Summary: Shepard manages to get the team some time in the renowned combat simulator housed on Pinnacle Station, while some things go according to plan. An unexpected confrontation puts the team on edge, and rightly so.
a/n: Thanks again to Chyrstis and LadyAmesIndy for their time and input.
13 Honing the Spear
i.
"Pinnacle Station scheduling. Can I get your unit designator, name, and rank please?"
Well, hell, there is no official unit designator for this squad, she realized suddenly. Before recruiting the aliens it had been Marine Detail SR-1. Now they were something altogether different. "Sure thing. This is Lieutenant Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy. Need to see if you can accommodate my ground team."
The silence was uncomfortably long.
"Hello?" she asked once, then twice. Then she tapped her pilot's shoulder with the back of her hand. "Did the connection drop or something?"
"Nope. He's probably just in shock. Or unconscious on the floor," Joker replied quietly to avoid the comment crossing the comm channel.
"Not funny," she mouthed back.
"Fifty credits says I'm right."
"Y… Yes, ma'am. W-we can clear the board for you, i-if you like?" the station communication's operator finally replied in a voice that sounded almost scared.
"Told ya," Joker crooned lowly.
"No need for that," she said to both men, swatting Joker a second time. "I just need time to run a handful of evals, maybe some sims."
"Certainly, Commander… Spectre Shepard. When will you be arriving?"
"One sec," she told the operator. "Joker, ETA?"
"Sixteen hours, give or take," the pilot replied off the top of his head, straightening his cap.
"In about a day," Shepard stated, rounding up.
"Yes, ma'am. I'll let the admiral know you're on your way."
"No need for anything special. Just need to get my guys into some decent stress-filled combat scenarios."
"Indeed, ma'am. Pinnacle Station, out."
For the eight months prior to her reassignment to the Normandy, Shepard had been trying to get her old team some face time with the renowned simulator housed at Pinnacle Station, but the timing always fell through. It was not easy to get on their schedule in the first place, but every time she managed to get A7 a slot something interfered. The immediate response from the scheduling officer left the commander more than a little surprised. She was at least expecting to be told they would have to kill a few days before they could grab some time.
"Look at you, scaring all the yeoman with the mere mention of your name," her pilot chided, grinning up at her from under the brim of his cap.
Nyx tried and failed not to smile, so she tapped the bill lightly putting his ever-present hat offkilter. "And I seem to remember you mentioning that you didn't need your legs to fly," Shepard noted as she turned toward the Combat Information Center.
"What'd Joker do this time?" Alenko queried as he approached her.
"What does Joker always do?" she replied over her shoulder then spotted the datapad in his hand. "That for me?"
"Yep. Eyes only from Anderson."
"Thanks, L-T," she said, tapping him on the shoulder with the item as she passed him and made her way to the CIC and then to the crew deck. Once in her quarters she accessed the device and skimmed the message as a scowl shifted across her features. With a heavy sigh she dropped it on her desk and fell face first onto the bed. The lack of direction on Saren was driving her bonkers.
After laying there for a few minutes, letting her mind mull over the possibilities remaining, Shepard flipped over, grabbed the device, and drafted a quick reply. Send me the files. I'll put Tali'Zorah and Alenko on it, see if we can't get somewhere with Saren's data ourselves. ~NRS. She knew Anderson would send it, even if he had to rattle chains to do it. She was less certain about what her crew or anyone else could really do with it if the Alliance's best keyboard jockeys had gotten nowhere, but at this point anything was worth a shot.
ii.
Pinnacle Station was one of the most advanced warfare simulators in the galaxy-yet another combined Council effort-and running the day-to-day operations had somehow fallen to the Alliance. Admiral Tadeus Ahern was the commanding officer. The man was a legend in Special Operations mainly for his service during the First Contact War, those few months had made the careers of several dedicated combat operators.
When the Normandy arrived he had been in meetings with the liaisons from the different Council forces, so Shepard and her crew were able to get straight into it. They ran five sims that first day. For Shepard it was something akin to a homecoming, though an effecting one. Alenko and Williams had each run two missions, while everyone else ran one, but Shepard had been part of all five. It was one of the perks of command, though few in her position would have considered back-to-back evaluative exercises in those terms.
The resulting state of exhaustion also felt like a plus for the Spectre, at least when she first climbed back onto the ship. Shepard languished in a hot shower later before collapsing onto her rack with the hopes that she might actually pass out. But the possibility of full night's sleep had been short lived.
Shepard's career was noteworthy to those that studied it. To the people who experienced some of the situations, it read more like an exercise in terror. She remembered the Blitz in too much detail-the retaliations and the pirate raids in various sectors. Those memories specifically woke her that night. The ghosts of two families slaughtered in a basement. A serviceman who had gotten his face scraped off by a batarian looking for children he could make a profit on. The triumphant yells of an injured, green-gilled marine that blew himself up to take a recon squad with him. These were some of the things that haunted her when the beacon from Eden Prime relented.
Scrubbing her hands over her face, Nyx tried to get the image of that faceless man out of her head. Usually remembering the OCS graduation of his daughter did the trick. But that night, not even the memory of the girl that survived could get Specialist Paul Baird out of her head. Glancing at her wrist she realized she somehow managed to steal five hours from the nightmares and the beacon's images; that was a rare record. She pulled on a pair of black socks with red and orange flames engulfing the foot and running up the calf. Then Nyx slid into a pair of track pants.
Fairly certain she might go unnoticed-even on a ship, 4 a.m. was still a bit of an ungodly hour-she padded into the common room of the crew deck. The officer stopped cold when Ashley raised an eyebrow at her.
"What in the name of all that is unholy are you doing up?" the chief asked with way too much flair for that time of day.
"I could ask you the same question, Chief," Shepard noted, continuing her jaunt across the room. Crouching, she grabbed two containers of apple juice out of the fridge and returned to the table, shaking them.
Ashley caught the peace offering the officer tossed at her.
"What you got there?" Shepard asked, falling into a chair across from her.
"Vids from this afternoon." When Shepard cocked an eyebrow up at her, Williams continued. "I have an unnatural desire to make that turian eat his words. Since making him eat my fist might cause a galactic incident," the chief muttered the last bit at the interface of her omnitool.
Shepard choked, trying not to spit a mouthful of juice all over the other woman. "Glad to see you found a hobby."
"That smug bastard. I hate guys like that."
The comment made Shepard smile, for a moment a thread of concern had woven its way into the commander's mind. She really preferred not to have that conversation with the chief again. And it seemed an unnecessary concern.
"A human couldn't best my performance," Williams mocked in a silly voice. "Yeah, well. We'll show him, won't we, Skipper?"
Shepard shrugged noncommittally. "Not really the point is it, Williams?"
"Bullshit," the chief shot. Then she straightened in her seat. "Ma'am."
They traded a silent look. Shepard, personally, had no issues with the chief's freeness of speech. It was how things usually happened in the field, but they both knew that on the decks of the ship the commander's opinion of it was not the only one that would come into play.
Ashley leaned forward on the table. "Forgive me. But that's precisely the point. He took his little team in there. And you'll take yours. Us beating him is kind of like the bar to meet," she said carefully. "He's pretty good, but not as good as he thinks he is. If we can get everyone in sync, we can break him and his piddling records. Make him cry in his gun locker."
"But to do it we have to gel?" Shepard asked.
"Yeah, that's going to be the key. That and taking the right make up for the situation and the terrain."
"If you come up with a breakthrough, you let me know. We'll see if we can't add taking Vidinos down a peg to the agenda."
"Hell yeah," Ashley replied with a grin.
iii.
A few minutes later Ashley tapped the interface away and leaned back toward the commander, sipping at the juice Shepard had tossed her. "Hey, Skipper, can I ask you something?"
The commander eyed her for a moment. "You can always ask."
Williams smirked at the implication that she could ask anything, but she just might not get an answer. "What was it like?"
"What was what like, Chief?" the officer took a long pull on the collapsible container.
"Growing up on ships?"
Shepard shrugged with a laugh. "Kind of like this, except I didn't get saluted back then, and they would have frowned on me spending as much time on the bridge as I do now," she quipped.
"Seriously, Shepard," Ashley pleaded.
"It really wasn't that much different. Substitute combat with mandatory 'class' time in the system labs. Reports-homework. Maybe hanging out with my friends, if any were on the boat. Or just hiding out. Even on the big hospital ships, there's not that much in the way of kid-friendly entertainment."
"Man, that sounds rough."
Shepard grimaced and tilted her head slightly. "I don't know. Some parts of it sucked. But I got shooting lessons from a security specialist with a sniper tab. So it evens out, I think."
Williams nodded in agreement, though it still seemed a little out of her grasp. She remembered running around and playing in the dirt with her sisters. Some nights when her Dad was home they would sit in the backyard toasting marshmallows while her dad read poetry to them. She smiled as she recalled spring afternoons spent with her sisters, laying back in the grass and watching the clouds, talking and making up stories. Ashley loved being outside, the idea of spending her whole life cooped up on a ship seemed so foreign to everything she knew. Hell, even after years in the service, she struggled to switch gears to ship-bound from spending most of her career groundside.
"There were other kids on the ships?" Ashley asked the container in her hands.
"Sometimes. Not always." The commander toyed with a lid, spinning it in her fingers. "My friends and I were kind of the outcasts. Lin and I, because we were girls. Caz because he was thin as a rail and way too into tech. Guy could hack anything with a circuit. We'd make hideouts in the cargo bay-perches. We could observe without being seen, usually."
"Sounds familiar," Tali noted as she approached. "Like my cousin, some friends, and I. We were on the fringe too. The other kids always looked at us differently, so we kind of gravitated toward one another. Kept an eye out for each other."
"Exactly," Shepard agreed. "I'm sure you and your sisters had a similar relationship. One of those unbreakable bonds people just can't get between, you know?"
"Yeah. So, you all are all still close?" Williams asked, looking from the officer to the quarian.
"Most of us were still on the same ship before I left on my Pilgrimage. Kal had finished his a few years ago and Meela just got back," Tali noted with a trace of what sounded like homesickness. "But we all keep in contact as best we can. What about you and your friends, Shepard?"
"Oh we're a strange bunch. Lin and I enlisted together, she's a nurse now. Married my old command chief, actually. And Caz…" Shepard glanced at her fingers, with pursed lips, seeming to struggle a bit. "We don't talk as much as we did when we were kids, but he's my best friend. Keeper of the Skeleton Closet, so to speak."
"What are you talking about Shepard?" Tali asked shaking her head.
"Old human saying about people having ugly secrets they prefer to keep hidden from prying eyes-skeletons in their closet."
"That's just morbid," the quarian noted.
"Yeah it kind of is when you think about it," Ashley agreed.
Shepard nodded. "It just means he knows everything about me, even the things I'd prefer people not to know, I guess."
"That I can understand," the quarian noted as she leaned forward. "Ashley, how many sisters do you have?"
"Three."
"Three sisters?" There was a sense of whimsy in Tali's voice, that Williams could not recall having heard before. "It must have been amazing. People so close to you, a part of you like that."
"Sisters are not all they are cracked up to be," Kaidan injected from across the room.
"Amen, L-T," Ashley laughed. "Older or younger?"
"Both, and an older brother."
"Ouch. My condolences."
"Do all humans have such big families?" Tali queried.
Shepard shook her head. "Nope. Only child."
"Quarians don't have big families?" Ashley asked.
"No. Each family has one child, unless the population gets low. With the limited space of the Flotilla, population growth from unregulated breeding could be very damaging. It takes great skill to maintain steady population levels."
"I'd read that quarians typically only had one child, but I didn't realize it was mandated," Kaidan mused as he crossed the room.
"You thought it biological?" she asked with a note of something akin to irritation in her voice.
Alenko sat across from her and looked at her closely, like he was trying to dispel any unintended offense. "The articles only mentioned the phenomenon not the impetus for it. I mistakenly assumed that it might be some kind of side effect from the immune deficiencies or the lifetime spent in your suits. I apologize if I offended you."
Tali leaned back sharply. "I was not offended, just surprised that you of all people didn't know."
"Well, he does have Galactipedia as his extranet homepage," Ashley chided, punching him in the shoulder as he lifted his cup. The coffee sloshed onto the table.
He and Shepard both grasped for napkins from the dispenser in the middle of the table to sop it up. The trace of a nervous glance between them tempted the chief to smile. After Alenko's slip on the Citadel and the commander's accommodating reaction to it, Williams could not help but wonder about the two of them.
Kaidan shook his head. "Their articles on quarians are surprisingly inaccurate," he replied. "As is a great deal I've found about the your people from other sources."
"After the geth, a lot the galaxy kind of wanted to forget about us. Sometimes, I'm not sure that I can blame them. But then other times it seems like punishment for getting somewhere first. My people are reviled, looked at as vagabonds, all because of something that happened centuries ago. We lost our home world, you would think that would be punishment enough, but instead you walk through the Citadel and people who don't know you look away from you, give you a wide berth, or even spit at you."
"Closed minded idiots come in all shades, Tali," Shepard noted, tapping the quarian's knee with her own.
"Indeed," Ashley added with a glance at the datapad on the table. "I'll keep you posted on the plan C-O, but I think I'm gonna grab a little rack time before we start up for the day."
iv.
Kaidan furrowed his brow at Shepard. When the chief rounded the corner, he asked, "What's she talking about?"
"She wants to drop Vidinos a peg or two."
"I could get on board for that," Tali said, leaning forward on her elbows.
The lieutenant nodded his agreement.
Shepard laughed and shook her head. "I didn't realize he'd managed to rile everyone."
"Folks like him tend to," Kaidan said.
"True," Shepard agreed as she finished off her juice. "In the next day or two, I'm going to have a project for the two of you."
"Sounds intriguing," Tali responded, watching the commander cross to the waste receptacle.
"Command isn't having much luck with Saren's encryption. So, I'm going to let you two take a go at it. Figure we might as well use every possible resource."
Kaidan chuckled lightly when he noticed the quarian's hands weave together as if she were a maniacal evil villain in a comic or an over-the-top movie. "Sounds like fun," Alenko said.
Shepard shook her head. "Once I have the files I'll open them up to the two of you. I'd like to keep access limited, if you catch my meaning?"
"Yes, ma'am."
The two of them watched Shepard leave. Then Tali inched toward him, leaning on the table. "I'm surprised they are letting her have the data."
"It's Council intel. Try as they might the Alliance has no jurisdiction over that information." Alenko's gaze focused on his coffee cup.
"Any ideas how we might go at the data?" Tali asked, the slightest note of distraction tempered her voice suggesting there were already ideas galloping through her head.
Kaidan lifted a shoulder and tipped his head back and forth slightly. "I don't really know anything about the information or the formatting, let alone the encryption. Without having seen it, I really can't speculate how we might crack it. I know there are some pretty heavy hitters in the Alliance when it comes cryptology. But I think anything we come up with is moot until we see it."
"Agreed," Tali noted, her hands moving flatly against one another.
v.
The next afternoon Shepard switched things up, though Pinnacle Station's Tech Specialist, Ochren, did not seem to appreciate her initiative. The part of her crew not in the simulation at the time milled around the load out area, while the commander stood right behind Ochren's chair watching the multiple monitors from over the salarian's shoulder. Every once and a while she would offer suggestions and ask questions. Most of his responses were mainly comprised of irritated sighs.
"Commander, you can see all these feeds from the briefing area," Ochren grumbled.
"I'm good," she replied.
"I think that was his polite way of asking you to stop hovering, Shepard," Garrus observed from her left.
Her eyes flitted to him for a moment, then back to the monitors. "I'm not completely oblivious, Vakarian."
Garrus chuckled.
"The problem with that suggestion is that from back there I cannot intervene." Nyx leaned forward. "Flank them with five on the left and four on the right."
"You're pushing them pretty hard," the turian noted.
Unlike her, he watched the exercises from the analyst's suggested location. This particular simulation was closing in on forty minutes of pretty thick combat, at least in his opinion; even more so when he considered who was in the sim. It started simply enough. But Shepard held to motto that simple never is. The team was sent in to recover a target, in this case a data cache, then move to and secure an extraction point. Now she had the trio awaiting a delayed extraction-in a fairly open area, with little cover and several ingress and egress points.
"Yep." Her tone was flat as her eyes focused on the screen, seemingly studying the team currently firing from some awkward cover.
Garrus observed that trio were being quite smart about the encounter. The team kept moving, not allowing the enemy to box them in to one position. It was a smart move. "You think Tali and Liara can take it?"
"If I didn't, they wouldn't be in there," Shepard stated, turning her gaze on him. Her eyes quickly darted to a monitor and she tapped the top of Ochren's chair. "Don't let them regroup. Keep the pressure up."
Garrus looked at her. She was pushing the tech and biotics experts hard. From the information the turian accessed on his squad mates, only the lieutenant really had any notable combat experience. The commander calmly continued her directions to the salarian. As the turian glanced up at the monitors, he could see the fatigue in Liara's face. With Tali it was more noticeable in the way she let her shotgun hang loosely between her legs as she crouched to trade out a heat sink. Vakarian felt badly for them, all of them.
A slight hum tickled his throat when he watched the lieutenant. Alenko seemed to be taking it in stride, which the turian chalked up to training and combat experience. Watching this display also worried the former C-Sec officer. He, Wrex, and Ashley were still waiting for their chance at this unique brand of torture a la Shepard. And, while he had been excited for the chance to showcase his own skill, what he saw the Alliance officer throw at some of the least experienced members of the team worried him. There was no doubt in his mind that the commander had more than enough tricks to make him-hell-all of them sweat it.
"You don't think-" Garrus did not even get the whole thought out before those sharp eyes focused on him again.
"Keep them bogged down. If you can, try and block up that egress point to the north, force them east and ambush them," Shepard ordered, with a hand on the salarian's shoulder. Then she walked toward Garrus, guiding him out of earshot and towards the simulator's north entrance. "Officer Vakarian, do not take this the wrong way. But I would appreciate it if you would refrain from second guessing my training operations and my tactics, at least until briefing. At which point you can bring it forth to the team or you and I can have the tete-a-tete in private, if you prefer."
"I just know that Tali and Li-"
"I am wholly aware of the lack of both combat training and experience of these people. As I am also aware of precisely where you received your sniper training. Just as I know some of the jobs that have been attributed to Wrex. Do you not think I consider all these things before I put someone into a scenario? Do you think that someone with several years experience training and commanding a team of operators might not have some idea quite how far she can push people? And do you think I'm only standing behind that irritable salarian only to throw more shit at them than they can handle?"
She paused a moment, looking him square in the eye before her eyebrows rose, reinforcing each question in his mind. It felt like that moment in Dr. Michel's clinic all over. She might have been looking up at him physically, but psychologically he felt about two feet tall. Garrus knew she did not want an answer. It was like training, when his instructors would get mandible to mandible with him and whisper taunts or ask questions that were merely designed to remind him who he was dealing with.
When he nodded at her, Shepard took a step back. "So I take it you're a little concerned about your own scenario?"
"Not so much at first, but now, yes," he replied as she took a more relaxed stance.
"You should be. But yours will be a slightly different brand of pressure and I suggest you go give your sniper rifle the once over. And leave me to my task."
Ochren groaned at her when she returned to her spot just behind his right shoulder, but Garrus took the hint. He removed to the load out area and lost himself in the ritual. His worry made him slow and careful, more precise than usual-and he was always meticulous. Vakarian was not going to allow some preventable failure with equipment to be a reason he could not hack whatever she was going to throw at him. As he twisted the barrel in place, his head snapped to the left when a hand tapped his shoulder.
Ashley looked up at him. She seemed swathed in an air of stoic calm. "We're up."
"What are we doing?"
"Dunno. But she said big guns only."
Garrus noted that Ashley was carrying her own Reaper, and only the sniper rifle, not even a side arm.
Shepard was giving T'Soni, Tali'Zorah, and Alenko the once over. He knew the full briefings would come later but even if moments earlier she was designing their virtual demise, her concern for their current state was thorough and complete.
"Lieutenant, I want the three of you to see Chakwas. Get the all clear. Then grab some rest. I'm going to have you back on the floor in about five hours, give or take," Shepard stated, pointing at the sentinel as she crossed to the two snipers.
"All of us?" Liara asked with a weak voice that belied her weariness.
"No, you and Tali get a reprieve. I'm taking Williams and Alenko on walkabout later, after playtime is over."
"Playtime," Williams muttered with a shake of her head. "She sounds like Chief Ellison."
"That's an unexpected compliment, Chief," Nyx noted with a telltale wink. "If that is how it was meant."
The other human smirked, shrugging one shoulder in reply. Garrus did not have the luxury of the reference, but if he had to guess it might not bode well for the two of them. The turian was still highly uncertain what to expect out of this encounter. His lack of familiarity with human training methods left him woefully underprepared to speculate about the commander's planning.
"I'm sure you can both guess what this is."
"Last man standing?" Williams asked.
"Not quite," Shepard replied. She looked upward as she set her hands on her hips. "Think of it like a really screwed up race."
The quick footfalls drew their attention to man running up the deck. Chief McMillan nodded at the two snipers then handed an assault rifle and a scoped pistol over to the commander.
"Anything else, ma'am?"
"Not a thing, Chief. This should work. Appreciate the hustle."
"Sure thing, Commander," he replied with a quick salute that the Alliance personnel all returned.
"What are we racing toward?" Garrus asked as the man left.
"The big kill." Her eyes rose from the pistol and locked with each of theirs in turn.
"Wait?" Ashley asked with a widening grin. "We get to kill you?"
"No. You get to try."
"Oh hell yes!" The chief slapped the turian on the shoulder. "Bragging rights for eternity!"
The laughter was infectious. Garrus had to admit that being the sniper to put a round in a Spectre even if it was in training would be a coup. Then the little voice in the back of his head spoke up. If you can pull it off and kill her before she kills you. When her bright blue eyes met his, it was as if she read his mind. Shepard's lips curled ever so devilishly and he suddenly realized he was as much a target as she was.
"Oh, and we aren't playing alone. Open hostiles, actively looking for snipers and a lone infiltrator. So you'll have to watch your own six or each other's for more than me," the commander advised as she led them into the empty space.
A few taps at the console revealed a multi-level environment. It was not the best place for long shots, though there were three good perches with seemingly decent lines. Without a doubt this terrain, would favor Shepard, but if they set up right, they might be able to get her.
"All right then. This thing starts in two minutes. Find a perch, make a plan, whatever strikes your fancy. Kill ya soon," the lithe blonde noted with a disconcerting wave before she skipped down the stairs.
Garrus looked over at Ashley. "The lines suck. We can try for a cross cover or pair up. What do you think?"
vi.
Wrex was leaning near the console when they exited. The slow clapping made Shepard's shoulders tighten. But when Garrus and Ashley both laughed, the krogan stopped his mocking applause. They realized that Nyx had given them the chance to succeed, but they split up, which left them vulnerable to the motives of an experienced operator. And the limitation on weaponry had been specifically designed to remind them of something they learned years earlier. Snipers shoot alone, but on a battlefield, spotters do more than help you sight and hone a shot.
"And what do you have in store for me?" the large alien asked as Shepard approached.
She clapped his shoulder and turned him toward the stairs. "Well, in two hours, you're going to defend a highly fortified position, with our turian associate here, against an Alliance-trained strike team."
Ashley's response showed her excitement. "Oh, yeah! This is going to be almost as much fun as taking shots at the C-O," the chief crooned, patting the commander on the tops of her shoulders.
Shepard just laughed at the response. You'd think I just told her I was buying her a pony. "All right. All right, Chief," the blonde replied as Williams calmed slightly. She was merely shaking the officer by the shoulders a bit now.
Wrex's face split into a grin. "What's the terrain like?"
"Don't know." The commander crossed her arms and looked up at him.
She knew she had to look ridiculous standing there staring up at a krogan that was easily ten times her weight and had a few feet on her.
"Come again," he replied, eyes narrowing.
"I gave Ochren, objectives and certain parameters. Heavily fortified position, with automated defenses, and multiple ingress and egress points. Fairly open terrain on one approach, though uneven ground was a must. Everything else is up for grabs. Locale, layout, specific objectives each team must meet. The only one who has all the details is the salarian."
"Oh really?" he asked with an ominous rumble in his throat.
"Give it a rest, Wrex," Garrus said, laughing a little.
The remainder of the Normandy crew returned to the ship with plans to recuperate for a few hours before Shepard kicked them back in the proverbial pool to sink or swim.
The training schedule for the next day had been approved while the snipers were trying to kill the Spectre. After a quick glance at it, they all seemed to walk a little heavier when they realized everyone would be cycling through the simulator multiple times. Williams was thrilled about it, because she was hoping that the Normandy's squad might be able to put down that rabid ego-centric turian, and she figured if they could do it all in one day, that might just give the diverse team that much more clout, and that much more cohesion.
vii.
The briefing the next morning covered the rotation. The seven of them were basically going to be running a rolling rotation through the simulation with Shepard. Alenko learned that she was pairing people up for specific types of missions for maximum result, accidentally, after overhearing a conversation between she and Pressly when he arrived early for the briefing. The commander seemed fairly certain that she had a decent grip on each of member's strengths and weaknesses and set out to balance them as effectively as possible.
"I still can't believe you shot me, Wrex," Ashley groaned at the male when the two stepped out of the airlock.
His laugh rumbled in his chest. "And I can't believe I didn't shoot you before you got that grenade off."
The two had managed to kill one another early on in the exercise the previous afternoon. It was quite the coup. Then Shepard and Alenko had been left to tackle the turian and his defense systems, which had proven more of a challenge than she first thought they might be.
That exercise had not gone quite the way she expected. Shepard told them all in the briefing a standoff could be a viable outcome of that training event, which they got in the end, but as it happened it wound up being a battle over control of the tech rather than a more traditional standoff. At one point Shepard merely occupied her time, killing off the random patrols spawned by the simulation, while Alenko and Vakarian hacked and back-hacked one another and the defenses.
The planned marathon, however, was going to put them all through the ringer. By the halfway point, the fatigue of the last few days of exercises was beginning to show on all of them. Williams and Alenko were used to a tough pace; both of them had been actively training like this prior to deployment with the Normandy, though their training had not been quite so stringent. The others had not worked at such a pace ever or at least not in quite some time. Despite this, Shepard's teams had already overtaken Vidinos' place at the top on each mission they had run.
Trying to catch his breath and steal a little calm, Kaidan leaned his head back against the cool metal bulkhead in the hallway, it was darker and the cheers and laughter were a little more muffled there than in the packed load out room.
"Excuse me," a calm deep voice inquired.
The lieutenant straightened and looked up at the wiry man who had a few inches on Alenko.
"You're one of Shepard's boys, right?"
The lieutenant's inspection of the man was as thorough as it could be in the moment he was allowed. "Yes," he answered cautiously.
"Relax, man."
The stranger clapped him on the shoulder rather familiarly, too much so. The officer glanced at the man's hand then back up at his face.
"Sorry, cuz," the stranger said with a laugh. "Listen when's her little show supposed to be over?"
"Who are you?" Despite the fact none of them were carrying live rounds, something about this encounter and the man brought Kaidan's hand instinctually to his sidearm. He carefully freed the catch that kept it secured on his hip. "And what makes you think I'd give you that information?"
With a nod, the man smiled and winked at the lieutenant. "Good man. Probably better this way anyhow. I'll find her myself."
"Hey, wait a minute."
The officer pulled his pistol as he took a step toward the retreating man. A wave over the shoulder of the departing civilian was all the response Kaidan got. He gave chase and grabbed one of the security officers, informing the armored salarian about the short exchange. But once the man turned toward the docks, he was gone. There was no sign of him on anyone's video surveillance-the station's or that of any of the ships docked on that collar. Even going backwards, Alenko and the security personnel could not determine how the odd man had gotten on the station in the first place. It was unnerving.
Kaidan was still leaning over a security terminal when Tali approached him. "We're up, Lieutenant."
"Yeah, just a sec," he replied. "Check the footage in infrared and the UV spectrum. See if we can get an idea where he went. Have it for me when I get back."
"Yes, sir," the young specialist agreed.
"What's going on?" Tali asked as the two walked back toward the simulation.
"Not sure," he replied.
Shepard leaned against a locker downing a canteen of water. She finally seemed to be showing some fatigue. Kaidan tucked his hand in the pocket on his thigh. He pulled out the rather horrible prize and tossed it at her.
"Not sure if I should thank you or beat you to death with this, Lieutenant," the commander replied with a slight smile.
Kaidan just tipped his head. He understood the sentiment all too well.
"What kept you?"
"Just trying to locate a ghost," he said lightly.
The crinkling of the wrapper stopped suddenly and when he glanced up she was staring at him. "What kind of ghost?"
Kaidan did not answer immediately, her response struck him as unexpected and just a little more than odd given the circumstances.
"Come on, L-T. Animal, vegetable, or mineral?" the commander prodded with an emphatic gesture.
"Human. Civilian. Asking questions about you and when your exercises were over."
"Show me," she ordered, crossing the space quickly.
Her hand was firm between his shoulder blades as she all but pushed him down the corridor. The entire squad followed them to the security station. The young tech Alenko had been working with looked surprised and a little more than intimidated when the septet invaded his station.
"I hear you have some very nice footage of a poltergeist," Shepard said to the kid. All he could manage in response was a nod as his eyes travelled the mix of faces, all holding some measure of a scowl.
"The cameras only caught him as he neared the security checkpoint, and at first the target was careful to keep himself facing precisely to avoid the cameras," the specialist narrated as the video played. "He was very good."
On the video the tall, lanky gentleman approached Alenko. The two shared a brief exchange then the man walks off.
"Then he screws up," the tech stated triumphantly.
When the man retreated up the hall, he kept his face relatively out of view until he looked straight into the camera, offered an impish grin, and winked.
"Son of a bitch," Shepard muttered, annunciating each syllable with a shake of her head. She leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest, loosely. "You can tell your boys to stop looking, kid. You're not going to find him unless he wants you to."
Nyx's laughter was light as she pushed back through the crowd of her own people. "Let's get back to work people."
"You know who that was?" Kaidan inquired, hot on her heels.
"Remember that message I sent while we were on the Citadel, looking for information on Saren ?"
"Kind of. Sure."
"That's the answer."
"That guy is your big contact."
"More wiry than big," she said with a slight tilt of her head.
Kaidan stopped when she did. "He was acting very suspicious."
"Of course, he was. He was playing with you."
"What?"
"That's what Caz does. That's what all spies do. Ingratiate, infiltrate, eliminate. Or whatever their motto is this week." Her eyes narrowed on Kaidan for a moment. "What did you tell him?"
"Nothing."
Shepard nodded. "That explains the smile then. Good job."
The squad's training stint continued as if nothing happened, though Alenko tried to push the impromptu meeting and the commander's reaction to it out if his head, it was not that easy. Thankfully, he managed to get through his last appearance in the simulation before the questions got too distracting. As the team finished up, Tali ducked her head into the security station and let him know they were leaving.
viii.
Shepard appreciated different takes and opinions as long as presented in the right manner at the right time. Alenko possessed a great deal of tact and chose his timing wisely. While disarming in the bay, the lieutenant approached the commander about his concern over an operative trying to make contact with her in such an unusual manner.
"I'll let you in on a little background. Calev Zingel is a well-respected operative of the Alliance Intelligence Services. I've known the guy my entire life, well, enough of it to round up. Odd is his specialty. He is highly skilled, extremely effective, and, if he is on this station to see me, then he's going to find me. It's what he does. And he does it better than most," Shepard explained to the group, hoping it might ease some of the tension, but knowing it likely would not calm anyone's anxiety. Of course if she were unlucky, it might just put them more on edge.
"Why would he run off when pressed by the lieutenant?" Liara asked.
Shepard shrugged. "Maybe because he read the suspicion. Maybe because he thought it would be hilarious to have the security team looking for him." The commander stopped and thought about it for a moment. "Yeah. Probably the second one actually."
When she suddenly smiled and laughed, they all stared at her.
"What's so funny?" Wrex grumbled obviously displeased with the entire situation.
The commander took a moment to try and determine the best way to disclose what just popped into her head. She crossed her arms and knew by the looks she was getting that there probably was no good way. "Has security swept the ship?"
Eyes widened and her squad exchanged looks with one another as well as her.
"Because, if I were Caz. I would make a scene. Get everyone looking in the wrong place-namely the docking collar where my target is not berthed. Then I'd just go right for the gold, while everyone was distracted."
The clapping took everyone off guard and more than a handful of pistols and other weapons were trained toward the door to engineering. Pressly flinched when the squad drew down on the man beside him.
"Lower your weapons, you'll traumatize my X-O," Shepard ordered nonchalantly, stepping past her people. Wrex seemed less than thrilled with the idea of her order, so she laid her hand atop his shotgun and redirected the barrel to the floor. The commander did note that none of her team actually put away their weapons and Corporal Niveda, who had been escorting the pair had her hand on her sidearm in hand as well. "Mr. Pressly, would you care to make the introductions?"
"Lieutenant Commander Zingel, here, arrived a few hours ago, with documentation from Fifth Fleet Command, which slated him as approved to meet with you, Commander, on official orders," the navigator explained obviously concerned about what might be going on.
Shepard cast a glance over her shoulder at her crew.
Caz took a few steps forward and snapped off a sharp salute. It had been more years than she could remember since she saw her old friend in uniform. It almost seemed out of place on him. "I have orders from Admiral Hackett, your eyes only, ma'am."
With a nod, she told Pressly to take him to her quarters and not leave him alone there. Once the door to the lift closed, the commander turned and set her hands on her hips. "Alenko, I want you and Tali to get that data off the ship's computers, now." Before he walked away she set her hand square in the center of his chest. "Tell me you pulled a hard copy of Saren's data when it was transmitted?"
"Of course." Alenko offered her a look that suggested he was offended that she even asked.
"Check it. Make sure it has not been tampered with, changed out, what have you."
"Suddenly worried about your friend, Shepard?" Garrus asked.
"No. But you'll learn soon enough I don't like to take chances, even if it's a sure thing."
Shepard turned on her heels and made her way to the crew deck. She rubbed her forehead as the elevator rose slowly. Steven Hackett's penchant for using intelligence officers to communicate with her was going to get really old really fast, she thought as she walked onto the deck. Taking a moment to prepare herself for the possible game she might be about to walk into, the commanding officer of the Normandy stopped and prepared two cups of coffee.
The show downstairs could have been for the benefit of the other people involved in the exchange or it could have been Caz's way of signaling to her that everything about this visit was part of a job. If it was the former she could relax. If it was the latter she was going to have to play an ugly game of cat, mouse, and wolf, with the person that knew her best. The second possibility was not something she was looking forward to.
Gathering up the mugs she crossed the sparsely populated crew deck and entered her quarters. Pressly nodded as she entered, but dismissed himself in response to the subtle suggestive gesture of her head. Nyx set a mug in front of her friend then sat across from him, taking a moment to study the man she had not laid eyes on in years. The two of them waited there in silence. As the quiet lingered, Shepard was certain this was going to be the trial she really did not want to have to battle through.
"So, Commander, you have orders from Hackett?" Shepard crossed her legs and ran one hand over a wrinkle that formed near her knee.
Zingel eyed her for a long moment. "You look good Nyx. Tired, and a little stressed, but mostly human, which was always a stretch for you."
God, I hope he's just playing with me. "Thanks. You look pretty good yourself. Surprised the uniform still fits."
"Me, too. Guess staying busy helped me keep my flattering physique."
Shepard smiled into her mug. "Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that."
"Oh, ouch. And this from my oldest friend. I must be losing my touch."
"I'd say your touch is fine, Commander. You set off the entire security force of a secure training station. Somehow managed to produce orders to be aboard my vessel. Then riled my squad to boot. All just to tell me I look like hell."
He scowled slightly as he leaned forward, laying his forearms over the table as he clasped his hands. "Could be. Does it really seem all that out of reach for me?"
"Caz, come on. If there is one thing you and I do not have time for it is games, especially now."
One shoulder lifted slightly, and the disinterested expression remained.
"Fine," Shepard replied, standing. "You want to play games, we can play games." In two steps her hand was on the intercom. "Moreau, send me two MPs and have Vakarian and Wrex accompany them."
"Fuck, Nyxy," Caz relented, holding up his hands as he spun out of the chair.
Tapping the intercom again, she called off the dogs then crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall-waiting.
"You called me. Remember?" he said finally. "I was just out and about, doing what I do. Then I get this ping from the past, asking me to dig into some next level shit. I mean seriously, Shepard, what the hell? I leave you alone for five minutes and you're tied to one dead turian Spectre, another defrocked one with a damn geth army. Then you go and let the Council drape you in colors. Someone must have it in for you."
Nyx stretched her neck, the popping sound was not really a relief, though it did announce her growing ease. This was all Caz, this was not the operative, which allowed her to let her guard down a touch. "You know the drill better than me. You take a job, or get given one, and you ride it out. The call was made. And this time my name got picked."
Her childhood friend shook his head at her. "Look at the two of us. Middle of our careers and our lives get hijacked again."
"Again? Speak for yourself," she scoffed. "This is my first deviation."
"Oh, because you planned on spending a year in the desert with me."
He grinned at her and she could not help but return it. "Do you actually have orders from Fleet or did you snow my officers?"
"Shockingly, I'm completely on the up and up."
"Except for playing with my squad," she said, returning to her seat and her coffee.
Caz laughed and nodded with a guilty smirk. "I figured I'd take a peek. See if they lived up to the opinions floating around."
That revelation earned him a glare.
"Relax. From what I saw, they look solid. And your lieutenant is sharp-pegged me faster than I thought he would. Guess time with the salarians will make a person more wary," Calev noted. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a trio of OSDs. He laid the first two on the table easily. "Official orders from Hackett, for the log. Actual orders, your eyes only. I'll save you the trouble of reading it-essentially you are my one way ticket to the hurt locker."
"And that one?"
Caz walked over and let his index finger curve along the scar he had given her right below her right eye when they were kids. "This one is because I love it when you talk about birds."
The relief in his light laughter reminded her just how much she missed having people that knew her around. It made her hug him that much tighter when she stood up into a warm embrace.
"Just a heads up. Before you use this, make sure that lovely quarian of yours blocks off whatever system they are using to try break Saren Arterius' encryption. I'm not sure if the geth locked up that data or what, but when I got this and pulled it up on a system, it started shutting down power and life support and this is just the decryption module. I have no idea what you guys have. But you do not want it to have access to anything."
"Are you serious?" she replied taking the OSD and eyeing it as if she would see any visual indicators of the danger on the disk.
"Sadly, yes." He leaned on the table near her. "You might even want to take it back to command have them prep you a single, non-networked system."
"A dedicated console wouldn't be able to handle it?"
Yet another shrug. "Like I said. I've never seen anything like this. And you know how I am. I've seen geth coding and encryption, salarian ciphers, and dealt with the best asari programming available, but this is something all together different. It is strange and dangerous."
Shepard let her mind race over the options before her, but she knew she would not make the final decision before talking with Alenko and Tali'Zorah. Tucking the OSD in her pocket, she winked at her friend. Then hugged him tightly again; it was almost like stealing back a piece of home, a piece of herself. Even if it was temporary, it was nice. "It's damn good to see you, Caz."
"Shit, after the past few years I've had, its damn well good to be seen," he replied into her shoulder as he held onto her just as tightly.
"That bad, huh?" Nyx asked, leaning back as she held his cheek and watched his eyes. She knew she would only read anything there if he allowed her to see it. He had always been better at masking everything than her.
The half-hearted shrug paired with a tired smile. "Isn't it always?"
To which Shepard could do little more than nod knowingly before hugging him again.