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A few days after she had woken up at the hospital in London, Shepard was cleared for travel and was flown to a rehabilitative facility at the Alliance headquarters in Vancouver. Dr. Chakwas stayed behind to take care of the many patients who still needed medical attention. Miranda came with her though, as did Jack. Miranda was to help the Alliance with scientific research, and Jack would resume teaching biotic students. Shepard was glad to have two familiar faces with her.
Upon arrival at the facility, Admiral Hackett visited her for the first time since she woke up. Chakwas had insisted Shepard have some time to herself after waking up, so he had waited until she arrived in Vancouver to approach her. Shepard was sitting in a wheelchair near the window when he walked in. The admiral appeared startled when he first saw her.
"Commander." Admiral Hackett removed his hat as he stepped in the room.
"Admiral," Shepard replied wearily.
"I'm so sorry to hear about your injuries." He gestured toward the chair.
Shepard glanced down at herself.
"Thank you, sir."
The admiral sighed and sat stiffly at the edge of her bed.
"I know you're probably curious right now about the events following the Battle of London. However, I first must talk to you about what happened. What did happen?"
Shepard remembered. She recalled the horrible choice she had to make as she stared the ghostly child down. Shepard had chosen to sacrifice the geth, EDI, and all synthetics for the opportunity to kill the Reapers for good. It was all so strange. She couldn't truthfully say if it was reality, but she was fairly sure the Reapers and relays were down. Whatever the case, Shepard could not tell Hackett the truth. She didn't know if she'd ever be able to speak about it. They might think she was crazy or indoctrinated. The Alliance could also put her up to the tribunal again for destroying the geth and the relays. It went against her core values to lie so blatantly, but she felt like was owed some sense of privacy after everything.
"I don't remember. It's all a blur."
"Really? That's unfortunate. I guess it's expected with the trauma you endured. We were just hoping to have some answers."
"Sorry, sir. Sorry that I can't be of more help. I remember Captain Anderson though. How is he doing?
"No one told you?"
Shepard shook her head. "They tried to avoid giving me any answers."
"Well, we found the captain not too far from where you were. He was barely alive when the rescuers arrived, and he passed away before they arrived at the hospital."
She was shocked. He had been alive, right beside her during those final moments. She thought if she had lived that he must have, too. Captain Anderson had been like a father figure to her. He was her military role model. It was difficult to wrap her head around the idea that he had died right after everything was over. That he was never going to see the peaceful world that resulted.
"Thank you for telling me."
"I know you two were close. It's damn shame to lose him."
"That it is."
"You'll probably be happy though to learn that the Reapers no longer appear to be a problem. Whatever you did Shepard, it did the trick. All of humanity- actually, the entire galaxy- has you to thank for that."
"I'm glad we were able to put a stop to it."
The conversation with Hackett was starting to wear her down. Since waking from her medically induced coma, she mostly read from a datapad and took long naps. She tried not to think about her legs or Kaidan at all.
"The relays, however, are broken. No one can figure it out. A lot of aliens have been stuck on Earth, but many are leaving now to see what's out there. We've had some ships come in, but there are still more out there. I'm sure you've heard the Normandy isn't back yet."
Shepard nodded. She rested her head on her hand.
"Any idea where it is?"
"Sorry. With communications being extremely limited, we haven't heard any word. I see you're getting tired. Before I go, I wanted to speak with you about your accomplishments. The Alliance would like to honor you. We'd like to have a ceremony next month where we place a badge of honor on you. I think it'd be great for morale. Vancouver, as well as the military, is still recovering from this."
Shepard didn't like the idea of being paraded around as a war hero. She felt the slightest bit of survivor's guilt, just like she had when Ash had died. Only this time she had wiped out all of the geth, the relays, and EDI. Shepard wasn't proud. She was ashamed even though her decision was the only one to make.
"Sir, I'd be honored. I'm not sure how I'll be doing then…"
Admiral Hackett stood up and flattened out his uniform with his hands. "Don't worry about it. The world wants to see you, to know that you are alive after all of this. They won't care about the details. And Shepard, don't worry about your injury hindering your career. We will accommodate you."
Shepard didn't know how to feel. She knew the admiral probably wanted to stick her on a desk, but she had always been in the field while employed by the Alliance. It would be new territory for her, and definitely not welcomed territory.
"Thank you so much, sir."
"Good day, Commander. Get well."
When the admiral left, Shepard immediately pressed the nurse button on the remote to her chair. She was so weak and tired that she did not have the energy to hate herself when the nurse had to come in and lift her onto the bed so she could finally sleep.
Almost two months had gone by before the day the crew was able to get the engines running. Kaidan had just come back from exploring the land with a group of the others. He exhaustedly threw his bags down and walked toward the docking bay when Tali burst out. She was practically jumping up and down.
"Tali, what's going on?"
"Only the best possible thing! Come inside!"
Kaidan tried to keep up with Tali as she rushed to the cockpit. Garrus and Liara were sitting next to Joker. They all turned toward him, their faces lighting up with excitement. He had a sneaking suspicion about what was going on, but he didn't want to get his hopes up.
"Check this out," Joker's voice was proud and had a tinge of joy. This was the first time Joker had spoken to Kaidan since the memorial several weeks ago. It was good to hear his voice, especially since it appeared that he was happy.
Joker began flipping switches on the dashboard. The others giddily waited. All of a sudden, he could hear the quiet roar of the engines coming online. The dashboard lit up with navigation information
"The engines…" Kaidan could barely speak.
"Yeah, man. The engines," Joker replied.
Kaidan gave Joker a pat on the shoulder. They had done it. The engines were fixed. They could return home. He could finally go back to Shepard.
"Any luck with the comm system?"
Garrus shook his head.
"Do we have enough fuel and supplies for the trek back home? Do we even know how to get to Earth?"
Liara spoke up. "From my research and pouring over the maps we have available, I believe we are on an unnamed planet in the Terminus Systems."
The Terminus Systems? Great, they were plenty far from Earth. "Are you certain? I thought all of the planets were plotted."
"I am fairly certain. There are not many unnamed planets in the populated systems, but I believe this planet has the attributes of a small unnamed one that the Alliance wished to place a colony on at one point."
Garrus pulled Tali into his lap and held her. "We don't have enough fuel to make it to Earth if that's what you want to know. However, I do think we have a chance to make it to Rannoch. The quarians and geth could help us refuel, get more supplies, and fix the ship further before we continue on."
If Kaidan could see Tali's face right now, he'd bet she would be beaming. He couldn't say that he was surprised by their newly displayed affections for one another. Shepard had confided in him that she had caught the two trying to kiss in the main battery. Kaidan was happy for Garrus and Tali It looked like Tali was also going to get to see her homeworld again. It was everything he wanted for himself.
"Okay. Let's get ready to move out." Kaidan broke out in a rare smile.
"Aye-aye, Major!" Joker resumed his work at the dashboard.
It was a risk, but they had to take it.