From Ashes
Chapter Twenty-Four: Where We Stand
A/N: It was supposed to be posted before Valentine's Day was over and done, but I got a bit held up with wording. Anyway, here it is; chapter 24. :) Working on 25 now. It will definitely be up sooner than this one. For those following "Eclipsed", there will be another chapter for it as well; some tension broken.
The conversation with her mother went on for a short time after that little piece of advice, and Shepard could finally just relax and talk to someone in earnest about everything that had happened. It was different than words on a screen. It brought back memories of when she was a kd and her parents would talk about a shakedown run on a new ship, runs to colony worlds, or trips to Arcturus. She loved to listen to her parents vent about frustrations on shift or people that they had to deal with off duty. She now understood full-well what those talks were about.
That conversation didn't just give her a chance to let off some steam in regard to the last months; it also got her thinking. Hannah Shepard's advice was ringing in her head when she left that comm room. She had left the ship and made it back out into the open space that was the more or less empty presidium. The reservoirs ere still rippling with their many fountain, and birds were fluttering among the shrubs. She found her way to a bench overlooking three of the fountains, and upon sitting down, she raised her head and let it rest against the steel back rest. She could feel the hair that she hadn't been keeping as sort as usual fall back and hang down slightly.
"What are you doing here, Seryna?" She questioned herself in a slightly frustrated tone. "Looking up into this artificial sky like it holds all of the answers up there." She blinked and frowned up into the space that was between the two sides of the presidium. "You know it doesn't…" She stood slowly and set her sights on the one place that she typically hated. The sterile environment reminded her of the clinic that she had been guarding after the raids on Elysium. Still, as Shepard walked into the presidium clinic, she could see some general improvement. There were fewr people waiting around for treatment, more people walking around, and there were fewer body bags.
"Good evening, Commander."
"Evening, Doctor." Shepard greeted Chloe Michell as she was leaving the clinic. "Long day?"
"Yes, but there have been improvements."
"Looks that way." Shepard admitted.
"We have had an influx of support from outside the station, and because of that, there are more patients recovering and getting out of here."
"Glad to hear it. How are you holding up?"
"Well, considering." The doctor said quietly as the two stepped out of the way of an empty gurney being walked past for anitation. "It has been relatively quiet, and there have been very few reasons to have C-Sec around. There were a few incidents, but nothing that wasn't handled. I will say this, however; I am being followed."
"Followed?"
"Alliance personnel, apparently." Chloe said dismissively. Lowering her voice, she continued. "There is a rumor going around that the body of Armiston Banes was found."
"That's true." Shepard confirmed. "A team found his body on Edolus, but when a squad was sent to investigate, they were lured to their deaths by a beacon in the middle of a thresher nest."
"That would be why they are having me followed then." Chloe said slowly. "People who knew of Banes are disappearing. He was researching something, but I was cautioned and told to not ask questions."
"Sometimes not knowing is the best thing." In some cases, that was true, but with Shepard's predicament, it wasn't. If she knew more about what Kahoku had been up to, she might have more of a leg to stand on and he might not have been killed the way he was if at all.
"If only that were always true."
The two bade each other goodnight, and Shepard headed up via one of the lifts after checking with reception. Once she was clear of the lift, she had to quickly step out of the way. Nurses, doctors, and some visitors were leaving for the ground floor; their shifts done for the day or patients' visits finished. Asari, salarians, turians, and even a hanar left the ward that night in the lifts that were available. When the floor cleared, she headed up the ward, and could just see someone stepping out of her intended destination. By the looks of them, they were turian. It didn't hit her as to who it was until they strode back down the ward; mandible twitching in what appeared to be amusement. When he spotted her, he spoke; voice immediately recognizable.
"Shepard."
"Late night, Nihlus?"
"For you as well." The other spectre nodded as he said this. "Explaining that I have been alive and well for these past months has been… interesting." He said in a tone that matched his amused demeanor.
"I'd bet."
"Councilors Sparatus and Valern were a bit out of their element when I told them, but they were quick enough to adapt."
"How did she take it?" Shepard asked knowingly.
"Better than the others." Nihlus went to pass Shepard for the lifts as he continued. "I've heard a rumor, Commander; good choice." He left without another word. Shepard, after shaking her head in amusement, went on her way. Reaching the door that Nihlus had just left from, she couldn't help but smirk. The door opened with her approach, and she leaned into the doorframe while speaking in a quiet but almost teasing tone.
"Have you even moved since I left?"
"No," The sarcasm in her tone was easily marred by the obvious upturn of the councilor's lips as she leaned back in the chair she occupied. "I vowed to remain in this chair until you returned."
"Is that right?" Stepping over the threshold, Shepard laughed as the door closed.
"Well, if I were in a better state, I would have left this place."
"Still not a fan of hospitals or clinics, eh?" Crossing the short space between them, Shepard placed both hands over the low back of the chair the councilor occupied; fingertips reaching just past the middle of her shoulders. "Would have thought this place might have grown on you."
"I should hope not." Pausing for a moment to consider her next words, Tevos' lips upturned. "You know, I have been looking out of that pane of glass for hours now, and there is nothing of interest going on." That had the desired effect.
"They did it." At first, Shepard's tone was almost disbelieving. "They actually went through with it…"
"They didn't really have any choice."
"When did it happen?" Shepard left her place just behind the councilor, rounded the chair, and took the one beside her; Tevos, in turn, letting her gaze shift from the artificially sunlit presidium to the woman beside her.
"Yesterday, actually."
"How's that working out?" Though a generic question, two pairs of eyes were locked on one another momentarily while Tevos considered her answer.
"Better than before, or at least at the moment."
"Oh?"
"There is the fact that I can actually see you again." It was said in a way that got Shepard raising an eyebrow. Something just didn't sit well.
"The way you say that, it sounds like the only good thing."
"In a sense." Turning her gaze from Shepard to the open view of the presidium again, Tevos frowned slightly. "Before, I could only imagine the state this station was in; not just the structure, but the people as well. Now, I actually see it…" Casting another look out of the glass ahead, she shook her head. "Their fear, anger, malcontent, and disappointment; it is everywhere. The Citadel will never again be as it was before, and I cannot help but feel that the council as a whole is responsible."
"We've been through this; you did what you could with what you knew."
"But was it enough?" The question was abrupt and filled with tension.
"It will have to be." Shepard had been thinking on this for a while herself. With the Alliance wanting her to look into things left and right, she could have gotten things done faster or maybe even gotten to Noveria or Virmire sooner… "All that's left to do is pick up, rebuild, and find a way to head them off when the rest of them show up."
"It cannot be that simple."
"It is that simple." Shepard nodded; carefully avoiding the momentary gaze the asari directed toward her. Instead, she looked out of that same glass ahead of them. "But it won't be easy."
"Nothing that matters ever is." After a short silence, Tevos continued. "Perhaps you're right."
"That the only thing on your mind?" Shepard did turn and face her now as she asked this. "Anything interesting on the political front?"
"Nothing too interesting, just what was expected." Picking up a datapad with her left hand, Tevos went through the articles on it slowly. "People wondering just how safe the Citadel really is after all of this, a panic starting to spread through the embassies about the reapers, Quarians on the station being harassed over their creation of the geth that followed Sovereign…"
"I suppose that was to be expected." Shepard hadn't really thought about quarians being targeted, but they already were when it came to general opinion on the geth. No organic liked the synthetics that had caused the quarians to be exiled from their own homeworld and colony worlds, but now that she thought about it, there were bound to be more conflicts with the quarians over this.
"Irissa is already dealing with opposition." That was said with an almost flat tone.
"What?" Shepard waited for some sort of indicator that the asari was joking, but it didn't happen. "By who? The others?"
"Oh no." Tevos shook her head. "Worse; her own government. They don't believe she is suitable for the position."
"Who would they recommend?"
"Honestly, I don't believe anyone would suit them at this point." Tevos muttered. "If the hands of time were rolled back and Benezia herself agreed to it, they would still not be satisfied."
"She was the proffered one, was she?" Shepard asked. They hadn't really discussed Benezia in depth, and she was curious about the matriarch turned "martyr".
"She was." Tevos used her omni tool to transfer an image of the matriarch from her younger days onto the datapad that had once held news feeds and passed it along. "She wasn't simply a prospect; she was an ambassador to the Citadel for years. When the previous councilor stepped down after a long term of service, she took over in the interim."
"So she was actually a councilor for a time."
"Yes, and a very productive one. She was only stepping in, so it wasn't "official" or anything, but it was still something to see her in the vids speaking for our people in matters of galactic politics." A small laugh escaped the asari as she thought about it and could see it in her mind's eye. "Honestly, you should look through old council debates. She could deliver a speech with ease; you would have believed every word she said, even if she tried to convince you that the hanar were desert scorpions, it would be believable."
"Liara never mentioned this." Shepard admitted while thinking back through her conversations with the matriarch's daughter.
"I believe I remember she mentioned that she and her mother hadn't spoken for years."
"She said that they hadn't, but I never really knew why."
"The relationship between mother and daughter is one…" Tevos trailed off in thought for a moment before speaking again in a slightly softer tone. "One that shouldn't be neglected."
"Always was closer to my mother. She and my father were a constant in an ever changing wold when I was growing up." Shepard said in a reminiscent tone. "Grew up on starships and outposts, and they were always there."
"I saw something about your mother in your file while we were considering your spectre candidacy, but there was nothing on your father."
"Dad probably would have liked it that way."Shepard laughed. "Leslie Alvin Shepard was a great man and devoted to his family. Father of the year as far as I'm concerned." Using her omni tool to retrieve a picture of her father, she found one that made her laugh a bit more. It was of a tall man with salt and peppered hair and a slightly greying beard standing there in Alliance BDUs with a teenaged version of his daughter; they were both grinning sheepishly and sporting rifles. "Taught me to shoot when I was younger and we got such a lecture for it later."
"Mother not a fan of her daughter with a gun?"
"I think it was just the initial shock." Shepard shook her head at the question. "Dad was supposed to be working on something that day and instead we went off to one of the ranges on Arcturus. We were stationed there at the time. Mom knew it was going to happen eventually; I had always talked about following them and becoming an Alliance marine."
"You never imagined your life would take this turn, I expect."
"I didn't." Shepard thought on the stories her parents used to tell and the future she knew they wanted for her. "They hoped I'd be one of those who really grew up after the occupation of Shanxi and after the bad blood between humanity and the turians had worked itself out. When I graduated from the academy, Mom gave me a hug and Dad shook my hand before he said that this galaxy is what you make of it. Don't let anything or anyone hold you back. I honestly didn't think I would go this far, though." Putting her omni tool on standby, Shepard turned and voiced something that had been on her mind. "What about you? When you mentioned the mother-daughter relationship, something sounded off."
"She and I were never close." It was short, but not in the sense that it was a closed subject. "My mother had her own ambition and it…" Tevos paused to find the best means of phrasing her opinion. "It clouded her judgment more than once."
"Put her work before her daughter." Shepard shook her head. "I've known a few to do it."
"Like everything else, yes." The asari nodded slowly. "Work, pleasure, life in general…" She ticked them off as she went. "It was all the same to her." At Shepard's sideways look, Tevos went on. "I learned to live with it early on, and it was better to be ignored than to actually deal with her; my mother is a miserable being."
"What about your father?" Shepard worked to wrap her head around a mother who regarded everything else as more important than their child; though it wasn't unheard of, it was still unnatural, or it should have been.
"I never knew her." A sad but wistful smile made its way across the councilor's lips as she spoke. "According to my mother, she was distasteful, primal, and confrontational; those were the milder of terms used. Personally, I always invisioned her to be a hardened and disciplined commando."
"So you knew she was an asari."
"That was one thing I knew for certain." Tevos nodded grimly. "I was considered to be one of the greater mistakes she ever made."
"Pardon my bluntness, but she seems like a real bitch."
"That doesn't cover half of it." Subtle traces of humor were edging into her tone now. "She is hypocritical as well; claims to stand against pureblood mating."
"How does that work if she was with another asari?"
"I have been asking myself that for ages now." She shook her head again in dismissal, but kept speaking regardless. "I never got an answer for her on that subject. I doubt I ever will."
"Still talk to her, then?"
"Only when I have to." Tevos clarified. "She is an advisor to one of our diplomats, so on occasion I have to deal with her." There was a moment where a thoughtful look passed across her face. "As a matter of fact, she was the one I was speaking to the evening after Benezia's memorial and that of your lieutenant."
It took a moment to remember the piece of the conversation she had overheard.
"Deal with it as you see fit; I cannot stop you."
"You know her position on the subject-" It had sounded as if the one on that call was failing at a convincing argument.
"I am well aware of her position; you needn't remind me. It is irrelevant; she is gone."
"You have influence where others don't-" The councilor wouldn't hear it. She had cut the other woman off.
"I will not abuse my position to suit your needs; do not insult me by asking. Also, it would be an insult to her memory to use her death as leverage."
"Then sit back and let the other bureaucrats tell you what to say and think. Goddess knows they tend to get through to you better than I."
"I do not need assistance in making decisions on behalf of my people. I know what I am doing even if you and others believe otherwise."
"One day will come when you will need my influence or someone else's to achieve your goals…"
"When or if that happens, I will resign from my post."
"That was who you were speaking to?" Shepard remembered the rage behind the passive expression during that call. "She thought she could just walk all over you."
"Of course she did. My mother is well known for her air of superiority." Tevos remarked dryly. "That conversation was actually about on of the issues that Matriarch Benezia was working to bring to light. she was arguing that the asari should be more productive; that we should be more self-sufficient but still remain part of the galactic community."
"Like having a stronger military force and working on more technology?" Shepard could see the stronger military aspect. The asari were more than adept with biotic combat and ship engineering, but there was something missing in their tactics.
"Basically, yes. Benezia believed that we should begin working more with mass effect technology and possible relay schematics. She also thought there should be more prepared to think like huntresses as opposed to spending our maiden years dancing or otherwise."
"I can see it." Shepard agreed. "With what we know is coming now, I can easily see it."
"The strengthened military concepts were still a work in progress, but she really started stressing that near the end…" Tevos paused for a moment; a thought hitting her. "I suppose it may have been before she left to follow Saren in attempt to change his mind…"
"He did change his mind in the end." Shepard hadn't thought of it that much since having the conversation with the turian councilor, but Saren's burning and implanted body flashed through her mind; Sovereign taking full control of what remained. "It was just too late."
"Speaking of late, do you not have that inquiry tomorrow?"
"I do." A nagging exhaustionthat had been held off since the start of their conversation was slowly creeping up on her as Shepard nodded. "Should probably get some rack time beforehand." The next sidelong glance caught the asari next to her stifling a yawn. "Looks like you're a bit tired yourself. Not planning on falling asleep on me, are you?"
"Now there is a thought…" This brought out a laugh from both of them. "You should rest. I assume you'll have something of a battle on your hands in a few hours."
"No doubt about that." Rising from her chair, Shepard rolled her neck slightly to have it pop before straightening up again. "It always has to get worse before getting better, doesn't it?"
"Depends on the subject matter." Tevos stood as well before she faced Shepard again. "With politics, it is guaranteed, but one could hope that not everything has to go that way."
"I hope not." By the look she received, Shepard knew exactly what the other woman meant. Both advanced and found themselves locked in the other's loose embrace; Shepard finishing her thought. "I'm just starting to get used to this."
"So am I." Silence fell as they were both drawn into a tender but passionate kiss; Tevos speaking when it was finally broken. "One of the few things keeping me sane at the moment."
"I know the feeling." Setting an\ alarm to go off in the morning on her omni tool, Shepard went on. "One of the good things I have to look forward to when the dust settles. I am considering that aforementioned offer, by the way; should things not go as hoped."
"Good. It is customary for spectres to step away from their respective militaries when joining our ranks, but given the circumstances, there are benefits to not severing all ties."
"True." Shepard considered the Normandy and her crew for a moment. "Though the Normandy is a joint project sanctionedby the council between humanity and the turian Hierarchy."
"Besides," A definite smirk worked its way onto the asari's lips as she continued. "Should all not go well with the inquiry and you end up on Arcturus station, this…" They kissed again only briefly. "Would have been a wasted effort."
"Not happening. There's no way I'll be rotting on Arcturus for this." Shepard said in all seriousness. "And I wouldn't want that to be a wasted effort."
"I suppose we both know where we stand, then."
"I suppose so." The two finally fully let go of one another; Shepard adding one last word before leaving for the evening. "Good night, Tevos."
"Rest well and good luck, Seryna."
The rest of the night was spent in a slightly uneasy sleep. Shepard had returned to her cabin on the Normandy, bade her crew that was still awake goodnight, and had fallen into bed. It was grudgingly done; she wasn't tired, but she had to sleep before all of this took place. Her dreams consisted of Saren, Sovereign, Cerberus, and a mash up of all that had come between. They made no visual sense, but they left her clenching her teeth and feeling generally uneasy. Waking more than once, she tossed and turned until finding another comfortable position, and after the third time, Shepard managed to sleep for the rest of the night; waking when her alarm went off. This ieft her to stretch, get up, straighten out the combat fatigues she slept in, and head to the mess to start a pot of coffee. There, she met Ashley, who was browning toast and looking over a datapad. Wordlessly, Shepard looked over the coffee that was left and added it to the scalding water in the quickly heating pot before she headed back to her cabin to retrieve something. Starting the coffee was merely for the others. She had done it for a while, but this morning, she was in the mood for tea.
"Still the coffee master, Skipper?" Ash joked as her CO returned with a few bags of spiced tea that were promptly tossed into the other empty pot.
"I was always around coffee growing up." Shepard admitted while adding the water and letting the tea brew along with the coffee. "Dad always had to have his black coffee; he said he was nothing without it."
"Mine was like that too." Ashley put aside the datapad, which Shepard noticed sported some literature. "He sometimes said it was the only way he could face his girls."
"I'm following Mom's lead today though." Cinnamon, Cloves, nutmeg, and a hint of ginger started emitting from the pot with the tea bags as Shepard said this. "She was the tea drinker; said that was why she was so sweet and why Dad could be so bitter."
"Both of mine hit the coffee pretty hard." Ash set aside one stack of toast and went to making another one.
"Taking over the cooking, Chief?"
"Figure someone should." Ash said absently as she went oto work with some eggs as well. "Always loved to cook, but the LT had it covered for the most part."
"Good to see."
"You ready for this?"
"Hmm?" Watching the tea darken into an amber color, Shepard almost didn't catch Ashley's meaning. "Oh, I think so."
"Going to wing it?"
"Going in with some pre-wrapped speech just doesn't seem wise." Shepard shook her head. "Makes it look like I've been rehearsing something that may or may not be the truth."
"I hear that." With eggs done, Ash got a few, three pieces of toast, and accepted a mug of just finished coffee before heading to the smaller of the two tables. "Thanks, Skipper. You know we're all behind you on this."
"You and a few admirals." Shepard quipped while collecting a bit of breakfast herself and pouring a mug of tea. She then joined her gunnery chief. "Sterling, from the academy, has said she'd be there."
"Admiral Stirling?" Ash straightened up slightly as she sipped on her coffee. "She's one of the more sensible ones."
"Go figure." Shepard nodded. "Ran into one of her kin on Noveria."
"Wait…" Ash nearly choked on said coffee. "The hard-ass? Kaira Stirling is related to her?"
"Yeah." Shepard nodded and bit off a corner of one of the pieces of toast she had. "Somehow related. You could tell it by looking at her."
"All I noticed was that she was about to use biotics on us." Ash said simply. "Didn't bother thinking anything else of her after that."
"I really don't know Hackett's position on this." Shepard admitted. "I mean, he did speak up and have the fleet go in after the Ascension, and he overrode Mikhailovich's order."
"Yeah, but what about the rest of it?"
"That's the part I'm not sure about."
"Well," Ash leaned forward again. "He hasn't said anything negative about it, so here's hoping."
"Yeah."
Shepard finished breakfast with Liara, Karin Chakwas, and Pressly coming in shortly before she left. Talking with them briefly about anything that came up, she went over in her head what she would need to look over. All of her previously filed reports on Saren, Sovereign, and the reapers were at the top of the list. Then there were the ones on Kahoku's men, the experiments on Rachni, husks, and creepers, and finally the admiral and his dealings with the Shadow Broker. All in all, it could all be reviewed within the amount of time she had before she was expected in the ambassador's office. Normally, there were rooms off of the lower reaches of the council chambers to conduct hearings like this, but seeing as the tower was still under repair, it had to be held in the human ambassador's office. This meant that there would be a limit on the raised voices due to the openness of the room. It also meant that there would be a limit on who would be allowed into the office for it. Udina still had to work, after all.
If one could consider his constant bickering with other races working…
So her remaining time was spent looking over reports and confirming everything she already knew. It was a formality she hated, but Shepard plowed through it. When it was down to the last three quarters of an hour, she pulled on her dress blues that had been cleaned and pressed since the last time she had worn them. The bars on her shoulders felt like weights as she straightened up and tucked her hat under her arm. It was unnecessary, but she had it as a formality. Uniform straight and everything squared away, she stepped out of her cabin. Shepard was expecting to see the mess empty save for maybe a serviceman or so, but she found others waiting. Ashley, Pressly, Adams, and Chakwas were in their dress uniforms while Wrex, Liara, Tali, and Garrus were in their best as well. Blinking for a second, she didn't have to wait for an explanation.
"You didn't think you were going alone, did you, Skipper?"
"I expected to, if I'm honest." Shepard said it without thinking. "Looks like that's not the case, though."
"No Ma'am." Pressly shook his head. "If you're going down for any of this, they may as well impound the Normandy." Though she really didn't know Charles Pressly all that well, she had to give him a smile for that statement. He hadn't been big on working with Nihlus or any other aliens for that matter, but they wouldn't have detected Sovereign's location on Ilos without him or found their drop point.
"I don't know what to say."
"With all due respect, Skipper; just nod, accept it, and meet them head on." Ashley said simply with the others' nods of agreement.
"Copy that, Chief."
The presidium was quiet but considerably more saturated with humans than on a typical day. The lobby outside the embassies was almost congested with people. Some had Alliance uniforms on and others were there in combat fatigues or civilian wear. The crowds parted when people realized who was approaching from the skycar shuttlepad nearby; the voices got considerably quieter as well. The thought of whether she was attending a funeral or a hearing crossed Shepard's mind, but she didn't voice it. Instead, she kept a rigid posture and went past them; nodding to Saphyria as she passed the desk. The asari's blue eyes followed the small knot of people as they passed. She nodded in response but didn't say a word. This left them to depart into the upper level after ascending the stairs; the voices resuming their medium hum when the door closed. They could already see David Anderson standing outside the door in his own uniform. His arms were crossed, and he looked rather stern. When he spotted the commander, he let his arms drop and reached out to grasp her hand.
"Commander."
"Captain." Shepard shook his hand firmly.
"Are you ready?"
"As ready as possible, Sir." This was spoken with a confidence she actually felt; whether it was from her crew standing behind her, she didn't know. Regardless, it felt good. "Are they ready to proceed?"
"Still got a few minutes."
"Wouldn't mind just getting it over with." She said as a few others came up. One was an admiral that she didn't recognize and the other was- "Nihlus?"
"Good day, Shepard." The turian greeted as he stepped closer.
"Didn't just find your way around to the human embassy, by chance…"
"Of course not." Nihlus stepped out of the way to allow the human admiral entry into the office ahead. "I admire the scenery."
"And here I thought turians didn't have a sense of humor."
"It's against protocol," Garrus addressed Shepard with a mock-serious expression. "But some of us get away with it."
"Good to know."
"Actually, I am here to attempt to ease the burden a bit."
"Would be useful, seeing as the Alliance pushed for a spectre but don't seem to know exactly what they have to stand for." Ashley commented.
Shepard nodded, but as she did, she saw a few more Alliance suits entering the office. One admiral and two commanders filed past the ones outside the door, and none of them took a sideways glance. Anderson checked something on a datapad that one of the commanders handed to him and nodded stiffly. When the door closed, he looked directly at Shepard. "They're ready."
"Alright." Shepard nodded to her former commanding officer and stiffened. "Let's get this done."
"We've got your back, Shepard." Tali said within a second's pause.
"And we'll be here when it's over; whichever way the hammer falls." Wrex added.
"Thanks, everyone." Shepard proceeded into the office first with Anderson and Nihlus at her rear flank. What she saw was a panel of admirals and commanders behind a long desk that had been put in the office for the occasion against the wall where the comm was that Udina used to communicate with the council when not in their chambers. They were speaking amongst themselves quietly when Anderson cleared his throat. They turned around to face the newcomers and were a bit more than surprised to see the turian spectre. Regardless, their recovery was quick. One, a darker skinned man with thinning dark grey hair spoke first.
"Captain Anderson." At his address, Anderson nodded. The admiral continued. "Commander Shepard." She too nodded. "We are waiting on one more before this hearing can continue."
"No, you're not." A voice that had Shepard tempted to turn her head sounded, and the admiral who had spoken looked toward the door sharply.
"Admiral Hackett."
"Let's get started."
A/N 2: As stated above, next chapter is already a WIP. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there. A little love in this chapter.
Cheers!
