Chapter 6: Shepard does a Filler session

A hologram flared to life, bringing Shepard's form into view.

"Shepard. Good Work on Freedom's Progress."

Well, Shepard thought; this looked promising. So shooting Miranda to make a point was cool with TIM? Huh. Wiping Cerberus off the galaxy map would be much easier with this supportive attitude.

A pause to inhale cigarette smoke and rack up those asshole points.

"The Quarians forwarded their findings from Veetor's debriefing. No new data, but it's a surprising olive branch, given our history.

You and I have different methods, but I can't argue with your results."

Ah. That's what Timmy boy meant. Never mind.

"You ever think about playing nice once in a while?"

"Diplomacy is great when it works, but difficult when everyone already perceives you as a threat."

Shepard snorted. "Yes, that's usually what happens when you do terrorist-y things."

TIM continued on, conveniently ignoring the logic there, "But more importantly, you confirmed that the collectors are behind the abductions."

"Uh huh. Why do I get the feeling you knew about them already?"

"I had my suspicions, but I needed proof. The Collectors are enigmatic at best. They periodically travel to the Terminus systems, looking to gather seemingly unimportant items or specimens. Usually in exchange for their technology.

When their transactions are complete, they disappear as quickly as they arrived; back beyond the unmapped Omega 4 relay. Until now, we've had no evidence of direct aggression by the Collectors."

"Clarify – What do we know about the Omega-4 relay?"

"Only that no ship passing through it has ever returned. Out best guess is that the relay react differently to Collector vessels, allowing them safe passage. If they can manipulate relays, that's just further evidence of the connection with the Reapers."

"Hold up. You're telling me that an entire alien species has been known to exist for a while now, and the Council has NOT made a move to annex them yet? The Turians don't have a war hard-on for 'tampering with a relay' yet? What the actual fuck?"

Before Timmy could gain more points by inhaling more cigarette smoke, Shepard barreled on,

"How long have they existed? Why aren't the other species more worried about this? Also, clarify what you meant by 'specimens'."

"They seem to focus on genetic abnormalities across species. Usually the sample sizes would be in the dozens, not in the thousands that just happened. They pay slavers and merc groups exorbitant sums to obtain these specimens. And then they leave.

The Collectors also happen to be a myth to the average person in Citadel space. They don't show up that often."

"Hmm. And they seem to have shifted their focus to humans. Any idea why?"

"If they're agents for the Reapers, it could be for any number of reasons. Obviously, Humanity has played a great role in Sovereign's destruction. That might have been enough to draw their attention.

What really concerns me is why they bother with abduction the colonists. Once the humans are paralyzed, why not just kill them?"

Shepard's eye twitched. 'Overwhelming empathy, this one has.'

"You're holding something back. How do you know Reapers are involved?"

"The patterns are there, buried in the data. The Council and the Alliance want to believe the Reaper threat died with Sovereign. You and I know better."

Shepard mentally rolled his eyes. Timmy boy was really trying to sell the whole 'they don't care about anything other than the status quo' idea there. As if Alliance Intelligence hadn't gone through all the data with a fine tooth comb.

Unaware of what was going through Shepard's head, Tim continued, "I won't wait until the Reapers are on the march. We need to take the fight to them."

Shepard interrupted this potential pseudo-inspirational archetype speech midway, "I suppose you have an army hidden away somewhere then? Or a team perhaps? That, of course, does not include those fools you sent with me just now."

"I've already compiled a list of soldiers, scientists, and mercenaries. You'll get dossiers on the best of them. Finding them and convincing them to work with you could be challenging, but you're a natural leader. I'll continue to-"

"Keep your list. I want people that I can trust. People that helped me stop Saren and the Geth."

"That was two years ago Commander. Most of them have moved on….. or their alliances have changed."

Again, Shepard rolled his eyes. With this level of subtlety… or lack thereof… in their attempted manipulations, it was a wonder Cerberus was still around.

"I decide who's on my team. Not Lawson. Not you. Not even your mother."

Being interrupted before he got going, Tim's eyes narrowed, and it brought to mind an issue in the mission he wanted to bring up.

"Yes, about that. It seems there was an incident with Ms. Lawson. Would you care to elaborate?"

"No."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Then beg."

"You're …. refusing to discuss this?"

"You catch on pretty quick."

Tim did his smoke inhalation thing.

"Well, then I hope it doesn't happen again."

"Feel free to hope. I don't work for you. My team, my rules. Disobeyed orders equal immediate termination. Full. Fuckin. Stop."

Not letting Tim get a word in, Shepard continued, "And get me weapons with the older cooling solutions. Get them made if you have to, I want them ready for the next skirmish. That'll be all."

The transmission winked out.

Tim remained frozen for a few seconds. Did Shepard just hang up on him?

- Back at the station -

As Shepard turned around, he was faced with someone he was not expecting to see.

"Hey Commander. Just like old times, huh."

"Joker? What the hell are you doing here?"

Joker responded as he was typically did, with great amounts of sarcasm.

"Oh, I'm doing great Commander, nice to see you, how was space?"

"Cut the crap. The hell are you doing in Cerberus?"

Joker sighed as he motioned to the stairwell, and Shepard fell in step.

"It all fell apart without you Commander. Everything you stirred up, the Council just wanted it gone. Team was broken up, records sealed, and I was grounded.

The Alliance took away the only thing that mattered to me. So yeah, when Cerberus offered to let me fly again, potentially for you, hell yeah I signed up."

Shepard mulled over that while they continued making their way to …. wherever. But he had to know-

"You really trust the Illusive Man?"

"I don't trust anyone that makes more than I do. But they did save your life. I'm here for you, Commander. Not a pay raise, not really to continue flying even. The Alliance would have taken care of that, given time."

Shepard was touched. But Joker wasn't done yet. As they were walking, they had made their way to an observation deck of sorts, overlooking a dark area.

"And also, there's this. They only told me about it last night."

As though by some unseen cue, the lights in the dark space switched on, revealing…. The Normandy.

Shepard's breath caught. On a closer look, he saw the SR2 detailed on it, but no Normandy. Well, this was definitely a good start. As he took all of it in, Joker commented,

"It's good to be home, huh, Commander?"

Shepard grunted amusedly, "I guess we'll have to give her a name."

- One Dramatic First Launch Later -

"Welcome aboard the new Normandy, Commander."

Shepard ignored Jacob as he took in the layout of the CIC- not a thing was different. It felt… familiar, yet, not quite like home. That could be fixed by removing all traces of Cerberus logos from it. Soon.

"I've been looking over the dossiers. I'd strongly recommend starting by acquiring Mordin Solus, the Salarian doctor on Omega. We know the Collectors use advanced technology to immobilize their victims. A countermeasure for that would go a long way."

Aaand Miranda had to interrupt his introspective mode.

"At least you phrased it as a recommendation this time. Good girl, you can be taught."

Miranda's face couldn't decide between joy at the praise, or anger at the put-down.

'And there's the daddy issues showing.' thought Shepard in amusement.

This amusement was shattered on hearing another voice, with a rather… synthetic tonality to it.

"Acquiring Professor Solus seems like the most logical place to start."

Whirling around to see a blueish-violet thingy on the galaxy map edge, Shepard questioned, "Who are you?"

"I am the Normandy's artificial intelligence. The crew like to refer to me as EDI."

"An AI? Helmsmen aren't happy when someone takes control of a ship away from them. Especially Joker. Also, why would you think I would be okay with having an AI on my ship?"

"I do not helm the ship. Mr. Moreau's talents will not go to waste. During combat, I operate the ship's electronic warfare and cyberwarfare suites. Beyond that, I cannot interface with the ship's systems. I observe and offer analysis and advice. Nothing more."

After saying that, the blue holographic things that was apparently EDI minimized itself, like programs on those vintage operating systems.

'Huh. Not quite what I was expecting, but we'll see.'

Turning back to the strippers, Shepard continued, "So where's the rest of the crew? It takes more than just Joker to pilot a ship."

Miranda answered promptly,"The Normandy has a full crew. They're at their stations, awaiting your orders."

Joker interjected over the intercom, "Final preparations are complete Commander. Pick the destination from the CIC, and I'll plot a course."

"We should get back to our posts, Commander. Find us there if you have any questions", came from Miranda who walked away after. Jacob followed suit after snapping a crisp salute to Shepard.

As Shepard walked to the CIC galaxy map, a redhead interacting with a console next to it turned to him, saluted (rather sloppily in his opinion) and said, "I'm Yeoman Kelly Chambers. I've been assigned as your administrative assistant. I'll manage your messages, and help you monitor the crew. And I must say, it's such an honour to to work under you, Commander Shepard."

This brought Shepard up short. Did she just add emphasis to "under you" in her introduction? Since it was accompanied by an eye flick down under, Shepard was willing to believe so. Well, Shepard supposed he could give her a pass for it, females tended to have it worse when it came to elevator eyes- Did she just lick her lips?

'….. I need an adult? Or I could get laid. Two years is quite a while.'

"I'm glad to have you on the team Ms. Chambers."

"Please, call me Kelly."

"Okay Kelly."

This was followed by a slightly disturbing (to Shepard) smile? This smile more than anything else, brought what Shepard referred to as Operation Drenched Stick, to a grinding halt. See, all his life, Shepard followed a singular rule when it came to entanglements of the physical sort.

Don't put your stick in crazy.

Now it wasn't that alarms were blaring in his head, no, it was just a feeling he got from that interaction. Well then, further observation was required before this operation could move forward.

"Is there anything I should know?"

"You have unread messages at your private terminal, and Joker would like to speak to you on the bridge. Anything else, Commander?"

"Do you have a moment to talk?"

"I always have time for you, Commander."

'This could go very good, or very bad.'

"What are your responsibilities?"

"I'll keep you notified of any messages or appointments you may have. If any of the crew has important business to discuss, I'll make sure you know."

"A VI can do those tasks though."

"Yes, but that's just my official role. Unofficially, my role is to observe the crew. This is necessary given how risky our mission is. That's a lot of pressure. I have a degree in Psychology. I'm good at sensing when people are overly taxed."

"So you're a counselor then? Good to know. That'll be all, Yeoman."

"Yes Commander."

'Well', Shepard mused as he set course to Omega from the galaxy map, 'I should do a checklist. Check for demanded weapons, shake answers out of Anderson, buy older weapons from the quarians just to fuck with Timmy boy,…. I may actually need to note this down somewhere.'

Some galaxies away, the Illusive Man had a sudden urge to check the Cerberus funds.

So hey, it's been a while. I'm sorry this isn't quite as good as I had hoped; I really need to play the game again instead of using playthrough videos.

I'm hoping the quality will increase again after this somewhat filler chapter once we're on Omega.

Reviews and suggestions are always welcome, thank you.