AN: A month? I really am sorry, my net went down for almost a month which did most of the delaying, general busyness delayed the rest.

"AH-TEN-SHUUUN!"

David bellowed across the Normandy's dock, his parade voice filling the space as some 50 pairs of boots did their very best to leave their imprint on the steel decking. As small as it was, the frigate was about to be at full strength.

"PRE-SEEENT ARMS!"

The marine compliment brought their weapons up, 15 Split-Jaw riffles clicked in unison as they went from 'Ease' to 'Kinetic'.

"Second compliment! This is the ASV Normandy, how will you serve her?!"

"With distinction and pride!" 50 voices bellowed, leaving the room echoing.

"And how will she serve you?!"

"By destroying those that overstay their welcome!"

"At ease. Master of Marines!"

I fell out of formation beside Anderson, coming to the front.

"Lieutenant Commander Aleandrea Shepard reporting for duty."

"She's a fine vessel." Anderson spoke flatly, the words purely ceremonial.

"So she is." My response was just as flat.

"She's your vessel now."

"You're leaving big boots."

"You'll fill them." A hint of a smile flitted across Anderson's face, he meant the words for more than their ceremonial purpose. Without another word or motion, he stepped back and marched to the side, allowing me to take his place.

"AH-TEN-SHUUUN!" I bellowed, it was my turn to welcome them, and I found myself loosing a bet, there was no sign of confusion on the compliments eyes.

"ASV Normandy flesh compliment. I've got an empty vessel to crew. You up to the task?!"

"Sir! Yes sir!"

I held the silence for a moment.

"Normandy flesh compliment, welcome aboard. Fall out."

I watched as the crew began filing for the airlock, Presley took a moment to stand beside me.

"Are we formally greeting the support compliment?" He sounded like he wanted to spit.

"No, they're arrival's going to be staggered anyhow and I'd rather keep things smooth. Besides, Tali's already aboard…"

"I take it you objected strenuously."

"At length and volume... I've a feeling you'll have an aneurysm when you find out who Urdnot Wrex works for."

"I already have, I've already paid to replace the data-pad I broke."

"Hmmm… Well once this lot is through we can go on in, I'm thinking we head after the Matriach's daughter, whatever her name is, before picking up the X-Com operative, that way we can drop her off quickly… The Spectre will be last to come aboard, so I'll make my speech to the crew once the two of us have had our chat… We'll talk later, make sure no one breaks anything, I need to speak with the diurnal commissar."

"Remember, 'Enemy without.'." A hint of a smile reached Pressly's face as he turned away, leaving me to face the commissar. It was almost like he forgot I was a noble which brought it's own protections.

.

The 'diurnal' commissar was a short woman, mostly likely to avoid the uncanny valley given that she was a rather thorough Jensen. Synth flesh covered her completely, giving her a natural skin-tone, somewhat unusual for a commissar given the normal shiny black plastic look.

"Somos purificados pelo fogo."

"Viglo Confido. You must be happy to rise in station so?" Straight for the heart she charged. Joy is me.

"Only in that I see karma do it's job. And no, I'm not going to tell you why I see karma at work." I spoke quietly, with a motion directing Carla to walk with me away from everyone else.

"It's good to see my briefing wasn't wasted, just remember you're only in charge of a frigate. It would be nice if we got along though…" She smiled what looked to be a rather sincere smile.

"Commissar Compos, if I wasn't a Noble and Knight of Cerberus I'm sure you'd be trying to take me to a cell just this minute with a forced meld, given I'm a spiritualist, suspected xenophile and I work with Batarians without clenched teeth most of the time. I suspect that you however are a distraction and that I'll have to worry about Commissar York more-"

"And just like that, the goodwill left the airlock. But I can settle for brutal honesty. You should be very glad I'm about to be a very busy person. Given your tendencies however, why protest the alien compliment so far as to get a reprimand?"

"It is an… inane decision for a number of reasons, but I suppose when you get to a certain height you can't help but talk out of your brass… I'll thank you for the warning though. Given you reminded me that I'm only in charge of a frigate I'm not quite high enough to have you assigned to me specifically?"

"That's correct."

"Damn, I was looking forward to hearing how low my pride rating is." I faked a smile.

"If you have to ask, it is too low… I will admit, I'm surprised you're speaking as you are."

"Quietly and away from everyone else? Don't worry, you'll get to see me be all prim and proper sooner rather than later… It looks like they're beginning to shuffle in the last of the 'day watch', do you plan on staying to greet the aliens as they arrive with me?"

"Yes. Commissar York will have already made sure we've been assigned an appropriate space, and I know you don't plan on entering long-term until everyone else is aboard. You are lucky to have an XO as good as you do, that you can leave so much to him."

"It means I get to play in the boots I prefer in between bouts of playing at ship psychologist… Besides, have a high ranking mother, you can pull the strings that forced you to the position."

I got a hint of a smile as our path turned towards the Normandy again, this one actually looking rather real.

-XXXXX-

I narrowed my eyes slightly as a Turian and Slarian approached, followed by some dockhands bearing luggage.

"Commander Shepard. Commisar. I'm Spectre Bau, we have much to discuss."

"We do, and you are?" I turned my head slightly to acknowledge the Salarians second.

"Candidate Vakarian-" He paused as my eyes narrowed slightly, the Salarian smiled.

"Wonderful yes? They decided since I was mentoring another I could watch a provisional. I'm reminded they have a sense of humour."

"I'm sure they've got what they consider a very good reason for their choice, we simply get to live downhill. Welcome aboard, we've much to discuss."

With a smile I turned to the airlock, waiting for the others to follow so it could perform it's final decontamination procedure for the day, certain I was going to love the news the Salarian was bringing… Unfortunately shooting messengers was frowned upon.

"So, have the two of you been briefed on me?"

"Yes." Vakarians flanged voice spoke. "You're training is a little overly combative however such Spectres are needed, despite their life expectancies."

"Yes, I hear if I survive the first few months, I'm expected to last a year, and then about 20 years. I'll have to aim to be like the few Asari spectres."

"Yes, Tevos is the current record holder at 234 years, lots of time spent in hospital. Quite skilled, owns a small fleet."

"Mmm, perhaps I'll have to travel to Remnant space with Alliance authorisation, get some real gene-mods. Oh, I take it you know we're planning on picking up an X-Com operative?"

"Yes. It's already been decided approvable, as long as all Byte Geists are left at home."

"Thought the council would like to see Remnant combat gear. You do know it's likely to be out of date?"

"You're assuming the STG doesn't know where they're up to, if not how to replicate it."

"Since it'd require going through Alliance networks and you'd never spy on an ally given all the laws against it, it's a safe assumption, unless you've something you want to admit?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that the STG is breaking intergalactic law, it's too large. My own operations are also classified outside of your reach until you've already got the information"

Vakarian coughed into his hand just before the doors opened, hiding a word suspiciously close to the high Turian word betrayer, alerting all of us to exactly what he thought of that explanation. It almost brought a smile to my face as I stepped into the ship and turned to a saluting private, obviously the one playing tour guide.

"Private Mendez, this is Spectre Bau and Candidate Vakarian, please show them to their bunks and bring them to my office."

"Yessir. If you two will follow me?"

-XXXX-

I looked up from booking a test period at Acturus as the door slid open, taking a moment to remember which private it was that I sent with Bau before I looked like an idiot.

"Thank you Mendez, dismissed. Come on in, take a seat." I looked back down, blanking various data pads and moving them to one side for later, looking up just in time to see the Spectre to sit down, the Turian however remained standing… After a couple of seconds I moved a file over onto the wall screens on the back, which showed two documents. One was just black lines, the other was a dossier on one Garrus Vakarian, being Bau's current trainee.

"So, how accurate are your dossiers?" I smiled as Bau had the good nature to snort upon deciding which one was his.

"Surprised you're not showing us Alliance Dossiers."

"I am. However given your relative unimportance according to the alliance, they're just a copy of the Council ones, and I'm not paying broker prices, but now that the humour's done with, care to tell me how the Council has decided to handle the demand for a human lead hunt for Saren?"

"You're going to be given provisional Spectre status for the mission. You are a Spectre solely for this, no publicity, and I have to at least keep in contact. After the mission your status will be revaluated, your status may be stripped for whatever reason by the council or I, and an actual Spectre's authority supersedes yours."

I leant back in my chair.

"The moment I introduce myself as a Spectre and someone believes me, it's going to reach the news. There's going to be questions and I know that were I to lose Spectre status the Council would be… Seen poorly. Meaning that provisional is more a case of allowing you to supersede my decisions"

"The status is rare. I'm sure they felt the need for provisional. I've also been told to assist you in the mission, quietly."

"Which means you're stuck on the ship unless we can claim serendipity being behind your presence. Doesn't that also mean Candidate Vakarian will need to remain on board?"

"Candidates get no special status, and Spectres don't always stay next to them. If you want to deploy him you can do so safely."

I looked to Vakarian, slowly nodding as he tried his best to hide his annoyance at being ignored.

"I won't be taking any of the newcomers, including you, down until I can perform some sort of training exercise. After we drop of Benezia's daughter and pick up the X-Com operative I plan on stopping for at least a couple of days at Arcturus, we'll run some exercises so I can gauge everyone's skill level. I don't mean this as an insult Vakarian."

"Don't worry, I'm sure the Mako is cramped enough as is."

I wasn't able to stop my eyebrow from raising, I wasn't expecting humour this early.

"I'll have them make some room for a second, I'm sure we can cramp deck 3 further safely. We're going to take it slow getting to Therum to so some intelligence can be gathered. With luck we'll be able to get some information on the dig site, I'm not looking forward to engaging huntresses on unfamiliar ground, even if Benezia only assigned greens to keep Liara safe. I'd be disappointed if the STG didn't have something for me by tomorrow given you're here Bau." I smiled a fake smile that he didn't even acknowledge. "If there's nothing else, I think you two can go settle in."

After a moment the two got up and left, leaving me to deal with paper work, and figuring out what specifics I could on 'Provisional Spectre Status'… It felt like a damn field promotion being given right next to a news anchor broadcasting live.

-XXXX-

Therum- Liara's dig site outskirts.

"If they're going at top speed, they'll be here within a day. Extraction won't be here for a day and a half. Liara's set up won't hold against a dedicated push."

The lead huntress grimaced.

"It's decided, we'll all rest and reinforce the perimeter and wait, if we need to we can assist. Were they sure about the Muton?"

"She was seen boarding, we'll have to prepare for her. If it comes down to it we could try to seal ourselves in the ruins."

"We can't risk the volcano erupting… I'm sure Benezia would find some way to let us know her displeasure if we got her daughter trapped in an erupting volcano, even beyond death… That is all."

The lead huntress walked off towards her bunk. It was a boring duty, watching after Liara without letting her know they existed, but it would be over soon… Assuming Gabna didn't screw it all up.

-XXXX-

"Commander, we've found a Geth frigate hiding behind the moon."

I looked up to the roof in annoyance, reaching over to my omni-tool, authorising a javelin.

"3 round burst, second set on a half second delay. After that mop up as you see fit and return to the set course, keeping an eye out for AA. Message Bau, get him on the horn and tell him to make sure no ship leaves the planet… If they've already taken her the frigate wouldn't still be here… Joker, new orders, once you've dropped us up enter high orbit, shoot anyone that tries to leave without our say so."

"Aye commander."

I looked to those prepping for the mission alongside me before, our thoughts of a quick talk and maybe a smash and grab disappearing in a puff of smoke. I quickly went to shipwide coms.

"Ok everyone we're now at combat stations, masks on and boots magnetic. The Geth have gotten here first, and I think it's time to send regards from Eden Prime, what about you lot!?"

There was some cheering from the bridge crew as the marines around me sped up, getting into their combat armour as quickly as possible.

"Good. Joker, fire when ready."

-XXXXX-

Gabna slowed as he saw the Geth stumble, he'd never seen that before, even the Asari paused.

"Report!"

"Communications disabled… Communications online, downloading data dump. Frigate destroyed by stealth vessel, likely human."

"How the hell-!?"

"Blueshift of a ship entry was recorded, before the ship could be spotted and identified the frigate was fired upon. It is believed that The Normandy has arrived and accidentally located the frigate before attacking with stealth rounds. Addendum, based on communications drop out and combat time, it's likely EMP weaponry was used again, which is believed to be the product of nuclear rounds. Addendum, all aerospace traffic has been grounded under Spectre authorisation and martial law has been put in effect due to the frigates presence."

Gabna slowly swallowed as he digested that information.

"They likely wouldn't try to drop the mountain on us, but now we're trapped... Anrea, did you have a backup plan?"

"… We could take our shuttle. It won't get too far, but it'll get to the relay, after which we can drift and set a beacon."

"I take it there's a reason you're bringing this up when aerospace traffic has been grounded?"

"It's a huntress shuttle, our cloaking may not be up to Alliance standards, but it should see us out, this isn't exactly a human colony."

"No, but there is a human ship in orbit, if it stays there we'll be spotted, and she's supposed to be recovered alive."

"We can avoid one ship. We need to hurry and find the other entrance, should they find Liara by the main, they may risk destabilizing the volcano to retrieve her first."

Gabna sneered at the huntresses as they began jogging ahead, mentally swearing to desecrate the grave of whichever Prothean thought it would be a good idea to build a base inside a volcano if he found it.

-XXXXX-

"Commander, I've got a solid view of the landing zone, we'll have to use the plan B like we expected, defences are light but include AA, there's some movement higher up on the mountain as well… Loading the map to your HUD with the drop point now."

"Jenkins, Oordu, Kaiden, jump in, it's plan B. Remember Jenkin's, Kaiden's not wearing Firaxite so remember that cover is a thing you should use."

Yessir. You driving?"

"Don't tempt me, Kaiden take the wheel. Ok, everyone behind the lines! Setting barriers."

I tapped the drop button, bringing up a weak kinetic barrier that'd prevent the wind from throwing anything around while the Mako rolled out, before quickly taking my seat and strapping in.

"Ok Commander, bay opening in three, two, one. Care to bring me back a lamp?"

I ignored joker in favour of checking my weapon one last time as I sat cramped next to Jenkins, the Mako lurched, rolling out the back of the Normandy as anti-grav and thrusters kicked in, 'lander' clamps locking down on the Mako's wheels noisily.

It was go time.

AN:

Cliffhanger! Except no one's expecting the group to cut through the Geth any slower than a hot chainsaw through molten butter.

Anyhow, warning, Long. TL;DR, Humans speak certain languages, Shepard speaks certain languages, and yes, Nuclear EMPs work in space, they just work differently [Based on my understanding of physics.].

.

I'd like to address a review of chapter 8 that was refined over PM. Any sufficiently large burst of EMR is an EMP, so yes, nukes cause EMPs in space, just not in the same way as in atmosphere.

From my level of knowledge, the specifics would be a combination of the IR creating a weak EMP through the ship as if you pointed a scaled up microwave gun at it, followed by a light induced current going to town on the poor ship, thinking it was safe to dress up in a metal overcoat, which will in some ways act like a E3 and E2 NEMP. As for the EMP of one blowing up inside a ship, well let's just say for now only Reapers need to worry about that and as such I don't quite care as much if my technobabble was a little off for that one, however if you know more about physics [Year 12 Physics] and want to correct me as to the effects of a nuclear bomb going off next to a space ship, shoot me a PM… And now to my planned AN, since it comes up now:

I'd like to address the translation convention for Humans for those who're interested:

The Alliance officially speaks Portuegese [Brazil did conquer the world after all.], Ethereal Basic [Mutons and Thin-Men live on Earth.] and English [Europe and Australia both speak it and survived relatively whole. Asia didn't and Africa left.]. Minor European languages survive and are still taught, as is Afrikaans [Mostly due to the Remnant today, but previously out of respect for those that sought peace on another world rather than draw more blood from humanity], but many Asian languages have died, and are only used by people being secretive… Simply studying one puts you on a watchlist.

The Remnant officially speaks Afrikaans and English, having drawn heavily from Africa, while taking a significant number of Australians and Europeans. All Pre-Exodus languages are taught, as is Ethereal Basic, though in this case it's mostly for sciences where it's begun taking the place of Latin and Greek. Hindi is also a fairly common language, given their non-insignificant numbers.

Oh, and X-Com and Alliance officials are expected to be in the process of learning Gal-Standard, an artificial language made for trade which is maintained by the Council, and it's taught as an elective in schools by both the Alliance and the Remnant. Of course, all the officials may actually know is how to ask for the bathroom, and several words that have been corrupted to be cusses.

Also, this will almost never come up, but when I use other languages deliberately, know that you can plug it into google translate and it will tell you what I was willing to let it mean after struggling to get it to translate properly at least once, which takes a surprising amount of time. The only exception will be legacy phrases, such as Viglo Confido.

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Since it may interest you, Aleandrea knows Portuegese [Fluent/Uni Educated/Native.], Afrikaans [Fluent/10th grade level/Accent.], Ethereal-Basic [Fluent/10th Grade level/Accent.], English [Fluent/Uni Educated/Native.], Gal-Standard [Fluent, Human Accent.]. She's capable of extreme rudeness in High-Turian, has a basic understanding of High-Thesian, can hold conversations in Low- and Mid- caste Batarian, understands the basics of Qurian and Salarian, and knows a number Krogan curses. She can also greet the remaining races in their own language without sounding like a parrot [Exception of course with the Hanar, who speak with light.]… She's quite the linguist.