to leave, explore nearby systems for resources. Would you be interested in joining me again on the Normandy?" she asked, cutting straight to the chase. "We honestly don't know what we could find, and it could easily get pretty hairy out there."
"I fight Reapers, Commander," said Javik categorically. "Whatever you find out there is not my problem. In here, I can help figure out the link between my enemies and dark energy."
"I know, Javik," she said nodding and crossing her arms over her chest, "but I also know you're a soldier. Do you really feel comfortable here, being a scholar and nothing more? Not to mention, I've got quite a few QEC already installed on the ship. I'm sure it won't be a problem to put another between your room and this very same... lab, or whatever it is. I can even give you Liara's office."
"I don't think..." he started, but judging by the way he widened his eyes – all of them – Shepard could tell that he was seriously considering her offer. He kept silent for a long while, just looking at her. She didn't speak because she didn't want to push the matter. He could say no just because he felt annoyed. "You always get what you want, don't you?" he finally asked, sounding upset and defeated at the same time.
"Not always," she said uncrossing her arms and dropping them to her sides. There was a faint smile on her face. Only her blue eyes gave away her excitement with their shine, not that she could really hide the way she felt from the prothean.
"Fine," he said, biting the word. "Make sure I have that QEC, and I'll move to your ship."
"Deal," she said extending her hand, offering a handshake. He walked away ignoring her gesture, just like he had when they first met. She shook her head and smiled. Some things never changed.
When she returned to the Normandy, she found Garrus testing his newly installed quantum entanglement communicators in the comm room.
"Found something new to calibrate?" she teased him.
"Don't think I forgot the main batteries," he said following the joke. "I have a special relationship with those guns."
"I'm sure you do, Vakarian," she said nodding. She approached him and placed one hand on his waist and another on the back of his head. She gently pulled him towards her until she could plant a kiss on his mandibles.
"Didn't hear you getting up," he commented caressing the side of her head with one hand. "I woke up and you were gone already."
"You were sound asleep," she said. She decided not to mention everything else that happened. He would worry and she really didn't need him reminding her all the time that she should get proper rest. She already knew she should. She just didn't know how to get it. After a brief silence she added, "I need to send a message to Hackett. I'll be in our cabin."
"Our cabin," he repeated. "I like the sound of that."
She smiled, caressed the side of his face, and walked away in the direction of the elevator. When she reached her room, she opened her private terminal and wrote a message for the Admiral, saying that her team was ready. She requested the QEC for Javik and briefly explained why she needed it. When she was about to send the message, however, she thought it wouldn't hurt to see the profiles Hackett had offered, and asked for them. After all, the Admiral had given her freedom to choose who to recruit for her mission. She wasn't forced to take anyone she didn't feel was right for the team.
About an hour later, she received the reply from Hackett. He agreed on ordering the installation of the extra QEC she needed. The Admiral had also sent her the profiles, and she started looking at them. As she was opening them, her eyes fixed on one name: Service Chief Sarah Williams.
Note: More about Sarah and what happened to her in my head canon on next chapter, I promise.
