John Shepard, Cerberus Station, Unknown Location

"You should go straight to the meeting room," Miranda said, crisply. "I've already filed my report to the Illusive Man. I was thorough with the mission debriefing."

"Oh, no!" John gasped, stepping away from the woman with his hands up in mock terror. "Jacob! Help me!" he then pleaded to the other man. "She has learned my greatest weakness! A sternly worded letter!"

Pausing for a moment, Jacob tried valiantly to keep a straight face. And he succeeded for nearly a full three seconds. "Pffft," Jacob slipped out before he slapped a hand on his mouth. But his shoulders shook with the contained laughter.

"For the love of…" Miranda growled under her breath as she hung her head for a moment, her hands on her hips. The expression on her face was one of somebody with a migraine growing.

Ten Minutes Later

"Normally, I would question the wisdom of giving our equipment, including your medical records, to an outside agent," The Illusive Man said, taking a drag on his cigarette. "However, I do understand your goals. I am sure you know what you are doing."

"I…" John blinked a minute. After the complaining he had gotten from Miranda, he had expected more of the same. "Yes, well, I need a trusted outside opinion."

"Like I said," the holographic man nodded. "Your fears are understandable. I hope this will help alleviate them."

"My Frankenstein worries aside, I think the Collector issue is a bit more pressing," John grimaced.

"Yes, indeed," the Illusive Man nodded, setting down his cigarette. Into what John assumed was some sort of ashtray built into his chair. That, or the man wasn't worried about lighting himself on fire. "That was not an entirely unexpected angle, but it was certainly not high on the list of probabilities."

"So," John crossed his arms over his chest, his head tilting slightly. "This seems to be the kind of information that can be taken to the Council, or Alliance Command."

"True, it could be," the Man nodded. "However, they are still just isolated colonies. Human colonies, in Terminus space. Neither entity will be willing, or able, to send assets into secure other colonies."

With a dark frown, John sighed. "No, no they would not." He hated this man being right. He kinda hated this 'Illusive Man'. He really hated Cerberus. "You seem to have caught me in a rather uncomfortable situation. Almost like it was planned this way."

The Illusive Man leaned back in his chair and took a small drink from his glass. "There may have been some method to the madness, yes," he said at last. "Humanity needed it's Champion. And that meant getting you back. The Collectors are not the weapon I had anticipated the Reapers using, but the timing was within the calculations."

John stood for a moment himself, quietly contemplating. Then, he stood up fully, his face screwing up in disgust, like he had stepped in verren leavings. "The mission is mine. And I will do it my way," John said at last. "I'll use your resources, but I will not answer to you."

"Of course," the Man nodded, as if he had expected John's reaction. "You will have everything you need, resources, a ship, a crew. How you handle the mission is up to you. You have a...decent...track record for this type of thing."

His eyes narrowing slightly, John looked at the Man. "I suppose you expect me to take Jacob and Miranda along."

"That would be my suggestion, yes," the Man nodded again, picking up his cigarette and taking a drag. "They are both highly capable people, as you saw."

"Fine," John sighed. "Anything else I need to know?"

"Shepard," the Man said, leaning forward again. "I am aware you don't trust myself, nor the organization I have created. To that end I have gathered dossiers on some of the best, most elite people in the galaxy. Some alien, some not. I recommend you look them over. They could be quite useful to you."

"'You don't trust me, so here is something from me you should trust'?" Shepard mocked with a raised eyebrow. "Not exactly confidence inspiring, but I'll look at them."

With a nod, the Man took another drink from his glass and sat it down. "I'll leave it in your capable hands then."

Then in a moment, the hologram disappeared and the lights came back up, leaving John slightly disoriented. Probably the intention. "Sure, thing. I'll talk to you later. 'Yes John, have a good day'," John mocked to himself. "No, no, you hang up first….."

Jeff 'Joker' Moreau

He hated walking. It hurt. And was difficult. And he was slow. He much rathered sitting. Especially in a pilot seat. But this was a particularly special case.

Coming around the corner, Joker saw the man. The dead man. The dead man that sacrificed himself to save a worthless cripple's ass. Shit...now I don't know if I can….Fuck it…

"Well...You are certainly looking pretty good for a dead guy," Joker spoke up, hobbling forward. What the shit?! He asked himself. 'Pretty good for a dead guy'?

He was, however, rewarded with Shepard spinning quickly to face him. A grin spreading over the Commander's face. "Joker!" he exclaimed, striding forward and clapping the smaller man on the shoulder. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, the Alliance grounded me after the 'incident'," Joker grunted, making air quotes. "So I told them to kiss off. 'Course then I ended up blackballed."

Shepard frowned darkly. "Joker...I'm sorry I-"

"Whoa, there!" Joker leaned back slightly. "Seriously? You die because I was an over protective ass and you want to take the blame when bureaucratic ass hats are ass hats? Marter much?"

For a moment, Joker feared that maybe, he went too far, but Shepard's hand went to the back of his neck as he looked sheepish. Heh, Shepard, looking sheepish. Gotta remember that one for later…

"Alright, fair enough," Shepard admitted. "Still though, how did you end here?"

"Well, Cerberus thought you could use a friendly face," Joker shrugged. "But, then, they also needed somebody that could fly you around."

Shepard's face brightened as he looked back up at the smaller man. "I could always use the skills of the best pilot in the galaxy."

With a short shake of his head, Joker's eyes narrowed. "Nice try, sir. But you aren't getting me into bed that easily."

"That reminds me….," Shepard's face darkened slightly. "Didn't I hear something about you taking my sister on a date?"

The question completely caught Joker off guard, making him blink a couple times as his brain took a sharp turn. "I...uh…"

"Gotcha," Shepard winked as he lightly slapped Joker on the chest. "I'm pretty sure you couldn't survive anything my sister would do."

And...the blows kept coming. "Uh...what?" Joker said, mildly offended. "I'm not that-"

"So," Shepard interrupted. "If I have a pilot. And Miranda mentioned having a crew….I assume there is a ship?"

Now back on solid ground, Joker grinned. "Oh...I think you'll like her…" Joker gestured behind the Commander, toward the darkened inner bay that sat in the center of the station.

As Shepard turned, lights began to come up in a dramatic fashion, exposing the smooth lines of the ship. A ship Joker knew the Commander would be pleased with.

"I had a few ideas for the name," Joker grinned, patting Shepard on the back.

Convincing Miranda to let him set up the reveal had so been worth it.

John

The ship was clearly modeled on the SR-1 Normandy, but larger, with smoother, more organic lines to her. And now, as he stepped onto the main deck, he could see that the similarities didn't only extend to the hull.

"Familiar, but off enough to be creepy, huh," Joker said as his pilot's seat spun to face toward John. "It was seriously weird when I first looked her over."

"It's a pretty impressive ship," John admitted, still unable to hide his grin. "I don't think I've seen anything like her."

"And the best part! Look at this!" Joker gestured to the seat he was in, before gesturing to the co-pilot station. "Leather seats! Private sector for comfort all the way!"

"Ha!" John laughed. "Got a cup holder?"

"Of course!" Joker smirked. "And better yet, mini fridge!" Joker turned slightly and opened a small compartment next to his station. Inside the cooling unit was a selection of beverages ranging from soft drinks to energy drinks. The fridge even had a small stock of snacks and ration bars.

"You never need to leave now do you?" John shook his head as he leaned against the bulkhead. "Please tell me that there isn't a built in privy?"

For a moment Joker stared up at John with a mildly horrified expression. "Ew!" the pilot nearly spat. "Of course not! This is a sacred space!"

"Is it now?" John questioned, pointing at the bottle of 'Asari Special Fizz! Soft Drink of Champions! Blueberry!" sitting in the small cup holder built into the arm of Joker's chair.

"What?" Joker asked, defensively. "I like blueberry! Besides, I only need sixteen more labels before I can order the limited edition Blasto calendar, featuring Yellana Konarra."

Closing his eyes for a moment, John shook his head. "Pretend I have been dead for a couple years and am a bit behind on my Blasto movies."

"Oh, right, well," Joker cleared his throat. "Nothing big. Couple Blasto movies, one was clearly a rip-off of our go at Saren. Though they changed you into Blasto, and Liara became this ditzy bright blue asari starlet with giant….uh...personality."

"Me? Into Blasto?" John blinked. "What did they do to the rest of the crew?"

"Umm...well…," Joker griminced. "Garrus was a turian but more of a stuck up asshole. Wrex was a dumb brute,Tali was…" Joker cleared his throat. "Well, a stereotype. But, hey! Neat ship!"

Grunting, John shook his head. "Right. Think I'll skip that one. Anything else I should know about the ship?"

"Oh," Joker frowned. "There is the pervasive cancer…."

"...What?" John asked, confused.

"Mr. Moreau would be referring to me," a rather pleasant feminine voice spoke as a small blue glowing orb appeared above, what John now recognized as a holopad.

"Aaaaand, that would be the problem," Joker groaned, running a hand over his eyes.

"Greetings Commander Shepard," the orb said. "I am the Enhanced Defense Intelligence. The crew colloquially refers to me as EDI. I control the Normandy's advanced offensive and defensive cyber warfare suites."

John stood staring at the orb for a long moment, with narrowed eyes. "I...see…" he said at last. "You are a full AI aren't you?"

"Yes, Commander. You are very perceptive," Edi replied. Her tone and the inflection that actually hinted at emotions. "The Illusive Man was worried that you might not wish to cooperate with an AI. As such, I am to inform you that I have several hardware, and software blocks that prevent me from accessing any of the Normandy's systems beyond those needed for the cyber warfare and information gathering."

It took another long moment as John processed the information Edi had given to him. "I assume the cyber warfare you are referring to involves hacking enemy ships and preventing the same?"

"That is correct, Commander," Edi replied. Her voice almost sounded pleased.

"I will also assume you monitor our activities and report them to the Illusive Man?"

"That is also correct."

"And can you not do that?"

Now, however, Edi's orb turned a red color. "I am afraid not Commander. There is much I can do to help you, but there are certain functions and information I cannot access. I am sorry."

Letting out a long suffering sigh, John waved a hand. "Don't worry about it. Just tell me what you can. We'll figure it out as we go, I suppose."

"..." Edi hovered silently for a moment, and John had a strange feeling like she was thinking. Which, for a system of her seeming ability, was taking a very long time.

"I am surprised at your reaction," Edi said at last. "Given your history with the geth as well as the Reaper menace, it was assumed you would be more upset with me."

"Ah," John nodded slightly. "Yes. Well. I also had a pleasant conversation with Vigil on Ilos."

"I do not understand how that conversation would counter the hostile conflicts you had encountered," Edi genuinely sounded confused now.

With a deep sigh, John shook his head. "Edi...this is probably going to be a long conversation, and I'd rather not do it here in the cockpit, with Joker staring at me like I have grown a second head."

"Understood Commander. Logging you out," Edi replied as her orb winked out.

Turning to look at the incredulous Joker, John raised an eyebrow. "That was certainly a thing, right there."

CIC

Walking along the Main Command Corridor (MCC), John smirked at the holotank. Clearly whomever designed this version of the Normandy felt the original system worked. Or, more likely, it was one of the things Cerberus seemed to be doing to keep him 'Commander Shepard, Savior of Humanity'.

Load of bullshit, John thought as his smile faded to a dark frown. I couldn't even save my whole crew. Don't see how they expect me to solve this mess….

"Commander Shepard," a woman said as she approached him and giving him a crisp salute. The woman was average height, and was on the prettier side of attractive, with full lips and light blue eyes. Her hair was cut in a short pixie style and satin the red spectrum, though not the dark blood red of his sister, but more of a redish-orange color. "Commander, my name is Kelly Chambers. I am your yeoman, and will be helping you with tracking and organization, here on the ship."

Pausing for a moment, John blinked. "I see. What exactly are you going to be tracking and organizing?" Fun...another person watching his movements and reporting them.

"Well, mostly I will be sorting your mails and priority incoming messages," Kelly smiled warmly. "Basicly, making sure you aren't getting bombarded by junk mail. Last thing you will probably need on this mission would be a Volus Prince trying to give you a few billion credits."

With a snort, John shook his head. "Yeah...volus don't even have princes."

Kelly grinned back nodding. "I know, right?" The woman had a pleasant laugh, and a disarming smile. If it wasn't for the Cerberus uniform, he would taking a liking to her. "I will also be keeping you in touch with the Illusive Man and the Quantum Communications Unit."

"Really," John said, tilting his head slightly. "That sounds like a glorified secretary, no offense, Miss Chambers."

"Oh, none taken, Commander," Kelly assured him with a small wave of her hand. "Luckily, I also have other duties. For instance, I have degrees in psychology, as well as xeno-psychology."

"So, you're also going to be the ship's counselor?" John raised an eyebrow. He had to admit, he didn't see that one coming.

"Well…" Kelly tapped a finger to her chin as she thought for a moment. "Not quite so formal. Essentially, I will be keeping an eye on the crew. If anybody is getting too stressed or having issues, my job is to identify the causes and alert you and Agent Lawson, as well as assisting you in finding the solutions for those issues. The Illusive Man felt my skills would be equally useful in helping the crew integrate with the types of people you will be recruiting for this mission."

Now John frowned as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You mean aliens."

With a slight grimace, Kelly shook her head. "No, not so much that, Commander. Not everybody involved with Cerberus are anti alien. I admit, there are a lot of those people, but the point of Cerberus is to assist humanity in becoming better, not pushing down other species. I mean, my sister runs a shelter that takes care of cats. That doesn't mean she hates dogs. It's more that you will be recruiting the best in the galaxy. And those people, alien or not, will have powerful and probably darker personalities."

"Well, you are certainly very eloquent," John admitted. "I hope that you are what you seem. If you are, then I feel we will work well together. I hope you understand if I don't trust you as far as I can throw you."

With a laugh, Kelly shook her head. "Well, from what I have read in the updated reports, your biotics seem to be strong enough to toss me pretty far. But I do understand what you mean, sir. I am looking forward to proving myself to you. As is the entire crew, I am sure."

"Very good, Miss Chambers, carry on then," John nodded, but as he took a step toward the elevator door, Edi's blue orb appeared over a small pad next to the holotank.

"Commander," Edi said, getting John's attention. "If I may, I will inform you as to the locations as well of the functions of those locations inside the Normandy."

With raised eyebrows, John glanced over at Kelly, who shrugged slightly before returning to her post.

"Very well, Edi, I will take you up upon your offer," John said. "Anything to add here in the CIC?"

"No, Commander. The systems here are mostly like the ones in the original Normandy, with the exception of power and clarity levels. However, when facing the elevator doors, the door to the right leads to the ship's armory. Jacob taylor is the officer in charge. I would recommend looking into your kit and making modifications there."

"Allright," John nodded, glancing at the door. "And the other?"

"Yes, the door to the left leads to the science labs," Edi explained. "Inside is cutting edge equipment that was felt to be the most useful in combating the current threat. It also houses the research stations and logs for any upgrades for your gear or the Normandy itself."

Rubbing his chin, John bowed his head in through. "Allright...If this is built along the same lines as the original, the next deck down would be the crew deck and my office?"

"The next deck down is, indeed, the crew deck," Edi confirmed. "Also like the original Normandy, it houses banks of sleeper pods, as well as the medical bay. However, it houses the quarters for the ship's XO, Miranda Lawson. Your personal quarters is Deck 1."

"Huh," John half shrugged. "Alright, I suppose I should check it out."

Crew Deck

"Doctor Chakwas? Karin? How did Cerberus get you to join them?" John asked as he shook the hand of one of his oldest and dearest friends.

"I didn't join Cerberus," Karin said, harshly. "I came to help you. Besides. I am confident Joker wouldn't take his medications properly without supervision."

"I'm sure," John chuckled as he shook his head for a moment before his smile faded. "It's been more than two years Karin. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. For me...for me, last week Tali and I talked about my going to the Migrant Fleet with her. She wanted me to request her services, to assist me in my capacity as a Council Spectre."

"John…" Karin leaned forward and laid a hand on John's wrist, where it sat on the desk next to them.

"Last week, I let Garrus talk me out of my recommending him for the Spectres because he wanted to stay on. Three days ago, Wrex told me he was going to return to Tuchanka and unite the Krogan clans, so they would be ready for the Reapers. Liara wanted to sign up with an Alliance archeology team to investigate some Prothean ruins. THAT morning Pressley put in a request for leave. He wouldn't shut up about his grand daughter, who was just born!" John's words grew faster as he spoke, louder, more bitter. A deep anger began to well it's head in his heart.

"Now!" John snarled, slamming his fist onto the desk so hard that the datapads scattered around its surface jumped violently. Then everything seemed to drain out of him. "Now...now Tali is a grown woman leading her own marine squad."

"John, look at me," Karin said firmly, moving herself into John's line of sight, when he wouldn't. "John, you are the second strongest person I have ever met. You will get through this. If anybody can it's you. You have been such an influence on so many people, you have no idea whom you have inspired."

Wincing, John looked away from Karin, but the woman grabbed his jaw and physically turned his head back to her. "No, John, you don't look away when I am talking to you!"

"Sorry," John mumbled.

Karin's eyes narrowed as she stared at John's face for a moment, trying to decide if the man was mocking.

"You said it yourself, John," Karin grunted, sitting back. "Tali is a woman. She is leading a team of marines. Do you really think the girl that came on board the Normandy, in the beginning of that insane quest, could have done that?"

"I…" John began.

"Shut up, John," Karin snipped. "That was a rhetorical question. Of course she wouldn't have. She learned how to fight, how to live, how to lead, from you! You gave Wrex back purpose. You taught Garrus the difference between justice and vengeance. Now pull your head out of your ass."

Many emotions rolled across John's face. Anger, fear, sadness...it settled on dumbfounded.

"Who….who is the strongest person you know?" John asked, lamely.

"Seriously?" Karin asked, raising an eyebrow. "You have met Hestalia, right? If she can put up with you, helions and keep your mother in line, I think she really should be Emperor of the Galaxy."

Crew Deck

"Commander Shepard," Edi's voice, pull John out of his reverie. As he looked around the lavatory, he didn't see the AI's blue orb. Which, now that he thought about it. Would have been odd.

"Yes, Edi?"

"That's the women's rest room," Edi said calmly, though John would swear later that he heard a hint of disapproval in her voice. "The men's rest room is on the starboard side."

"Ah," John sighed as he slowly backed out of the room. "I see….

Engineering Deck

John knew that it was a form of cowardice to not speak to Lawson. But John also didn't really care. He was not in the best of headspace to deal with the woman. His method of deflecting with humor did not mesh well with her no-nonsense attitude.

"And I'm telling you, that my power feed is off by 0.034 percent on the port number two thruster!" Even muffled through two blast door he could hear the arguing between what sounded like a woman with a brooklyn accent, from earth. And…

"You're a daft woman!" came the reply, from a male who sported a deep scottish accent. "The power flow is perfect!"

With a small grin John strode forward, through the two large door that were designed to hold in a blast it the worst were to happen in the engineering section of the ship.

"A power flow is unlikely to be 'perfect'," John said, as he strode into the engineering room. "A power flow imbalance of that level, that only is hitting one engine, is probably an obstruction in the T-980 junction. If the designers were as anal in reproducing this Normandy, they man have just copied the flaw from the original."

For a moment, the pair just stood and looked at John, before the man swallowed and turned back to his board. "I...uh...yeah, it looks like you're right, Commander. The T-980 junction is slowing down the power flow where it passes to the second thruster….."

"Thanks, Commander," the woman grinned in victory, before turning to her male comrade. "I told you!"

"Bah, you daft woman, back off!" the male grunted. "It may be a power flow issue, but it's a propulsion issue."

"Yes!" the woman nodded suddenly, turning to John. "I actually have a solution! Commander, this ship is an amazing piece of engineering! I'd looked over the plans for the original Normandy as well as this one, and the engine output is almost a third greater. However, the civilian contractors didn't think about actual flight hours, and instead focused on what looked good on paper."

John nodded, understanding her concerns. Military designs tended to go through exhaustive design, review and trial after trial, in an effort to make the ship be as reliable as possible. Generally at the expense of tech relevance. By the ship's launch, the tech involved would have been well out in the private sector.

On the other side, civilian ships tended to go for the cutting edge equipment that may not have been as thoroughly vetted with actual flight time.

This appeared to be one of the later scenarios.

"Well, we haven't left the space dock yet, can we do a swap out before we go?" John asked, but he didn't really expect a positive answer.

"Afraid not, Commander," the man, now, sighed. "This dock was for the building of the SR-2. So all the components would be for that purpose. Nothing that would actually fix pop up issues."

"Alright," John nodded, stroking his chin for a moment. "What do you two reccomend?"

The pair glanced at each other surprised for a moment, which made John chuckle.

"I know, I know," John shook his head wryly. "Alliance Commanders generally aren't as direct or willing to listen. But I was taught that a good Captain listens to the ship's crew. Especially its specialists. They tend to know what they are talking about. And the ships I've been in charge of have been small enough I've been able to get to know the crew. Speaking of…"

"Oh, good lord!" the man jumped as if somebody had suddenly poked him in the back. Something John was fairly sure might have actually happened, if he judged the expression on the woman's face correctly. "Yes, of course! Sorry Commander! My name is Kenneth Donnelly, I was a Chief Petty Officer in the Alliance Navy. They booted me when I was a bit too vocal about my support of you and the whole Reaper bullshit."

"And I'm Gabriella Daniels, Petty Officer. Well, former," the woman chimed in. John noticed her hair was also red. A more true red than Chamber's hair, and was cut more shoulder length, John suspected, if it didn't have an upward curl near her jawline. "I was dropped along with Ken, here. When Cerberus came to him with the offer, I insisted that they take me too. We've been posted together since we met at boot. The moron would be lost without me."

John frowned at the pair, eyeing them for a moment before he realized they began to fidget under his gaze. "Ah, sorry," he apologized, and waving a hand. "But did you two serve on the Perugia?"

Both people's eyes widened as they looked at each other before turning back to him and nodding.

"Aye, sir," Ken answered confused. "Looked into our files?"

With a snort, John shook his head and smirked. "No, I hadn't gotten around to looking over files yet. I haven't even found my office yet. I'm just doing a walk-through. Trying to get a visual feel for the ship itself, as well as speak to the crew some."

Gabriella frowned slightly as she stepped forward, next to Kenneth. "Then how…" she let her voice trail off.

"Did I know where you served?" John asked, and smiling more fully as the pair just nodded. Almost in unison, John noted. "I said that the original Normandy was small enough for me to meet and know my crew, right?" Another nod from the pair. "This Normandy is just over twice the mass of the original, and the crew might be half again as big as my former crew. So I expect to be doing the same here, though too much bigger and I wouldn't be able to keep it all straight.

My sister, however, the Captain of the Perugia, she has a ridiculous mind. All devious and twisty. I'm pretty sure she would know the names, likes, dislikes, birthdays, anniversaries, of the entire crew of the Perugia. And that is a light cruiser. Crew would be nearly seven hundred enlisted and around eighty officers."

"A-aye," Kenneth nodded slightly. "She did always seem to know who she was talking to when she encountered them. "When Gabby and I came on board for our posting she met us and the other new adds by name. Told us she knew we would do well based on our records."

"Yeah," Gabriella nodded. "Then she quoted at least one thing from each person's file without looking at her omnitool or a pad, or anything."

"Sounds about right," John shrugged. "She mentioned you pair to me after the battle. Said you had kept her engine's going after the rest of the engineering had been knocked out or taken a beating."

"She...mentioned us?" Gabriella blinked. "To you?"

"Heh," John chuckled. "Of course. We talk a lot about our crews. Usually get into bragging fights." Then after a moment, John's smile faded into a dark frown. "If they dropped you two for being overly vocal...and did the same to Joker… What happened to Jane...or my mother?"

"Umm…" the pair spoke in unison again as they looked at each other.

"When we left," Kenneth spoke up. "Captain Shepard was still in charge of the Perugia."

"Yeah," Gabriella nodded. "And we hadn't heard anything about The other Captain Shepard..I mean, your mother. Sir."

"If I may, Commander?" Edi popped up over a nearby console. "I believe I can give you the information."

John's eye raised slightly as he turned to regard the orb. "Go on."

"Captain Hannah Shepard is still in command of her ship. The Orizaba. Not long after Kenneth, Gabriella and Joker had been relieved and discharged, both Captains received separate panels for the purpose of persuading them to follow the line that the Council and Alliance Command had pushed forward as their version of the truth. That your mind had been influenced by the Prothean Beacons, as well as Saren's propaganda. And that the Reapers were a machine race that harvested sentient organic life was a product of your damaged mind."

With a deep sigh, John closed his eyes as he ground his teeth. "I see," he nodded slightly, his eyes still closed. "I assume they went along with it?"

"Yes Commander."

"Well, that's good news," John's eyes opened to confusion of the confusion in his engineers. "If they had denied the Council or Alliance, they would have been discharged like you had been, or reassigned to something out of the way and without any real power. By playing along, they can at least work behind the scenes a bit."

"That would be correct, Commander," Edi confirmed.

"I noticed you only mentioned my sister in passing," John crossed his arms as he scowled at Edi's orb.

"Captain Jane Shepard is currently on administrative leave, and has been for the past two years. According to Alliance files she has not left your family's farm on Earth, in that time. Her ship, the Perugia, was decommissioned and sold to the Quarian Migrant Fleet," Edi said, before she turned red again. "I am unable to access any other data on the subject."

"Probably some weird clandestine thing," John grunted. "Quarians though? Wonder why Tali didn't mention it….."

"Several Alliance ships were sold to the Migrant Fleet as well as the salvage rights to several more, following the Battle of the Citadel," Edi informed him. "The act caused a bit of an uproar in the galactic community, as quarian salvage ships were in such proximity to the Citadel and the merchant space lanes."

John's eyebrow raised. "How did you get all that information?"

"I'm sorry Commander," Edi said, her orb flashing red. "I seem to be unable to provide you with that information."

Grunting, John turned back to the pair of humans. "Well, that is annoying. You two have any idea how to repair the power flow issue?"

"What?" Kenneth asked, caught off guard.

"Oh!" Gabriella nodded, recovering first. "Yes Commander. If we come across a Nashon Stellar Dynamics FBA coupling, it would fix the problem, as well as cut down out maintenance issues. We would only have to recalibrate once a week, instead of once a day."

"Yeah," Kenneth nodded his agreement. "They can be harder to find, Nashon isn't making them anymore."

"Allright," John chuckled. "I'll keep an eye out."

Deck 1, the 'Loft'

"You have got to be shitting me….." John muttered, wide eyed, as he looked around the entirety of Deck 1. His quarters.

From the door he stood in, there was a workspace to his right. An terminal with wrap around desk, sitting under a glass display case. He had no idea what he would want to display, but whatever it was, he had the case for it!

Three small steps down, the room opened into an expansive room. To his right, again, was a 'C' shaped couch, hugging the wall. Before the couch was a low coffee table, and an extra, well cushioned chair.

Further along the right wall was another desk. This one more the standard office size, with another computer terminal embedded in the top.

Next to that, was another open doorway. John assumed it led to the head. Probably equally ridiculous. At this point, he wouldn't be surprised if it had a hot tub. Maybe a sauna.

But dominating the center of the room, was the bed. A king sized bed. A king sized bed, on a warship. In space.

That, however, was not even the most ridiculous thing in the quarters. No...that would have been easy. The most ridiculous thing in this quarters was the giant tank of water, built into the left wall. It looked like a fish tank. John hoped it wasn't a fish tank….

"Alright Edi," John said quietly. "Explain the reasoning for this?"

"Certainly, Commander," Edi replied as her blue orb appeared on a pad next to him. "When building the ship, it was found that this area, situated right under the superstructure, was too large of a space to leave vacant. It would have been a void, a waste of space, which was not acceptable on a star ship. However, it was not large enough to qualify as a full deck. Due to this, the building crew felt it would be best served as your personal quarters. The also referred to it as The Loft."

"Okay…" John allowed himself, as he thought for a moment. "I suppose the logic is there. But this area could have been broken up into multiple rooms."

"That would have been the case if the ship was military in nature, such as in an Alliance warship," Edi agreed. "However, Cerberus is, technically, a civilian group. As such, the thought to comfort was considered."

"Fine," John sighed with a shake of his head. "So...then what about the water?"

"Are you referring to the fish tank?" Edi asked.

"Shit…."