The Commanders Shepard

Chapter 7

Back on the Normandy, the Shepard Triplets all stirred back into consciousness almost simultaneously. Lieutenant Commander Karen Chakwas, the Alliance Doctor assigned to the Normandy, was there to greet them as they awoke. "As I live and breathe," she said. "You three really DO do everything together." The Disasters all yawned and fought off the effects of their forced sleep. Dr. Chakwas approached Jane to begin a preliminary checkup. "You fight together. Blow up hoards of enemy robots together. You even take fifteen hour long naps together."

"Dammit!" John exclaimed. "We were out for fifteen hours? We've got to get to the Captain and get an update on the situation." John's body argued with him as he tried to get up from the hospital bed. He was stiff and sore all over.

Doctor Chakwas put a hand on his chest and pushed him back down on the bed. "Hold fast, soldier. You may be the field commander, but in here, I pull rank." She was right. Regulation stated that orders from medical personnel superseded all others when health was concerned. She continued, "We need to have a good look at all three of you first. There really is no telling what your encounter with that beacon has done to you." John couldn't argue with her logic. Plus, in the back of his mind, he knew regulation mandated that medical treatment trumped mission and orders. As the doctor went about her exam, she stated, "The entire time you all were out, you were all exhibiting significant rapid eye movement as well as elevated amounts of unusual beta wave activity in the brain. Those two things together typically point toward some sort of psychological trauma."

"Well," Jane started. "I do recall very vivid imagery when we got blasted by the beacon."

James chimed in with "Yeah. Me too. Weird visions of mass scale destruction and creatures I've never seen before." John and Jane both nodded, essentially acknowledging that they had seen the same.

John and James were no strangers to "under the hood" issues. Both of them had experiences in war that changed them permanently. They had both learned to cope with it. However, they both knew that Jane had not had any kind of trauma that would have prepared her for something like this. They both held considerable worry for the well being of their "little big sister".

After getting the once over from the doc, the Disasters dispersed. Before discharging them, Doctor Chakwas ordered them all to take in some food. They were set to debrief with Captain Anderson shortly and had a few minutes to mill about and collect their thoughts. They all moved about fairly gingerly, still being stiff and sore. En route to the mess hall, John ran into Alliance Marine Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. "Oh Commander! Are you alright?"

With a look that was half grimace and half snicker, John replied, "Nothing a good shower and some hot chow won't fix." He leaned partly on the bulkhead to keep his footing. "What about you, Williams? How you holding up?"

"I spoke with the Captain and requested that he put in for me to be transferred to the Normandy." She moved in closer to John and leaned on the wall next to him. Without him noticing, she inched a little closer to him. "As of a few hour ago, I now fall under Captain Anderson's command. The brass probably realized that a Marine that survived an encounter with a new enemy and had a bone to pick would be a valuable tool in the coming fight."

John liked what he heard. "Good. There's always a place for an experienced hand. Bonus points for being an able bodied ground pounder."

Ashley beamed a bit from his comment. "Plus, you saved my life, sir. I'll follow you into hell to get that bastard back for my platoon."

John paused for a moment to properly frame what he wanted to say next. "I've lost people before, too. Good people. A lot of them. I know all too well what that feels like. But I do have to say this. While vengeance can be a powerful motivator, you absolutely can NOT allow it to be your primary driving factor. Letting it do so can change you permanently. I've been there, Ashley. Don't you go there too."

Right then and there, John and Ashley both realized they had connected on a level others likely wouldn't get. Soldier to soldier. The air grew still and quiet as they both stood there soaking that moment of realization in. John was the first to stir. "Doc's orders, so I'm gonna grab some chow before we have to sit down with the old man." He pushed away from the bulkhead and staggered a bit as he got his footing.

Ashley got next to him and pushed into his side, helping hold him up. "Everyone needs someone to lean on every now and then." John nodded and they moved on toward the mess hall.

When they arrived Kaiden, Jane, and James were already there. James sat there in wonderment as he watched his tiny little fireball of a sister demolish enough food to feed three full grown men. "I've literally seen this my entire life and it still boggles my mind."

Kaiden, John, and James knew the score. Ashley however, had no clue. "Good grief! How is she doing that?"

Kaiden, who himself had a pretty sizable but a comparatively modest amount of food in front him, chose then to chime in. "Easy explanation there, Ash. Our Biotic abilities burn a lot of energy. From what I've seen, Calamity's powers are significantly stronger than mine, so it makes sense that her tank needs more fuel."

His explanation made perfect sense, but Ashley was still in awe. "Damn! How do you manage to stay so petite? If I even look at a cheeseburger, I feel my ass jiggle." In that moment, John caught himself imagining that sight. He was brought back to reality when Ashley spoke to Calamity again. "Where do you put all that?"

Calamity Jane managed to grunt out a simple response through an unfathomable amount of hash browns, eggs, and sausage. "Can't talk... Eating...". And with the ferocity of a starving Tasmanian devil, she continued to devour scores upon scores of breakfast grub. John sat next to her and reached for a plate that had some bacon and eggs. With out looking up from her business, Jane erected a small blue force field in front of the plate while simultaneously grabbing hold of John's large paw in Stasis.

As big as he was, he was never any match for his sister's Biotics. James snickered a bit and said, "Come on now, John. After that little comedy moment on the ground, do you really think trying to take bacon from her is wise? You may want to go for something else before you end up drawing back a nub where that hand used to be."

He made a good point. John knew how defensive Jane could be about her chow. "True..." he admitted in defeat. "Oatmeal and sausage it is then." Upon hearing this, Calamity released his hand and pulled the plate of bacon toward herself. Without missing a beat, its contents were instantly drawn in to her cavernous void of a stomach.

Oatmeal in hand, John quipped, "If for nothing else, at least she's providing near infinite job security for the Mess Sergeant." Everyone nodded and chuckled a bit.

A moment later, there sat a stack of empty plates and one wholly satisfied soldier. Ashley said through a giggle, "Damn girl. I've seen black holes with weaker pull than that."

Jane had put so much effort into eating that she was panting. She was drawing in sharp breaths as if she had just finished a run. Alongside these breaths, she managed to say, "Well... Alenko is right. My powers burn A LOT of calories... And since I'm so small, I use my powers a lot."

As her words sank in on Williams, they all heard Joker on the overhead intercom. "Commanders, soon as your done with breakfast, the Captain is waiting for you in the conference room for debriefing."

Jane responded, "Tell him we're en route, Joker." Both of her brothers looked up from their plates, then at each other. They spent so long being in awe of Calamity's impression of a gravity well that they hadn't really gotten much eating done themselves. When she stood up, the two of them both started pounding what was left on their plates.

In the conference room, Captain Anderson got right to the point. "Saren being involved complicates things. He's an outspoken opponent of Humanity's rise, but he's also a legend among the Spectres. His word carries alot of stroke."

John responded with, "Even so, Captain, we can't just stand by and let him go about whatever scheme he's cooking up."

James jumped on saying, "With an Army of Geth, that ridiculously huge battleship, and the wicked weaponry they mangled Jenkins with, their's no telling what kind of devastation Saren could leave in his wake!"

Jane chimed in with her piece. "Sir, we have to go to the Council. Maybe they could strip his privileges as a Spectre. That could at least slow his movements while we track him down."

Captain Anderson crossed his arms and shut his eyes. With a sigh, he said, "You're right. The Council definitely needs to know about this. But you three will have to go present your case with the ambassador. I have a personal history with Saren, so anything coming from me will sound like sour grapes."

"Roger that, sir," John said. From his seat, he hit the intercom. "Joker, set a course for the Citadel."

"Aye, Commander."

Donnel Udina, Human Ambassador to the Citadel Council, had already began his meeting with the Council. Shortly after arriving at the Citadel, the Disasters squad, happened upon a Citadel Security detective trying to investigate charges Ambassador Udina had levied against Saren. However, being the top Spectre in the organization practically made him Teflon. The Turian C-Sec officer, Garrus Vakarian, was frustrated to no end at not being able to get anything on Saren.

The audience with the Council didn't go well at all. They didn't have enough hard evidence to go against the word of an established and legendary agent like Saren and the visions they were shown by the Beacon were merely laughed at. "Well," Captain Anderson sighed. "That certainly could have gone better."

The mountain that was John, visibly stewing in his own juices, aggressively folded his arms in frustration. Ambassador Udina nearly mirrored the look on John's face. "We have to get something on this guy. We have to make those short sighted, narrow minded idiots see that he's the bad guy!"

Just then, the Captain had a light bulb moment. "If its insider information we need, we have to seek out a specialist." Captain Anderson lifted his arm and began tapping away at his omni tool. "I'm sending you all the contact information for Barla Von. He's a financial analyst, but he's also a local agent for the Shadow Broker."

Jane's eye brow shot up at the name. "Whoa there, boss man. You sure you want to put our lot in with that crowd?"

John stepped forward and said, "She's right, Captain. The Broker is as black as black market can get. Plus any info from him won't come cheap."

Anderson let out an exasperated sigh. "I know. But what other option do we have? Saren is out there with an army of killer robots doing lord knows what. We have to take anything we can at this point."

James, silent until then, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and said, "What about that C-Sec detective? The one that was trying to dig up the dirt on Saren?"

It was Udina's turn for a light bulb moment. "I may know a guy. Look for a man named Harkin. He was recently suspended from C-Sec for being dirty, but he'll definitely be able to tell you how to find this investigator."

John was glad to finally have something. "Alright, team. We've got two leads. Let's get this info and hunt down a madman!"