Chapter 2: House Arrest

Three Days Earlier

"You know it's a trap Miranda."

Miranda was pacing in her office, wringing her hands. This was the most nervous Shepard had ever seen her since she'd met her. "I know that Shepard, but what can I do? He has my sister!"

"I know that, but that doesn't mean you have to go back to him."

Miranda shook her head. "You don't know him like I do. No one leaves Cerberus, not alive anyway. He's found a way to bring me back and it won't be long before he finds a way for Jacob," she stopped pacing and looked Shepard in the eye, "and you."

"At least give it some more time. We can work out a plan, find some way to rescue her and keep her safe."

"We don't have that kind of time. If I don't leave today, he'll force my sister to serve out my contract. I promised her a normal life. I can't ask her to—" Miranda brought her hand up to her mouth and bit her fist.

"At least let me come with you. I can help you. Maybe we can negotiate some way to…"

Miranda cut her off with a wave of her hand, "You have to be here, on this ship when Admiral Hackett arrives. You have to convince the Alliance that the Reapers are real and that they are coming. Show them the data Liara's collected. If you're lucky, maybe they'll listen in time to take the proper precautions."

Shepard nodded. She didn't like it, but she knew what she had to do. "These last few months have been like torture, watching everybody leave. I thought for sure I'd have you with me when the time came. You've been like a sister to me Miranda, but I suppose your real sister has to come first."

Miranda grabbed her by the shoulders. "It'll be alright Shepard. I'm sure you'll see them again soon enough."

"I'll see you again too." Shepard came in for a hug. "That's a promise."

Miranda patted Shepard gently. Normally she'd be uncomfortable with this level of contact, but she'd gotten used to it with Leanna.

A few hours later, Miranda was boarding a spare transport pod.

"You take care of yourself, Miranda."

She smirked. "I always do."

Now

Shepard stood in the shower, the water falling on her. She felt… scared? No, not scared; not nervous either; anxious, that was the word. She felt like she was going in to battle without any support. A battle she couldn't even shoot her way out of. She had to trust that the data Liara had collected as the Shadow Broker would be enough to convince the Alliance. Miranda had thought it was enough, but…

She stopped herself. She had finished washing five minutes ago, now she was just standing there, wasting water.

She stepped out of the shower, only to find she'd forgotten to grab a towel. "Great," she said out loud. "Now I gotta deal with this crap."

She walked over to the door of her private bathroom and opened it. A very young looking soldier stood on the other side. He took one look at Shepard and quickly looked away, turning his back on her.

"So modest. What's the matter marine? Never seen a naked woman before?"

"No! I mean yes! I mean… it's just that… you…" he trailed off into something unintelligible.

"Are you just gonna keep rambling like that? 'Cause if you want to make yourself useful, you can grab me a towel."

Without speaking, he grabbed a towel off Shepard's desk and shoved it behind himself.

"A clean towel marine."

"Where…"

"In the armor locker, next to my bed."

The soldier made his way to the locker. It opened, revealing a large number of clothes and armor pieces.

"Left side," Shepard shouted, "top shelf."

He had to stand on his toes, but he managed to reach a towel. He pulled it down, and two more fell with it. He started to gather them up and it looked like he was about to fold them.

"Don't worry about it; just bring me the red one."

He nodded and grabbed the red towel. He started to make his way back to the bathroom, looking down at his feet as he went.

He had just reached the small set of stairs leading to Shepard's office when she called out to him again, "Marine!"

He raised his head to look at her, only to jerk it hastily to side. His cheeks were flushed.

Shepard chuckled. "Careful, you'll give yourself whiplash."

He walked the rest of the way to the bathroom and blindly handed Shepard the towel. He then took a sentry position next to door, careful not to look at her.

Shepard toweled off her legs, arms and hair, then wrapped the towel around herself. She grabbed a ring off her desk and threaded her hair through it, securing it into a ponytail with a magnetic hair-clip. She then made her way to her bed. A small metal box sat on it.

She opened the box to find a set of contemporary Alliance fatigues inside, a gift from Hackett. She felt the material; it was rough. The sensation brought her back to her early days in the Alliance. She remembered her drill instructor, being made to re-learn how to do things she took for granted, coming to depend on her teammates.

She sighed, a sort of half smile on her face.

Of course, she'd gotten used to certain comforts over the past year. She opened her armor locker and pulled out a silk bra and panty set Kasumi had convinced her to buy on their last shopping trip together. She remembered how reluctant she'd been, both to make the purchase and go on the trip, but she hadn't regretted either.

She dropped the towel. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the soldier whirl around. She smiled to herself as she changed into the underwear and fatigues.

She was fumbling with the clasp when she asked, "What do they call you marine?"

"Uh…"

"Is that Private or Corporal Uh?"

"Stevens. Private Second Class Chad Stevens, but everyone just calls me Chip."

Shepard had put on the pants and was working on the belt. "Why do they call you Chip?"

"Well, my dad's a marine too, Captain Rick Stevens. He was so proud of me when I enlisted, and he's never proud of anyone. He called me a chip off the old block. Since then, everyone started calling me Chip."

Shepard was lacing up her boots. "You look pretty young Chip. How old are you? 19? 20?

"18. This is my first assignment."

Shepard put on the jacket and was doing up the oddly curving side-zipper. "18? And they put you on the flagship of the Fifth Fleet your first time out? Damn, I feel sorry for you."

"Don't be. I'm out here doing what I want to do and loving every minute of it. If I die tomorrow, I'll die happy."

Shepard was fully dressed. She walked over to Chip. "That's a healthy way to look at it. You can turn around by the way, I'm fully dressed now." Chip cast a quick glance over his shoulder before turning around entirely. Shepard gave a salute. "Private Second Class Chad Stevens, I'm Lt Commander Leanna Shepard."

Chip returned the salute. "Yes, I know ma'am … uh, I mean sir."

Shepard lowered her hand and cracked a smile. "Actually, you were right the first time, though I don't mind 'sir' either, or you can just call me 'Commander' or 'Shepard'. Just don't call me by my first name."

"Too informal?"

"It's not that, it's just that no one ever pronounces it right. It's pronounced 'Lee-Ann-Uh'. Don't bother to say it if you're just gonna butcher it." Chip smiled at that. "Ah, so you do have emotions other than embarrassment. Good to know. There's hope for you yet."

An hour had passed and Shepard was hard at work on her console. She was trying to make sense of the charges against her, but it was as boring as reading one of Miranda's reports. This was exactly why she never went into law.

The main doors to the cabin opened as a man stepped in. Even before he spoke, Shepard knew who it was.

"Dismissed Private," Hackett's rough voice came from behind her. Chip nodded and exited the cabin.

Shepard closed her display. It was giving her a headache anyway. "Welcome to the Loft Admiral. I'd say pull up a chair, but I've only got the one."

"It's alright." Hackett turned his attention to the dog-tags sitting on her desk. "I see these finally found their way to you."

"Yes. Liara gave them to me."

Hackett nodded his head. "Good, good. I'm glad she was able to."

"Sir, I get the feeling you're not here for chit-chat."

Hackett shook his head. "No, you're right. It's that damned Mikhailovich. He wants me to question you before the trial."

"What about?"

"He wants the whereabouts of your squad. He said I should record you and not let you know I'm doing it so you'll be candid with me. I'm not gonna do that though."

Shepard stood, straightening her jacket as she did so. "You might as well. I'll just tell you what I can and fill in the rest with blatant lies."

Hackett chuckled. "I just meant I wasn't going to lie about recording you. Feel free to lie to about their locations like crazy though, let Mikhailovich figure things out for his own damn self."

Shepard gestured to the sitting area of her quarters. They took seats at on either side of the corner-couch. Hackett placed a recording device on the coffee table and turned it on. He then pulled out a data-pad.

"Ok, going down the list, first we have Lawson, Miranda."

"Miranda, Operative Lawson returned to Cerberus under threat, and I cannot elaborate further."

"Taylor, Jacob."

"He left with the rest of my crew. His job is to keep them safe."

"Next is the Pilot, Jeff Moreau, a.k.a. 'Joker'"

"Also left with the crew, and so did Dr. Chakwas and Yeoman Chambers so you can just skip them both."

"Dr. Mordin Solus, alias 'the Professor'"

"He left with Thane Krios. I'm not sure where they were going but they intended to find a treatment for his Kepral's Syndrome."

"Check him off too then. Next up is Garrus Vakarian."

"I'm unsure as to his location. He left about a month ago. He said something about family problems."

"How about the biotic Jack, also called 'Subject Zero'?"

"Couldn't tell you. Two months ago we docked on Omega and she disappeared. Haven't seen or heard from her since."

"What about the Krogan, Urdnot Grunt?"

"Last I heard he was headed for Tuchunka. He said he wanted to 'cash in those breeding requests.'" She smiled at the though.

"Let's see, there was also a Justicar named Samara."

"Yeah, a little before Jack left, Samara told me her vow to me was finished and her code required her to return to her duties despite her personal feelings, whatever that meant."

"There's also Zaeed Massani, formerly of the Blue Suns."

"Gone. The idiot left the ship to chase after his old partner. I'm inclined to say good riddance on that matter."

"Reports sighted you with a young woman, hooded, possibly of Japanese descent. We couldn't find a name for her though."

"Sorry, but I can neither confirm, nor deny the existence of such a woman on my ship."

Now it was Hackett's turn to crack a smile. "What about the reports of a synthetic personal assistant?"

"I'd say to those people that red sand is a hell of a drug."

Hackett tried his best not to laugh. "Ok, one more and we're done. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya vas Neema."

"Vas Normandy, actually."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"She was involved in a little legal scuffle with her people and her name was officially made Tali'Zorah vas Normandy."

"I see. I'll make a note of that. Do you happen to know her whereabouts?"

"She left, a few weeks ago. The Migrant Fleet wanted to make her an Admiral, fill her father's shoes as it were. It was a… bad day for me."

Hackett nodded, seeing the emotion in Shepard's face. "One more question, if you can."

Shepard composed herself. "Go ahead Admiral."

"There were reports that your ship was working with an AI installed on it, but our teams found no trace of it. What happened to the AI?"

"We dismantled it. An unshackled AI was too dangerous to leave running."

Hackett nodded. "Well, that's all the questions I have for you. I'll report my findings to the other Admirals." He brought the recording device up to his mouth. "Hopefully we can get this mess sorted out quickly." He hit the off switch.

The two stood and Hackett walked to the door. Shepard spoke. "Thank you for stopping by sir. It was good to talk to someone, even if it was just a bunch of questioning."

Hackett turned back and gave a half smile. "I'm sure I'll come by again Shepard. We've still got about half a day before we reach Arcturus. I can tell Stevens to wait in the hall if you want."

Shepard shook her head. "Send him in. I could use the company."

Hackett nodded. "Just between you and me, how much of what you said was on the level?"

"Honestly? Most of it."

"Then I'm very sorry. Losing people on the battlefield can be tough, but losing them to their own problems can be even worse."

Shepard couldn't think of anything else to say, so she simply nodded. The doors closed with a hiss as Hackett left.