Three days, six hours, and four minutes later
"Listen up, soldiers," Matthias said, his arm resting in a sling. "We've got heavy damage to the ship and several casualties. Needless to say, this fight is over. There are no more active geth onboard the SSV Britannia. Give yourselves a round of applause."
The recruits complied with zero hesitation. They'd just been boarded by the geth and, lo and behold, they made it. The synthetics were expelled and repairs were already taking place throughout the ship. Not bad for a bunch of FNGs.
"As a result of your bravery and prowess in battle, the Captain has promoted all of the recruits aboard to the rank of Private First Class, and has sent referrals to every other Commanding Officer in Alliance Space. Those who are accepted will be transferred to that respective ship. In the event you are not accepted to a ship, you will continue your service on the Britannia. And now, before you are all dismissed, Commander Hendel Mitra is here with a special announcement."
Sure enough, the colossal man known only as Hendel Mitra stepped forward. "Thank you, Sergeant," he said before addressing the newly-promoted First-Class Privates. More specifically, "Private Shepard, please step forward."
Shepard looked around as the others gave him a wide berth. It finally took a shove from Clyde to get him to actually start moving. He looked at the Commanding Officer. "Yes sir?"
"You will not be promoted to Private First Class this day."
"What?!" he heard Clyde shout. "Come on, man!"
"Stand down, Private Clyde!" Matthias ordered. "Please continue, Commander."
"I plan to." Mitra looked back to Shepard. "For taking charge when your superior was injured; for risking your own life to save your squad; and for showing admirable concern for your fellow soldiers, both human and non-human; I am promoting you directly to Lieutenant." Shepard could feel the envious gaze of twenty PFCs, eleven Corporals, and a Sergeant fall upon him. "You will receive orders directly from the Captain and me, and be given a squad of your own to govern as you see fit. This particular honor is a rare occurrence, as only three men before you have been advanced so greatly. If you accept, you will fight alongside me until you are transferred to a new ship or promoted beyond me."
Shepard looked to the crowd. He could see that Clyde still seemed to be in disbelief at the whole ordeal. He shook himself, grinning as he gave the new Lieutenant a thumbs-up. The rest of the crowd applauded. "It'll be an honor, Commander."
"I was hoping you'd say that, Lieutenant. Now, if you'll come with me, there's work to be done."
"Privates," Matthias said, "as you were."
Shepard followed Mitra through the ship, still pleasantly surprised at the honor with which he was bestowed. Lieutenant Shepard, he thought. It's got a certain ring to it. If I play my cards right, I may even be promoted to Commander!
"Commander, there you are." The duo stopped at the lightly-accented voice of a powerful-sounding man. He didn't have Mitra's physique but, at the same time, he seemed even more intimidating than the giant Commander. He was about Shepard's height with jet-black hair, hazel eyes, and a clean-shaven triangular jaw. His uniform was nicely pressed, and he wore the eagle that represented a Captain of the Alliance Navy. "This is Shepard, I presume?"
Shepard saluted the man as Mitra answered. "That's right, Captain; newly-recruited Lieutenant Shepard. He's the one I told you about."
The Captain turned to Shepard. "Captain Maxim Burke. I'm the one in charge of this bucket."
"Lieutenant John Shepard; it's an honor, sir," he replied.
"At ease. I need you both to come with me."
"How important, sir?" Mitra asked.
Burke simply looked at him and said, "Extremely." Shepard followed the Captain and Commander further as he explained. "At o'-nine-hundred hours today, one of our scouts in the Attican Beta cluster reported activity on a rinky-dink planet called Syided."
"I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say it was unusual."
"Right. Syided is a small, rocky world with a nitrogen-argon atmosphere. Anything living on the planet lives in a system of caves under the surface, since the outside is hot enough to make Hell seem cold. As you guessed, Mitra, it's unusual, because the heat alone would normally kill anything organic and unprotected."
"In other words," Shepard input, "whatever's there isn't organic."
"Exactly." Burke smiled. "You catch on fast, Shepard; that's a good trait to have. But back to the matter at hand: the three of us are going to rendezvous with the scout team orbiting Syided, find out what's going on, and report back whatever we find. If it's a bad enough threat, we land in a rover and hit them hard. Understood?"
"Yessir!" Mitra and Shepard said simultaneously.
The Captain pressed the intercom. "Helmsman, plot a course for Attican Beta. Syided."
"Aye-aye, sir."