On Route To…
"How in the hell could this have happened, Udina?!" Shepard yelled out in Udina's office.
"Things like this tend to happen every now and then, Shepard. It's just a fact." Udina replied, sounding almost robotic in his answer.
"That's your damn excuse?!"
"Commander Shepard, I suggest that you tone down your voice…"
"Tone down my voice?" Shepard asked, almost rhetorically. "I'll tone it down when something gets done about this, Udina."
"Something will get done, it just takes ti-"
"Time is not something I feel like waiting for, dammit."
"You don't have a choice in this matter, I will not rush things just because you want them to be." he declared which caused Shepard to turn around and walk quickly towards the door. "And just where are you going now, Commander?"
"To handle things my way…"
"You have no authority to do this, Shepard!"
"The hell I don't, I'm a Spectre and it's about damn time I started throwing my goddamn weight around!" he announced as he left Udina's office with Udina slack-jawed and staring at the slowly closing door.
Back on the Normandy, Joker was busy starting the ship up and getting clearance for take-off before Shepard returned. Before he completed his task, Tali walked in to see what was going on.
"Why are we starting the ship without Commander Shepard being aboard?"
"He's on his way back, he said he'd explain everything once he got back about what's going on too." Joker explained, not really knowing the details either.
"I see, ok then. Thank you." she replied before walking off again, more than likely to the engine room Joker guessed.
"They need a cot or something down there for her…"
"Yes, she does seem to have quite the liking for engineering." Garrus spoke up as he strode into the cockpit area.
Before Joker could respond, a screen flashed signaling an incoming message from Shepard to which Joker patched it through, "Yeah Commander?"
"Fire it up, let's go."
"But sir, you aren't onboard yet… are you?"
"I just stepped onboard, now let's go." he responded before ending the transmission.
"This is going to be a magical trip…"
"By magical you mean… what?" Garrus asked, not understanding the analogy.
"It's a figure of speech, Garrus. I just mean that when the Commander's this worked up, the next mission is always a big one."
"Ah."
Soon after explaining what he meant to Garrus, Joker began turning everything on and preparing for take-off.
"Attention, this is the SSV-Normandy taking off…" he announces to traffic control.
"Negative, you do not have clearance to leave." the voice responded.
"Say what?"
"Orders from upstairs, you are to stay docked until fur-"
"You let us launch or you're going to see what a Spectre is capable of by the time I get up there, soldier." Shepard interrupts.
"S-sir?"
"You heard me, now if I step off of this vessel you know where I'm headed. Now let us launch, Now"
"SSV-N-Normandy, you have clearance to launch." the scared controller declared.
"What are you doing?!" another controller next to him asked in a hushed tone. "You'll get fired if you let them launch!"
"Shutup!" the other yelled which grabbed everyone else's attention.
No sooner had he said that, the Normandy was leaving the port. After a few seconds of arguing, all the occupants in the control room look out to see the Normandy speeding off into space.
"Uh, Commander… You do realize that what you just did could be considered against the law?"
"I know, Joker. But right now getting Williams back is top priority, we'll worry about the law later on." Shepard told him before switching on the ship's intercom system.
"Attention crew, this is Commander Shepard. We are headed out to track down the ship known as the Bismarck. We have been notified by the Citadel that it is not making a shakedown run, nor is it even an alliance vessel." he announced before looking up through a window and into the deep depths of space.
"Udina has chosen not to pursue this right off and so we're doing this on our own again. I don't want to get the council involved because there will be too much red tape, and right now I don't feel like dealing with them. This is a one crew mission, and we will bring Williams back!" he declared enthusiastically.
After the speech ended, Shepard instructed Joker to find Wrex, Garrus, Tali and Liara and tell them to meet him in the COMM room in fifteen minutes. After the instructions were given, Shepard walked off and made his way to the COMM room. He had to make one call before the meeting started.
"I'm sorry, Shepard. I never knew about it." Anderson replied after hearing what all had happened.
"Dammit… How the hell did he get this close to us without anybody knowing anything about him?!"
"The only thing I can think of is that there's a mole somewhere in the alliance military."
"That would take weeks to uncover, Captain…"
"I know, so while I'm doing this you go ahead and work on your own. If things get hairy because of that hair-brained stunt you pulled to leave I'll try and slow things down."
"Alright, thanks Captain." Shepard responded with a smirk before closing the COMM link. Before he can turn around, he can overhear the chatter as they enter the room behind them. "Glad you all could make it." he told them before turning around to see only Tali, Liara and Garrus.
"Wrex said we could just fill him in later on." Garrus informed Shepard before taking a seat between Tali and Liara.
"Fine, anyways…" Shepard began. "I'm not going to beat around the bush, the ship that was supposedly making a shakedown run, the Bismarck, was a trick…"
After hearing that, all three of them sat up in their seats and began staring wide-eyed at him. All wondering just what he meant. On the other hand, Liara felt a lump in her throat that she hadn't felt in a long time.
"A trick?" Garrus answered.
"Yes, it turns out that the ship known as the Bismarck made it's run months ago."
"But… that would mean that they've probably been planning this for months!"
"You're right…"
"How was this not noticed or stopped before now though?" Tali asked, not believing that something of this caliber could slip through the cracks so easily for so long.
"That's the same thing I asked the higher-ups…" Shepard responded before sitting down as well.
"Do we have any idea where they're going?"
Shepard looked over to Garrus and shook his head slowly, "No, we don't have an idea as to where they are right now."
"I doubt that they would hurt Ms. Williams." Liara spoke up suddenly.
"What makes you so sure?" Garrus asked.
"Well… I… doubt that they would take her and then kill her." she began, "They must be planning to use her as ransom or bait of some kind. It wouldn't make sense to kidnap someone to kill them."
In truth, Liara wanted to tell him what had happened but deep down she felt that he would hate her for it and want her removed from the Normandy crew which was something she felt like she couldn't handle at the moment.
"It makes sense, let's just hope that's what they're doing…" Shepard told them.
"Commander Levine, we're going to have to re-supply soon."
"Alright, will we be able to make it to our destination if we dial back the thrusters?"
"Yes sir, but it'd make the arrival time three hours later than expected." the pilot informed him before turning to face him for the answer.
"Doesn't matter, by now Shepard's alerting different stations of what's happened and we'd be held up wherever we go. Dial back thrusters, now."
"Yes sir." the pilot replied before spinning back around in his chair and making the necessary changes.
"We can afford to be later than expected, but we can't afford to be held up on a foreign planet…"
Meanwhile, in her room, Ashley was sitting on the edge of the bed and thinking about how things could turn out. On one hand Shepard could show up and rescue her, but the other obvious outcome would be that they never find them and she ends up stuck with Adam for the foreseeable future. She couldn't bare thinking about the latter because it meant that her and Shepard's child would…
"Ms. Williams, I hope you're awake." a voice called from just outside the door.
"How nice of you to be so considerate…" she answered before the door opened to reveal Adam with a tray of food for her.
"I thought it'd be nice of me and bring you your food myself. We can learn more about each other in the process." he told her mockingly before setting the tray down next to her on a table near the bed.
"I'd rather chew on a razor blade."
"You know, flattery will get you nowhere." he responded before a message came across the speakers informing him that a transmission was coming for him from their destination.
"I'm on my way," he told them before turning back to Ashley and smiling again. "It seems our little slumber party's been interrupted, so sorry." he informed her before making his way to her door. "Maybe next time?" and with that, he was gone.
"God he works on my nerves…" she seethed before glancing to the tray of food. Inside she didn't want to have to rely on that bastard for anything, but she knew that she needed to eat. If not for herself, then for the life within her…