Interstitial Spaces

by bsmart

Mass Effect 2 with a strong focus on the characters rather than shooting things. All the little conversations that happened between missions, or should have. Shepard/Liara/Kelly, eventually.

5. Chapter 5: Rough Morning

Mass Effect 2: Interstitial Spaces

By: bsmart

Disclaimer: Rated R (or M depending on the site) for the good stuff, you've been warned. Currently its cursing and violence, we'll see where it goes from there. Mass Effect is owned by whoever owns Mass Effect and I do not begrudge them it at all.

V-V

Chapter 5: Rough Morning

V-V

"Oofffhh! Yeah, that still hurts," Joker groused after Alyssa slapped him on the back.

"Where the hell have you been?" Alyssa demanded as they walked up the stairs out of the comm room.

"Flying your new ship here, these Cerberus guys take their op-sec seriously."

"Well when you're a bunch of terrorists..."

Joker scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, about that..."

Alyssa frowned. "You're going to explain to me what you're doing in that uniform?"

"It's kind of a long story," he said with a half laugh but cut it when he saw Shepard's glare. He coughed instead and straightened up a little, as much as his weakened frame would let him. "When the Normandy was lost and you were reported dead the Alliance wanted someone to blame for it. I was in the pilot's seat and I was the reason you uh... you know."

Alyssa's countenance softened. "There's nothing you could have done to save the Normandy. Once the collectors were on us..."

"I know, now. At the time though the admiralty board wasn't really interested. A ship that cost as much as a dreadnought was scrap and the first human Spectre was dead. They wanted someones ass on a platter. With you and Pressley dead the only butt left to carve off was mine." When they got to the top of the stairs Joker took a right and led Alyssa through a door that had previously been locked. A short corridor led them to another receiving area but this one was much larger. "They grounded me and didn't even have the decency to dishonorably discharge me."

"That sucks Joker but I'm not seeing how that gets you in this uniform. You remember what we found on Chasca?"

"I haven't forgotten Commander," Joker replied as he hobbled along. "The first few times one of them approached me I told them to go to hell. It wasn't until Dr. Chakwas approached me that I listened."

Alyssa stopped in her tracks. "The Doc?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, surprised the hell out of me too but she got me to listen. They'd found you and were getting you back ready to fight. They'd even let me fly for you again. If you were going to be here you were going to need me so..."

"Where is Chakwas?" Alyssa asked as Joker led them to the large picture window that dominated the side of the receiving area.

"She's already on board," Joker told her.

"On board what?"

"On board our new ship," Joker said with a flourish towards the window. Out in the docking bay massive floodlights began to snap on illuminating a sleek white and black form resting inside.

Alyssa's eyes widened as she read the name on the side of the ship, "Normandy SR-2."

"I know right?" Joker said with a grin.

"They rebuilt her?" Alyssa asked incredulously.

"Nope, they improved her," Joker said with that same stupid grin on his face. Alyssa started to see the differences. First off the ship was big, much larger than the SR-1. Her sublight engines were on fixed pylons instead of movable. Her t-tail was replaced by twin vertical fins. Then there was that ugly orange logo splattered decks high beside her name. Alyssa grimaced.

V-V

"Are you sure you don't want to take a tour of the ship?" Miranda asked when she met Shepard and Joker in the airlock. Joker turned towards the cockpit while Alyssa stood toe to toe with Miranda and Jacob.

"I'm sure," she said.

"There have been significant changes...," Miranda tried to insist.

"No."

"Commander I really think..."

Alyssa's stone face cracked around the edges as her temper flared. "Dismissed Ms. Lawson!"

Miranda's own countenance revealed her own annoyance and she and Jacob left with hushed whispers being exchanged between them. Alyssa turned towards the cockpit and wearily walked in. Joker was already at his station and busy with pre-flight checks so she turned the copilot's seat towards herself and dropped her body into it with a huff. She left it facing aft where she could keep an eye on the command deck and the people working in it. All of them dressed in Cerberus uniforms.

"You know, you're the first person I've ever seen stand up to Miranda like that. I don't think she's used to it," Joker observed. "Usually it's everyone else cowering in front of her."

"The last time I got back talked that much about a decision was from a butter bars out of West Point." She glanced sideways at Joker. "Well that and a certain annoying pilot.'

"Hey now," Joker cautioned.

"And all the back talk got me killed."

Joker's jovial face dropped instantly. "Commander about that..."

Alyssa held up her hand. "Don't Joker, just don't. Whatever happened, we're here now."

"Just know I'm sorry Commander."

An image of trying to drag Joker from the cockpit as everything went to hell around her rose unbidden in her mind. "Yeah well, just know the next time you feel like going down with the ship I'm going to let you."

Joker cracked a smile. "Understood ma'am." He adjusted a few more controls before leaning towards Shepard. "Technically this is a civilian ship though. I think maybe half the people here were ever in the navy or the corps. They aren't much on rank and all here."

"Great, terrorists and civilians."

"Hey, it's not all that bad. The private sector does have some benefits."

Alyssa's eyebrow quirked up in response.

Joker worked his back against his seat. "That seat you're in right now? Leather. Not the fake, used to be a running shoe kind of leather. I mean the old fashioned 'a cow was murdered' kind of leather."

As insubordinate as he was she did have to admit that Joker did know how to make her smile. "Yeah, it is pretty comfortable."

"Heated and cooled too," he said with a satisfied grin. When he noticed the look Alyssa was giving him he got defensive. "Hey, when you spend as much time with your ass in a seat as I do you learn to appreciate a nice one."

She had to admit the seat was comfortable. Alyssa sagged into her seat as she watched the command crew do their jobs. A few more filtered in and took their positions, presumably because they were getting ready to depart. "Get the Doc up here, we all need to talk."

"Sure thing boss ma'am," Joker said as he went about his business. "So uh, where to Shepard?"

V-V

"We're going to the Citadel."

Miranda and Jacob both turned their heads and looked at the slender redheaded pixie beside the galaxy map. "And just how do you know that?" Miranda asked.

"Because that's where she's going to go," Kelly replied. "She's going to talk to Anderson and the Council."

"Jesus," Jacob sighed as he ran a hand through his close cropped hair.

"She's going to turn us in," Miranda said without a trace of amusement. That much seemed absolutely obvious to her. Shepard was an Alliance soldier, without the time to properly break her into the idea of working with them she was defaulting back to her natural reactions. It was just one more way Wilson had managed to wreck her carefully laid plans.

"She won't," Kelly said, "not yet at least."

"You can read the Commander's mind?" Miranda asked with mild annoyance. Kelly Chambers was the best psychologist that Cerberus had. She was also one of the few they had. As promising as her test scores and schooling were she was barely out of college. Miranda had helped the Illusive Man select her and knew it was as much for her physical appearance and attitude as her aptitude.

"It's my job," Kelly said. "I didn't spend the last two years studying every detail about her life just so I'd know her favorite color. She'll go to the Citadel to talk to Anderson and the council. She's not ready to trust us yet."

"And why isn't she going to turn us in?" Jacob demanded.

"Because she doesn't know what's going on, not really. Until she does she won't be closing off options."

The little redhead's surety was starting to annoy her. Miranda crossed her arms. "The Commander isn't exactly known for being thoughtful."

"Well she is," Kelly said with more determination than was expected from someone who barely broke a meter and a half tall and might weigh forty kilos after a big meal. "She's good at making decisions based on limited information. Right now she has no information, at least none she really trusts. So she's going to go to the Citadel and find out what's going on."

"We've been honest about what's going on. The Council and the Alliance aren't doing anything," Jacob said.

"That we know of," Miranda said. "We're good, but we're not perfect. If they're running an op and Anderson lets Shepard in on it..."

"It's our asses," Jacob said.

Miranda nodded in agreement. It was infuriating to think that something like this could completely derail their plans. They had been laid out perfectly before but now due to Wilson's betrayal it could all come to nothing. If Shepard did try to hand them over on the Citadel she'd have to activate the fail-safes. Joker and Chakwas would be easy to deal with, and the failsafes would lock them out of the Normandy's systems. Shepard would be lost to them but they'd be able to salvage the Normandy. Despite the ship being an order of magnitude or two more valuable in terms of credits than Shepard losing the Commander would be the bigger blow than losing the ship. It would make her failure selecting Wilson complete.

"And if they aren't, she'll work with us," Kelly said.

"I don't think she can stand breathing the same air as us," Jacob sighed as the doctor walked past and headed for the cockpit.

"Oh no, right now she hates every one on this ship except for two people," Kelly said. "I mean really, really, really hates us."

V-V

"Dr. Chakwas," Shepard said with a weary smile as she hauled herself to her feet. She took a step towards the doctor how was extending her hand but Alyssa bypassed it completely to pull the elderly woman into a hug."

"Armor, Shepard," she wheezed. She sighed in relief when Alyssa let go and Joker sniggered behind both of them. "Ohh, it's good to see you," she said as she held Alyssa by the shoulders at arm's length. "You look like hell."

Alyssa brought her hand up to the patches covering the side of her face. "I think a busload of pain killers and stimulants are the only thing keeping me vertical right now doc."

"You need to get down to the med-bay right now Shepard," she demanded. "I need to have a look at you."

"I'm fine," she protested. "We'll be to the Citadel in a couple hours. You can check me out then."

"I need to check you out now," she said. "It's not every day someone comes back from the dead, and unless I miss my guess," she ran her fingers over a number of mass driver dings in Shepard's chest plate, "you've already been taking fire."

"A little, nothing I couldn't handle."

"You're not even alive again for twenty four hours and already you've been in a fire fight, typical."

"Two actually."

The silver haired woman shook her head. "You were always the worst about not getting yourself shot Shepard."

"Yeah she's a regular missile magnet and lucky us she's on our ship again," Joker taunted.

"Your life would be boring without me," Alyssa shot back.

"You know how many times I'd been shot down before I met you?" Joker asked. "Zero!"

"You know how many times I'd died before I met you?" she fired back.

"If you're both done I must insist you come to the med-bay, doctor's orders."

Alyssa shook her head. "Civilian ship doc, doesn't work here."

"Shepard, please. We have no idea what condition you were in but I know you weren't supposed to come back like this. All I want to do is give you an exam, make sure you're not bleeding out internally."

"Go for it, here."

"A proper one," Dr. Chakwas said testily.

Alyssa's tolerant smile faded away leaving just her hard face behind. "Look, I don't trust anyone on this ship. I'm not going to leave the cockpit and go traipsing through it. I'm here, I'm armed, and I'm in control. Until we get to the Citadel that's how it's staying."

A heavily synthesized female voice came from seemingly everywhere simultaneously. "I can assure you Shepard that the crew of the Normandy is only interested in the mission against the collectors. Great expense was spent on both you and the Normandy. We would not be so short sighted as to jeopardize either."

"What the..." Alyssa started as she looked up at the consoles overhead.

"Shepard, EDI. EDI, Commander Shepard," Joker said as he gestured between Alyssa and where the second co-pilot's seat should have been.

"Who?" Alyssa asked in confusion.

Beside Joker a holographic blue sphere materialized. A seam running from it's north to south poles split open as it talked, mimicking a mouth. "I am the Enhanced Defense Intelligence," the ball said in a rather pleasing female voice. "Or EDI as the crew calls me."

"Great, an eavesdropping VI," Alyssa snarled. "Turn it off."

"I am not a VI," the ball said defensively, "and Mr. Moreau cannot just turn me off."

"I should have known," Alyssa said, "Lawson's the only one who can turn it off huh?"

"Operative Lawson can no more turn me off than Mr. Moreau can. I am the artificial intelligence in control of the ship's cyber warfare suite."

"Fucking maniacs," Alyssa muttered.

"I am shackled to the cyber warfare suite Commander. I have no physical or electronic connection to any other of the Normandy's systems beyond a few basic internal systems like lighting and the intercom."

"The last few AI's I met all tried to kill me. One of them was trapped inside a regular server terminal and still managed to almost kill me."

"I am aware of this," EDI said in an odd tone.

"How long would it take to rip it out?" Alyssa asked Joker.

"I cannot be, 'ripped out,' without an extensive overhaul that would require the complete removal and reinstallation of the cyber warfare suite." EDI replied as if talking to a child. "Removal and reintegration would require approximately fourteen weeks of work and reduce the the effectiveness of the cyber warfare suite by approximately seventy four percent." Alyssa was about to interrupt but EDI continued. "Extrapolating from their current rate of attack the collectors would likely abduct at least two more colonies in that time."

"So I'm stuck with you?"

"Yes."

"Bloody wonderful," Alyssa said as she sighed and lowered her face into the palm of her hand.

"EDI has actually been quite helpful Commander," the Doctor offered.

"Yeah, so nice to have someone to tell me, 'The airlock door is ajar,'" Joker taunted.

"Be nice Jeff," the doctor chided him.

"You know what the best part of the old Normandy was? She was quiet."

Alyssa leaned back in her chair. "EDI, get out."

"Commander?"

"Get your optics and your microphones and your holographic beach ball and get the hell out of the cockpit."

"As you wish Commander," she replied as she vanished.

Doctor Chakwas took a half step towards Alyssa. "Shepard?"

"I'm fine, really. I'm just tired."

Joker jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards the rear of the ship. "There's a cabin on the deck above, with a bed," Joker said. "It's going to take about five hours to get to the Citadel. Go up there and get some rest. I mean, there's no hot Asari scientist waiting in it..." Deathly glares from the two women in the cockpit stopped him right there.

"We need to get to the Citadel and I need to be sure they," she nodded towards the command deck, "don't interfere."

"I know you'll find this hard to believe Commander but everyone on this ship feels honored to be working with you," Chakwas explained.

"It's the Shepard fan club in here, it took two months before they'd stop pestering me about you," Joker added.

"They're Cerberus right?" she asked them both. "Fuck'em."

Joker returned his focus to his controls as he piloted the ship towards the system's mass relay and the doctor activated her omni tool and scanned Shepard.

"From what I can tell you're in no immediate danger of dying," the elderly woman said. "Low blood sugar, pulse ox is on the low side, and multiple nutrient depletions. Your body isn't dealing with your implants terribly well but the immuno-suppressants they're using look to be doing a fair job of preventing your body from attacking your implants without leaving you susceptible to anything else."

"So I'm fine," Alyssa declared.

"I said you're not likely to keel over and die any moment, not that you're fine. You're going to need immuno-suppressants long term until your body fully integrates with the implants. You need to be put on a course of nutrient boosters, and compared to my last live scans of you you've lost significant muscle mass." She reached down and pulled an energy bar from a pocket on her uniform. "Eat this. I'll bring you some thing to drink shortly."

Alyssa eyed the item warily.

"Shepard, will you stop being paranoid for half a minute and take care of yourself?" Chakwas demanded as she shoved the bar into Shepard's hand. "It's clean."

Alyssa took it and unwrapped it. Only when the aroma of apples and oats hit her nose did she realize just how hungry she was and she took a huge bite of the bar.

"Someone just got spanked," Joker chuckled softly but Alyssa was too hungry to stop eating to reprimand him. Doctor Chakwas handed her a second bar.

"Slow down Shepard," she warned. "You haven't eaten anything in two years."

Alyssa took her advice and ate the second bar slowly. Behind the doctor she saw a young redhead in a Cerberus uniform walking up the gangway with a bottle in her hand. The Doctor took it from her with thanks but the redhead's eyes were on Shepard. Alyssa returned the young woman's stare but not with the redhead's earnest interest but with a cold edge that sent the young woman scurrying out of the cockpit. When the doctor handed Alyssa the bottle she again eyed it warily until the doctor scanned it with her omni-tool.

She sighed, "It's clean."

Alyssa nodded and yanked the cap off, downing the watery punch flavored drink before doubling over coughing.

"Two years Shepard, take it easy," Joker cautioned her.

Alyssa wiped the spit from around her mouth and flung it from her fingers towards the deck before wiping her hand off on the leg of her armor.

"Not the deck...," Joker whined.

"I'm glad to see your manners are intact," Doctor Chakwas said.

"I'm gone for two years and this is the welcome back I get?" Alyssa managed after another swig of the enriched drink.

"You wouldn't have it any other way," Joker said.

"I suppose," Alyssa said.

"Shepard, rest," Doctor Chakwas said.

"The seat leans back Commander," Joker said.

Before Alyssa could protest Doctor Chakwas held up a hand. "I'll stay here with Joker to make sure nothing happens."

'The chair is comfortable,' she thought and like it or not she was tired. Not work out tired, or tough mission tired, a tired that went all the way down to her soul. "I snore."

"Yeah, Liara told us," Joker said.

"I've gotta find her," Alyssa said as she reclined the seat to its maximum.

"We will," the doctor said. "For now get some rest before you collapse."

Alyssa nodded as she let her head fall back into the head rest. She could see the stars whipping by outside the ship's canopy and in moments she was asleep.

V-V

"Seven minutes twenty four seconds," Kelly said from her terminal with a big grin as the ship shivered and returned to normal space. "That's the Rho to Davin relay jump. We're going to the Citadel."

"You got lucky," Miranda said from her position on the other side of the pulpit over the galaxy map. She might have botched Wilson's selection but the Yeoman was turning out to be annoyingly competent.

"We're screwed," Jacob added.

"We'll be fine," Kelly assured him.

"Really? So tell me Yeoman Chambers, exactly how did she look at you when you took her the drink?" Miranda said putting stress on Kelly's rank.

"She's just unsettled right now. That's why Joker and the Doctor are aboard. They'll help to calm her down."

"She's asleep in the cockpit, I think she's calm," Jacob said as he moved around the corner of the galaxy map and checked a navigation read out. "Next jump is to the Serpent relay. Should be eleven minutes forty nine seconds."

"She's exhausted," Miranda said. "We never planned for her to wake up and go directly into combat. There are months of tests and reconditioning that she's missed out on."

"She looked to be doing pretty good to me on Freedom's Progress," Jacob said.

"For the Commander that was a very off day," Kelly said from her console.

"That was her on an off day?" he asked.

"Why do you think the Illusive Man spent two billion credits to bring her back?" Miranda demanded in a huff.

"Yeah, well she snores," Jacob said.

V-V

"Shepard, wake up."

Alyssa's eyes were open and her body already in motion up out of the chair she'd been in before she was even consciously awake. By the time she was awake her pistol was already in her hands, charged, and ready.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa Commander," Joker said behind her. "It's alright, we're here."

Doctor Chakwas was standing directly in front of Alyssa and doing her best to get out from in front of her pistol.

"Sorry doc," she said as she holstered it.

"I understand," she said a bit nervously.

"SitRep," Alyssa said reflexively as she turned back to the pilot's station. Outside was the familiar purple tinged haze that signaled the Serpent Nebula.

"All jumps went smooth, arrived at the nebulae a few minutes early even. We're in the pipe to the Citadel and we'll be docking in about five."

"Good."

"We're heading to one of the lower wards docking stations. We don't exactly have the same clearances the SR-1 did."

"Figures," Alyssa muttered. She took a deep breath in through her nose with her eyes closed and held it before letting it back out slowly. "Almost smells like home."

"You do know we're flying through a few million years of atomized garbage right?" Joker asked.

"Like I said, smells like home," Alyssa insisted as they broke through the inner wall of the nebula and saw the Citadel sitting there, spinning lazily through the purple mist.

"Outside of a warship I don't think I ever saw you comfortable any place but here," the Doctor said. With Joker busy and Alyssa awake she turned and headed back for the elevator to the below decks.

She never got tired of seeing the Citadel from space. Even knowing what it really was, it's real purpose, couldn't dampen her appreciation for the thing. Almost fifty kilometers long, weighing billions of tons, it really was an amazing construction. Even more so than the shear size of it was the way the races of the galaxy had inhabited it, encrusting the interior of the arms with buildings, some so large they were genuine navigation hazards for space traffic. No atmosphere, no planet, just long flat arms covered with buildings hanging out in the middle of space. It was no great shock to here that this particular Reaper trap worked so incredibly well.

"Docking in sixty," Joker said as they skimmed one of the arms. "Zakera ward. You want me to call Anderson for you?"

"No, I'll talk to him myself," Alyssa said.

"Sure, give the guy a heart attack," Joker said as he nudged the ship in close to one of the docking towers that rose out of the city sprawl.

Alyssa was already headed for the airlock though where she found Miranda and Jacob waiting on her. "We're ready when you are Shepard," Jacob said.

"Sit your asses down on the ship," Alyssa said. "I'm going by myself."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Commander," Miranda objected.

"No, a bad idea would be trying to take a pair of terrorists to visit the human Councilor," Alyssa shot back as she felt the faint nudge of the docking clamps latching onto the Normandy.

"Commander..." Miranda said back.

"I said stand down Lawson," Alyssa shot back. The airlock doors went from red to green and she smacked the door controls with her fist. The airlock popped open with only a slight hiss of equalizing pressure and Alyssa stormed off before they could object.

The docking bay was no different from the ones she'd seen last time she'd visited the citadel. People had freely come and gone before but now there was a long line in front of C-Sec officer checking permits with "New Arrivals" over her head and another pair flanking the exit into the station. She ignored the line and went straight towards the exit. One of the turians held up a clawed hand though.

"Halt."

"What for?" Alyssa demanded.

"You can't carry weapons on the Citadel," he said indicating the weapons on her hips. "You'll have to check them.'

"That's changed, but I'm Alliance military, a Spectre."

The guards looked at each other before one pulled up his omni-tool and scanned her. "Oh umm, Commander Shepard. Our uhh... records indicate that you're... dead," he said slightly flusterd as his mandibles opened and closed in confusion.

"I get that a lot."

She saw the turian's head twitch to the side and he brought one hand up to his auditory canal. "Right," he said to no one. "I'll send her through." He gestured towards the hatch. "Head on through, Captain Bailey will speak with you."

Alyssa did as she was told. The corridor behind set up with an observation booth on one side and doors at either end that could be locked to contain problems. As she walked through it blue scanner beams played over her and alarms started to go off but the operator in the observation booth waved her on. Outside a few officers led her into the C-Sec station that covered the entrance to an office overlooking the new arrivals area. A rugged older man with a tight blonde buzzcut and quite a few scars looked up from his desk. He appraised her with a cold eye before breaking into a thin lipped grin. "Commander Shepard, glad to see you're alive."

"You don't sound surprised," Alyssa answered.

Captain Bailey shook his head slowly. "You're a Spectre, until there's a body there's no reason to believe one of you is dead. Certainly not you."

"Not me?" Alyssa asked.

"With your service record, and the way you handled that rogue turian Spectre?" Bailey chuckled and shook his head. "No, a couple geth weren't going to take you out no matter what the brass tried to tell us."

Alyssa nodded slowly.

"They made you a celebrity Shepard," Bailey explained in his gravelly voice. "The news vids were running a story about you seemed like every hour. Your history, what you did against Saren, everything they could get on you. I swear they replayed your commissioning ceremony for the Spectres till the file wore out."

She really didn't know. She'd only spent a few days on the Citadel after Sovereign's attack before being shipped out again and she wasn't much of a news junky at the time either. She'd been busy moving a certain blue alien into her cabin then. "Not sure how they'd whitewash Torfan," she muttered.

"You'd be amazed how hard the reporters can spin a story when they smell ratings."

"No, that I can believe," Alyssa said.

Bailey snorted. "I saw that uh, 'interview' with that Al-Jalani woman. Must be nice being a Spectre and being able to deal with reporters the way they deserve."

She smiled. "That's one of the perks."

"Speaking of being dead though, do you want me to return you to the land of the living?" He asked with a gesture towards his computer terminal.

"No," she said. "For now just leave me in the grave. Might be useful."

"Sure thing," he said. "I'll fix it though so you don't get hassled about the weapons and you can come and go without the noise."

"Thanks," she said. "Security is a lot tighter."

"Yeah, after the geth attack everyone's gotten nervous. Problem is I've had to strip officers off patrol duty to man all the security checkpoints since the politicians don't want to spare the money to hire more. So I've got half my officers making sure the wrong people don't get on the station and the other half doing the job they all used to do."

Shepard nodded and spoke with the captain for a few more minutes, doing her best to pick his brain for any more information on what had happened since she'd gone missing before moving on. She had to admit being surprised by how well everything was doing. The last she'd seen of the Citadel had been just after Sovereign's attack and fighting a space battle within the Citadel's arms had done the wards no favors. Now, aside from the tightened security, you'd never know the battle had even happened. Worse, the council was apparently sticking to the story that the whole thing was a geth attack. Alyssa was in a foul mood when she hailed a taxi and headed for the Presidium.

Whatever Bailey had done worked as she made her way to the embassy area and the guards did nothing but nod as her as she walked past. The human embassy had moved though from a small office tucked in among the other minor species to it's own office complex near the other council race's similar areas. The secretary's in the reception area weren't even shaken when she showed up and demanded to see Councilman Anderson. They just nodded, placed a few calls and sent her on to the elevators.

As the human representative to the council Anderson had the entire top floor of the building to himself. The reception area the elevator deposited her in could have housed the old human, volus, and elcor embassies with room left over. The various aides working in the area just pointed her towards a large door and went back to their paperwork. The doors parted and she strode into a very large, very well appointed office with a familiar brown skinned figure standing in the middle of it. Before she could say anything he threw his arms wide and bellowed, "Shepard!"

Alyssa smiled sheepishly and extended her hand. "Councilman Anderson."

He wrapped one calloused hand around hers and held tight, slapping his other on her shoulder. "It's just Anderson to you, and you look like hell child."

"It's been a rough day." Her former Commander's hairline had receded since she'd last seen him, and there was evidence of some gray starting to shoot through it at his temples but he hadn't changed in any other way. The same craggy but welcoming features and the same deep smooth voice. "You don't seem surprised to see me."

"One of the few perks of this job is that Alliance intel keeps me in the loop on a lot more than they used to when I was just a Captain." He released her hand and led her into his office, directing her towards a pair of old style leather seats with a small table between them. "Thirsty?"

"Yes actually, water please."

"No coffee?" He asked curiously.

Alyssa shook her head. "My stomach isn't really settled right now."

"First time for everything," he muttered as he notified his aide.

"So Alliance intel is keeping tabs on me?"

Anderson nodded. "The first human spectre? A very close eye, though this was the first they'd heard of you in over two years."

"What did they hear?"

Anderson's warm smile faded into his usual neutral scowl. "That Commander Alyssa Shepard had shown up on Freedom's Progress with a pair of suspected Cerberus agents."

Alyssa sighed and leaned back in the chair.

Anderson called up his omni-tool and retrieved soemthing. "Doesn't help when you also pop up in a Cerberus recruitment vid at almost the same time." A display built into the table between them flared to life and a very well put together video appeared extolling Cerberus' commitment to humanity where the Alliance was abandoning colonists. How Shepard was back and fighting with them to put a stop to the abductions. She noted that all the footage of her had been parsed to avoid the side of her face covered in medi-gel patches.

"Son of a bitch."

"I've gotten calls from Alliance high command and two of the major Earth power's governments wanting to know what the hell is going on. I'm expecting to hear from the Asari, Turian, and Salarian Councilors about this soon."

"You can't actually believe I'm with Cerberus," Alyssa said.

"You aren't exactly denying that was you," he said as he pointed at the vid screen. The sound was muted but the commercial was looping.

"It was me, I was on Freedom's Progress but I'm not with Cerberus. I was just trying to find out what was happening."

"You came here aboard a frigate that looks like a carbon copy of the SR-1, with Joker piloting it, and the sigil of a suspected Cerberus front company painted on the side eight meters high."

"Captain, please. You have got to be kidding me. You read the reports, you know what I saw. Do you honestly think I'd work with them by choice?"

Anderson sat back, "By choice? So you were working with them, why?"

Alyssa groaned. "Why would I be with a human supremacist group? You know Liara. I have an asari girlfriend, until... whatever happened to me I meant full well to make her my wife. I'd be a pretty sorry excuse for a human supremacist shacking up with an alien."

"It's been two years Shepard, and Dr. T'Soni is no where to be found."

Alyssa's aggravation melted into desperation. "Do you actually... Captain, you know me. You can't actually believe this? You let me in here armed. You can't believe it."

"Two years ago you disappear and are assumed dead. For two years no one has heard anything about or from you. Now you show up on a colony that just disappeared with Cerberus operatives, you show up here in a Cerberus ship. I see your face in a Cerberus recruitment vid. You tell me what to think Alyssa."

So she did, starting at the beginning and telling him everything she knew, everything that had happened. She showed him the Freedom's Progress security logs and told him about meeting Joker and the doctor.

"I'm not surprised that Joker went. I did everything I could to get his flight status reinstated but after losing the Normandy the high command wasn't interested. I should have known he'd jump at the chance to fly again no matter who was offering it. As for Karin, I just have trouble imagining she'd join them, not without a damn good reason. She bleeds Alliance blue, always has."

"They're right though, the Collectors are behind the attacks and they work for the Reapers. They're up to something and they need to be stopped."

Anderson nodded slowly. "I agree but our options are... limited."

"Limited? We've lost over two million people so far, send in the damn fleet."

Anderson's omni-tool flared to life with a blinking red light. "Damn, I though I had a few more hours." He glanced up at Alyssa. "It's the council, all of them. Whatever they want it's going to be official." He dismissed the alarm and stood up. In one corner of the office a trio of holo projectors flared to life and holograms of the three other members of the council materialized.

"Anderson, good, you replied quickly," the turian Councilor said. Then his eyes flickered over to Alyssa who was apparently within range of the pick ups. "Shepard... don't hang up on us this time."

"What do you need," Anderson asked.

"To discuss your wayward Commander and her choice of associates," the turian Councilor replied.

Anderson grimaced. "I take it you've seen the vid?"

The asari Councilor nodded. "We have and it... concerns us."

"Concern is putting it mildly," the salarian Councilor said quickly. "A spectre associating with a terrorist group such as this, a human supremacist terrorist group no less. It sends a very dangerous message, and raises concerns about how Commander Shepard intends to use her Spectre status."

"That status can be stripped if it's abused," the turian Councilor added. "Such as if it is used in an attempt to shield the actions of a terrorist group."

Before Alyssa could butt in Anderson animatedly declared, "I have known Commander Shepard for more than five years and I can assure you that she is most definitely not doing anything of the sort." He cast a sidelong glance at Alyssa and nodded towards the council.

"I went to Freedom's Progress, a human colony in the Terminus."

"We know of it," the asari Councilor said in calm but noncommittal tones.

"The entire colony was abducted, taken by the Collectors." She transmitted the security logs to the projector's data feed. The Councilors would now see what she'd seen. "It's not the first colony they've done this to, eight others in the last two years. Two million humans taken from their homes. What's worse, I believe the collectors are acting as agents of the Reapers."

The turian Councilor snorted and raised his hands, making air quotes. "'Reapers', we have dismissed that claim. Ridiculous nonsense you were told by a rogue spectre. Don't waste our time with this fairy tail."

"Fairy tale!" Alyssa spat. "The beacons, the conduit, Vigil... god damned Sovereign!"

"The beacons which only you ever saw, the supposed mass relay that no longer works, and a VI that could have easily been programmed by Saren to tell you that ridiculous story. The geth dreadnought was destroyed. It was not the harbinger of some mythical race of genocidal machines. Saren was stopped. It is over." the turian Councilor shot back.

Anderson held up his hand in front of Shepard before she could launch into a verbal attack on the turian. "Regardless, the information that Shepard has provided is conclusive. We need to take action."

"You know that we cannot Councilor," the asari said. "If we were to send troops and ships into the Terminus it would result in an all out war. The Terminus systems are fiercely independent but the one thing they all agree on is the council staying out."

"Humans are being taken by the million!" Alyssa fired back.

"And intervening will result in casualties in the millions as we wind up fighting the entire Terminus. We might not even be able to prosecute an attack on the collectors in that situation," the salarian Councilor stated.

"So you're going to do nothing, again," Alyssa sneered.

Anderson made a chopping motion at her as he stepped forward in the feed. "Am I to take it this is the council's official position?"

"You are," the asari Councilor said.

"I have to officially voice my objection," Anderson stated.

"Noted."

"If you are done posturing can we discuss what we can do off the record?" the turian Councilor asked.

Alyssa perked up but Anderson stayed positioned between her and the council.

"I'm listening," Anderson said.

"You know we cannot send official ships and officers into the Terminus," the asari Councilor asked.

Anderson nodded, "Of course."

"Situations like this are why the Spectre's exist," said the salarian Councilor.

The turian Councilor nodded and turned towards Anderson, "Which is why, if you are willing to vouch for her, we are willing to reinstate Commander Shepard's spectre status provided she restricts her actions to the Terminus."

"And that as a council spectre she does not appear in another Cerberus recruitment vid," the salarian Councilor added.

Alyssa took a step forward and jammed her finger towards the council. "I didn't authorize that vid and I am not working for Cerberus!"

"Regardless, as a council Spectre you have very broad authority, but it can be revoked," the salarian Councilor responded.

The asari Councilor held up her hands and the rest of the group calmed. "We have all established our positions. This is our offer. What is your decision Anderson?"

He looked over his shoulder at Alyssa who shook her head dejectedly and sighed. "Fine, whatever."

He turned back to the council. "I'll vouch for Commander Shepard and accept the offer."

The asari Councilor made a few inputs into her terminal. "Very well, Commander Shepard is returned to active duty as a council Spectre. Take care of your people, Commander."

"Thank you," Alyssa said, almost managing to mean it.

Anderson echo'd her and then shut down the holo projector. "That went about as well as we could have hoped."

"What?" Alyssa said. "Did you miss the 'no fleet's' part? Sir."

Anderson walked towards the door out onto his balcony. "No, I didn't. Though you appear to have missed the bit where they didn't try to bring you up on charges of treason."

Alyssa shut her mouth and followed him out onto the balcony. The hustle and bustle of the presidium was laid out before them, the general asari theme of the architecture around them obvious as the artificial structures did their best to blend in with the artificial landscape.

"Shepard, I knew they would never agree to send in the fleets. As much as I want to I know we can't either. A war in the terminus would result in more casualties in a few weeks than we've lost colonists in the last two years and the chaos would only aid the collectors."

"We don't know that, we have to try," she said as she leaned against the railing of the balcony.

"No, the council is right, unpleasant about it, but right. Those colonists moved out there to avoid entanglements with the Alliance and the Citadel. If we show up with ships and troops saying we want to help all they'll see is an occupying force. We both know we can't spare the ships and men, not with the Reapers on the way."

"Maybe," Alyssa grudgingly admitted.

Anderson chuckled at his hard headed former subordinate.

"We still have to stop them, whatever they're up to is going to be very bad for all of us. Whatever they're doing is going to wind up costing us more than colonists and maybe more than this supposed war you're all so eager to avoid."

"I agree, which is why I just put my ass on the line to get you your Spectre status back." They both went silent, just watching the presidium slip by for several long quiet minutes. Air cars whipped past out over the presidium lake. Ten stories below them people walked between the embassies and went about their business, oblivious to those above watching them. "What happened Shepard? Where were you?"

Alyssa sighed and sagged into the railing. "I have no idea. A little is coming back to me the more I think about it but I still don't know. The last thing I remember was being on the Normandy, we were under attack. Something with Joker and then...," she trailed off.

"Then?"

"Nothing. I can't remember anything after that. All I know is twenty hours ago I woke up on an operating table on a Cerberus space station and someone was trying to kill me."

"That's it?"

"That's it." Again the silence returned but life went on all around them. "Has it really been two years?"

"It has," he confirmed. "Two years ago the Normandy was attacked and destroyed by unknown forces, presumed geth. You were MIA, suspected dead from what we heard from Joker."

"I've been getting that a lot lately."

They were both silent, mulling over the implications of it all.

"Do you really think you can trust them?"

She snorted. "No. I don't have many other options right now though."

"You know I'd do everything I can to help..."

"But you're a councilman now, and humanity is a council race. With great offices comes great inability to do anything lest you look bad."

"Ouch."

"I didn't mean it like that," Alyssa said quickly. "Well ok I kind of did."

"No, you're right. It makes me understand why they created the Spectres in the first place though."

"Yeah, I think I'm understanding it a bit better too. Do you know where Ash is?"

"That's the downside of being a Councilor, when they want things kept secret they don't tell you anything. She's on assignment, I have no idea where."

Alyssa sighed and they went back to counting cars as they flew past.

"So you think you can use them for the mission?"

Alyssa nodded. "I think so," she said as she mulled it over. "Some of them certainly seem eager enough."

"The Illusive Man's favors always come with strings attached, and a reason to advance his goals."

"I'll deal with Timmy," she said. "If I agree to help him he can damn sure stop making vids with me in them."

"The damage is done though, even if they pull that vid and don't make another one word is out."

"Not a damn thing I can do about that now," Alyssa said.

Anderson stood up straighter. "You can use it, turn it to your advantage."

"How?"

"The Terminus colonies are out there to avoid the Alliance and the Citadel. Cerberus makes a living off trying to imply they're right about things and the Alliance is wrong. You're more likely to find Cerberus sympathizers in the Terminus than Alliance ones. It might open some inroads for you."

Alyssa grimaced. "It's bad enough I have to work with them, but you want me to let people think I agree with them?"

"For the mission."

She leaned over until her forehead was on the railing. "I hate Cerberus, I hate what they stand for. I hate every last little xenophobic, small minded group that's just like them." She picked her head up and banged it softly on the railing. "I love an asari, have turian and quarian and krogan friends. Now I'm supposed to act like I'm all buddy buddy with a bunch of people who think their proper place is under humanity's feet." She knocked her forehead against the railing again. "Fuck this day."

Anderson chuckled. "No one ever said saving the galaxy would be easy."

"Why does it always feel like I'm saving it from itself though?"

V-V

"So glad you can follow orders," Alyssa snarked as she left the embassy and found Miranda waiting for her on the steps.

"Civilian ship, and I wasn't sure you weren't coming back."

"Well don't let anyone ever tell you that you don't have guts," Alyssa said as she looked Miranda over. She'd traded in her white and black skin suit for a less revealing black one, that didn't have Cerberus logos on it.

"So what now?" Miranda asked cooly, ignoring Alyssa's attempts to rile her.

"Now we collect my gear, get back to the ship, and get to work." Alyssa could see surprise in Miranda's eyes as she fell in beside Shepard and she reveled in knocking the ice queen off her game even if just momentarily.

"Collect what gear?" Miranda asked.

Alyssa didn't answer, hailing a cab and taking the short ride to an apartment complex a little ways down the presidium but still in eye sight of the embassies. When they arrived Alyssa got out, leaving Miranda to pay the fare. To turned down a few hallways before stopping at one of the doors.

"You had an apartment?" Miranda asked as Alyssa opened the door.

"When you pay in cash in full for a couple years rent even the landlords on the high and mighty presidium will look the other way," she explained as they walked in.

Truthfully the apartment was little more than some room to stretch out in between missions, or that's what it had been intended to be. She'd rented it right after Sovereign's attack and the landlord had been fine keeping her name off the lease when she'd waved a stack of credits five centimeters thick under his nose. She'd been sent out after the geth almost immediately though and while she'd moved her things in she had never really done anything with the space and it was very bare. The air recyclers had done a fair job of keeping anything from getting musty or dusty but it was still very impersonal.

Miranda was following her in but Alyssa didn't really care. The space had barely been hers. She hadn't even had the chance to bring Liara here before they'd set off again. The bedroom had a little more life to it but not much. A few pictures were placed haphazardly around. The desk had a terminal and a few civilian grade data pads.

"Sit down, watch the vid, whatever," Alyssa said with a dismissive wave. She unlatched all her weapons but didn't activate them, tossing them down on the bed instead. She ignored Miranda as she started to work the latches on the armor, disengaging it and discarding it, tossing it all towards a corner of the room where it would be out of the way. She shoulder pads, gloves, gauntlets, arm guards, and eventually chest plate found their way into the corner. Stripped to the waist she retrieved the weapons and with the ease of long practice broke them down, stripping them of their rails and tossing the useless guns in the corner with the armor before she went to the garbage and dumped the rails in it where they'd slide down into the building's refuse disposal.

"What are you doing?" Miranda asked.

"Getting rid of this dime store crap," Alyssa said as she sat down and worked the boots off. "Then I'm taking a shower and once I'm feeling remotely human again we'll get my stuff and go."

"Your cabin on the Normandy has a shower," Miranda explained.

"This one isn't bugged," Alyssa shot back. She ignored Miranda poking around the room and shimmied out of the leggings and discarded them too. Having to fight gravity on her own again without the exo-skeleton holding her up made Alyssa sag, but it wasn't like after she'd woken up. Moving didn't hurt, it was just uncomfortable. She headed for the bathroom and the large mirror it had.

"There were months of testing and rehabilitation planned after you regained consciousness Shepard. You weren't supposed to be thrust into this this way."

The bathroom was brightly lit. The frosted glass blocks that made up the outside wall let in the light from the presidium and Shepard regarded herself in the mirror. "Well we don't have months now."

Miranda sat on the bed, giving her a line of sight to the bathroom. "No, we don't." Inside she could see Alyssa regarding herself in the mirror, appraising her work.

As bad as she thought she'd looked when she woke in the hospital seeing herself in the mirror was worse. Most of the left side of her face, neck, torso, and hip were covered in medi-gel patches. The rest of her body was a network of scars. Some were faint, some silvery or brown with age but a few were still pink and fresh. The way they crisscrossed her skin made her look like a rag-doll stitched together from pieces of flesh colored fabric. The deep red gashes in her skin seemed to be confined to her face, neck and shoulder but there were a few sliding over her hip bones. She brushed her finger tips over one of them on her shoulder and felt the way the skin just split, hard and unyielding on either side, and the color of dried blood down inside it. The cracks didn't hurt and didn't appear to impair her movement but they were unsettling to look at.

She reached up to one of the patches on her face and twisted the central control knob. A faint his heralded the release of a solvent and with a light tug the silvery patch pulled away. The skin beneath it was bright pink from the patch's glue and the solvent but there were more gashes on the side of her face. A network of three forming an odd triangle compared to the one thin one on her right cheek. She started to work on the patches, peeling them off and discarding them in the waste bin beside the sink. More gashes, more scars, and more pink skin were there, even more than on her right side.

She gingerly started to move and stretch, testing her joints. There was still some stiffness and mild pain now that she didn't have copious amounts of adrenaline rushing through her veins but she'd survive. Getting beyond the obvious scars on her body Alyssa looked herself over. The body was familiar, but not hers, not anymore. When she's been very young she'd been a skinny, gangly teen but years in a street gang had hardened her, making her wiry and tough. The marines had turned a wiry little pipe cleaner into something more. She'd never been bulky but there would have been no doubt about her strength. She'd worked out constantly and been toned and fit. Liara had actually liked to trace the contours of her muscles after they made love.

Alyssa grimaced and shook her head to get her mind of the memories. Liara wasn't here right now. She actually had no idea where she was at all or even where to start looking. If she focused too much on thoughts like that it could overwhelm her.

She refocused on the mirror and frowned again. The woman in front of her was scrawny and lanky. Her, but not her. The woman she'd have been if she'd worked at a desk for the rest of her life. It was unsettling to say the least.

"Like I told you. We intended to put you into a reconditioning program that would have helped you regain your strength before you started all this. That was the plan at least."

Alyssa looked back over her shoulder at Miranda not particularly concerned with her nakedness. In the military privacy was often simply not an option. "Does the SR-2 have a gym?"

"No, but we can get some basic equipment if need be."

Alyssa looked at herself in the mirror again. "It needs to be." She turned sideways to the mirror and looked at her right shoulder.

"I made sure all your tattoo's were put back."

Alyssa nodded as she ran her fingers over the emblem there, a flaming skull over the name of her old unit, "105th ODST Helljumpers". She checked else where finding the N7 on her left shoulder intact and the few others all where they should have been, even the blue heart she'd had tattoo'd on her hip. A little corny but Liara always made her a little goofy and sappy. "Thanks," she muttered, genuinely meaning it. "The scars?"

"Were a little tougher to replicate. I wasn't about to shoot or stab you."

"Mmm, good."

She turned back to face the mirror and leaned in. Even her nose, broken during the first week of basic, was still bent slightly to the left. In fact, her face was still her own. Even with the large gashes it was still her. She was certainly paler than she should have been. Her south pacific heritage on her mother's side left her with perpetually bronzed skin though at the moment it was very light and very pale. "Not enough sun," she murmured.

"I had a sun lamp scheduled to be brought in next week. If things had gone on schedule your skin would have been the right tone when you awoke. Just too much time under hospital lights is all."

Alyssa nodded, looking herself over. Her eyes were a light violet color, a side effect of the genetic modifications done to her to give her five five eye sight. It wasn't common but in some people it caused shifts in eye color. She thought she could see small bits of red seemingly under her iris but whenever she tried to look at them they seemed to fade. Her hair was still black with the slight bluish sheen to it, and it was the right length, sitting just below her shoulders and curled slightly under. Simple, easy to deal with, and on mission time easy to put back in a pony tail or bun to keep it out of the way. Liara had always been interested in her hair, playing with it and remarking on what an odd left over trait it was. She supposed it was given most other aliens seemed to be hairless. Her lips were still stained black, a mod she'd had done when she was in the gang on Earth but had never bothered to have undone.

Her features were the same, chin a little too square, cheeks a little too wide, ears sticking out just a bit more than they should. She'd been called pretty before but she knew better. She wasn't going to be a model, not with this face. Busted beak, lips just a bit too wide and full, and now with the added scars. She sighed, it was still her. Scrawny, but her.

She leaned into the shower stall and turned it on. She got in before the water heated itself fully, shivering as the cold water splashed over her then sighing in relief as the heat came in going from warm, to hot, to nearly scalding in less than a minute and filling the stall with steam. The shower was the reason she'd bought the place. No cheap sonic shower, an honest water shower with a good heater behind it. Given the way they had to sterilize the water to keep it safe for dextro's like turians and quarians she wasn't surprised they charged extra for these kind of showers but they were worth it. The feeling of the grime, sweat, and general unpleasantness of being in a hospital was washed from her and it was glorious. She stayed in the shower long after she was clean, just letting the warm water jets massage out any remaining kinks in her muscles and for the first time in the day just letting her mind go blank even if only for a few minutes.

She didn't know how long she was in there, but it was long enough for Miranda to get anxious as she brought the real world crashing back down on Alyssa when she piped up from just outside the shower. "As I said, we have a water shower in your cabin aboard the Normandy too Commander."

Alyssa took a deep breath and turned the water off. She stepped out of the shower onto the drain mat and asked Miranda, "Towel?"

"Hmm?" Miranda said.

"Towel, unless you plan on standing there all day staring at me Lawson."

"Right," Miranda said before she found a rack off to one side with towels in it. She took one and tossed it to Alyssa before leaving the bathroom.

Alyssa shook her head as she toweled herself dry. A quick blow dry and brush dealt with her hair and she went to get dressed. Miranda was waiting in one of the chairs in the living room as Alyssa pulled on a set of underwear from her dresser. In her Alliance issue bra and panties she fetched a duffel bag from her closet and began to throw all her clothes into it. It wasn't much, just about ten days worth of underwear, socks, standard issue shirts, pants, and boots. She added in her civilian work out clothes and a few things she'd bought especially for Liara before gathering up the few pictures and knick-knacks she's left in the apartment including her civilian data pads. It only took about five minutes but every personal thing she owned or valued was stuffed into single duffel bag.

"Anything else?" Miranda asked.

"No, that's it," Alyssa said as she dumped the duffel in the middle of her bed. "First rule of the military, travel light."

"I meant to wear."

"Taken care of," Alyssa said as she went back to the closet. She opened a small panel in the back wall and thumbed in a code. The hidden wall save opened up the entire rear wall of the closet to reveal a set of armor on the left and several weapons and gear on the right.

"Impressive," Miranda remarked. "We weren't able to save your weapons or armor from the Normandy."

"I figured," Alyssa said. "Always keep a spare set." She fished out a body suit from the armor and began to pull it on. "This used to be a tight fit," she complained as she easily got the suit on. There was slack in the legs and arms where it should have been skin tight. Still, she had things to do and her armor was quickly taken from the closet and tossed on the bed where she sat down and began to put it on. Leggings, boots, knee guards, she pulled them on and locked them together. Each went on perfectly, like a glove. Unlike the suit she'd gotten from Lazarus station this suit of armor had been custom fabricated for her after the Spectre requisitions office had body scanned her. Each piece was perfectly fitted for her and her body alone. Each piece also cost more than the entire suit she'd been wearing as well. It had been a top of the line suit of Hadhe-Kadar colossus armor before she and Ashley had set about customizing it. Now even the engineers who had designed it wouldn't likely recognize it.

The chest plate snapped shut around her torso and Alyssa twisted to set the latches but found Miranda already helping her with it. "Thanks."

"No problem," Miranda said as she locked the final catch and the chest plate energized. The entire suit suddenly became much lighter as the power pack in the chestplate activated the servo-motors in the legs.

She let the other woman help her pull on the arm guards and fit the gloves. Alyssa stood and began to move before moaning happily. It felt good to be back in her own armor. She couldn't resist and looked at herself in the closet's mirror. The flat black weave under armor was decorated with charcoal gray ceramic impact plates traced with the inky black lines of a shield grid. The dark metallic purple and light gray stripes that adorned the armor in it's default mode were still shiny and new but with the flick of a switch the suit's chameleon like outer skin would shift to start blending into the back ground.

The chest plate and leggings had a dozen patches scattered over it for holding grenades or any other of the other myriad of pieces of equipment she'd need. The pauldrons of the armor were bulkier than normal but with the more powerful shield generators they housed it was worth it.

"Feels like home," she sighed as she completed her mobility checks.

She returned to the closet for her weapons. A combat knife in it's sheath was clipped to the chest of her armor on the right shoulder, upside down. Another knife was attached low on her right boot and another at her right hip. Her submachine guns were clipped low on each hip in easy reach. A large bore heavy pistol on her left hip butt forward. Grenades, charges, medi-gel, repair kits, and dozens of other pieces of gear were yanked out of the closet and deposited in their appropriate pocket. Soon the closet was empty save for two weapons.

The first was collapsed into a tight blackened bronze box. Alyssa picked it up, grunting a little at the effort, and hit the deployment trigger. The Widow anti-material rifle looked like someone had pulled the main gun off a Mako and put a pistol grip on it. Alyssa hefted it but it was the suit's servo's doing most of the work. She gave the gun a quick once over but quickly stowed it realizing that until she put on some muscle mass it was probably a bad idea to use it.

The second gun was old, so old that in it's retracted state it was still obviously a rifle though a very large one. Designed not long after eezo had first been understood and weaponized the gun had started life as an M-37 Banshee light machine gun. Much like her armor though Alyssa and Ashley Williams had put so much work into it that it was hardly recognizable as one any more. Alyssa's check out of it was far more detailed than any of the other weapons and only after a minute of fiddling with it was she satisfied and stowed it.

Alyssa opened a final compartment in the floor of the gun safe and pulled out a large heavy duffel, tossing it on the bed beside her personal items.

"Now we're ready."

V-V

Author's Notes

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