Chapter 31

Shepard sat at her desk and tapped her datapad on the arm of her chair. She gazed at the fish tank. She'd gotten the files she'd requested from the Alliance. They weren't as thorough as she'd expected. The personnel information was scant, but it had pictures and bio information. She was getting paranoid. She'd had them resend the information an hour later. It had matched up with the first information transfer.

Regardless of the information holes, it confirmed that soldiers had been left on Langley before the final reaper battle. A year and half cut off and still alive, they'd be on ANN. She stood tossing her datapad on the desk. Her mind was made up. They couldn't leave Alliance soldiers to die on some forgotten space station. She crossed through the cabin to the elevator.

Shepard burst out of the elevator into the CIC. A few ensigns looked up in surprise. She'd just left to her cabin an hour ago. They probably didn't expect to see her back so soon. She had to contact the Council about this though. She rushed through the war room and stumbled to a stop. Anchor leaned over the quantum communicator. His head snap to her, and he stepped away.

"The QEC … it, uh, seems to be malfunctioning, Commander."

Shepard tore around the war room table. Anchor turned his back to her as if blocking her view and fumbled with something at the consol. She shoved him aside. The QEC console buttons were black. She punched at them. Nothing happened.

"What the hell are you doing in here, Anchor?"

He looked down at something in his hand. His head snapped up, and his hand slipped behind his back.

"I heard some beeping sounds. Sounded like it was having issues. Came to investigate. I think it's broken, Commander."

"You didn't break it?" Shepard said.

"No, Commander. I just heard it acting up. Came to see."

Shepard put out her palm. "Give me whatever you have in your hand."

Anchor frowned. "Commander …"

"You want stuffed back in engineering under guard? I'll take it from you myself. Give it to me."

Anchor's eyes flamed. He held up a black chip.

"A data chip?" Shepard said and snatched at it.

He held tightly. She had to tear it out of his fingers.

"What're you doing with this?" She asked turning it over in her finger tips.

"Had it in my Omni-Tool. Saw the comm acting up. Thought plugging in a piece of hardware might jump start it."

"Right." Shepard curled her fingers around it and shoved it into her pocket. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Commander, that's my personal data chip. May I have it back?" He put his hand out expectantly.

"No, you may not," she said.

He ground his teeth and straightened his uniform. "This is outrageous."

Shepard waved at the comm. "Too bad the quantum communicator just went down. You don't have anyone to complain to. No one can order me to uncuff you."

Anchor's eyes gaped wide, and he swallowed. "Commander, I am sorry if I—"

"When Briggs gets here, you're going with him," Shepard said.

Damn Briggs. She should have assigned two people to follow Anchor around.

"Commander," Anchor pleaded. "When we get back to Earth, the Alliance will know everything you're doing."

"Worth it." Shepard spun on her heels. "Resist Briggs, and you'll only be making my day."

Anchor's face reddened as she tore through the war room back into the CIC.

"Get Briggs up here right now," Shepard said to Jane.

Shepard pulled the datachip out of her pocket. What the hell had he been doing?

X

James strolled up to the QEC's platform. Shepard and Adams hunched in front of the comm controller.

"You really throw Anchor in the stocks again, Lola?"

"I'd like to do more than that." Shepard muttered standing. She held up Anchor's datachip. "Found this on him. Some code on it I can't read. A safe guard too, fried my terminal when I tried to copy it. He was in here with it. I'm pretty damn sure he did something to the QEC."

"Well," James sighed. "Broke his datapad to pieces."

"Yeah, I heard," Shepard said. "Accidentally tripped and stepped on it when Briggs had him collecting his stuff."

"Adams," James stood over him. "You seen that busted datapad? Think you could piece it back together or anything?"

"Maybe. Got to fix this first."

Adams twisted onto his back and scooted under the comm. He put an empty hand out. Shepard sank down and dug around his tool box. She set an astro-wrench in his palm.

"That's …" Adams stared at it then shrugged with a sigh. "I guess that will work."

"Don't just put out an empty hand then, Adams," Shepard said. "Say what you want."

"I'm working on the quantum portal. Just assumed you'd know."

Shepard rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"It's fine," Adams said. "This works too."

"You want another engineer up here?" James asked.

"They're working overtime as is," Adams said. "Need to get that fuel recycler cranked up. If we're going to make those extra light years and want a comfortable cushion, need to have it at its peak yesterday."

"Yeah … Langley," James said. "Heard about that. Alliance soldiers stranded on the station, huh?"

"We're just swinging by. Ships out of Gagarin aren't going this deep. We're not leaving them."

James shrugged. "Fresh blood at the card tables. Next couple weeks are turning up."

Shepard smirked. "Worth the cold showers, I hope."

"Lola, if you're worried about cold showers, just call me up."

Shepard gave him a flat look. "You're bringing your own towel this time."

Adams hit his head. He looked up from under the console with a tight mouth. His eyes flitted quickly from Shepard to James.

James laughed through a strained smile. "She's joking."

"Am not. Seriously, bring your own towel."

Adams watched Shepard with a blank look until she grinned. He gave one last look between them and slowly lowered his head under the console again.

"Anchor'd be sad he's missing this, Lola. He'd of hung on every word then zipped off. Probably be huddled under the blanket on his bunk right now writing up a 'Dear Wilson' letter."

"James, with the things Anchor's gotten into, I think unearthing a scandal's just a cherry on top at this point."

"Maybe if he'd had his cherry on top to start with, he wouldn't be busting things."

"Right. Well, with that …" Shepard walked to the war room table and turned back to Adams. "I hope that fuel recycler can handle this. We already changed course for Langley. See what you can do with the comm, Adams. I don't like that Anchor didn't want us communicating with the Council. Something off."

"Get the QEC back up, the admiral's gonna want Anchor unclinked." James folded his arms and leaned sideways against the wall across from Adams.

"I'm a little too far away to spank," Shepard said. "I'd rather have a safe trip back and get pointed to the corner after we get there than let Anchor ruin things."

"Think messing with this comm's good enough," James said. "You know for evidence of anything."

"Doubt it. It's been acting up. Could have been him messing with it all along or could just be acting up. I didn't see him do anything to it."

"Well, something did a number to it," Adams said. "This … this is going to take some work, Commander."

"I'm sure that was the point," Shepard said. "I'm going to check on things. Bring some of the other engineers up, Adams. We need the recycler working but this too. I don't like it being down."

She turned on her heels and walked out to the CIC. Damn Anchor.