I had this done and it sucked so I had to redo the second half, sorry that it took so long.

"The Normandy is yours, Shepard."

"But... Sir!" Shepard's face was frozen in shock. "This is wrong!"

They stood outside at the dock, right next to the Normandy. Shuttles and cruisers passed over them, making the mass effect field waver in blue ripples.

Anderson shook his head. There was a sadness in his posture, warring with the love and pride in his eyes. Garrus remembered that Anderson almost had been the first Spectre, and despite being proud for Shepard, in some way his own dream had been shattered along the way.

"No, this is right," Anderson said, "you are the first human Spectre and you need the best ship the Alliance has to offer to represent humanity and catch Saren. Take the Normandy, Shepard, and show the galaxy what we are made of. I know you will make us proud."

Shepard snapped to attention and saluted, her voice rough when she finally spoke. "Thank you, sir, you won't regret this."

Udina cut in. "We better not! This is humanity's big chance to finally prove ourselves to the Council. Do this right and we might even get a seat on the Council soon." He nodded curtly and walked away.

Anderson shook his head. "I think he is getting a bit ahead of himself there." He stepped up to Shepard, who slowly let her hand fall from the salute. He placed his hand on her shoulder, looking at her with a soft smile. The gesture looked just like a turian father would, sending his child out into the world and it made Garrus hum in empathy. "You will do this, you will catch Saren and find out what is going on with the Reapers. I know you will."

Anderson let his gaze rest on the sleek curve of the ship for a second, then turned back to Shepard. "This is a good ship, with a good crew. Take care of her, Commander."

"I will sir, thank you," Shepard said, her voice stronger.

Anderson typed a few things on his omni-tool and Shepard's tool flared up in response. "I have transferred the command codes to you. The Council has assigned a personal assistant to you who has already conferred with my staff about the things you need and what the Council will provide. She will send you a list of things that you will need to do and you should let her know of the crew roster and who else you will take with you." He shut down his omni-tool and a small smile played on his lips. "Also, it looks like being a Spectre means that the Council expects you to do the little odd jobs for them here and there. Your council assistant will forward those assignments to you. And the Alliance and ANIS are also very happy to have a Spectre at their hands to give the jobs to that others can't do."

Shepard groaned and rolled her eyes. "So every shitty job will be thrown my way, I get it. I just hope I'll still have time to catch the rogue Spectre while I'm at it."

Anderson left with a nod and Garrus and Shepard stood alone on the dock, the sounds of the passing ships and shuttles around them. Garrus looked at her, how small and how great she was. Her Spirit glowed so bright, he almost had to close his eyes.

Her hand found his, squeezing and holding on for dear life. "I never would have thought..." She whispered, "I had hoped that maybe Nihlus would have given me his ship for a while, it's a nice little thing, nothing special but this... this is the flagship! This is the best ship the Alliance has and they are giving her to me!"

"And it was the right decision," he said, a deep hum in his subharmonics to express how proud he was and how happy he was for her and how much he trusted her. "You will use this ship and catch Saren and the whole galaxy will see what you are capable of."

She looked up to him and for a second she looked like a scared little girl. "How can you be so sure? What if I fail?"

Garrus took a deep breath and swallowed a whole load of embarrassing love statements. "I just know. You will rise to this task and I will have your back."

"Together," she said and with her smile, her old confidence seemed to return.

"Yes, together." Forever.

"Well... then I better get going with this monumental task list." She opened several interfaces on her omni-tool and smiled. "Looks like my assistant has already done half the work, she seems quite capable. The crew roster is basically done, provisions are taken care of, there is even dextro stuff for you." She let her gaze go out to the light of the nebula in the distance. "We might need something special for Tali'Zorah, I'll inform her and I have to talk to Dr. Chakwas about medical equipment we need for a quarian. I wonder where she is."

As if on cue, the Normandy's airlock opened, and the human doctor stepped out. "Ah, Commander Shepard, I was looking for you. As our new commanding officer, I have a few things to organize with you."

Shepard smiled warmly. "Let's leave out the Commander bit, Dr. Chakwas, just Shepard for you. I was also just saying that I need to talk to you about medical equipment that we will need for the different species on board."

Dr. Chakwas nodded and had her omni-tool open. "Yes, we are perfectly equipped for humans and turians, no surprise there as the ship was constructed by humans and turians. We will need a few things for the krogan, although I don't expect to see him much, apart from refilling the medi-gel compartments in his armor."

"Yeah, Wrex is not exactly a fan of doctors anyway." Shepard dipped her head to the side, to indicate to them to follow her to the elevator. She threw another look to the far side of the dock, where a Keeper was working at an access point. Garrus wondered if she had sensed him the whole time.

Dr. Chakwas continued. "I would like to speak to an expert on quarians at Huerta Memorial Hospital about the supplies and medical equipment we will need. I have heard that it is recommended to have a clean room with a special air-filter system to make long space flights more accommodating for quarians."

"The markets should be a good start for us." Shepard kept staring at her omni-tool. "Then we head to the hospital and I also want to go the Spectre Requisitions office. And I got a few people asking me for investigations already." She ruffled through her hair and Garrus recognized the gesture as a sign of her being overwhelmed. He stepped closer to her and let a reassuring hum sound out, just loud enough so that she could hear it. She took a breath and closed her eyes for a second and when she opened them again, she looked much more relaxed.

The elevator had brought them to the hub at the C-Sec Academy and they took a transport to the markets. This section was unusually busy, and they had to shoulder through a thick crowd of people to the large window to find a quieter area. In the centre of the crowd, a group of asari and salarian dancers held a performance. It was a fascinating dance, bringing out the elegance in the wry bodies of the asari as well as the salarians. When they had finished, the crowd applauded enthusiastically.

Garrus wanted to see what Shepard thought of the performance but she had gotten distracted by a human male, who was talking agitatedly to her. He had two supporters with him but he still seemed to not make a good impression on Shepard. She said something to them and turned briskly away. Shaking her head, she came back to Garrus, looking angry.

"Damn Terra Firma." She grumbled.

"Who?"

"Human patriotic party, they think that humans are better than aliens," Shepard said, "he thought the first human Spectre would be just the person he could get to agree with him." She snorted. "I gave him a piece of my mind." She walked over to Dr. Chakwas, who was engaged in a friendly conversation with a krogan. Garrus had to shake his head, human women were unbelievable, nobody was quite as relaxed with krogan as they were.

An elder turian, tastefully dressed in an expensive tunic that indicated his high position in the tiers of the turian Hierarchy, walked towards him. Garrus almost did not recognize him but when he trilled his greeting towards him, he saw that it was General Septimus Oraka. Garrus acknowledged him with a respectful trill of his own, noticing with relief that the General looked much better than the last time Shepard and him had seen him.

The General stopped in front of him and trilled another greeting. "I have heard that you will accompany the human Spectre in her hunt for Saren."

Garrus wondered how he already knew about that, so far his assignment to the Normandy still hung on his reenlistment in the turian military. "It is not official yet but, yes, that is the plan."

"Good, very good." The general nodded and looked over to Shepard with a thoughtful trill. "Saren is the best Spectre we ever had, he will not be easy to find. But with a human to help you," he trilled with approval, "you might even have a chance of stopping him."

Garrus could not make sense of what he was saying. "Sir?"

Septimus made an amused chuckle. "Ah, you thought I would tell you that a human is no match for a turian? Like they have told you how we almost had the weak humans beaten on Shanxi but the Council stopped us?" His eyes had narrowed and there was a low rumble to his subharmonics, speaking of experience and anger. "That's a lie, son. We all would have died. Humans, turians, no one would have made it out alive. We would have killed each other down to the last man because turians never retreat and humans just don't know how to give up."

He kept looking over to the two human women, casually conversing with the krogan, apparently making some purchases off him. He spoke quietly, and his subharmonics rumbled in appreciation, "They just keep going, they don't stop. They run, with all their heavy gear and they take half as many breaks as our troops. They can't even see in the dark but they keep going. They climb like pyjacks if they have to, they swim through water, they just don't stop."

He pulled Garrus towards the window. "Let this old man tell you this one war story." He looked out the window, unseeing, his mind supplying him with the pictures. "We had to cross a swamp field, holding our weapons up over our heads to protect them from the mud. A miserable day, cold and wet and we had been searching for this small group of soldiers for a whole day already. We were halfway through the swamp, when suddenly the humans rose from the mud behind us like dirty lizards and started shooting at us. Their stupid guns, no eezo core, just plain metal tumbling out out at high speeds, obviously more sturdy than ours, and they still worked after that mud bath. We were twice as many as them but they had us cornered. We surrendered. I know they tell you that turians never surrender but that's a lie too."

Garrus stared at him, trilling out bewilderment. He had never heard a story like that.

The general turned back to Garrus and smiled. "You need a stubborn human to stop a turian. And if she is the best of them..."

"She is." Garrus said, looking over to her. "She will stop him and bring him to justice."

Shepard had noticed the General and came back to them with Dr. Chakwas. But she got stopped on the way by the reporter Emily Wong and handed her the OSD that she had taken from Fist's office. Wong kept holding her in a conversation and Dr. Chakwas came over to them on her own.

General Oraka looked the human woman over with an appreciative trill and turned to Garrus, speaking just loud enough for the Doctor to hear what he said. "Now, Garrus, why do you always have the most beautiful women around you? Please introduce me to this fascinating lady."

Garrus grinned and made the introductions. "This is Dr. Karin Chakwas. Dr. Chakwas, this is General Septimus Oraka."

The General took the hand of the doctor and did something strange. He bowed down and pressed his mouthplates softly to the back of her hand. Garrus had never seen a gesture like that, but the way the Doctor was blushing, it must have had a good meaning.

Oraka straightened and said, "The day has considerably brightened since you entered this part of the Wards, Madam."

"Well, General, I'm sure you tell that to every woman you meet," Dr. Chakwas said with a smile.

"I assure you, I don't!" Oraka said with a trill of mock indignation. "Only if they are as fascinating as you are. And please, call me Septimus."

The human woman giggled lightly and blushed again. Shepard had returned and hearing the last remark, raised an eyebrow in an amused question. "Now, General Oraka, I'm glad to see that you are well. Are you planning to steal my doctor?"

Oraka was about to answer, when Shepard received a call and her omni-tool flared up from many incoming messages. "I'm sorry," she said, "it looks like everyone wants a piece of me. We still need to buy the supplies for the medbay and go to the hospital for the quarian equipment and..." She turned to answer the call and turned back to them after a short time, typing notes into her tool.

Septimus made a loud sound to get her attention. "Commander, allow me to help you. I can take Dr. Chakwas around, I will help her and protect her. Here, you can track my omni-tool, so that you always know where we are." Giving out the tracking id for his omni-tool was an unusual gesture and a sign of trust. The surprised look on Shepard's face told Garrus that she was aware of that.

"Only if the doctor agrees," she said, looking at Dr. Chakwas with her eyebrows raised.

Dr. Chakwas gave bright smile and interlocked her arm with the General's. "I think that would be a much more efficient way of handling all the things we have to do and I will gladly allow this man to help me."

The general bowed his head in a more human than turian gesture and Garrus wondered how much the turian knew about human customs. "I will also take Garrus with me," Septimus said, "because I happen to know that he is expected to appear at the gun range for his aptitude test in a moment." He turned to Dr. Chakwas, leaving Garrus confused. "That will only take a few minutes, my lady, after that we will take care of all your business."

Garrus opened his mouth to ask the General what he was talking about, when his omni-tool lit up with a message from turian command, ordering him to the gun range for his aptitude test. How had the general known about that before him? He relayed the message to Shepard, who looked just as confused as him.

The General grinned and trilled in amusement. "We'll be on our way then." He saluted to Shepard. "Commander."

Shepard smiled and saluted. "General, I trust you to take good care of my friends."

"Of course." Septimus turned and walked with Dr. Chakwas on his arm towards the transport hub. Garrus turned to Shepard, making a quiet little hum towards her. She pursed her lips for a second and made a discreet wave with her hand. He wanted to hug her and kiss her and he hated that they always had to act so reserved in public.

"Vakarian?" General Oraka called over to him and Garrus hurried to enter the skycar with him and Dr. Chakwas.

At the gun range, the General led Dr. Chakwas to a seating area and said, "This will only take a moment, my lady. Let me call someone over to get you something to drink and I'll be back with you shortly."

Garrus sent his identification to the front desk and the salarian manager called up the information on his terminal. "Ah, yes, Garrus Vakarian, here for his aptitude test for reenlistment. You were part of the sniper squad in basic? Let's see how you do today. You will be tested by the esteemed General Oraka himself."

The General appeared at his side with an amused trill and indicated to Garrus to follow him. He handed him a Mantis sniper rifle, an excellent weapon, well taken care of and calibrated. It was a joy to shoot with it and Garrus hit every mark. The General remained silent at his side, until the session was over.

When no new targets appeared, Garrus turned to see the General looking at him thoughtfully. "I was told that it might do me good to let you fail today," he said quietly.

"By my father?" Garrus felt familiar anger well up in him.

But Oraka just laughed. "Son, this is so far up the tiers, your father can't even see it." He typed a few commands in his omni-tool and Garrus's tool received the certificate of having passed the aptitude test.

He put the gun back into the locker and turned to the General. "So why did you let me pass?"

Septimus grinned. "First of all, you are an excellent sniper and passed the test because you shot well. And secondly... I didn't get to where I am now by listening to stercus." He typed a few more commands into his omni-tool. "You are now re-enlisted in the turian military in the rank of Optione. Your next command is as the turian relations officer on the Alliance vessel Normandy under the equivalent rank of Lieutenant to support the Spectre Commander Shepard in the hunt for Saren."

He typed a few more commands and Garrus's tool buzzed with all the documents it received. With a salute, the General dismissed him and turned his attention back to Dr. Chakwas. She got up and interlocked her arm with his again, ignoring the shocked stare of the manager. Garrus heard her quietly giggle as they left, they paid him no attention.

Garrus also left the gun range, and sat down on a nearby bench to compose a short message to his mother. He knew that she had never wanted him to go back to the military but he wanted her to know that he was happy with this decision. He could stay with Shepard, support her and learn from her. He had never felt happier before. He finally knew what he wanted to do with his life.

The Presidium was bustling with even more people than usual, most of them human. There seemed to be a spontaneous party going on, the human population of the Citadel was celebrating the first human Spectre. Shepard worked her way through the crowd, shaking hands everywhere, smiling for pictures, speaking to children and Garrus could see that her smile got more strained by the minute. He called up a skycar and waved her over. She finally managed to free herself from the crowd and jumped into the skycar.

"Hit it," she said and the exhaustion cut grooves into her face.

"Where to?" he asked, directing the car into the flow of traffic, his fingers hovering over the console to program a destination.

"Eventually the Normandy," Shepard said, "but we need to get our stuff first. We will be leaving in an hour, can you believe it?"

"So soon?" Garrus asked in surprise.

"Yes, after playing errand-girl for half of the Citadel, I finally got some info from the Council about Matriarch Benezia. They want me to pick up her daughter in the Artemis Tau Cluster. They hope that she knows what her mother is doing or that she maybe will have some influence on her."

Garrus growled in disbelief. "Not all asari daughters stay in close contact with their mothers. And that's a big system to search through for one asari."

"It's all we have for now. She is an archaeologist, an expert on protheans. Anderson recommended to look for prothean ruins." She gave him a short look. "Maybe she could even help me with this prothean vision in my head."

It was the first time that she really acknowledged that something had been implanted in her brain by the beacon on Eden Prime. It was a chilling thought.

"Other than that," she said, her tone light again, "I only have some odd jobs here and there that apparently need my Spectre authority to get solved. Anyway, the assistant from the Council is incredible, she has gotten everything ready in record time." She turned to him with a grin. "You'll never guess who it is."

"The assistant? I know her?"

"Yes, it's Jinala, you remember? The asari bondmate of Sapita, the woman your father had arranged the convi-something with."

"The praecipit convenire, I remember." He looked over to Shepard and trilled out his love. "It seems like a lifetime ago."

"Yes it does," Shepard said, smiling at him with the light of a thousand suns.

They needed only a few minutes to pack up their things and a short time later they arrived at the Normandy. The outer airlock stood open waiting for them to enter. Shepard hesitated and her hand searched for his. He pressed her hand shortly, just enough for reassurance but then he let go. She was the Commander of the Normandy and her first steps onto her ship would not be with him holding her hand. She smiled at him and nodded. They stepped in and after the decontamination cycle had ended, he let Shepard step on board first.

The VI announced her presence to the crew and everyone snapped to attention. The XO, a human named Pressly informed her that the crew was complete, including the aliens, he added with a slight sneer. Shepard did not react but Garrus knew that she had made note of his behaviour. Pressly would soon find himself in a serious conversation with Shepard.

Garrus followed her into the cockpit, where a rather small man was sitting in the pilot seat, grinning widely at them as they entered. "I knew you'd join me here, Commander!" He called out, only half watching his hands flying over the orange glowing controls. "Ready, whenever you say." He looked at Garrus, a slight look of unease flitting over his face before he grinned at him. Shepard stepped to the side to make room for him.

"This is Optione Garrus Vakarian, here on behalf of the turian Hierarchy as the turian relations officer and also," she hesitated and gave him a smile, "my best friend."

The pilot looked between the two of them and a grin spread on his face. "Friend, sure." He laughed and nodded towards Garrus. "Nice to meet you, Optione Vakarian. I'm Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, everybody calls me Joker. I would give you my hand but I'm a bit fragile and don't want to get it crushed by yours." He turned back to the controls. "Kinda need my hands, you know?"

That was a rather strange remark, even slightly offensive. Garrus made a confused trill and Shepard turned to him with a smile. "I'll explain later. Joker may be an ass but he did not mean to insult you... this time." She turned towards the window, the mass effect fields casting blue patterns on her skin. "Take us out, Joker, and set a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster."

"You got it, Commander," the pilot answered, his hands flying over the omni-display in front of him. The docking clamps released the ship with a metallic clunk and the Normandy glided through the mass effect fields of the Citadel into open space.

The Relay grew larger in the viewport, spinning it's inner rings, pure energy discharges jumping around the core. The ship crept closer to the core, Joker keeping it clear of the spinning rings put close enough for the energy to enclose the ship. For a few seconds, the light of the core was almost blindingly bright, cradling the ship right next to the relay. In the next moment, the familiar but still unnerving gravitational pull of the mass effect field catapulted the ship away from the relay into the stream. The blinding light disappeared and left the viewport dark until the eyes adjusted again and faint stars became visible in the background.

"I love this," Shepard whispered beside him. "I love watching the ship pass through the relay." She smiled with wide eyes and to Garrus she almost looked like a child, her face full of wonder.