Chapter 6

Shepard set foot aboard the Normandy, his squad behind him. Walking through the Airlock

And he was quite impressed.

To Shepard's left was a tight cockpit with three seats, only one currently occupied. A short, wiry thin man with a thick auburn beard and a baseball cap sat in the pilot's seat, turned halfway towards the rest of the ship to see the new arrivals. He quickly turned back to his control panel as if he'd never left it.

To the right was a long cylindrical hallway, with seats on either side showing controls of weapons, shields, power spread and more. Beyond the hall the room spread about, forming a wide, open CIC. In the center stood a raised platform above the galaxy map, a holographic projection of the Milky Way galaxy. Around the map lie a set of control panels, stations for the navigator, communications specialist, and others. To each far side of the room sat a short row of escape pods, four to a wall.

Behind the Galaxy map, Shepard could see three doors. One in the center, directly behind the Map, carried the label "Elevator" above its puzzle-piece frame. The other two, along the far right and left sides of the room, weren't labeled.

"Hello Staff Commander Shepard, May I show you the ship?"

The voice came from all around him, synthesized, feminine, but friendly. Across the hallway from him was a small stand held off of the ground at about waist height. The stand consisted of a black screen about the size of a plate, and was projecting above itself an image of a sphere atop a sloping neck, a faint ring floating just below where the sphere and tower met. This image was constructed of faint blue orbs, floating holographically above the stand. Several bright lines formed along a vertical area of the sphere, waxing and waning to match the synthesized voice.

"The SSV Normandy is a five-floor ship built within Batarian hegemony space" The voice explained as Shepard watched the projection. "It is fully equipped with an array of four Thanix-class Particle cannons, the most of any ship in either the Alliance, or Hegemony fleets of Cruiser class or smaller. In addition, there is an array of Javelin missiles on the cargo bay deck, as well as regulation GUARDIAN defense systems."

"Excuse me?" Shepard questioned the image quizzically "Who are you?"

He got the distinct impression that the voice would have been smiling at him if it came with an actual mouth "I, Commander, am EDI. Enhanced Defense Intelligence. I am the Normandy's on-board Artificial intelligence. I assist the crew by coordinating all communications, as well as dealing with any and all tasks usually assigned to VI delegation. I also provide analysis and advice whenever it seems prudent."

Shepard paused, surprised. Artificial intelligences were illegal for personal ownership throughout both hegemony and Alliance space, with similar restrictions being present in Citadel and Vol-Hierarchy territory as well. Technically, any organization exclusively owned and operated by the Systems Alliance was permitted to use AIs as they wished, but that was a privilege rarely used as a result of underlying suspicion throughout Human culture.

Shepard, on the other hand, had a healthy respect for AIs. "Glad to have you aboard EDI, a tour would be great, if it's no trouble."

"Of course, commander." She began calmly. Shepard looked back to the team.

Alenko was looking into the cockpit, apparently talking to the pilot. Vega was already walking down the hall, asking directions of a man who's uniform put him as the navigator. And Jenkins stood behind him, looking down the hallway in awe.

"To your left is the bridge, where the pilot, one Jeff Moreau, flies the ship from. To the right is the primary Combat information center, with the Galaxy Map navigation tool, as well as stations for the communications and navigation specialists." EDI explained, "The command platform above the galaxy map is the Commanding Officer's post, where Captain Anderson will command the ship from."

Shepard began walking down the hallway, following the left side of the room. The holographic galaxy map spun slowly about in its place. Vega was entering the elevator now, and Shepard could see Alenko coming down the walkway with Jenkins.

EDI's projection appeared on another stand next to the leftmost door, continuing to address Shepard. "The central doorway is the elevator, allowing access to all five floors of the Normandy. This is floor two, the combat deck." The door opened as Shepard walked up to it.

Before him was a mostly empty room, the left half taken up by a table surrounded with sound-proof glass, the right half plain metal, with a doorway about two-thirds of the room's length down. The Far end held a second door; this one opened before Shepard was even halfway across the room, as EDI's image was projected from a platform attached to the right wall. "This is the conference and debriefing room, the table also retracts into the floor to allow for conference FTL communications. Beyond this room is my AI core, where my servers are located." The room beyond the doorway was filled with large computers it looked like, no screens, only a single user-interface, presumably for maintenance of some sort.

"So You run on the computers here?" Shepard asked, walking over to the small terminal.

"Essentially, though it is more apt to say that I am these machines, and my functions and processes run on them."

Shepard paused, he turned back to where EDI's image was being projected, attentively turning its vertical array of lines, the projection's "Face" more or less, to follow him as he walked about the room. "You're not much like the other AIs I've talked to."

EDI's response was quick, but there seemed to be a momentary pause, "I did not realize that you had experience with AIs commander."

Shepard nodded "Three years ago I worked with a troop of Quarian marines to take out a Pirate base right on the edge of the Peruses Veil. They were in Quarian space, but they only attacked Human and Batarian shipping lanes on the other side of the Veil. The Marines were supported by a Geth strike force, one Prime, a few standard platforms." Shepard paused, continuing when EDI did not reply. "You're much more articulate than the Geth. More conversational."

EDI seemed to paused, but she responded "I've never communicated with another AI before, even in development, by the time I went active I was alone." The tone of her voice was strange, even with the synthesizers taken into account. Was that longing in her voice? Or jealousy? Or something entirely foreign to the human mind? Shepard did what he could to stop that final thought. Those kinds of suspicions would only prejudice him against EDI, and for no wrong doing on her part.

So he continued, walking through the door on his left, facing the Normandy's bridge now. EDI responded with a hint of gratitude in her voice as the door opened to the next room. "This, Commander, is the Tactical Planning Center, though the crew have coined it as "The War Room"."

The chamber was circular and two-floored, the higher section with the doors being a ring around the central pit, which, in turn, was an area built in a ring around a large circular holographic projector table. The entire room was dark, with a certain sense of foreboding. Three entrances to the room existed one he had just exited from, another a bit more than 90 degrees to his right, connecting to the final door from the CIC if Shepard's sense of direction was holding true, and a Third pointing strait to the ship's stern. The lower area had four small stairwells leading to it, spaced evenly about the space, with support beams for the massive overhead section of the projection mechanism between every path. Beyond the third door Shepard could see a small room with holographic systems and a terminal. A communications blister if he ever saw one.

"What do we do in here, EDI?"

"The War Room includes a fully functional tactical holographic projector mechanism, made to plan operations with from ground or air perspective. It can also be used to project the models of any and all know starships and fighters, with any new models easily added through basic scanning. More advanced scans will allow us to plot out the Ship's interior layout, though doing so will require time as well as the deactivation of stealth systems." The projector went alight, presumably as an example from EDI, showing overhead views of a small colony under assault.

It took Shepard only a few moments to recognize the Skillian Blitz footage from Elysium. Raiders, mostly Turian, though Human, Batarian, Krogan, Drell and other species dotted their ranks, were surging between the outer buildings, coming up on the perimeter of marines, distracted by a small squad already at their doorstep. It was a single figure off to the side of the Skirmish who's fire flared in shot-by-shot bursts, striking down raiders left and right, drawing an automatic rifle as their attention shifted to the N7 operative who'd only even been on Elysium during layover at the end of his shore leave.

EDI awoke him from his distraction "In addition, there is a Quantum entanglement array in the side room, allowing the crew of the Normandy lag-free communications with Arcturus Prime." She paused for a moment, before saying "Not the most useful system while we're docked with Arcturus Prime, but it should be helpful in the future. The final door leads back to the CIC commander, if you want a tour of the other floors then please ask, and I will be happy to accommodate."

And with that, EDI grew silent, almost like she left. Shepard took the doorway and the small hallway that followed from it to the CIC. When he exited, he found that Jenkins and Alenko were no longer on the deck. He turned right, toward the elevator. Once inside, he checked the floors.

Top floor was labeled "The Loft", listed to include officers' cabins. Second floor was where he stood now, the Combat deck. Third floor was Crew deck, with a medical bay, sleeper pods and the brig according to the listings. Lastly were the engineering and cargo bay floors at the bottom of the ship.

After a moment of indecision, Shepard hit the key for the crew deck. Time for the crew to meet their XO.

[Begin author's notes, if someone could PM me how to put these separate from the document, that'd be really really nice of them.]

Again, I feel bad about the delays. Had to finish catcher in the Rye (Fuck you Holden Caulford), then Raisin in the sun (I actually really enjoyed A Raisin in the Sun), the I moved (From the only house I've ever remembered living in btw, this'll take some getting used to), but Until the 20th I don't have much to do except write, and it's the [checks] 8th? Wow, thought it was later in the month than that. I should get two or three more chapters off before school starts, then I might actually get on a regular schedule of all things.

Oh yeah, the chapter. I like EDI, she's interesting to have around, and her relatuionships with the squad and crew members, particularly Joker and Shepard, are going to be interesting to explore. Also, this version of the Normandy is just a little bigger than the SR2. When in doubt about the layout, assume SR2 in ME3. I should give you guys the tour of the Crew deck in the next chapter, and the Loft should be covered before they reach Eden Prime, or not long after, so those are the big changes. Oh yeah, and there's a missile bay on the cargo deck floor, but I'm not likely to take them down there. Just doesn't seem likely to happen.