Shepard: Sword And Shield
DISCLAIMER: Bioware owns Mass Effect. I take no credit or part in such except for this story. Inspiration of this story goes to theorangeguy's 'Saren's Effect'. Jennifer Hale is a real life person. Same goes for Mark Meer. These are merely fictional representations, and do not reflect the actual opinions and personalities of said persons.
A/N: This chapter might be a slap in the face for some, as it first deals with Captain Hannah Shepard (and not Commander Shepard). It also deals with *gasp* Cerberus. Who may not be the boogyman. I did say in the summery that I was flipping the script. Good guys are bad guys, and vice versa. A kinder, gentler Cerberus... not exactly. But I think you'll like changes in what I've made Cerberus into; something, I think, Mass Effect 2 actually implied: A Sword and Shield.
Chapter 33: Shepard, Sword and Shield
Arcturus Station, Arcturus System, Arcturus Stream, April 5, 2183 1723 Arcturus
Captain Hannah Shepard smiled as she saw her adopted daughter Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Hale enter into her personal apartment on Arcturus Station with Katherine Hale in tow, her granddaughter all smiles as the thirteen year old young woman practically launched herself at Hannah, giving her a tight hug around her waist as Shepard held Katie tightly. It always struck her as a little funny that when she adopted Jennifer Hale when she was but a traumatized sixteen year old girl, she was essentially adopting two children, though none of them knew it at the time. She remembered the day Katherine had been born, a squalling babe aboard the SSV Hastings while her daughter Jane had held Jen's hand, helping her through the ordeal. That day had always been tinged with happiness and regret; Jennifer hadn't been allowed to keep her child due to her trauma, and Hannah had been the one to find a good set of adopted parents for the little baby girl. Ira and Vivianne Wyrwa were old friends from the FCW that sadly couldn't have kids, and the thought of adopting a newborn had been a Godsend for them, as well as Jennifer. Separating the traumatized teenager from her newborn daughter had been an emotional roller-coaster that Jane had helped her adopted sister through, thankfully made easier once Jen saw that Ira and Vivi were good folks that could provide Katherine Jane Hale the kind of life a child would need, one that the Daughter of Mindoir would never be able to provide.
Hannah had long ago resigned herself to the fact that Katie Hale would be the only grandchild she would ever have.
"Did you hear about Mom?" Katie was effervescent as ever as she finished the hug, looking up to Hannah with practically glowing blue eyes, her youth and enthusiasm abundant. "She's going to be a SPECTRE!"
"I saw it on the news." Hannah smiled, having known what the Board was for when she saw those Turians there, even if Jen hadn't. "I'm very proud of her. She'll do us all proud."
"Wish the opposite were true." Hale grumped quietly as she stripped herself of her DSU Alliance Blue blouse, wearing her CATsuit top with her sleeves rolled up almost past her muscular biceps, as Marines were wont to do. She folded her blouse and laid it flat on a nearby end stand meant for that purpose, Hannah's own blouse underneath it. "Hey, Mom." The Marine walked from the entrance way as the door slid closed behind her and gave her a quick hug, something that Hannah found herself enjoying more since Jane's disappearance four years before. "Cooking?" Hale asked, testing the air. "Spaghetti?"
"What? You want more NavyRATs or some greasy take-out instead?" Hannah smirked as she went back to her kitchenette, going to the pot of boiling water with angel-hair pasta inside, accompanied by a smaller pot of cooking spaghetti sauce where she had been cutting up vegetables to add to the sauce, celery, onions, mushrooms, and green olives all ready to be dumped in. "You know I love cooking for you two, Jen. Wouldn't be much of a grandmother if it turned out to be burger night or Chinese take-out night." That had the Marine snort, but a smile came to her face as she went to the small fridge and found what she was looking for a moment later; what was it about Marines and being able to find alcohol no matter what? Hale pulled out a bottle of red wine and pulled two glasses from a small cupboard, pouring each wineglass halfway with the Reisling before corking it and putting it back. Hannah looked back into the living room and saw that Katie was plopped on the living room couch, holovision on AFN, where two commentators were talking about none other than Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Hale and her supposed SPECTRE membership to the Counsel. "Katie! Hands!"
"Ugh." The teenager groaned, getting off the couch and going to the apartments' bathroom to wash her hands as Jen smiled, hoisting her Reisling and taking a sip.
"How you managed to do it with Jannie and me, I swear I'll never know." The N7 commented softly, a small smile on her lips as she watched her daughter go into the bathroom. "If I could, I'd be dragging her along with me, but I don't want her growing up on cramped starships, confined to whatever quarters I have and the Mess Hall. Especially with what I do." Hannah merely hmm'ed at that, knowing that the Marine had a point. Whenever Hale went off on a slaver raid, the men and women she rescued went onto whatever vessel she was on, or the ship stayed until transportation arrived. Having a young woman around to see unfettered slaves staring back at her? Dirty, abused, starving? That wasn't something an impressionable child needed to see. She could easily remember how Jane felt after they had received the distress call from Mindoir, bringing back the few survivors of that terrible incident. Hannah's daughter had been affected so deeply that she had latched onto a sixteen year old victim with three bullets in her gut and one right next to her heart, holding her hand as she spent weeks recovering from the physical trauma, and years with the mental trauma. Jen had named her daughter after Jane, her adopted sister being such a influence on her that little Jennifer Hale not only worked hard on getting better, but committed herself to joining the Alliance, to becoming a Marine. That same girl they had found half-dead on Mindoir was now Humanity's First SPECTRE.
God certainly did work in mysterious ways, didn't He?
"You've done well, Jen, and you have nothing to be ashamed about." Hannah told her adopted daughter, seeing Katie going back to the couch, her eyes glued on the holovision as the commentators began reiterating Hale's life once more, as if everyone in the Alliance didn't know who the Daughter of Mindoir and the Butcher of Torfan was. The N7 pursed her lips as she watched her daughter listening on the tragedy that struck her when she was sixteen, and Hannah placed a gentle hand on Jen's shoulder, getting the Marine to look at Shepard. "Jen? You've done well. There are men and women who have faced far less and come out a lot worse. You know that I'm a student of military history, and whenever you read about some great leader or fighter, you come to realize that they didn't become great because they wanted it, but because something drove them to it. Whether it was the love of their country, some personal tragedy, or righteous cause, those men and women didn't do it for themselves, just like you don't. Those other people? The ones that question you? Doubt you? Don't believe in you? They've never seen what you've seen, what I've seen. They didn't fight in the trenches of Elysium, desperate to hold off pirates and scum in Bernard. They didn't kick in doors and clear rooms to rescue slaves in that base on Torfan. They weren't at Benning, Eden Prime, Galantz, Truman, Noveria, or Demeter during the Blitz. They weren't on Shanxi, starving and praying for rescue, ducking Turian Hunter/Killer Teams to forage for food, resigning themselves to orbital strikes and hopelessness. Those veterans are your people, Jen, the ones that know the difference. You are the hero to heroes, to the men and women that stand up and make humanity proud. You may regret what happened to you all you want, but never regret the choices you made in response. In that, you have every right to be proud. I know that I am."
"I... thanks." The Marine frowned for a moment, nodding slowly. "I kind of fear this SPECTRE thing, honestly. I'm not sure what it entails entirely, and the thought of working for the Counsel instead of the Alliance makes me a little leery, but I know that if I do this... I know that I can do more, be able to prove to people that humanity isn't some late-to-the game thug race filled with racists and petty political agendas. I want people to look and say 'Look! We can do it!' Like that guy who ran the first four-minute mile you told me about years ago."
"Roger Bannister." Hannah nodded, remembering that conversation from the Hastings. "We will always have our heroes and villains, Jen. People like Grissom and Anderson will always exist to stand up against the trash and filth of those who are selfish and conceited. You will too, I'm sorry to say." To that, the Marine merely snorted. Hannah picked up the cutting board and began dumping the cut vegetables into the slightly boiling sauce as she then checked on the bread underneath the stove, the over door releasing a wave of heated air as it was opened. "Good. Dinner will be ready momentarily. Could you set the table for us, Jen? And unglue your daughter from the HV."
"Yes, Mom." The Marine smiled as she went to the cupboard and began gathering plates. "Katie? Bon appetite!"
The night wore on as dinner was finished and the bottle of Reisling disappeared, and Captain Hannah Shepard sat on her couch along with Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Hale. Katherine Hale was asleep on her mother's lap, her head resting on one of the Marines' thighs as Jen enjoyed her third glass of red wine, Hannah merely on her second. The N7 had one hand on her glass, yet the other was on her daughter, brushing through one of her pinched locks of hair meant to resemble the crest of an Asari, the affection that Jen had for her only child evident. Hannah remembered such times she spent with her daughter, Jane, whether posted on ships or stations, spending her off-duty hours with her only child. Sometimes, she regretted never getting remarried after John was killed in action during the FCW, a Lancer fighter pilot killed in the skies of Shanxi when Admiral Kastanie Drescher speared Second Fleet against the aggressive alien invaders that were the Turian Hierarchy. Hannah had always wanted a pair of children, a boy and a girl, but with John's death and her service in the military, it just never came to be. In a strange way, though, the Captain did get her wish; Jennifer Hale now sat at her couch, with Katie Hale asleep on her lap, goofy toe socks curled up on the couch as the young teenager slept in a fetal position, dreaming whatever dreams youth dreamed of. Probably boys. Hannah felt sorry for whoever would be Katie's first several boyfriends.
"Jen? I... I want to talk to you about something." Captain Hannah Shepard began, turning the holovision down to a lower volume, some crappy action flick involving way too many guns and bad dialogue; right up the Marine's alley. The N7 looked to the Captain, a curious look on her scarred face. "It's something... I've been meaning to bring up to you for years, but... it's hard. Didn't know where to start, and after Jane disappeared, I didn't want to lose you because of it."
"That serious?" Jen frowned, looking down at Katie, and then back at Hannah. "Here. Let me carry Katie to be first so we don't wake her." The Marine hoisted her daughter up easily enough, the teenager merely mumbling love you to her mother as Jennifer Hale carried Katie to Hannah's only room, placing her on the bed as Hannah watched, a slight pang in her heart at the sight. Watching Jen and Katie together reminded her so much of herself when she had Jane, a single mother trying to make it work. Thankfully, Jane had been a sweet girl that had understood the difficulties of being a military child aboard a starship, and had never been really difficult. Katie, thankfully, was of the same vein. Jen came back a few moments later, sitting on the couch. "Tucked her in. She's out like a light. So... what's this about?" Hannah could tell that Hale was preparing herself for bad news. Damn it that she had to bring it up to the Lieutenant Colonel, but the time had come where Jen needed to know these things.
"Do you, by chance, remember the Book of Ezekiel?" The Captain began with a question, eliciting a strange look from the Marine, almost as she had been slapped. Jennifer had been a good Christian woman once; her own words. Mindoir had changed that.
"I definitely remember Jannie's favorite Bible passage was from the Book of Ezekiel. Actually, it was my fathers' too." Jen replied quietly, thoughtfully. "Still remember it to this day."
"That... wasn't a coincidence." How was she going to tell her adopted daughter this in a way that wouldn't have the Marine hating her immediately? To get her to listen? Hannah had been dreading this conversation for a long time, but time was running out for Humanity's First SPECTRE. "I knew Patrick Hale from before. Met your mother once, too. You would have been... four at the time, I think." Jen shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the information obviously new to her. "After Shanxi, several of us veterans were gathered together because of the FCW and the repercussions that the Citadel emplaced upon us. We were a gathering of like-minded individuals that weren't pleased with what was happening to humanity, and we wished to do something about it. We gathered together under the ideals of a man, a private military contractor that the Alliance use to hire out for problem-solving back when the biggest threat was other humans.
"His name is John Martin Harper."
"Cerberus." Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Hale whispered, and Hannah was a little surprised that Hale knew of the name. "You... are Cerberus?"
"Yes. As was your father. And many others that you may know, though I will not divulge their names unless I have their permission." Hannah breathed out rapidly, knowing that she was treading dangerous ground. Cerberus had a sordid reputation, and a good deal of it rightfully so. "You are too young to remember what humanity was like before, Jen; before we truly discovered that we weren't alone in the galaxy. All that you've ever heard of us, well... okay, a lot of it is true. But a good deal of it is propaganda that we made to look like us, and some of it attributed to us to paint us in a more unfavorable light, or to hide the real culprit. Cerberus was... is... an ideal, a construct of a group of men and women who believed in something greater than themselves."
"Human supremacy?" Jen snorted, her face ugly, her scarred contanence not making it any easier to look at.
"Human equality." Hannah corrected her, making the Marine look at her oddly. "To understand, you need to know why. I will not tell you secrets, but I will tell you why I personally joined and kept membership all these years. To this very day, in fact. It has nothing to do with how I feel about the other species in the galaxy, though initially it was because of that. Hear me out, Jen, and I will tell you of those dark days...
...for after the First Contact War, the Citadel had forced the Systems Alliance Government to sign the Citadel Conventions, and they had done so by force. When the Asari fleets had come to make peace with the Systems Alliance, to join them with the Citadel, they had done so with fifteen fleets from the Hierarchy at the backs and at their disposal, ready to decimate mankind. The Alliance had no choice but to sign, zero negotiations allowed against the military stipulations that were sanctioned, the economic ramifications in basing the Alliance Dollar against the Galactic Credit at a horrible exchange, the presence of non-human oversight committees that edited jurisdictional law that was meant to bring fairness to men and women to the Alliance, stripped and washed away.
That was just the beginning.
All three shipyards that humanity possessed were monitored by no less than a Turian Fleet, refusing for any new ships to be built for the military while the Citadel demanded a percentage of what was left of both Alliance Fleets be made to patrol Citadel Space... but not Alliance Space. Repairs were deliberately stalled while mysterious 'raiders' began hitting some of their further outposts, settlements and camps that were providing raw materials for colonial construction and vessels, the inhabitants slaughtered and supplies taken in a manner that match Turian Hierarchy tactics from Shanxi exactly. A devastating embargo had been slapped on all human goods, while human merchant vessels were grossly taxed for transportation, almost bankrupting the goods industry in a matter of weeks. Anywhere any starship humanity went was shadowed by no less than half-a-dozen Turian Birds of Prey, small squadrons of Turian Frigates following Kolwoon-Class Freighters, ready to blast them into particles for any deviation of flight plans. Any emergency that came up on a human settlement was ordered by the Counsel to be dealt with by the Hierarchy, the Systems Alliance refused to answer the call by their own people... and the emergencies ignored.
It was obvious that Hierarchy was seeking another client race.
John Martin Harper wasn't a great leader or genius. A Private Military Contractor who was hired out by the Alliance for sensitive missions, he was an intelligent man who saw the writing on the wall. He quickly gathered members of the military and survivors of Shanxi, and made a quick plan of actions; to do the things that needed to get done for the Systems Alliance while the human governments' hands remained tied behind its own back. They had to act quickly and decisively, for they had perhaps months before the Alliance collapsed with debt and instability while the Hierarchy continued to strangle them in a shadow war. With the aid of Admiral Kastaine Drescher, hundreds of nuclear weapons had been secretly procured from Earth's old START stockpiles, everything from fifteen kiloton town-erasers to fifty megaton city-levelers. Hundreds of cheap hardwired probes had been quickly constructed, unsure just how advanced the aliens were, the bombs loaded and activated with destinations and delivery routes. Using the Mass Relay Network that the Citadel controlled, the group launched its own first strike with the aid of John Martin Harper's legendary speech, now known as the 'Cerberus Manifesto'. Claiming itself a splinter cell from the Systems Alliance meant that government and humanity wouldn't take the blame or the fall as they targeted the worst thing that the Turians would dread; hatcheries. Harper evoked an ultimatum; to cease the stranglehold against the Systems Alliance or the silent probes that wouldn't register a blip on a LADAR screen until it was too late would be sent to every colony the Turians possessed, targeting their children. The Asari were aghast and the Turians enraged as they called Harper's bluff.
The first probe hit Taetrus; a dud that impaled the roof of the colony's largest hatchery to prove his point.
While no lives had been lost, the Counsel had quickly seen what the newly-named Cerberus was capable of. The Systems Alliance had quickly denounced the group as traitors and terrorists, Fleet Master Jon Grissom himself calling for the heads of every member. It was a stroke of genius in the right direction as the levies and taxation relaxed, and the Turian presence in Alliance Space slowly melted away. When some ultra-conservative human politician wished to restart the FCW by warmongering and defaming on Alliance Forces Network or Alliance Network News, a careful hit was put into play. When there was a pirate raid on an Alliance post that suspiciously looked like Hierarchy work, five pirate raids occurred on a Hierarchy world that suspiciously looked like Turian Seperatist work... armed with human weapons. When a human merchant vessel was boarded for inspections and impounded by Hierarchy, half-a-dozen Turian merchant vessels equally disappeared. Pirate raids began to decrease, embargoes began to lift, and soon there was a Human Ambassador. When the first human settlement on the Citadel had been damaged by a Turian riot, a Turian club had been bombed. When the first human C-Sec Officer had been mysteriously jumped by five Turian 'assailants' too well-armed to be citizeny, ten Turian C-Sec Officers were hospitalized. When a human staff member of the Embassy had been kidnapped, the Turian Ambassador's three children had equally disappeared. The riots, violence, and suppression eased. For every action taken against the Alliance and Humanity, Cerberus met with greater-than-equal force, while keeping the Alliance and humanity from upsetting the fragile peace they needed from truly angering the aliens and blasting humanity into the Stone Age by culling the more violent persons that would only bring ill. Cerberus wasn't an organization of action; it was a response unit. It operated under one ideal; to bring balance.
The Alliance, of course, denounced the group every chance it got, labeling them traitors, terrorists, xenophobes and much worse, and it was the perfect cover. Harper, under the guise of the Illusive Man, had quickly become the most-hated man in Alliance Space, doing just enough against the Alliance to prove that Cerberus was not tied to them in the eyes of the non-humans. Yet Harper wasn't a fool; humanity would never beat the aliens. They out-classed humanity in every way; numbers, technology, military, economy, number of colonies, science, research... everything. To supplement humanity's shortcomings, Harper had sought out the Counsels' enemies. Turian Seperatists, Salarian Lystheni Clan, Volus Tribalists, Asari Confederates, Quarian Exiles, Drell Nationalists, Elcor Warbands, Krogan Hunting Parties, and Hanar Radicals, all were sought out by Cerberus to help the organization glean what information it could, to get ahead in ways that the Alliance couldn't and the Counsel wouldn't. Cerberus fought its war in the shadows, using discretion and surprise in its tactics, taking the blame while every advancement was made in the name of advancing humanity to the point where they could be of equal standing with the Counsel.
For ten years, Cerberus succeeded in hurting the alien governments while advancing the Systems Alliance.
"...and that essentially is the truth." Captain Hannah Shepard finalized, looking to her adopted daughter, who was looking in the direction of the holovision, but not really seeing it. "I've been a member for years, long before I met you, Jen. I served the Alliance faithfully and honorably for years, but I also aided Cerberus in endeavors that I knew would eventually aid the Alliance as well. Did we do bad, amoral things? Of course. You can't fight a war without casualties, sadly. But we were direct, and nothing we did was sadistic. We didn't kill without reason, and in fact, most of our actions were in response to actions against humanity. When the Salarian Union sent STG Network Infiltrators to destabilize the stock exchange, we sent our own to plummet several valuable research stations out-of-orbit into a nearby asteroid field. When the Asari Republic sent diplomats carrying nerve gas in sealed capsules in diplomatic pouches that were protected by Citadel Law to Earth, we sent several samples of the Ebola Virus to Thessia. We were the counteraction, the balancing act. We were generous to our friends, and absolutely terrifying to our enemies. The Citadel wanted us to fail. We were the sword and the shield to ensure our success."
"Why... why tell me this?" The Marine asked quietly, her face impasse, not even looking to Hannah. "As you said so yourself, you didn't tell me for years, didn't know where to start. It's obvious why you are telling me now, but there wasn't a need to actually tell me."
"Yes, Jen. Yes there was." The Captain motioned to the HV, where once more AFN was bringing up the interview where Lieutenant Colonel Hale announced herself as Humanity's First SPECTRE. "That right there... that's what we've been fighting for. That balancing act, that chance to prove that we can stand among them. You... you're the very thing we've been hoping for for all these years. Not just a SPECTRE... a sign. A hope. A prayer. To either hurt the aliens enough to be on an equal footing, or to elevate ourselves to the same standard. A Human SPECTRE? That is what we want for humanity. To have our voice, to be recognized for our achievements and goals, to be seen as a species of worth and value. You have proved that we aren't like the Volus, the Elcor, or the Drell, all client races. You proved that we aren't defeated, like Quarians and the Krogan. You've proven that we matter, unlike the Hanar and the Batarians. Yesterday... yesterday you were humanity personified. All that we had hoped to accomplish and achieve, you did that on your own."
"Is this the part where you make me an offer I can't refuse?" Hale asked wryly, finally looking over the Shepard, her face still dark. "Where I join Cerberus and its glorious cause?"
"No, dear. Not at all." Hannah smiled, using what she called her 'Mom' smile. "This is the part where I tell you that we are at your disposal."
Morning came all too soon, in Captain Hannah Shepard's opinion, as she fried some eggs up in a skillet, making eggs sunny side up. She knew that they were Katherine Hale favorite, and Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Hale liked them well enough. It struck her as a bit odd that she, almost a lifelong spacer, was making a traditional farmers' breakfast for a colonial girl who grew up on a ranch. She tried to imagine what Jen use to eat every morning, growing up on Mindoir. Did her mother cook? Did Patrick? Did Jennifer? Hannah only cooked whenever she was at her Arcturus quarters, which wasn't often, and then usually only when she was visiting Katie or Katie was visiting her. It went without mentioning that she loved the thought of cooking for her only granddaughter, remembering her own grandmother on her mothers' side, Sarah Jones. Grandma Sarah would roll in her grave if Hannah didn't cook for her granddaughter like Grandma had for her. Sometimes, while cooking, Shepard remember the smell of fresh-baked cookies and Grandma's famous Beef Stroganoff. Katie was sitting at the counter, chatting amicably about school as Hannah asked about the things she was learning. It was surprising what the current generation had as an academic curriculum. Citadel History hadn't been a prerequisite when she was a child; hell, they had just learned of the Protheans when she was in High School. What was lost in the process? The Cerberus member in her had to shake her head at that; perhaps that was the point, the Citadel trying to whitewash a species' individuality and culture into some conglomerated mishmash until the only difference was looks and birthplaces. Certainly the Asari were doing well in that regard.
"Morning, Mom." Katie waved at her mother as Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Hale walked into the main room of the apartment, having slept in the guest room that Hannah had. The N7 had left earlier to go work out, and if Hannah knew her, probably to a firing range as well, coming back to shower and get changed before anyone else was up. Last night had been an informative one for the brand-new SPECTRE, and Hannah wasn't quite sure how Jen was going to handle it. Some things needed time, and Hannah was going to keep her distance until Jen needed her. It was the best thing to do. Looking at her adopted daughter, Hannah handed her a mug of black coffee, which the Marine accepted readily enough, though her blue eyes were hooded and unsure.
"Someone's got bedhead." Hale finally mentioned, rubbing her daughters' hair, making the thirteen year old cry out in admonishment. "Want me to brush it out and make that Crest thing for you?"
"Do you even know how?" Katie asked pointedly, flipping at her mother's constant ponytail. That had Jen snort.
"Your grandmother, Amanda? She was a hairdresser before marrying a farmer." Hale went quiet for a moment, long enough for Katie to place her hand onto of one of her mothers'. Hannah remembered a little of that, Amanda McClaren having owned a salon on Shanxi. "She use to do some pretty crazy things with my hair when I was growing up." The smile on her face was slow and sad, but it was obvious to both Shepard and her granddaughter that Jen didn't mind the reminder. "She... taught me quite a bit when I got older, and I returned the favor. I haven't really done hair in years. Perhaps I can stun you with a design or two."
"This I've got to see." Katie accepted the challenge, making her mother smile genuinely.
"Brush and hair ties are in the bathroom, and I think I've got hairspray in the bathroom cabinet." Hannah offered, flipping one of the eggs. "And Katie? I just want you to know that I've seen some of your mother's work on your Aunt Jane. She is quite good. What was that one called that Jane had for years? Wendy the Welder?"
"Oh God... I hadn't thought of that in years." The Marine smiled big, remembering. "Do you even have chopsticks? Because I can whip that one out in a few minutes. Jannie had me teach her how to do it, and I swear you never saw her without it."
"Oh! I remember that!" Katie smiled as well, her face lighting up. "It's called the Lion's Bun, I think. They named it after Aunt Jannie, though I didn't know it was you that gave it to her, Mom."
"I... she had me do it because it helped me." Jen struggled a little with the memories. "Your Aunt was a Cadet on the Hastings, working a shift on the Bridge as a radar tech while taking Alliance-sponsored classes for her education. I was more or less... useless. One day, I'm blubbering and weeping and somehow slipped out that my mom was a hairdresser and your Aunt just pounced on it, asking me if I knew anything, if I could do her hair. I honestly did it because I wanted to be depressed and mopey and just wanted her to stop bothering me so I whip out the Wendy. Next thing I know, she's practically parading me through the Hastings, claiming that we're going to be the only vessel in the Alliance Military with a dedicated hairdresser. Can you believe it? Next day, I've got the Hastings' Lead Navigator banging on my door, and right behind her is the ships' Physicians' Assistant. By the end of the week, I've done every woman's hair on a carrier, and I've got more than a few men begging me to trim their hair because they said, and I quote, 'don't cut hair like a ham-fisted butcher'." That had Jen smile at the memory, and Hannah remembered that as well; it had been years since she thought about that, actually. "I think the guys did it because there would be a woman involved, and though they'll never admit to it, they just wanted a little bit of pampering. Can't blame them, honestly."
"It worked, didn't it?" Katie asked as Jen grabbed the brush from the bathroom, coming back to the kitchenette.
"Yeah. Your Aunt Jannie found something I could do that made me feel useful, kept my hands busy, and got me involved with others instead of sulking in some dark corner of the Carrier." Hale began brushing through her daughters' hair, long sweeping strokes that had Katie mumbling in pleasure. "I don't hold a candle to your grandmother, though. Mom went to a Cosmetology college and had a degree as a beautician. I... never asked why she decided to become a farmers' wife, why she gave that up when we moved to Mindoir." Jen's eyes flickered to Hannah, obviously thinking of their conversation last night; Hannah actually did know the answer... and Jennifer did too, now. Amanda McClaren had married Patrick Hale not to be a farmers' wife, but because they were both Cerberus. Shepard contemplating telling Jen their role, why they were on Mindoir, but decided to tell her when the Marine had the questions. She might not be ready for the answers, yet. "Anyhow, so I spent almost two years doing hair on a Carrier. Did Grandma Hannah's hair more than a few times, too. Her big thing was a wash that got the grey out."
"Hey!" Hannah called out, sliding an over-easy egg onto a piece of toast, grabbing another toasted slice and making a sandwich out of it and sliding it to Katie. "I thought all that gossiping in a salon was privileged information!"
"Pfft. I certainly don't remember signing any confidentiality forms." The Marine snarked, making her daughter giggle as she began to eat her egg sandwich. "Any you think girls in a salon are gossips? Guys are worse. It's sports, sports, sports with them, but they're just as big lip-flappers as the ladies. I think I learned more about the EUCC and Armax Arsenal League in that time than I ever cared to admit. Probably could still name players from that time, too, along with statistics and memorable plays." Katie giggled again as Jen finished brushing out her hair and began to put it in a top bun as Hannah pulled out from a kitchen drawer two metal chopsticks, setting it down by the brush. "The worst? Seriously, it was Captain John Stamos."
"Really?" Shepard was surprised by that. She hadn't exactly been impressed with the Commanding Officer of the SSV Hastings, who had all but ordered her not to adopt Jennifer Hale, stating that she already had one child. He had absolutely put his foot down on the thought of Hannah trying to raise the then-unborn Katherine Jane Hale on an Alliance Cruiser, stating that it was not a daycare center.
"Yeah, that fu... um, yeah." Jen winced as she tried not to swear around her daughter, only to get Katie to roll her eyes. "Anyhow, he wouldn't let anyone else be in that little closet of a room I used as I played ships' barber, like he was better than everyone else. And then he... he..." Jen had one of the aluminum chopsticks in her hand, Katie's hair in a bun, but the metal stick didn't make it to the hair in question. Hannah found herself looking at the N7, staring at her, and saw the Marine blinking back tears. "Let's just say he was a rather big believer in the hands-on approach."
"WHAT?" Shepard couldn't believe her ears, and her granddaughter frowned, obviously not getting the reference. "He... when?"
"Damn near every time." Jen replied softly, and Katie was looking to her mother, and then to her grandmother, knowing that something was wrong, but she didn't know what. "Told me... it was that or the next dock we hit." Hannah felt absolutely livid, her hands scrunching up into fists, her knuckles white. The same bastard that threatened to kick a rape victim off his boat just because she was using resources that the Sailors might potentially need on the Hastings was molesting her? Threatening to dump her if she said anything? But... Captain Stamos was the man who had signed Jane's recommendation paper for Anna...
Oh... oh no...
"Jen, did... Jane?" Hannah couldn't find the words. Jen and Jane were of the same age, born only a few months apart. Jen was a scarred and traumatized survivor of Mindoir, and Captain Stamos had the gall to molest her? Jane was a beautiful woman, and it hadn't been easy for Hannah to see Sailors and Marines staring at her daughter when they were on ships as Jane was growing up. If he had been doing it to Jen, then he could very well be doing it to Jane, too. She wanted to fillet the man with what Jen had told her, but she was pretty sure she was going to burn the man alive if she found out she had done it to Jane, too.
"No." Hale shook her head violently, enough for Shepard to know that Jen knew the truth of the matter. "Jannie was never by herself. I made sure of it. She... realized later. In Annapolis." The Captain connected those dots together well enough, knowing that Jennifer Hale had a very troubling intimacy issue with men; anything more than friendly chatting had the poor girl quaking and proned to violent outbursts. She had just assume that it had stemmed from Mindoir, but if Captain John Stamos had been forcing himself on her while she had been mentally traumatized and an emotional wreck, it was no surprise why her adopted daughter couldn't stand being around men in a romantic setting. Jane must have figured it out while the adopted sisters lived together as roommates. No surprise there; Jennifer probably couldn't bring herself to trust anyone else other than Jane Shepard at the time, especially when she could only bring herself to find physical intimate and romantic liaisons with other women. Jane... Jane must have covered for Jennifer, Annapolis and the Alliance Military not seeing same-sex relationships in a positive light at all. It was a stupid rule.
"Jen, I'm so sorry..." Hannah didn't know what to say. She couldn't even figure out where to start. "Why... why didn't you tell me? It's obvious you didn't tell Jane."
"He was your Commanding Officer, and I didn't really trust you back then, though that was no fault of your own." The Marine admitted, and Katie, her hair now done, sensed what the conversation might be about as she wrapped her arms around her mother, bless her heart. "The person who did find out was Master Chief Michelle Delacosta."
"The Hastings' Master-at-Arms?" Shepard vaguely remember the woman, a no-nonsense non-com who exuded feminine toughness. She only had a few interactions with the most senior non-Commissioned Officer of the Carriers' security team. If a ships' CO was doing something wrong, it could be difficult to approach one of the other Officers in the vessel, for one could never know if they would do something about it, or even inform said high-ranking assailant. The Master-at-Arms, on the other hand, was under the command of the Alliance Provost Marshall's Office, and technically only lent to a vessel. A ships' Captain couldn't technically order a Master-at-Arms. "You went to her?" Hannah would have rather Jen had gone to Shepard, but that she went to somebody was good enough.
"No, she walked in on it unknowingly several months after..." Hale's blue eyes dropped to Katie. Fuck, Hannah thought to herself. She hadn't thought about that; Stamos had been molesting her while she was pregnant? That was just sick. "She broke one of his fingers, and then reset it, and broke it again. Told him she would do the rest if necessary." Shepard vaguely recalled Captain Stamos wearing a finger splint on the forefinger of his right hand for several weeks. "Nothing happened after that."
"He's... not..." Hannah looked to Katie, who had her face buried in Jen's belly, not seeing the implication. Captain Shepard had never asked before who happened to be Katherine Jane Hale's father, just assuming it was one of the men that had raped her on Mindoir. But she had been on board the Hastings days later, and Jen had been coaxed into being the ships' barber several weeks later. Katies' birthday was just over nine months after Mindoir, but it could be possibly Jen wasn't pregnant that long. If that asshole had impregnated her after what Hale survived...
"No." Jen shook her head, obviously confident of her answer. "It didn't start until after I knew. I think he had a fetish for such a thing, because Master Chief Delacosta was certainly stumped that no one else ever said or suggested anything." The Marine merely shrugged, her face blank. Hannah had seen that face way too many times not to know what it was; Jen's way of just pushing her horrible past behind, refusing to even think about it. It wasn't the healthiest of methods of dealing with such things, but then again, Jen was one of the few survivors of Mindoir that hadn't committed suicide yet. Hannah moved over to the N7 and held her close, her granddaughter nestled between them as she held the Daughter of Mindoir tightly.
"No matter what, no matter what you decide," Hannah whispered to Hale, "I'll always be here for you, Jen." The Lieutenant Colonel hadn't made a decision yet on her knowledge about Captain Hannah Shepard being a member of Cerberus. Hannah didn't blame her or pressure her.
"I know, Mom." The N7 whispered, her arm slipping around Hannah, letting her know that everything was going to be fine. "I had you with me, too."
A/N: This chapter is meant to better explain Cerberus, and how they are suppose to work, the probe idea was stole from the first game, but meant as a triumph card. I could totally see TIM doing this. Hell, I'd have done it, too. First game they were all rawr rawr mean and then completely flipped with the second game, and then went back to being evil assholes. Confusing.
This chapter was to spotlight Hannah Shepard, who only exists if one were to pick the Spacer background. No other mention of family is mentioned in the other backgrounds, nor any possible siblings or father figure in any of them. John Shepard (Jane's Dad) died during the FCW, effectively making Hannah a single parent that never remarried and raised her daughter on whatever posting she was on. Jennifer Hale, on the other hand, had a father, mother, and an older brother on Mindoir.
Roger Bannister is a real person, and in fact, the first man to run a four minute mile (15 miles an hour, about 24 km/hr) in 1955. It was said to be impossible until the Englishman did it, and in the next year, another dozen men achieved the same feat; proving that it was possible showed others that were equally capable that it could be done.
Wendy the Welder - a hairstyle I stole from the Fallout series. It is a top bun with two chopsticks inserted in a cross to hold it together. Considering I am not a hairdresser, don't expect a lot of knowledge in this area.
Master-at-Arms - I remember reading somewhere (sorry, not all my knowledge comes from Wikipedia as I am very well-read) that Master-at-Arms and Naval Security Teams are actually not under the command of the ships' Captain in case it is the Captain in question that needs a little stick time or a first-hand inspection of a ships' brig. Not that I know how one would earn that save doing something very stupid, but on large vessels (like Aircraft Carriers) anything with personal weapons, landing craft, Marines, SEALs, and other insertion teams, there will be a Security Force and a Master-at-Arms.
I threw out some names here. Amanda McClaren, if you read Mass Effect vs. Aliens or if you've played Aliens: Isolation, is Amanda Ripley-McClaren, daughter of Alien/Aliens Ellen Ripley. Yes, Colonel Jennifer Hale just became Ripley's granddaughter. Just like Shepard was in Siege of Hadley's Hope. Captain John Stamos is named after the actor John Stamos from Full House (Uncle Jesse). Why him? ...I don't know, I like the name and he somehow fucked up being married to Rebecca Romijn. John Martin Harper is, of course, the Illusive Man. Martin, his middle name, is stolen from his voice actor, the utterly badass Martin Sheen.