AN: Hi, everyone! It's summer again and I'm going on holiday without my computer. Sadly, this means that the next chapter won't be posted until the end of July. I wish everyone a great time!
The new recruits started showing up within four days after the invitations went out. When the Normandy returned from the trip to Tuchanka with the reluctant Michael Portman on board, Cortez was already shooting the breeze in the cafeteria with two salarians, four krogans and a turian. Jo 'unloaded' Portman and let him roam freely. From now on he would have to interact with other recruits whether he wanted to or not. He might as well start now. Jo smiled when she secretly watched him sulk in the cafeteria near the others, not participating but not going away, either. He would be just fine, she knew it.
Alice and Kolyat caught her attention. Alice had some stuff to go over with Jo, but Jo noticed that Kolyat looked a little lost. He was listlessly trailing after his girlfriend lately, not doing anything specific.
"Kolyat?" Jo touched his shoulder. "What are you thinking about?"
"Oh, it's nothing," his two-layered voice was like a melodic whisper. Looking at him always reminded Jo of how much she missed his father.
"I know a thousand ways to torture information out of someone," she grinned. "So you better start talking."
He laughed, but grew serious again.
"It's nothing, really. I was just thinking that when Commander Bailey took over my rehabilitation on the Citadel, he found me a job as a technician at the docks, and it was a fine job, I'm even rather good at it, but..."
"It's not what you really want to do for the rest of your life."
"Well... no."
"And what would you like to do?"
He looked down, changed his footing, kneaded his hands and finally confessed:
"Own a bar."
"Well, that's just perfect, then," Jo almost jumped with excitement. "This station is about to be populated by almost six hundred people and I'm the only one who doesn't drink alcohol. Pick a room wherever you like and get to it. I'll give you a business loan and Alice can work out a plan for you to pay it back. There are only two conditions. I know you won't accept charity, so I'll ask you to pay rent on the room. And secondly, you must always put your deliveries through the proper security, which we are about to establish."
"Are you serious?" Kolyat couldn't believe his luck. Alice at his side was biting hard on her knuckles to keep down a squeal.
"Deadly."
"Eeeee!" Alice jumped at Jo to hug her. So much for keeping it down. "Jo, thank you, thank you!"
"Thank you, Jo," Kolyat's smile was huge. "I know of an asari wine. It's safe even for pregnant women to drink, your PTSD will be just fine."
"Really," Jo gave Joker a secret smile.
Kolyat left them with a new purpose to his gait, looking for the perfect spot for his bar. Alice meanwhile showed Jo and Joker information on several neighbourhoods in the suburbs where they could buy a house or an empty lot to build one.
"Question is: what would the people already living there think about having us for neighbours?" Jo looked thoughtfully at the pictures and data.
"I already talked to the people. The spots I selected are the ones where the neighbours are happy to have you, whatever you may bring."
"We'll just have to take a look at these spots, then, won't we?" Jo exchanged a glance with Joker. She was also amazed at how capable Alice was proving to be at her young age. Jo knew she made the right choice making the teenager her personal assistant.
Alice made appointments for the very next day and while Tali and Garrus took over greeting the arriving recruits, Joker and Jo flew to the planet's surface to look at the real estate.
"I don't even care if we buy a house or build one," Jo said after they visited the first two neighbourhoods. "I just want it to feel like home."
"And so far it doesn't feel quite right," he agreed. They had eight appointments. The third and the fourth didn't excite them, either, but when they landed in a parking lot at the fifth place, it seemed... different. The community was shaped like a sun with a big circular plaza in the middle and streets running from it in all directions like rays. The plaza and each street were beautifully landscaped with lots of flowers and trees. The place wasn't exactly quiet. Small kids were playing at a playground and Jo was amazed to see humans, asari, turians and even a hanar among them. Mechs were mowing lawns in several yards. Music was playing loudly somewhere, people were grilling steaks and vegetables, loudly splashing in pools, animals Jo had never seen before were making noises as their owners unloaded their shopping bags... It was the perfect civilian life.
While Jo and Joker were still taking in everything at once, Alice steered them towards a specific house. It wasn't the biggest in the world, only one storey tall, a collection of several square rooms with a flat roof. It was white with blue and purple tints, a blend of asari and Prothean architecture in design. There were several big windows, a cute path leading from the street to the front door, a parking space for two Kodiaks and low green bushes surrounding the front yard.
"There is a big parking lot right behind this property hidden by a tree line, and quite a big backyard. You can have parties with at least fifty people there. No pool, though," Alice reported. "Want to see the inside?"
Ten minutes later Jo was clutching Joker's hand pretty painfully.
"I love this place," she told him when Alice left them alone to discuss it. "It looks kind of small from the outside, but there are five bedrooms! We can have guests stay over, or, you know..." She rubbed her belly.
"There's even an office if we need to work at home," Joker looked around one more time. "As long as you don't mind sharing it with me."
"I don't mind," Jo beamed. "And the living room! We could play catch in here."
"Jo, I love this place, too," Joker conceded.
"It is kind of perfect," Jo looked around at the neighbourhood from the porch. The houses left and right stood at a bit of a distance behind tall shrubs. The closest house was the one across the street. A human woman with a toddler was walking up to it, eyeing them curiously. She was a bit older than them, but the boy was quite obviously her son.
"Hello there," she greeted them with a wave of her hand. "You're the Moreaus, aren't you? We heard you were looking for a house. How do you like our neighbourhood?"
"We love it, actually," Jo and Joker approached the woman, who shook their hands.
"I'm Mirabel Castello, and this is my son Stefano," the woman introduced herself. "I have to say, your arrival on Chrysalis was the talk of the neighbourhood. Many were speculating where you'd settle down. Dare I hope that you're strongly considering our community?"
"Would you be okay with that?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"It could be pretty dangerous living across the street from us," Jo shrugged. "At the very least the place will be flooded with paparazzi."
"Having the Reapers descend on our heads was dangerous. You guys made the galaxy safe for us again. The least we can do is stand by you in the face of paparazzi. I assure you, everyone who lives around here feels the same."
"You might feel differently about it when the first terrorist or a hired killer shoots a rocket at our house."
"Won't you install some sort of security?"
"Of course. The best."
"Well, then," Mirabel smiled. Jo and Joker exchanged a glance. The woman really seemed to mean her welcoming words.
"Guess we found our new home," Jo exhaled and Joker leaned his forehead against hers:
"Looks like we did."
"Aw, you two are just too cute. My husband will rib you forever for being so mushy," Mirabel said.
"If he likes ribbing people, then he's found his match in us," Joker challenged. Mirabel laughed and shook her head.
Back on the Normandy, Alice took notes about everything Joker and Jo wanted their house to have. First and foremost: a window in every bathroom. Secondly: two basements. The upper one for a private gym and a party room. The basement underneath that - to lock Jo's weapon collection behind a dozen child-safe locks. A security system that had to include at least three cannons on the roof and several more along the property's perimeter, long range and short range scanners, cameras, proximity warning and landmines.
"No AI," Jo said. "A VI only. I'm tired of being watched in the bedroom."
"Your wish is my command." Alice nodded, typing away on her datapad purposefully. "I'll ask Svetlana about a crew to build the basement immediately."
They left Alice to it and returned to work. As requested in their invitations, all four hundred fifty recruits arrived on the station by September 10th. Since there was only one wing with furnished dorms and basically nothing else on the station, they were a little sceptical about their upcoming training. On 11th Jo gathered all inhabitants of the station in the Assembly and stood in front of them on the podium.
"Welcome to your orientation," she addressed the crowd. "I don't do motivational speeches. I mean, sure I do, when I'm facing people I need to manipulate. When it comes to my family, though, I find speeches silly. I chose you as my first class and I don't think you need any more motivation than that to feel like you belong here, right?"
She saw glowing faces, subtle nods of agreement, tension of excitement and wild, burning hope for a bright future.
"Which is why I'm going to get straight to business. Firstly, regarding formalities. As we speak, each of you is receiving filework on your omnitools. You are required to fill out forms, sign wavers and agreements, sign off on your new health insurance and wages, and return the finished filework to the same contact you got it from. That would be Dex, our resident AI. If you have questions about the filework, Instructor Vega will be available to answer them.
"Now, about proper protocol. This is not a school and we are not teachers and children. We are one family and all responsible adults here. We are not in the military, either. You will address me as Commander Moreau until you gain at least the N1 rank. After that you can call me Jo. You don't have to salute me or any other instructors at any time. All recruits are required to live on the station during their training. If you have family, they are welcome to find a place to live on the planet's surface and you can visit them in your spare time. We will keep the human seven-days-a-week system. We will work for six days and have one day off. The instructors have a choice to either live here on the station or planetside. Regardless, one of the senior instructors will always be on night shift up here, keeping an eye on things. Sometimes it'll be me, sometimes someone else. We will have our own child care facility. If you have children, they are welcome here.
"There will be no separation in the cafeteria. You don't have to leave the instructors and me at our own table. Don't be too shy to sit with us, ask questions, share your stories. As I said, we are one family now. There is also no fraternisation rule on this station and I won't be stopping anyone from getting together, whether it's to be married or just for a quick fuck. I won't encourage it, either, so your beds aren't king-sized, but if you really want to, go ahead and fraternise. I trust you all to be responsible about it.
"Secondly, regarding your training. This is not a democracy. You may ask questions about your exercises and demand explanation, but once you understand them, you will do as you are told, even if I tell you to bang your head against a wall. Neither I nor any other instructor will ever tell you to do something without a good reason. Your N ranks are my seal of approval and trust me, I know what I'm doing. Also, there is no time table for your exams. If you and your instructor feel that you are ready to take a test for your next N rank right now, you can do so. Many of you are already fit to become N5 within a month.
"Thirdly, regarding your schedule. There will be no classes or exercises in the next four weeks. As you have surely noticed, the station is empty and vulnerable now. The security is minimal with only a few cannons. There is a reason for that. When I was offered the position of the leader, this station was already mostly built. Hundreds of workers had been here. They know every nook and cranny of our new home. Their companies have blueprints for this place, and any terrorist with a wish to harm us can download those blueprints from extranet with no effort at all. That is unacceptable. The safety of this family is paramount and the secrets of our trade have to stay absolutely protected.
"Therefore, for the next four weeks we won't be training. We will all grab torches, screwdrivers, wire cutters, scanners and other tools, and we will change this station until the blueprints those workers have don't apply anymore. We will seal some doors and cut some new ones. We will install blocks in ventilation shafts, move the wiring, relocate elevators and staircases, and so on. Matt Cyco, the leader of Intelligence, has worked out a detailed plan for all the changes we will introduce. As we speak, each of you is getting a message with your own assignment, details about where to get your materials and how to get to where you're supposed to be. Your assignments are tailored to each of you specifically. Those who don't know shit about tech or tools will have enough work supporting those who do. Trust Matt, he knows what he's doing when he gives you your assignments.
"Finally, regarding this new family of ours. I have chosen each of you personally. When I was reading your dossiers, I certainly realised that most of you have been working in teams with friends or even family members during the war. You may have noticed that I have not invited more than one member from the same team. I did that knowingly so that you came here without pre-made friends. I made sure that most of you don't know anyone else in this room personally. You will be making new friends on this station during your training, forming new relationships, learning new things about other races. I'm glad to see that you didn't choose to sit in race-specific groups right now, but mixed up perfectly. It shows me that I was right choosing you as my first class. You seem to understand my vision of true cooperation and are ready to dedicate yourself to it completely. I think I made a good choice with all of you."
Jo let her gaze take in all the faces. The recruits sat in the first rows, the instructors sat in the back. Everyone had listened to her intently. She was glad to see determination in all of them. It was a promising start.
"Are there any questions?" She asked.
"Commander," a turian raised his hand. "You said that you invited only one person from the teams we used to work within at home. Will you consider inviting more people from the same teams in the future?"
"Yes, absolutely. A good team is a good team and if your mates deserve to be here, they have a good chance to be invited next year."
"Commander," a salarian woman spoke up next. "If one of us gets pregnant, will that person lose the spot?"
"Only for the duration of the pregnancy and only if you are in any kind of physical training. If you only specialise in Diplomacy, there's no reason to stop for very long. And you can be reinstated as a recruit after giving birth at any time you wish. However, don't get me wrong. Physical or not, all your training will be brutal in one way or another. You are here to take a lot of abuse so that everything you encounter out there in the world seems like a picnic in comparison."
"Is there a minimum age a recruit has to reach before being invited to the Academy?" A human man asked.
"I haven't given that any thought. Why?"
"My brother is a technological genius. He's twelve now and he designed and built a surgical machine for our hospital from scrap parts. It saved over a thousand lives by now. He designed a VI for a police station in our town when he was nine."
Jo bit the insides of her cheeks.
"I'll think about that," she told the man. "Thank you for bringing it to my attention."
"Commander," a krogan asked. "Hypothetically, if fraternisation between recruits is allowed, would a relationship between a recruit and an instructor also be accepted?"
"Well, if hypothetically you get involved with an instructor, you and that instructor come to me and inform me. You will be transferred to another instructor for your courses, your progress will be observed by me personally and the instructor in question will not be permitted to be a part of your examination. That's it. Just don't sneak around, please. I'll find out anyway, and if I catch someone lying to me, that's when you lose your spot. Does that sound fair?" People nodded.
"All right, people. Construction work starts tomorrow at 6am and lasts until we're finished. All the instructors will be available for any further questions. From now on I want to see why you came here. I want to see efficient, peaceful cooperation between all of you. We are the first inhabitants of this station, so let's make it the safe haven it needs to be. A home where you will always be welcome."
The recruits filed out of the room quickly and without a fuss. They all settled down in the cafeteria, where several mechs, delivered earlier and controlled by Dex, served food and drink. For about an hour it was mostly silent because everyone was reading. Of course, the dozen geth among the recruits didn't need that long, but they had trouble answering some of the questions: name your family members, friends and acquaintances. Of course, the filework was tailored to different races and the geth didn't need to provide medical history, but even they had relationships. They just had some trouble giving them proper names.
Jo observed the instructors, who'd been through the same process earlier this month, as they helped the recruits. Vega was especially supportive, since he was familiar with the filework even from before the leadership change. He knew all the nuances and could tell the exact reason for each waver's existence.
Jo got ambushed on her second round between the tables. Joker came out of nowhere, wrapped his arms around her and nibbled on her neck. Many recruits were bewildered by this public show of affection, but they quickly adjusted to the fact that she was serious about fraternisation. She would never hide her relationship with her own husband.
"So, this is the plan?" He asked, capturing her in the circle of his arms. "Change the station's insides beyond recognition before we bring in all the real tech and furniture? And using the recruits as workers? It makes so much sense that I feel stupid for not thinking about it myself. Matt obviously has."
"Yeah, Matty's brain is kind of scary. The station is huge, like a medium size city, and he's worked out all the changes."
"I helped," one of the mechs nearby said in Dex's voice.
"Yeah, but you're an all-knowing being with almost unlimited processing power and access to all the information extranet has to offer. Matty is still only human and yet he led this project, while you helped him."
"True," Dex moved the mech in a slow dance move around a vacant chair. "My Matty is a genius."
"Geez. Dex and Matty - that's true love," Joker grumbled, but only for show. He was actually really happy for them both.
The filework took the recruits several hours, but by dinnertime they were all done with it. After dinner every single one of them was so hyped that they didn't want to call it a night. They wanted to continue being productive. Complying with their wish, Matt declared the start of Project Retrofit. Everyone's omnitools came to life, sending people to their designated spots. Joker was needed at a brand new dock being built at one side of the atrium. It would serve as a VIP dock for him, Jo, and other instructors.
Jo looked at her own assignments and bit her lip. Matty had given her a task that would usually be right up her alley. Heavy lifting of explosive materials. Right now it was not something she could do without endangering the baby. Jo had no other choice: she found Karin and quietly said:
"I'll swap my assignment for yours, and I'm sorry about it."
Karin looked at Jo's omnitool and nodded eagerly:
"Don't even." They swapped the messages and Jo was off to help reinforce the dome of the atrium instead.
Matt called a stop to the work at 23:00, giving everyone enough time to sleep and be fresh again in the morning. He was pulling the first night shift on the station and other instructors headed towards their shuttles. Jo waved to various recruits she'd met today and without fail each of them gave her an adoring nod. When they saw that she was eating and working alongside them, they'd fallen in love with her beyond the respect they'd had before.
Perhaps it was the excitement of the day or maybe the abrupt changes in their life finally caught up with her, or maybe it were her hormones spiking with the pregnancy, but Jo woke up in the middle of the night screaming from a nightmare. She hadn't had one since she was resurrected the second time, but apparently they weren't gone for good. When Joker's gentle touch on her cheek woke her, she also noticed that the little asari tree he'd given her as a wedding gift was chiming soothingly and glowing pink from its spot on her nightstand, as if it had sensed her distress.
Jo blamed the nightmare and not the morning sickness when she immediately had to race to the bathroom to empty her stomach. She'd had no nausea before, but then again she was barely a month along and it could still happen.
Joker crouched next to her, held her hair and beamed contentedly, giving her a cup of water to wash her mouth when she was done.
"Morning sickness?" He asked.
"Could have been the nightmare," Jo wasn't fully convinced.
"That's never happened before. I think it's the baby."
"If it makes you happy..."
"It really does," he declared proudly. Jo knew next to nothing about pregnancies beyond the theoretical instructions and practical experience of delivering a baby to someone else. She certainly had no experience with the father's behaviour, no frame of reference to tell her if Joker's bubbly excitement was normal or not. However, she certainly appreciated the care with which he waited on her hand and food the rest of the night. Water, fruit, herbal tea, adjusted air conditioner to make the room a bit cooler, and his uncompromising demand that she remove all weapons from her pillow.
"You need real sleep now and big metal objects under your cheek are not helpful," he insisted. Jo let him fuss around her with a strange tightness in her throat. Had it been anyone else but Joker, at any other point in her life, she would have beaten him bloody for thinking that he could tell her what to do. But now... He had as much right to care for his child as she did, and that meant that she literally belonged to him, even more so than usually. And being his, body and soul, was the best feeling in the world.
Either Dex or Matt must have observed Jo swapping tasks with Karin, because the next day she got an easy job coordinating a team that deconstructed an elevator. Not only did Matt fit each task to each recruit personally, he also mixed the teams in the morning. This way everyone would get to know everyone else by the end of the month.
After dinner Jo invited Michael Portman into her office, which now sported two chairs and a temporary desk. When he arrived, he wasn't wearing the black uniform of a recruit. His civilian clothes, unruly black hair, hands in his pockets and a challenging glare told Jo that he was looking for a way to rile her up.
"Would you like to sit down?" She asked, indicating the empty chair in front of her desk.
"Not particularly," he defiantly rolled his eyes. Jo shrugged and continued:
"Mr. Portman, I will start by telling you what I know about you, and then we'll proceed to what you think you know about me. That should make a nice first step in our relationship." When the man snorted, Jo simply looked at the datapad with his dossier on it.
"You are thirty one, born in a colony near the Terminus Systems to parents originating from North America. When you were eleven years old, the colony was attacked by slavers. Along with your parents and your big brother you were brought on board the slaver ship, but managed to escape confinement and hide. Then, when the ship was attacked by a rival slaver gang, you secured a life pod for yourself, but your whole family was killed along with everyone else on the ship. You drifted in space for over a week until the Alliance found you."
Portman's face was a stone mask.
"Brought to Earth, you were placed in a military school. It was either that or a regular orphanage and the Alliance thought you'd be better off with them. Apparently you didn't think so, because you tried to escape four times, but were always found and brought back. At eighteen you officially joined the Alliance, though I doubt it was entirely your choice. Over the years you submitted your resignation eight times, and were each time persuaded to stay.
"You earned the rank of Staff Lieutenant and were on Earth when the Reapers attacked. Joining the resistance, you saved hundreds of people according to witness reports. Then after the war you requested personal leave, joined the krogan fleet and went to Tuchanka, where you renounced your name and all ties to your past, and joined a team scouting the desert for krogan rogues who hunt down women to breed with them, even against their will. These are the facts in your bio. Now I'm going to tell you what that bio really tells me about you."
Portman's scowl could have scared a yagh. He really didn't like someone digging into his private life. Too bad: Jo was the kind of woman even yagh ran away from in fear.
"You had a family and you lost them. Early on you realised how devastating it is to be helpless. You hate your own helplessness more than anything, but you are also a survivor. You know one very important thing, which took me a while to learn: there is no shame in physical weakness. Children are weak, and so are elderly people, pregnant women, and anyone else who doesn't have brawn in their genetics. All these people need and deserve our protection. And at the very core of your being you are a protector. You hate your choices being taken away from you, and the Alliance did that to you time and time again. You hate the Alliance with a passion."
Portman showed the first sign of agreement by subtly rolling his eyes.
"Taking orders and being treated like a pawn in someone else's game rubs you the wrong way. You'd rather die before you submit. But before you die, you'll kill, maim and rip. I know that order of priority very well because I'm the exact same way. Witnesses report that you're very kind, tender and protective over those who are weaker than you. But your enemies, which includes the Alliance, feel your wrath. You have no friends, no connections, you're a difficult leader to your subordinates, demanding and unforgiving. I know you wanted to be dishonourably discharged, but somehow your stunts achieved the opposite: the Alliance pegged you for someone who can make difficult choices."
He rolled his eyes again, this time at his superiors' stupidity.
"At the same time you appreciate that the Alliance often sends you right where people need help. You want to help, and that's the only reason you've stayed in the service for so long. But then the world got turned upside down and you saw your chance. You deserted only to become what you truly want to be: a nameless, faceless body with no personal needs or wishes, who disregards his own safety and health in order to help those who need it most. You threw yourself into a harsh environment to protect krogan women, not looking for anything in return. As far as you knew, that was the ultimate freedom."
The man stood still like a statue, staring at the wall behind Jo. She knew she'd pushed all his buttons and he hated her for it. But she wasn't doing it to be cruel, on the contrary.
"Now, what do you know about me, Mr. Portman?" She asked, and when no answer came, she kept talking: "I'm the Alliance's poster child. Moved up the career ladder, happily hopped up the N ranks, reached the top, mixed in politics, made my face known among all races, and now I throw my weight left and right. I know you think that I've been a puppet up until I became the puppeteer. You believe that I'm the next one in the line of those who want a piece of you only to restrict you, bind you, tell you what to do, force you to do my bidding. And you hate my fucking guts for it."
"The word 'fucking' means 'having sex'," Portman suddenly interrupted her with a sneer. "Since your guts are hardly having sex right now, it's a stupid phrase. I really wish people wouldn't use that word so carelessly."
Jo smiled at the outburst. It was perhaps the most he had said to her so far.
"Yeah, you do hate me," she nodded. "Bur fucking or not, you're wrong about me in many ways. First and foremost: I do not wish to control you in any way. Yes, I dragged you here against your will, kicking and screaming, but only because I had to shake you out of your funk somehow. You're seeing enemies everywhere, but I'm not your enemy. You are here because we are very much alike and I'm offering you the kind of freedom you always wanted but were never allowed to have. I give you my word, and you can have it in writing, if you wish: nobody is keeping you here. If you really, truly feel that you don't belong here, all you have to do is go to the hangar, take a shuttle and leave. Just like all the other people on this station, you are free to stay or leave at any time. You can go back to your miserable, lonely life of nothing but purpose. However, if you stay, I can teach you how to help people better. How to use more than just your fists and guns. How to complete your missions without having every bone in your body broken. How to do the impossible."
He stood very still, but Jo could see that he was now listening to her every word, afraid to miss anything.
"There is even more. I can teach you how not to be miserable. How to be more than the job, the mission, the duty. There is life beyond that, Michael. You can only help others if you are wholesome on the inside. I can show you a world beyond anything you've ever known."
"Why?" He finally croaked through dry throat.
"Because you are me, the way I was before I joined the ICA. You have nothing to lose and all of yourself to give. You care very deeply, and the unwavering core of your soul is good. In your gut you know exactly what the right thing to do is, and you don't have a problem sacrificing yourself for the right cause. When it comes to helping others, you don't have a shadow of a doubt about your success. That is a rare quality, you know. More dreams died because of doubt than because of failure. I have that quality as well, and even though many think that I'm volatile and disregard all consequences, they still want me to solve their problems. They come back to me again and again and again. They even brought be back from the dead so that I could solve their problems my way."
Portman's face softened a little bit by the end of that speech. She knew he could relate.
"Michael, you are just like me in many ways and you have the potential to become better than me. My husband once said something to me: It's a sad galaxy, if it can only produce one Shepard. Well, I think it produced more than one."
Portman finally looked at her, stunned and speechless. Jo shrugged:
"I've learned my lessons the hard way and I got burned and broken in the process. My body is probably more synthetic on the inside than organic, and my mind is a giant mess that only my husband knows how to navigate. I don't know how long I'll live, how sound I'll be in two or three decades. That's why I want to make sure that when I'm gone there are other 'Shepards' out there who can take on the burden and save the galaxy, no matter what threatens it. The other recruits are perfect to carry on my vision, but you're the one with the potential to replace me. You're the first, but I plan to look for others, so that when I'm gone one day, you don't have to stand alone against impossible odds. You'll know what to do and you'll have others to stand by you. Others like me. Together you will be able to keep the galaxy safe."
When Jo saw a tear glistening in the man's eye, when she noticed that he was shaking, she knew that she'd finally gotten through to him.
"I'm offering you a shortcut to 'Shepard', without bumps on the road, without deaths and resurrections, without PTSD, nightmares, traumas, loss and devastation. You can become better than me because you can be truly whole inside. And the best part of it? Nobody will ever know your name, unless something bad happens and you have to step up. Nobody will bug you until then, nobody will try to tell you what to do. You'll be your own master."
Michael Portman lost his footing and flopped gracelessly into the chair he'd rejected earlier.
"Why do you say I'm the only one you've found so far? What about your Garrus, Tali'Zorah, Wrex?" He asked.
"When all is said and done, they are still my followers. You're not. Every instinct in you screams to defy me, get me off my high horse, overpower me if possible. Is that not so?"
"Yes," he drawled. He still didn't like the fact that she could see right into him and read him so easily, Jo could tell. But that was the whole point of this conversation.
"So, are you interested in becoming a better Shepard? I was a prototype for testing. You can be the first bug-free model."
"What would the others say?" He gestured behind him at the rest of the station.
"The others, except for my man, don't need to know for now. This will be between you and me and I will pray until the day I die that it stays between you and me, that you never have to step up and use your skills to defend the galaxy against something as big as the Reapers."
He sat in silence for a few long minutes, thinking about it. Then eventually he nodded:
"I'm interested."
Jo exhaled on a shudder. A huge weight lifted off her shoulders. When she'd renounced fighting and decided to live a peaceful civilian life, she couldn't help but worry about leaving the galaxy defenceless. With Michael's agreement that worry was gone. He needed some training, but he would still be there to protect the galaxy in ways Jo couldn't anymore.
