Chapter 32
The station grew larger in the cockpit windows as the Normandy maneuvered to a docking port. Richter looked back at Shepard with a grin.
"Looks like it has power, Commander."
"Yes, it does," Shepard said.
The leather squeaked as Joker shifted in his seat. He didn't say anything. He'd hardly said anything to her for a week. It was a kind of a cowardly comfort that Richter was here now.
"Locking in docks now, Commander," Richter said punching buttons on a glowing holoscreen.
"Did they receive our message?" Shepard asked.
"Yes, ma'am. They acknowledged us. Seemed real pleased."
"Pleased?" Shepard chuckled. "Thought they'd be hysterical a good Samaritan finally chanced by."
"Pleased isn't good enough?" Joker muttered.
Shepard sighed, putting her hands on her hips, and walked a few steps to the boarding gate. Dr. Chakwas sorted through her medical bag standing next to Stofsky, Briggs, and Jensen on the gangway. They held their rifles to the chest of their armor. Shepard touched the pistol on her waist belt. She picked her helmet off the floor then set it back down. Helmets always just got in the way when you needed to talk your people. She checked the locks on her armor and straightened herself as the airlock hissed. She led them through the boarding gate.
The station doors swished open cheers. Nearly twenty soldiers crowded around them as they walked into the docking terminal. They backed up to let Shepard through. Their faces, a mix of men and women, grinned above mismatched armor as she passed. She expected to see sunken eyes, bony necks, and sickly posture, but instead they all stood at attention, steady footed, and eager.
"Captain Drew Sable," a deep voice said as one a man from the back stepped forward.
He threw her a meaty handed salute. His neck, thick and knotted like coiled rope, flexed with a curling mouth. He looked down at her a shadowy glint in his eye.
Shepard's brow dimpled. She gave a slow returned salute.
"Commander Shepard of the Normandy."
"Commander Shepard." His voice lifted as he lifted his eyebrows. That look in his eye though suggested he'd recognized her before she'd said it.
"My soldiers and a few station staffers," Sable said indicating the mass pushing in around him.
Dr. Chakwas edged forward, and Shepard glanced back with a nod. Dr. Chakwas walked over to the nearest soldier, put her bag down, and flipped on her Omni-Tool.
"Finally getting a message was a shock," Sable said.
"Your men don't look too bad for being stranded on a station for coming up on two years," Shepard observed.
Sable laughed sharply and rubbed a hand back over his buzzed head.
"Station this size is meant to house hundreds, not twenty. Lots of supplies after the evacuation. Starting to think no one was coming back for us. The war, it's over, right?"
"Yes," Shepard said looking around at their steady, bright eyes. "We won. The reapers are gone. We've been rebuilding."
She was already tired of giving the updates.
"Are there others?" Shepard asked.
The station's docking hall expanded out behind them. Beyond the bright lights of this docking terminal only a few emergency lights flickering down the dark hallways beyond.
"No. This is it. We got your message hours ago. Got together, got our stuff, been waiting."
"Right …" Shepard peered down the dim silent hallways.
Sable glanced over his shoulder at the hallway. He turned back and squaring up to her.
"We're ready when you are, Commander."
The station soldiers dug through their bags, closing them up, and hoisted over their shoulders. An entire life on a station gathered in hours. No one seemed to have anything sentimental or personal in nature - no pictures, datapads, bottle of wine saved for a rescue or the final days. Nothing but bare military necessities that Shepard could see as their bags scrunched close.
One face caught her attention. Freckles cover the man's skin so thickly, the white part seemed like the dots. His tiny, glistening eyes watched. Except for the blue color, they could have been transplanted from a ferret. He seemed so familiar, but she couldn't place him. A fellow soldier maybe. That felt right. Maybe she'd worked with him on assignment once. Even then though, she couldn't quite place him.
"Commander," Sable said.
Shepard broke her stare. "You don't have anything else you need here?"
"No. We're ready. More than ready to get off this station."
"And there's no one else?"
"None."
Shepard put a hand on her ship and shifted to her back foot. "All right. Head aboard. Dr. Chakwas will look each person over first. How long since the others evacuated?"
"Long time," Sable said and motioned his men to line up in front of Dr. Chakwas.
Vague. Shepard pursed her lips and waved Jensen and Stofsky over to her.
"Where are you going?" Sable asked.
"Scout around. There could be salvageable supplies."
"Anything worth saving we have with us."
The dark corridor flickered in the distance. She wasn't really sure what she hoped to fine. They had enough food. They didn't need guns or heat clips. There probably wasn't any information on the system computers that she would need. Still, just the fact he didn't want her searching made her want to tear the place apart. Sable strolled away and chatted with two of his officers. He gave a barking laugh. Maybe she was just trying to see something in every off handed interaction. Shepard glanced around one last time and sighed heavily.
"Look around a little. Briefly," Shepard told Jensen and Stofsky. "We can document the station's status. Eventually, the Alliance will want to reclaim it. Go."
She walked back into the throng of station soldiers. The last few soldiers stopped in front of Dr. Chakwas. She scanned the next one, read the reading, and waved him on. Sable took up the end and patted one of his men on the back with a grin. Probably better to just get underway.
X
Shepard leaned back against the counter in the med bay and touched her earpiece. It was on.
"Get us back underway, Joker," Shepard said. "Stofsky and Jensen came back, right?"
"Yes, Commander."
"Anything I should know?"
There was a pause and muffled voices. Joker's voice came back on the comm.
"Said there's some plushier chairs than the ones we've got in the lounge."
Shepard just shook her head. "Okay, well, tell them to get them document what they saw for the Alliance. The station crew will be able to supplement it. Soon as we get that quantum communicator back up, we can send it through the Council to them."
"Yeah …" Joker said. "Better talk to Adams again about that. Doesn't look good, Commander."
Shepard grimaced. "Okay. Let's shove off."
"Aye, aye."
Shepard lifted away from the counter and strolled over to Dr. Chakwas. She looked up from scan results glowing on her desk terminal.
"Everyone's healthy," she said.
Shepard flopped into the chair opposite her. It was going to be a busy next few hours - taking names, rank, setting up cots. Between the turiens, rescued station soldier, and her own crew, there were going to be bunk rotations again. Joker'd be thrilled. At least if the sleeping space was limited, the food rations were still supple. But, it wouldn't be looked at that way. Not many learned to focus on what they had instead of what they'd lost.
"They're amazingly health," Dr. Chakwas mused.
"Too healthy? You sound surprised."
"They're well fed, strong, must have exercised, taken care of themselves. More than I expected when I heard they'd been abandoned there."
Shepard leaned sideways on the armrest and touched her fingers to her mouth. Perhaps she should have searched the station herself.
"Their uniforms are more worn out than their bodies. Just amazing resilience," Dr. Chakwas said.
"I thought I recognized one of the men."
"Really? You've been to Langley Station before?"
Shepard shook her head. "I know him from somewhere else. I looked him up in the dossier I got from the Alliance. His name isn't ringing any bells or the places he's served. I know him from some Alliance mission, though."
"Well, would have been a while ago. Been well over three years on Langley for most of them."
Shepard tilted her head. "Maybe a further while back then."
Dr. Chakwas pushed her chair back and crossed over to the cabinet over the sink. She stood on her toes and rifled through it.
"Checked on Anchor. Seems pretty out of sorts," Dr. Chakwas said glancing over her shoulder.
"Yeah, well," Shepard crossed her arms and tipped her chair back, "he should be glad I let his ass out of lock up as long as I did. Wish I hadn't. Took out the quantum communicator. If Adams can't fix it …" Shepard sighed. "Maybe some of the station workers are engineers."
"I don't think so. Looked to me like they're all soldiers. You really think Anchor did something to that comm?"
"You remember what James and Cortez showed me?"
"Yes." Dr. Chakwas shook her head. "Seems too fantastic."
"I don't know. Maybe," Shepard allowed.
The cabinet echoed with scraping canisters and clinking glass as Dr. Chakwas rummaged deeper. She pulled down a brown glass bottle.
"Ah ha!" she grinned.
She strolled over to the desk touting it and pulled out a lower drawer. To glasses clinked together in her hand as she set them on the desk.
"Tradition," she said.
"I hope that's not cough syrup. I'm really not that hard up for alcohol."
Dr. Chakwas gave an overacted pout. "Shepard, I only keep the best stuff for you."
"So, it's the grape flavor then. Why didn't you say so?" Shepard grinned sitting up straighter.
"Ah. Whatever." Dr. Chakwas waved at her dismissively.
She poured a shallow amber pool into each glass and handed one to Shepard.
"Cheers." She dropped into her seat and took a sip.
Shepard eyed her glass then took a sip. A smile filled her lips.
"Okay, not bad."
"Well, of course."
"Where'd you get it?"
"The cupboard. Weren't you paying attention?"
Shepard took another sip to cover her grin. "Forgot. Damn head injury acting up."
Dr. Chakwas melted back in her chair holding her glass in both hands. Her eyes traveled around the room.
"A lot of good times here, Shepard."
"I suppose."
"No, it's true," Dr. Chakwas said. "The whole Normandy must feel that way to you."
"In a way, I guess."
"You guess?" Dr. Chakwas sputtered with raised eyebrows. She took a long drink. "It has to. Everything that's happened here. The memories, the adventure, the excitement of it all."
Shepard glanced around at the sterile walls. "It was that. But, now?"
Dr. Chakwas smiled. "What do you mean?"
"Do you remember the question you asked me?
"Which one?"
"You asked what I wanted. The answer is, I want this – the Normandy. It's what I've always wanted - that rush, that excitement, that purpose, that sense of belonging for once in my life, really belonging. And I was safe, physically, but in other ways too. The Normandy was home. But I don't feel that now." Shepard slouched back. "Now everyone has their own way to go. There isn't that purpose leading us on together. Maybe … maybe leading me on."
"You don't think you have purpose?"
"No, I do," Shepard said looking down at her glass. "Only, things are different now. I miss what it was."
Shepard looked up at Dr. Chakwas sharply and laughed.
"Oh, damn! You really did get me in here talking to you."
"I don't know what you mean."
Shepard pointed a finger at her.
"Yes, you do. I'm not falling for that." She looked at the drink in her hand. "You're even trying to loosen me up with booze."
Dr. Chakwas laughed. "Shepard, this is hardly date rape. I thought you might want to relax."
Shepard pinched her face. "No, you're trying to liquor me up."
"Only for your own good though. Drink up. I won't ask anymore deep questions."
Shepard narrowed her eyes and took another sip.
Dr. Chakwas tapped her fingers on her glass and turned to Shepard. "So, what are your hopes and fears in life, Shepard?"
Shepard rolled forward in her seat with a laugh. "Damn. Stop. I already tapped out."
Dr. Chakwas chuckled. "I have stronger stuff here, you know."
"I believe you."
"Most people prefer the 'by mouth' route though." Dr. Chakwas lifted her glass and bottomed it up.
"The alternate route better be a needle," Shepard said.
She followed suit with her own glass and slammed it down on the desk between them. Dr. Chakwas nodded with a stiff lip and slammed hers down next to Shepard's.
"Good talk, Shepard."
"Yeah." Shepard stood. "After you liquored me up for sensitive reflections."
"Oh." Dr. Chakwas waved it off. "We all have our moments of weakness. Good to know you're human after all."
"Only partly." Shepard gave a half grin. " Well, better catch up with a few people then get some sleep."
"Or," Dr. Chakwas countered. "Get some sleep and then catch up with a few people."
Shepard laughed. "Hey, you can't talk me into too much without the hard stuff. See you around."
Shepard walked out of the med bay. The mess hall swarmed. Turiens and human crew members mingled not quite tripping over each other but damn close. The station crew though, they seemed to be keeping to themselves. The few that were here clustered in the corner. Sable and the rest must be sleeping. She didn't see them around.