Chapter 12

Anderson terminated his call to the Prime Minister with a sigh, his update not a favorable one. He had spoken to countless contacts and none had any idea that something was amiss. So far, the only good news was that the catastrophe had remained unreported. He intended on keeping it that way for as long as possible. Well, it was only right that he notify the Turian ambassador. They had partnered on the development of the ship since its inception.

That was not the only call he was dreading. The Normandy's crew had earned this downtime and some of them were about to have that cut short. The Admiral, who now was obligated to heed his "suggestions" concerning the Normandy and her crew, would have to recall some of the key crew to deal with this situation.

Never one to postpone the inevitable, he opened up his comm and braced himself mentally for the unpleasantness to come.

Terran Shepard was sitting on the couch in the living room next to her beloved when her comm chirped in the other room. She ignored it while her mother told another embarrassing story from her childhood. Boy was Liara going to be intolerable with all the material her mother was providing. Her only saving grace was that Ashley wasn't there to participate. But she figured her friend would get the scoop at one inopportune time or another. And probably after she had too much alcohol to defend herself properly. She smiled as she remembered her side of the incidents, not at all the same as her parent's view.

The comm continued to buzz, insistent in its notification. With an apologetic shrug, she got up and sauntered over to the kitchen as Liara launched into a story of her own. This was really going to get embarrassing soon.

As the captain listened to the message, her carefree attitude slipped away replaced by frustration at being called back and curiosity as to what was so important.

As she stepped back into the living room, both her mother and mate immediately recognized the change that had overcome their beloved.

"What is it, Terran?" Hanna was the first to get out the question on both their minds.

"I'm not really sure," she answered truthfully. "I have to be on a conference at 08:00 tomorrow and I'll find out. But there was more than a hint that our leave is over," she added dejectedly.

"Then we'll have to make this a night to remember fondly," the elder Shepard replied, rising to give her daughter a hug.

Liara was more concerned as she caught her partner's eye.

"They gave you nothing at all?" she asked incredulously.

"No, only that there were a selected group contacted and that this should be kept very quiet. Guess I'll find out in the morning." After a moment of thought, the captain added "Oh, and you two know nothing."

Before the conversation could go any further, Liara's comm went off. She jumped to answer it. A similar look overcame her features as she responded to the caller in curt one word answers. The entire conversation lasted less than 30 seconds.

In answer to their questioning looks, the asari said simply "Me too."

"Well then, let's try to enjoy tonight." Hanna said in the most positive tone she could manage. Knowing her daughter though, the leave was already over.

As Shiala was straightening up the kitchen, she was overcome by a sense of nostalgia. She had spent many years here, maturing from maiden to matron under Benezia's watchful eye. The asari wondered if Liara knew of the depth of the elder asari's admiration of her mother. She promised herself to share that history with the younger T'Soni if she wished. Shiala also knew that Benezia had been proud of her daughter's accomplishments, but had spent so little time with her, she wondered if that was ever conveyed. It would be good to join the Normandy's crew. There would be time to spend getting to know all these individuals. An interesting time ahead indeed.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Ashley's comm thrumming on the counter.

The asari went over to the shower to tell her lover, but the sight and an invitation made thoughts of a message go from her mind.

When they finally exited the fine mist, Shiala picked up the sound of the unrelenting comm and sheepishly told the marine of her original intent. She joined the lieutenant just as she was ending the call. The look on her face told the asari that something was seriously wrong.

"I have to join a vid conference at 08:00 tomorrow morning," Ashley blurted out. "It's just not fair."

The asari comforted her as well as she could.

As the vid conference came to life, the participants solemnly greeted each other.

Shepard was not the only one puzzled at the team assembled. Not the group she thought the Admiral would have put together. She was most surprised at seeing Joker, his standard issue hat in place but missing the sarcastic grin. He should have been in treatment already, but here he was, looking serious.

The Admiral briefly came on but quickly turned the meeting over to a tired looking Councilor Anderson. The ex-Captain looked around mentally checking off each crew member against the list he had requested. The ten people staring back at him, most of them initially recruited by Shepard, would be the best to pull this off, if anyone could.

"Thank you all for participating at such short notice," he began. "We have an urgent situation at hand." Well if that wasn't stating the obvious, Shepard thought.

"We need a special strike team for an equally special mission."

The captain was the first to jump into the conversation. "Will the Normandy be ready for us to use, Councilor?" she asked.

"Well, Captain, therein lies the problem," he answered. "You see, the Normandy is missing."

A collective gasp went up from the assembled crew and whispered side conversations broke out. Anderson gave them a minute before regaining their attention.

"At approximately 19:00, two days ago, the Normandy was gone from her bay. No alarms, no one saw anything or anyone, nothing out of the ordinary. To our reports, one minute it was there, the next, it was gone. We have no further word on her whereabouts."

"Excuse me, sir," Shepard spoke up from the murmured comments, "but how does a ship of that size just get lost?"

"At this point, we have assumed her taken," the councilor's tone was pained. "And we have no idea where she is right now."

Liara was watching the expressions of all involved and noticed that a certain pilot did not have the same horrified look at the rest of the team. She quietly whispered in the captain's ear.

"Joker," Shepard turned the conversation to her prized pilot. "Do you have anything to share?"

Embarrassed at the shift of attention, the lieutenant gave a half smile.

"Well ma'am," he said hesitantly, "I may be able to track her down."

"Explain yourself, Moreau!" the Admiral snapped.

"Um, I sort of like to know where my ship is," he began.

"Your ship?" the Admiral was stopped from continuing by a hand on his shoulder.

"Please explain, Lieutenant," Anderson smoothly slipped in.

"I, um, put a tracer under my console before I left," he admitted.

"You what?" The Admiral was livid. Anderson quickly stepped in front of him at the same time cutting off his audio with a signal to his aide. For the first time in days, a hint of a smile touched the human councilor's face.

"Brilliant, Joker! Then we might have a chance." Anderson knew he may have overstepped his bounds with the Admiral, but the chance to track the ship was too good to dwell on a simple regulation violation.

Anderson looked at the determination of each person he had selected. "This is top secret, we can have no word of this get out," he added, probably unnecessarily. "Everyone report to the Citadel immediately, we have a ship to recover."

end

A/N – The original intention was to have this just be a fun story about some of the personal lives of the crew. But as any story, being the way they are, this one took on a life of its own and refused to peacefully end. So stay tuned for "Taken" – hope to have it out in the next month.

Happy New Year!