ABLE/NOVEMBER:

**FLASHING WARNING LIGHTS**

ATTENTION! ATTENTION!

**FLASHING LIGHTS END**

I need to inform everyone, this is a double update!

I realized last night that I've been dating the chapters a little wrong. Like after the new year and you're still using the old one. So, to confirm, it hasn't been over a year but rather only a few days.

We ride fast they take their sweet time

We only want to have a good time

Chapter 9

Coming Home

April 9th, 2187

"Already?" Joker asked for the third time in a row.

"Jeff, repeating the question will not change the fact. And it is a favorable fact."

"I know it's just, damn. Was some fast work."

"The geth do not require sleep. And in previous months they had been working omni-directionally. With a focused effort they have been able to work at a rate that is over 1200% by comparison."

"Wow. That's pretty damn fast."

"I have also received a signal from the Raven. They've already tested the network. We're clear to go through Hades. Then it's to the Nubian Expanse, Shadow Sea, Argos Rho, Exodus Cluster, Arcturus Stream, then finally Earth."

"Sweet. How long to get there?"

"With the side stop at Benning it will take us little over a day and a half.."

"Hey Joker, could you lower the ramp?" Tali called over the ship's intercom. "Garrus, James and I finished picking up the reunion supplies."

Joker lowered the ramp allowing the trio plus a small team of geth carrying various party supplies.

"I'm sending the message to Admiral Shepard."

"Which one?" EDI joked.

"Right. Forgot about that. You uh, you think he'll stay with us or do you think he'll take another command?"

"Knowing Shepard, I would say the probability of him remaining is 91.3%."

"So what's with the other eight point seven?"

"The remaining percentage is the forced tradition of admirals taking positions withing Alliance Command or a command capital ship such as a carrier or dreadnought."

"Yeah there's no way in hell he'll take a desk job."

"I equally believe that outcome to be unlikely."

"Okay, everything is loaded up and the geth have departed. We're ready to launch whenever you are." Her voice had an extra pound of chipper it it. Only a day and a half days until she got to see her Shepard again.

Vega was back in his old spot doing chin-ups once more; Ashley watched from across the bay with a rather peculiar look.

Tali in turn had started pacing around the cargo bay as the SR-2 backed out of her docking birth.

"Yo Sparks. You'll wear a hole in the deck plate you keep pacing like that." He didn't stop or even slow his pace.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Her mind and stomach were aglow with warm, fuzzy thoughts about her reuniting with Markus. She was all kinds of pent up and looking for a vent.

"Hey Tali," Ash pushed herself off the wall. "How 'bout you come with me? You should figure out what you'll do when you see him."

"I'm pretty sure I know what we're doing."

"Well obviously there's that, and afterwards there's that-that."

Tali let a smile slip through under her mask.

"So what are you going to do when you see him?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"You want this to be perfect right? Okay, we're gonna do some role playing here. James! Get over here. We need a stand in."

"What am I standing in for?"

"Shepard. Duh!"

April 10, 2187

The SR-2 traveled at high FTL speeds for nearly twenty hours straight. Eleven to get to the Arcturus Stream, another nine to reach the Euler system where Shepard's eldest sister Sonja was.

Since the end of the war she had been working on helping to re-build the cities.

Dropping out of FTL, Joker sent a message to the 319th Marine platoon. They were the only Alliance forces left when the liberation of Earth began.

The ship barely made it into orbit before an Alliance cruiser came up along side them.

"This is SSV Moscow. Requesting permission to dock to transfer requested personnel."

"Copy Moscow. Extending docking arm."

Garrus, James and Ashley went to the CIC docking hatch to welcome the new Shepard onboard. Traynor stood with Joker in the cockpit.

"I never knew Shepard had such a big family." Traynor said. "He ever talk about his sister to you?"

"Not really. I mean, I know they were close. He'd chat with her a couple times on the old Normandy but I never met her. Think he tried to keep it that way." He had tried a couple of times to look her and the rest of his sisters up, but every extra-net site he went to had been blocked under the Commander's SPECTRE code. Now he got to find out what all the fuss was about.

The docking hatch from the Moscow opened revealing an attractive woman. Garrus never had a thing for humans, but this one... 'spirits! There's no way they're related.'

"TEN HUT!" Ashley yelled. The three of them all threw their arms up in a salute, their backs going rigid.

Shepard's sister put a sweet smile on her face. How was it that she was affecting him so much? "Thanks Garrus, but you're not Alliance."

He couldn't really do much at that but to slowly lower his arm, looking to James and Ashley for what to do. They remained stiff as a board, bladed hand still raised.

She then returned the Alliance officer's salute. "At ease. So, I take it you're James and Ash. Think I can get a tour of little Markie's boat?"

She walked past them, a slight bounce as she did.

"Oi ya chika." James whispered under his breath as both men leaned their heads out of the airlock to watch her walk away.

Ashley smacked him upside the head. "Hey! Eyes front soldier."

Sonja was sitting in the cockpit talking with Traynor, EDI and Joker.

"So, what exactly was Shepard like when he was little? He's pretty much refused to talk about it.

"He was a royal pain in the ass. I'm talking dead opposite of what he is now."

"Really?" Joker was on the edge of his seat with excitement.

"Yeah! Since he was the youngest, well along with Izzie. Anyway, since there were four of us plus the fact that they were back on duty full time they didn't have much time for us. I kinda became the mother for when they weren't home. Bright side, we typically got to be on dreadnoughts and carriers sine they had a family. Sorry, I'm getting off topic."

"Anyhow, when he was ten,"

Cortez had dragged Shepard away from three separate fights that day.

"Come on." He said after the last one, a two on one fight with a pair of asari. "We're getting something to drink."

Cortez walked him to a small 'watering hole'. A gin still set up behind one of the barrack tents.

The two pounded back round after round. Somewhere around the thirtieth Cortez started asking. He knew Shepard wouldn't talk without being hammered.

"So, what exactly is going on with you?" He was slightly drunk himself.

"It's this damned thing!" He said slamming the shot glass down with his mechanical hand.

"Okay, not sure what you mean."

"I hesitated. The uh, there was an AI. I had a couple options there."

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Yeah. The uh, the report. I read it." Turned out, he was more than a little drunk. This stuff was much harder than what he and James would drink.

"You die and controll them, you... fuse life with technology, or destroy synths." They began refilling their glass while the other talked.

"And I hesitated. I hesitated because of a dead geth."

"You did the right thing. You know that right?"

"Four months trapped in post-apocalypse, killing my family?"

"Erm, your family is still alive."

"My service family."

"Ah. Well, think about this, if you didn't, what would have happened?

"Whole galaxy would have kept burning. Then again in another cycle. So?"

"So, you saved billions. Pretty damn good work. Turning that thing on probably would have done the same thing no matter what. No one else made it to the Citadel."

"Way to make me feel better."

"What I mean to say, is you've always done the right thing."

"Until now."

"Bullshit. Tell you what," He grabbed a large mug and filled to the brim.

"Drink this." He handed it to him.

"Why don't you have a big one?"

"Cause!"

"Cause why?"

"Cause you're THE COMMANDER!" Throwing his arms out.

"Oookaaaay!" Shepard turned the cup up and started chugging. He kept leaning back as the near pitcher sized glass back.

"YEAH HA! GO SHEPARD!" Cortez cheered him on.

Before it emptied into his gullet Shepard fell back in out of the chair.

"Shepard?" He was responded with snoring.

"Hey Jack?" The once psychotic biotic had been running the still. She loved watching all of the people coming through get plastered. It amused her. She had since cooled off in the last three months considerably not to mention letting the rest of her hair grow out. It didn't look particularly good but most of that was centered on the fact that she hadn't picked a style. She never thought about looking good for someone but she was never close enough to anyone to consider things like this.

"Someone should take 'im back to the tent."

"Sure thing. You good?"

"Oh yeah." He made it a couple of steps before falling flat on his face unconscious.

"Men. Can't hold their liquor for shit." Jack called Miranda for help dragging the passed out men back to their beds.

"Couldn't you have gotten someone else to do it?" Miranda said when she saw them.

"Sure, but I needed to see my babe." She threw a weak pull field around Miranda, grabbing her waist and kissing her. They had since gone back (and forth several times) to the 'love each other' point in their relationship. Jack took Cortez while Miranda took Shepard.

"Hm, dragging your nearly dead ass onto a table. Well this isn't familiar at all huh?" She said to the sleeping form when she got him back to his cot.

Hanna's omni-tool pinged late at night with a new unread message.

"Hey mom!" It was Sonja. "I'm on the Normandy. They are so wonderful! I mean, they've been trying to make me feel like family. I'm talking going out of their way to be nice to me. It's kinda weird. Kinda got used to it when he made SPECTRE, but seeing it coming from them, it's kinda weird. I'm starting to see Shepard's been wanting to stay with them. Just one thing, is there something between Tali and Mark? I know they've served together for a long time, but there's something about her..."

She was almost as dense as he was.

April 11, 2187

"So, how are we going to do this?" Sonja said to Ashley. The two were in the AI core room. She had put her cherry red hair up in a ponytail, drawing extra attention to her emerald eyes.

"Isabella didn't tell you?" Ashley was surprised at this.

"She didn't give much on specifics, just that we're surprising him."

"Okay." Ashley laid out the plan to Shepard's sister. She only hoped that the last one would have already been told of the plan. There was one thing that had been kept a secret from the rest of the crew and his sisters. Only Ashley and Isabella knew.

"Wow. That's actually pretty brilliant."

"You're surprised?"

"Let's just say that she was never the most creative of individuals. So, shall we get started setting up in the galley?"

"Yeah. The entire crew is ready to pitch in; all we have to do is ask."

"Okay. Let's get Garrus, James and the cynical one, Javik was it?"

"Javik." She confirmed.

"Right. Let's get those three on the taller decorations. Does anyone on the ship know how to cook?"

"Specialist Traynor received several complements from the food she helped me prepare at the party before our assault on Cerberus." Ashley had forgotten that EDI had ears all over the ship. Still, it was more secured than anywhere else.

"Wait, I didn't ask EDI that."

"She didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"She's an AI. And that she and Joker are dating."

"Okay, circle around to that last note later." She looked up to the ceiling before continuing.

"If it's okay with you, I'd like you to quietly inform Traynor and please assist her."

"It is no problem. I'd also like to thank you for being so polite, though you don't need to alter the way you speak to me as any other."

"I'll remember that EDI. So, do you know anyone else who can help us out with the rest of the preparations?"

"I have locked Diana Allers in the room Shepard assigned her. I was worried that she might broadcast your plans, informing Shepard indirectly. Though I am rather certain that the engineering team will be wanting to help along with doctor Chakwas."

"That should be enough extra hands." The women left the AI core and fervently got to work. They only had a handful of hours available to them, and at least half a day's worth of work to do.

ABLE/NOVEMBER:

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