Chapter 3
On the Presidium, there were several embassies. One for each of the Council races and one for Elcor, Volus, Hanar and Drell combined, Batarians, and the humans. Quarians and Krogans used to have offices but those had been vacated due to political conflicts. The first appointed Human Ambassador was Anita Goyle. In Hannah's opinion, Ambassador Goyle had been a great choice to represent humans in galactic society and she was a woman who gracefully dealt with a large amount of political crap, which Hannah respected.
Hannah found it tedious to navigate through the Presidium to get to one of three offices held by Ambassador Goyle. They were meeting in the Human Embassy office today and Hannah finally got the politicians gathered and herded into the Ambassador's office for a briefing. Her daughter was situated in the lobby watching Call Me Sally, a comedy film about an undercover Asari Spectre disguised as a human. Hannah sat in the back of the office and watched the interactions as Captain Marshall finally arrived and apologized for his tardiness.
"What's on the docket for the conference?" asked Ambassador Goyle.
The lead diplomat, Mr. Wilkinson, said, "We would like to discuss traveling through the Turian systems and setting up an embassy on Palaven while providing human representatives on other colonies. We have talked to our respective governments and have agreed upon the same benefits for them." The other three diplomats nodded their heads in agreement.
Mr. Wilkinson was the representative from the Alliance Parliament housed at Arcturus, and from Earth; the other three men were servants of the three major nation-states: the United North American States, the European Union, and the Chinese People's Federation.
Hannah sat there and listened as they discussed the benefits and conflicts that could arise from such a request. Captain Marshall sat next to her and took notes. Periodically, he would make eye contact with her and smile.
The briefing took two hours and Hannah was thrilled when it was over. The bed at the hotel was calling her name but first she had to complete the trip back with a tired little girl, four grumpy politicians, and her boss. She and Captain Marshall got along well and it was nice to have help taking care of the diplomats.
"Good night, Lieutenant," said the Captain. "Let me know if you have any questions or concerns; we could get together over lunch or something. Otherwise, enjoy your day off tomorrow."
Hannah smiled, "Have a good night, sir."
Hannah noticed Marissa tottering on her feet, so she wrapped her arm around her daughter's shoulders and guided her into the elevator. Once in their room, she tucked the younger Shepard into bed and then laid on her own. Finally... the day was done.
Hannah woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee and breakfast conveniently paid for by her own credit chit and set up by her very sneaky daughter. After eating a good meal and stretching out her tired muscles, Hannah felt cheerful.
"Thanks for getting breakfast, Mare."
"Welcome," said her daughter with a mouth full of eggs.
"Go ahead and keep the credit chit for now. You will need it while I am at the Embassy, but be careful with it."
Marissa swallowed.
"I'll make sure I'm careful, geez, Mom! So what are we gonna do today?"
"I was thinking the first place I want to go is the shower, and then we can check out your map."
After they cleaned up, and left the hotel, the first stop was a movie theatre that showcased re-mastered human films from Hollywood's Golden Age. The film that Hannah and Marissa chose starred Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds from 1952, Singin' in the Rain. During the movie, Hannah looked over at Marissa and saw the biggest smile on her face. Even though they didn't have a shared appreciation for music, they did in regard to movies and it didn't matter, old movies or new, this was what bonded mother and daughter together.
Hannah got a kick out of seeing Marissa tapping, singing, and laughing out of the theatre, and thought how embarrassed she would be if humans back in the earlier century actually did that, spontaneously broke out in song and dance in public. A few years back, Hannah had watched several human documentaries with Marissa for school and humans had acted in strange ways and had weird fashions. Hannah realized though that a hundred years from now, those future people would think the current population had weird habits and fashions and not just humans were in focus now but all species.
After the movie, the pair made their way to a recreational facility that offered sports and exercise activities and looked to be as big as an Alliance carrier. It had over 30 simulation rooms, actual courts, floors filled with exercise equipment, open rooms for fitness classes, and pools. Scrolling along the wall were the schedules for the simulation rooms, a virtual intelligence figure stood behind a counter to check out traditional equipment, holographic instructors led the fitness classes, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Hannah and Marissa looked through the options and decided on the racquetball simulation. The tech specialist explained that the racket and ball would be holographic and the kinetic barriers would keep them from running into the walls and each other, which was similar to the military simulators used by the Alliance.
After changing and getting into the room, the simulator's VI covered the rules of the game and kept score during. They played best 3 out of 5, with Marissa winning of course. The next game was a hilarious tangle of fun; Hannah and Marissa ran after each other, wrestled, and played keep away; it just about short circuited the VI. "Ball invalid, must use front wall to play, not allowed to use side or back walls, score invalid." Hannah and Marissa just laughed.
The exercise was energizing but both mother and daughter were sweaty, so back to the hotel they went to shower and change. In the lobby afterwards, Hannah ran into Captain Marshall who invited the two ladies out to lunch. Hannah didn't want to offend by declining so she passed the buck and looked at Marissa, "It's up to you."
Marissa smiled at Captain Marshall, then at Hannah. "We'd love to."
Hannah gave Marissa the stink eye while Captain Marshall's back was turned. She wasn't interested in him and she knew his flirting was harmless since there were strict rules, but that didn't stop Marissa from with messing with her.
Apollo Café was located on the Presidium with a wonderful view of the lakes and landscape. They sat at a table, ordered drinks and talked about casual subjects, but as they were about to order, a few Alliance Captains, docked for shore leave, came over and started chatting with Captain Marshall. They asked to join them and were permitted, but Hannah wasn't pleased. The men talked about missions they had been on and politics. Marissa just sat there and absorbed. One man, Captain Zabelin, made some stupid comment about Ambassador Goyle that rubbed Hannah the wrong way.
"She screwed it up, David Anderson was supposed to become the first human Spectre and she didn't even try to convince the Council it was that damn Turian's fault that mission was a disaster. She needs to be replaced."
"With all due respect, Captain, Ambassador Goyle has fought hard to position humanity in the top tier with the Council," Hannah retorted. "It's not her or Anderson's fault that Saren Arterius played the game just right. If you were the Council, would you listen to the hot-headed humans or your own Spectre? Saren wasn't right, but he was able to convince the Council he was."
"Humans aren't taken seriously by the Council and if we had a human Spectre, we might be able to get a human representative on the Council or vice versa. That won't happen if Ambassador Goyle doesn't get more aggressive and demand better privileges."
"Captain, are you ready to devote the entire Alliance military to the Council? Do you want to give up our ability to expand into the Terminus Systems and gain ground in other areas? If you want better privileges, you better expect to have bigger responsibilities to the Council. You can't get something for nothing. Ambassador Goyle knows this and she is doing the best she can without handing our entire assets to the Council. We will get our day in the Spectres and the Council, but it takes time."
Captain Zabelin grumbled something about hoping it didn't take forever.
Captain Marshall and the two other men smiled at Hannah and Marissa as the food order was delivered by the friendly Asari waitress.
"Thank you for lunch," said Hannah to Captain Marshall after the meal and the departure of the other men. "I hope I didn't offend your friend."
Captain Marshall chuckled. "He can be a pushy ass sometimes, but I wouldn't worry about Zabelin's opinion. I don't."
"He has such a narrow view of the galaxy. It's not all about humans getting what we want, but about all species working together to get what we need," said Hannah.
"Hannah, you understand the big picture, not many humans do."
"If we are going to get anywhere, we really need to lead by example and not just make demands like children."
"Leading by example. Yeah, I can see you leading your own ship and crew one day soon," commented Captain Marshall. "I can see you giving the Alliance bigwigs a run for their money too, even Steven Hackett."
"Thanks! I plan to give them hell until the day I die, and I plan to teach my daughter to do the same."
"I wouldn't expect anything less and I can't wait to see where Marissa goes in her future," he said, looking at the younger Shepard standing tall at the compliment.
Hannah and Marissa said goodbye, left Captain Marshall's company and traveled through the Presidium department stores. At one store, Hannah was challenged by her daughter to a goofy outfit contest, so they gathered as many items as they could and headed for the changing room. Hannah ended up coming up with the worse looking get-up. There was a wide brimmed hat that had yellow flowers, a pink undershirt with stripes, a purple jacket with zippers galore, and a plaid red skirt all paired with Hannah's military boots. Marissa took several pictures while bent over with laughter, then moved next to her mother and took another.
"You'll have to put this picture in your cabin when you get your own ship, Mom."
"You better believe it will be the biggest, most attractive piece of art in my cabin. I'll hang it right next to the photo of you from the Christmas when you were 6. Remember that pink, frilly dress you wore?"
"Oh man, I hated that dress! Dad told you not to make me wear it but you did anyway. Gag!" Marissa pseudo retched.
"Oh, hush! It was cute for a little girl."
"But I'm not a girly girl, Mom. I especially hate dresses."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. So where next?" asked Hannah.
Their next stops were the Presidium Memorial Gardens for a nice leisurely walk and out to dinner. They made it back to the hotel and watched vids until it was time for bed.
Hannah reached over to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her shoulders.
"I love you, Marissa! Today was a great day!"
"Love you too, Mom! Thanks!"
Hannah tucked Marissa into bed and crawled into her own. She powered on her omni-tool and stared at the picture of the pair and smiled.