The mess hall seemed overly crowded that morning, Dr. Chakwas thought as she regarded her unadorned waffle. EDI had made the announcement that at zero six thirty, Shepard wanted to have an informal briefing with the entire crew, and that told Dr. Chakwas all she needed to know.
Operation Thunderbolt was go. She expected that was what Shepard wanted to talk about, to brace the crew for the upcoming action. Then she'd call the ground team and certain key members of the crew in for a full briefing later.
The reason for the operational security was obvious: one whiff of the Alliance descending on his nest like a flock of hungry raptors and the Illusive Man would just go to ground. It was better if he could be caught at home. Dr. Chakwas didn't even know how to calculate the logistics involved in moving entire fleets to blockade one place without giving their intentions away.
It surprised her to see Councilor Burns in the mess hall, chatting affably with several of the junior crewmen, but only a little. Tactically, the Citadel was still an attractive target—for the Reapers more than for Cerberus, since Cerberus lacked the resources to try anything fresh with regards to the Citadel.
It would help some people sleep better at night knowing one of the voices of leadership wasn't there. Then she wondered how many Councilors had actually contacted their own forces and were working remotely today. Aethyta might, Quentius might. Esheel? Probably not.
At six-thirty exactly, Shepard entered the mess hall with Alenko, who found a seat and settled. If she had to guess, there had probably been a little Spectre pre-game planning session starting sometime between zero six and zero six fifteen.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Shepard began, raising her voice slightly to get everyone's attention before resuming normal volume. "EDI informed you there would be an informal briefing this morning over breakfast, but I'm afraid it's a little more serious than that."
She gave the room a moment to exchange murmurs, glances, for the energy in the room to ramp up a notch.
"At thirteen twenty-two hours, we will arriving at our destination, Cronos Station, and Operation Thunderbolt will begin. This is the first step in the re-taking of Earth."
Rather than more noise, dead silence ensued. They were all braced for the Illusive Man and Cerberus; few had realized they'd be moving directly on to the Reapers afterwards. Even Dr. Chakwas was a little surprised, before realizing she shouldn't be. The Illusive Man had the Catalyst. It was probable the Reapers knew it. Therefore, the Reapers had to have something else to occupy them while the Catalyst was implemented into the Crucible's design…and they would all just have to hope that the galaxy's forces would be enough of a distraction.
It sounded like a shaky plan, which told the doctor just how precarious the allied galaxy's position really was.
"Today, we tackle the Illusive Man. That's the job for a series of small strike forces. However, once we get back to Earth…" Shepard paused, glancing around the room. "How many here call Earth home?" she asked, tone somewhat quieter.
More than half the hands in the room went up.
"I plan on leaving a skeleton crew aboard the Normandy. All other personnel will be shuttled or off-loaded as possible. I'm not going to lie, it's going to be ugly. Your home is crawling with Reapers. Nothing will be what you remembered. I need you all to start mentally preparing yourselves for this."
The expressions of those who usually stayed on the ship while the ground team handled the heavy action all read the same way: no one wanted to stay.
"Those who would like to volunteer for ground duty will submit their names to Lt. Vega before the end of shift today," Shepard continued. "If it comes to it, and I know it will because I know the dedication of this crew, I will select the skeleton crew who remains myself. There will be no arguments, no debates, no discussions." She pinned Burns with a particular look that said she'd better not see his name on the list of so-called hopefuls.
Burns crossed his arms where he sat, but his expression said she could just skip his name then, because he intended to at least volunteer.
"Alright, I think that's all for the moment. Ground team and ground team support, I'd like to meet with you all after breakfast. Shall we say, zero seven thirty?"
General agreement met this suggestion.
Once Shepard nodded and ended the briefing with 'that is all,' Palmer held up a plate full of waffle and dressings, which she jiggled energetically to get Shepard's attention. Shepard blinked, then seemed to realize everyone needed breakfast this morning, walked over and collected her plate. After a quiet thank-you to Palmer, Shepard joined Alenko. She ate with a mechanical quality that suggested she was eating nutritious sand rather than tasty waffles.
Dr. Chakwas took a long drink of her coffee. She had a lot to plan if they were going from Cerberus to Earth. The thought raised gooseflesh on her arms. Retaking Earth, or at least trying to, had always seemed such a long way off, part of some nebulous future while they contended with the difficulties of the hellish now. Suddenly, the future had become the now with all the force of crashing a skycar into a solid brick wall.
Dr. Chakwas forced herself to finish her cup of coffee before heading back to the medbay. Nutrition and a stimulant were necessary now, but so was the time to order her thoughts, to prioritize what she needed to do to prepare for what came next.
They'd need syntheblood. Probably gallons of it.
She shuddered inwardly at the thought. There weren't a lot of wounded when the Reapers were involved. They were called Reapers for a reason…
She dreaded to think how many of this crew would find out why firsthand.