Oh look, it's a new record for fastest chapter turnaround time...
However, I won't be keeping this pace due to the upcoming holidays. Look for the next update in the new year, and happy holidays to all.
Shepard kept a close eye on the newcomer - Caprica - in an attempt to disguise the unease that still plagued her. She'd been so hopeful that the Orizaba would be among the ships with Hackett. The news that it wasn't, that her mother was still missing, had been a serious blow. Her hands clenched into fists momentarily, then she made herself relax. She couldn't afford to dwell on that fact. Besides breaking the iron concentration that she knew would be needed for dealing with the Council, it could all too easily lead into worrying over everyone else she loved who was in danger right now.
Garrus…
She shut that thought down before it could go any farther, a part of her feeling like she was betraying him by doing so. But if she rallied the Council to provide a fleet, everywhere in the galaxy would be safer. Including Palaven.
Cortez was waiting for them back at the Kodiak. His only reaction to the newcomer was a raised eyebrow in Shepard's direction. She shrugged in a what-can-you-do expression, and he seemed to accept that, nodding and closing the hatch behind them.
"So, Caprica," Shepard said, after giving the tall blonde a few moments to look around the shuttle, "what's your role supposed to be?"
Caprica smiled wryly. "I'm supposed to be a counterpart to Starbuck and Apollo."
It took Shepard a few moments to remember that Kara's call sign was Starbuck, which meant that Lee's must be Apollo. The fact that Caprica sounded like a more human version of EDI wasn't helping matters. She chuckled softly, as much to relieve her tension as anything else. "Artemis and Apollo. My father was very vocal about lamenting the fact that he wasted the name Artemis on me, when he could've had fraternal twins named Artemis and Apollo." Shepard looked at the puzzled faces around her and hastened to clarify. "My younger siblings are twins."
Ash, who'd heard the story before, grinned. "Seems to me you're leaving out the fact that your mother specifically requested less obviously nerdy names for her second and third born."
" 'There are lots of perfectly good demigods and heroes with normal names.' " Shepard chuckled as she finished quoting her mother.
"So… what are their names?" Lee asked.
"Jason and Penelope. Jason's a hero - assembled a band of brave men, the Argonauts, and had exciting adventures -"
"Slept with lots of hot mythical chicks," Cortez put in from the pilot's seat.
"Hey, it's the Greeks. Everyone slept with everyone. And everything." Shepard traded grins with Cortez before continuing. "Penelope was the wife of Odysseus, another mythical hero. Unlike most heroes' wives, Penelope actually gets to do something cool on her own terms. Odysseus was off fighting a big war at Troy, then got caught up in some additional adventures. Took him 10 years to get home, on top of the 10 years he'd spent in the war. He was gone long enough for his rivals to declare him dead and start pressuring Penelope to marry one of them. She agreed to take a husband when she'd finished weaving Odysseus' burial shroud, which put them off for a while. To give herself even more time, she secretly undid all of her work every night."
"There's a planet among the Colonies called Troy," Lee said after a few moments.
"There you go," Shepard said, deliberately being flippant to keep the mood from turning too serious. "More evidence that we're your Thirteenth Tribe."
"It does seem … rather unbelievable," Caprica said.
Shepard sighed as the shuttle came to rest on Normandy's flight deck. "Look. It is unbelievable as hell, but it happened. So instead of worrying over how this could have happened, we ought to be dealing with the consequences." She stood and gestured for them all to follow her out.
"Joker," she called as soon as her feet hit the ground. "Set a course for the Citadel."
"Aye, Commander," Joker said. "Everything good with Hackett?"
"Everything's good," Shepard confirmed. She looked back over her shoulder at the Colonials, focusing her attention on Caprica, the one she knew least about. Actually, that she knew almost nothing about. Just that she was a Six, and that Caprica was the name of one of the Twelve Colonies. Seemed an odd name for a Cylon to have, but Lee and Kara hadn't said anything about it.
"We'll be heading up to the Observation Lounge. You can watch the transit and the approach to the Citadel there. Chief Tyrol's already there." The speech was pretty much entirely for Caprica's benefit, but all three of them nodded and fell in behind her. Vega, who'd been doing something with his gun, put it down and walked over to join the group.
"That's right. You haven't seen the Citadel, either," Shepard said to him.
"No, ma'am." Vega grinned. "I'm looking forward to it."
Shepard chuckled and lead them all to the elevator, then out onto the crew deck and towards the Observation Lounge. She was a bit surprised to see no one there. When she'd left, Liara had still been talking with Tyrol.
"EDI?" she said, looking at the ceiling. "Can you tell me where Chief Tyrol went?"
"He went to Engineering, Shepard."
At the sound of EDI's voice, Caprica's eyes went wide and she swiveled her head around. "What is this?" she demanded, and Shepard realized that no one had told her about EDI. "How did you get my voice, and why are you using it?"
"You must be a Six. I am very pleased to meet you," EDI said. "Of all the coincidences surrounding the Twelve Colonies and Earth, I find this one to be the most intriguing."
"This - is some kind of joke, right?" Caprica asked, looking intently at Shepard.
Shepard shook her head. "This is EDI, the Normandy's AI. Like she said, it's pure coincidence. EDI's sounded like this for as long as I've known her."
"Your ship - has an AI." Caprica looked at the ceiling. "And you refer to that AI as her."
"My voice is female, so I perceive myself as female. Additionally, there is a long tradition of referring to ships as female."
"I know that," Caprica snapped. She put a hand to her head. "This … is really just a coincidence?"
"If it isn't, the explanation for it is beyond anything I could come up with in the next five minutes," Shepard said. "EDI, tell Adams to bring Tyrol up. He'll want to see this."
"Right away, Shepard."
Caprica sat on the couch closest to the window, alternating her glance between the view and the ceiling. Shepard could tell that she was still deeply skeptical of EDI. She couldn't blame the Six for that. She knew she'd be unsettled if she suddenly heard her own voice from a computer that she'd known nothing about to that point.
Lee and Kara took seats near Caprica, but, Shepard noticed, not really next to her. She wished she knew more about this Six. Why she'd been picked to come. What history she had with the Colonials - they'd all recognized her, Shepard was certain. Knew her as something more than just a random Six.
Ash stood, leaning against the wall, arms folded across her chest. Shepard noticed Vega checking her out, and hid a smile. So, the attraction went both ways. Good. With any luck, they'd figure that out for themselves. Shepard would only interfere if it got to be too ridiculous to watch them mooning over one another, supposedly in secret.
A few minutes passed in silence before the door slid open to reveal Adams and Tyrol. Adams saluted her, nodded, and then turned around. To head back to Engineering, presumably. Tyrol did a double-take when he saw Caprica, then shook his head and went to sit down with Lee and Kara.
Shepard kept her eye on the four newcomers, trying to glean whatever information she could about them. Kara, she knew, and trusted to have her back - or she would never have offered her a spot on the Normandy and her ground team. If it hadn't been for the quick word Liara had dropped in her ear, Shepard would never have thought of Tyrol as anything other than what he appeared to be: a seasoned deck chief, someone who worked his crew hard and himself harder. The fact that he was actually one of the "secret" Cylons was a serious bonus. With the right questions, they'd be able to learn a lot about these people and their history. And Shepard had every faith in Liara's ability to ask the right questions.
She considered Lee Adama next. She wanted to like him, and not just because he and Kara seemed to have been a team at one point. He reminded Shepard of her brother Jason, who'd made a career change similar to Lee's - leaving the military when he'd thought his big sister was dead and going to work for the newly-minted Councilor Anderson. Jason had decided to keep working for Udina when Anderson resigned his post and returned to the military. Shepard had half expected him to follow in Anderson's footsteps, but she was finding that she was glad he hadn't. She could use a friend in Udina's office.
But Jason wasn't just a friend, he was her little brother, and Shepard knew she'd catch hell if she didn't let him know she was on her way. She activated her omni-tool and typed out a quick message.
Jase,
Made it off Earth. On my way to the Citadel to talk with your boss and his colleagues. No word on Mom.
Artemis
That done, she returned to looking at the Colonials, shifting her focus to the tall blonde Cylon sitting alone. She felt sorry for Caprica, obviously excluded from the conversation the other three were having. Shepard made a note to herself to have a good, long conversation with this Caprica. Later. After the Citadel. There'd be some transit time back to wherever it was that they were going - Earth, Fifth Fleet, or somewhere else entirely.
The speakers crackled to life. "Approaching the relay, Commander."
"Thanks, Joker." Shepard pushed herself off from the wall and cleared her throat, making sure that the Colonials were paying attention to her. "Chief Tyrol, Mr. Adama. I won't try to keep you on the ship. I know that's a bit much to ask. But I will tell you that you won't be able to get through security, so you'll have to stay in the docking bay area. And even if you could get through security, I'd still ask you to stay in the docking bay area. The Citadel can be overwhelming if you've never been there before, and I don't want you getting lost." She smiled, trying to take some of the sting out of her words. "On the bright side, there's a VI in the docking bay area that will give you more information about the Citadel, and just this corner of the universe in general. A VI is a Virtual Intelligence - it can't think for itself, it just responds within predefined parameters."
Lee exchanged a glance with Tyrol, who nodded. Lee turned back to look at Shepard. "I understand, Commander. We'll stay in the docking bay area."
Shepard nodded back, then looked at Caprica. "I'm afraid I can't extend you the same courtesy. I don't know what the Citadel sensors might make of your Cylon nature, and I'm not interested in provoking a major incident. I'd ask you to let me work behind the scenes so that you can visit the Citadel in the future."
"Will I be confined to this room?" Caprica asked.
Interesting that she asked that. It showed just how tenuous the alliance between the Cylons and Colonials was. Or maybe it was something to do with her, specifically. Shepard put aside her curiosity and answered her question. "No. I'd ask you to remain on this deck, though." She hesitated, then decided that her own personal amusement wasn't a good enough reason to discourage Caprica from talking to EDI. "You can speak to EDI from anywhere on the ship. I'm sure that you two have a lot to talk about."
Caprica looked at the ceiling. "Yes. I think we do."
"I am looking forward to the conversation, Caprica," EDI said.
Shepard reluctantly tore her gaze away from Caprica, settling it instead on the newest member of the Normandy. "You're Normandy crew now, which means that I'm going to treat you the same as the rest of the crew and grant you shore leave. At a minimum, either myself or Ash will need to get you cleared with C-Sec. Citadel Security," she elaborated quickly. "However, the same caution applies to you as to Chief Tyrol and Mr. Adama. It'd be very easy for you to get lost, trying to navigate the Citadel. I know Ash gave you an omni-tool, but that only helps if you really know how to use it." Plus, she was fairly certain that whatever omni-tool had been available was low quality. Shepard made a note to herself to get better 'tools delivered to the ship, for all four of the newcomers. Wasn't Cortez also a procurement officer? She'd have him do it. Delegation was supposed to be a hallmark of a good commanding officer, or so she'd always been told.
"I'll take charge of Kara for today, Shepard," Ash said. "Make sure she makes it back to the Normandy in one piece."
Shepard nodded. "That okay with you, Kara?"
"Hell yeah it is," Kara said, grinning broadly. "I haven't had proper R&R in years."
"It won't be a terribly long R&R, and you won't have a lot of notice for when it's over," Shepard cautioned. "I'll be pulling everyone back as soon as I'm done with the Council. When you hear from me, you drop whatever it is you're doing and get your ass back to Normandy."
"Ma'am," Kara said, her voice stronger and more disciplined - but that unrepentant grin was still on her face.
Shepard decided that it would probably be better if she didn't know what Kara and Ash got up to while she was talking to the Council.
The third relay transit was somewhat better than the first two had been. Kara stayed in her seat, but she didn't feel like the wind had been knocked out of her when it was over. Maybe she was getting used to this weird method of traveling.
She turned to look out the window, her eyes widening as she got her first glimpse of the Citadel. She could tell it was massive, even from this distance, and she remembered what Shepard had said earlier about the population numbering in the millions.
"The center ring is the Presidium," Shepard said from behind the gawking Colonials. "That's where the Council is, and where all of the various races have their embassies. Also has the hospital and some higher-end shops. We'll be docking there. The arms are the five wards of the Citadel. Those areas are not that different from every other space station in the galaxy. Housing, food, shops, other businesses, docking bays of their own. Each ward has a few species that tend to dominate the makeup, though it's by no means universal. The wards are Zakera, Shalta, Tayseri, Kithoi, and Bachjret."
Kara was used to space stations being long and rectangular in shape. The general structure reminded her more of Cloud 9, though on a much larger scale. "Do the arms close?" she asked.
"If the Citadel is under threat, yes," Shepard replied. "Last time was three years back, when I was chasing Saren Arterius."
Kara nodded and kept staring at the Citadel. She felt in awe of the size and majesty of the station. As they got closer, she started to see ships of various kinds flying in or out of Citadel space, heading for the Presidium or the Wards.
"We're being routed to an Alliance controller," the pilot - Joker - said over the speakers. "Your old friend Bailey is sending an escort for you."
"Looks like he's moved up in the world," Shepard commented. "Ash, give it a few minutes before you bring the others out. Let's not confuse C-Sec any more than we have to."
"Aye aye, ma'am," Ash replied.
Kara didn't glance up when Shepard exited the room, still transfixed by the view of the Citadel - all those lights serving as still more evidence of human (intelligent, she corrected herself) habitation. The sense of surreality that had started as soon as she'd seen Shepard on Galactica was increasing, and she actually felt nervous.
"Let's go," Ash said, and Kara almost jumped. She'd gotten so engrossed in the view that she'd lost track of the "few minutes" Shepard had requested. She stood up hastily and nodded to Ash, following her out to the elevator, then up a floor to the CIC. Or maybe they didn't call it that. She hadn't asked. She'd pick it up as she went along.
The Colonials stood in silence, fidgeting through the airlock cycle. Kara knew that Lee shared her eagerness to be out and looking at this new place, and it was reasonable to assume Tyrol felt the same way.
Finally, the doors opened, and Ash lead them outside.
Large glass windows covered the wall to the left, and artificial sunlight streamed through to the clean tile flooring. There were humans and aliens leaning on the railing next to those windows, staring out at the ships that flew by. Kara looked at Lee and saw a wide-eyed expression that must be mirrored on her own face. Gods. Even more than the Normandy and the Hong Kong, this place was an unsettling mixture of the strange and the familiar.
There were asari ahead, their skin tones different hues of blue from Liara's; tall spiky aliens that she thought were turians. Or were they salarians, and the turians were the scaly ones? She felt a moment of anger, for not remembering better, but frak this was a lot to take in.
"Yeah, we'll be okay staying right here," Lee said, staring at a brownish-green creature that was walking on six legs, with four arms and giant black eyes. "You sure you don't want to join us, Kara?"
Kara had been considering it, until Lee said that, and she suppressed a flash of anger as she shook her head. "You boys go ahead and play it safe," she said, affecting a casualness that she didn't feel. "I'm ready for the big leagues."
"Better you than me," Tyrol muttered, shaking his head and walking to find a spot by the windows. Lee followed after a final glance at Kara.
"It can be pretty overwhelming, even for someone from this universe," Ash said. "I think I had that exact same expression when Shepard first brought me here." She paused. "But we should get moving."
"Yeah." Kara tore her gaze away from the windows showing sun and daylight, even if it was artificial like Cloud Nine's. She'd loved going to that ship, the chance to stand on a floor that wasn't metal and feel the sun on her face.
"Alliance personnel just need to be cleared by a superior officer. Makes the Alliance officers responsible for deciding who gets unrestricted shore leave and who doesn't," Ash said, setting off at a brisk pace. Kara followed. "I'll be entering you in as Lieutenant Kara Thrace."
"Lieutenant?" Kara was indignant at the 'demotion', even though she knew it was unreasonable and meant nothing in real terms. "Not Captain?"
"Captain means you outrank Shepard. No one outranks Shepard on the Normandy."
"But Shepard's a Commander," Kara said. "That's … backwards."
Ash shrugged. "That's how the Alliance does it. Look, do you want to go see the Citadel or not?"
"All right, all right," Kara grumbled, shaking her head, forcing herself to drop the issue.
They walked up to a pair of aliens that Kara was now reasonably sure were turians, because she remembered Shepard saying that they made up the bulk of Citadel Security. Ash nodded to them in greeting. "Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams, SSV Normandy. Registering a new-"
"Yeah, yeah, you're about the twentieth that's come through today," the first turian said. Kara's new omni-tool translated the words for her, somehow making it so that she didn't hear the alien language at all. Weird. She was surprised at how rich and tonal its (his?) voice sounded, a dual-layered tone with a hint of a rasp underneath it. "Wait, you said Normandy? You're with Shepard."
"Yep," Ash said with another nod.
"Thank the spirits," the turian said. "Someone who's prepared to do something about this mess."
"Enough chatter, let's get this over with," the other turian said. Kara swung her head between the two for a moment, noting the coloring of the face paint they wore. She recalled that Shepard's earlier example had been sporting thick, white markings. Both of the aliens in front of her had vertical light blue markings that were nearly invisible against their gray plating. "Name and rank?"
Kara kept her features cool as she responded. "Lieutenant Kara Thrace, Systems Alliance Navy."
The turian entered the information into the computer in front of him. "Hold still for the scan, please." It held up a small device that was almost see-through. A clear blue light came from the top of the device and scanned Kara's face twice. The device beeped and the turian lowered it, holding it flat in both hands. "Place your hand here. Right hand first. Then the left."
Kara did as instructed. When the scans had finished, the turian nodded to its partner. "Step through the scanner," the first turian said. Its voice, Kara noted, was slightly higher than its partner's. Kara walked to the scanner and passed through slowly, and had a sudden flashback to the way that the Cylon Raiders would scan their enemies. She controlled her reaction, looking over her shoulder at Williams and the aliens.
The device the second turian was holding gave a beep, and it nodded. "You're all set, Lieutenant. Have a nice day."
"Thanks," Ash said, walking through the scanner herself.
"And tell Shepard that we're rooting for her," the first turian called as they walked off.
"So, uh, were those … uh, turians, were they …" Kara hated the way that she was stumbling over her words.
"Yeah, they were turians, and they're male," Ash said, seeming to get the gist of her question. "Females don't have the spikes running along the top of their head."
"Okay." Kara let out a breath. One mystery down, about a million more to go. Speaking of … "Where are we heading?"
The elevator door slid open. Ash walked in, and Kara followed a minute later. "Seems there's this new, hot nightclub on the Citadel," Ash said. "Whoever's running it has some very powerful friends. It's got me curious."
"A nightclub?" It wasn't what Kara had been expecting, even though they were on R&R. Somehow she'd thought they'd be going to some little cafe.
"Figured with the day that I've had, alcohol's about the only thing that'll help me actually unwind." Ash looked over at her, raising a questioning eyebrow. "If you're not up for it, I can pick somewhere else…"
Kara was not at all opposed to this idea. "Why not. It's as good a place as any to get a better feel for this crazy world."
Ash grinned broadly. "I knew I liked you."
The elevator doors slid open. This time Kara remembered to exit before she started gawking. Once again she racked her brain to come up with names for the aliens she saw in front of her - a large, lumbering creature with gray skin, standing on all fours; a shorter figure with greenish-gray skin and horns. At least she knew the turians, now. "So, uh, Ash-"
"Big guy's an elcor, scaly guy's a salarian," Ash said.
Right. She should've known the salarian. Oh well.
As they kept walking, another question came to mind. "Besides Liara, how many - which ones -" Flailing again, Starbuck? Get a grip.
And once again, Ash seemed to pick up on what she was asking despite the jumbled words. "Well, the ones that I served with - besides Liara, as you said, there's Wrex, Garrus, and Tali. Wrex was Shepard's krogan example, you might remember. Big guy, yellow scaly skin? I wouldn't have picked him as the one to go back and knock heads together to get the krogan in order, but you know what, there's probably not anyone better for the job. And he's likely to back Shepard in whatever she winds up doing." Ash paused as they dodged around a pair of Alliance soldiers having an animated conversation and not noticing the two women striding towards them. "Garrus Vakarian - he's a turian, former C-Sec. Likes to call himself a bad turian because he's more willing to break the rules and go off on his own. Nice guy. Took me a while to figure that out, though."
Kara frowned, wondering why this 'Garrus' hadn't been Shepard's example of a friendly turian, then discarded the thought. "And Tali?" she asked.
"She's a quarian. Tali'Zorah nar … nar Rayya." Ash scrunched up her face in concentration. "Zorah's her last name, more or less, and Rayya is the ship she was born on. I think. She's probably something different now, since she was on her Pilgrimage two years ago, and the point of the Pilgrimage is to get a spot on a new ship."
"So they use ship names as well as last names?" Kara supposed that made sense. "I'd really like to meet Tali. Or, well, any quarian. I can't imagine being in space for three hundred years…"
"Me, neither," Ash confessed. "Part of what makes going home so nice is the chance to be on a planet for an extended length of time."
"Home? Is that Earth?" Kara asked.
Ash nodded. "My mom and sisters are there. Some of the sisters, anyways. Dad died in service a while back."
"Multiple generations, huh?" Kara smiled. "My mom was also in the military."
Ash laughed, but the sound had a slightly bitter edge to it. "Goes back a bit further than that, for me. You know that turians were the first race humans made contact with?" At Kara's nod, she sighed and continued. "They call it the Relay 314 Incident. We call it the First Contact War. My grandfather General Williams has the unfortunate distinction of being the only member of the Alliance military to ever surrender his command to a foreign power."
Kara winced. Ash's tone and demeanor told her at least as much as her words did. "Still living it down, huh?"
"Yep," Ash replied. "And it's Shepard who gave me the chance to break the Williams curse. I'd have died during my command on Eden Prime if it wasn't for her." She went silent. There was something else there, Kara could tell, but she didn't want to push Ash. Gods knew Kara had enough skeletons in her closet that she didn't want to discuss.
They rounded a few more corners and then walked into a large, open area, filled with bright neon lights and the steady thump thump thump of club music. There was a significant line outside the club - Purgatory, the sign above the entrance said.
"What about the aliens you didn't serve with? The ones that joined Shepard while she was with Cerberus?" Kara asked as they joined the line, then frowned. "Wait. Isn't Cerberus pro-human?"
"Yeah, it is, and no, I don't know why they hired aliens on, besides the fact that Shepard might've balked at an all-human team," Ash replied. Kara strained her head forward to see how fast the line was moving, and noticed a turian exiting. "Let's see. Well, Garrus and Tali were both there. And this other krogan, not Wrex. He had a weird story, actually-"
Ash cut off as the turian Kara had just noticed came up to stand next to them. He had no facial markings, unlike the other turians she'd seen so far. Did that mean anything? "Lieutenant Commander Williams. The boss would like to speak to you. If you'll follow me, I'll take you inside right now."
Ash exchanged a quick glance with Kara, who shrugged, indicating her willingness to follow Ash's lead. Ash turned back to the turian and nodded. "All right."
The turian returned the nod, and started walking back inside. Kara and Ash followed.
"Do you know this 'boss'?" Kara asked in an undertone. "I thought you said you'd never been here before."
"I haven't," Ash replied. "I don't have any idea what's going on, but we're getting inside quickly. Seems like a good thing to me."
Kara shrugged. "Yeah, probably. Still, you have to wonder what the boss wants."
"Well," Ash said dryly, "I'm pretty sure we're about to find out."