CHAPTER SIX
Departure
The clock read sixteen hundred, ship time. Kara left the briefing room and took the captain's station, overlooking the tactical display. Aside from herself, there were four Alliance personnel on the deck, and Garrus, standing next to the intersection of the round CIC and the ship's bridge, which extended forward towards the helm. Wrex was on the cargo deck, standing guard over the armory. Sayuri was probably in the mess, with most of the crew, halfway through a story. Everything was as ready as she could make it.
She took a moment to catch Garrus' eye, and returned his brief nod. Then she drew a final breath, and activated the intercom. "All hands, this Kara Shepard. By now, most of you have heard that I've been appointed Spectre by the Citadel Council, and assigned to track down their former agent, Saren Arterius. I accepted this duty with great reluctance. I never desired the authority that comes with being a Spectre, but I will pursue this task with all my skill, and with your help, I will succeed.
"I do need your help. I cannot even begin my search without a ship, and the stealth and speed of the Normandy make it ideal. I requested that it be transferred to my command, but the Alliance refused; it was they who demanded a human Spectre, and now they reject her.
"The ruling elite of the Alliance is more concerned with politics and their own power than with serving humanity, and I refused to play their games. I am not willing to use a Spectre's privilege to benefit the Alliance at the expense of alien life. I will not serve anyone who puts their narrow self-interest above the good of the entire galaxy. Therefore, as an agent of the Council, I have resigned my commission as officer of the Alliance Navy.
"I cannot, in good conscience, accept their decision, as it would mean abandoning a task I pledged to complete. As an associate member of the Citadel Council, the Systems Alliance is obligated to lend all necessary aid to a Council Spectre in pursuit of her duty, so I am taking command of the Normandy.
"I ask for your help, in this. Join me. I will not compel you to join me in this, but while you consider your options, ask yourself why you joined the Alliance Navy. Was it to further the goals of an elite that lies you into wars, or to protect your friends and families. I'm offering you a chance to do that, and more; to make a difference.
"Those of you who wish to disembark, assemble on the bridge in one hour. Shepard out."
Kara switched off the intercom, and stepped down. It all felt rather weak; no rousing calls to patriotism or duty, no essays into the nobility of sacrifice, or the glories of war. She had contemplated giving such a speech, but it was too hollow for her to manage. She didn't care for speeches, anyway. She preferred conversation.
That was what waited for her below. At least, she though, as she headed for the stairs, she had brought up some interesting points for discussion. Or condemnation.
"Gods, Kapoor, it's like you haven't heard a word I've said. Yeah, so Kara'd be the first one to tell you not to blindly trust your CO," Sayuri was saying as she came down the stairs into the mess, "but you're dumber than you look if you think she's just after power."
"That's so fucking naïve," the crewman snapped. "Of course she's after power. Everyone is, but I guess you've been to busy trying to get your head between her thighs to notice."
Sayuri flushed, darkly with anger, not embarrassment. She was as heterosexual as any woman Kara had met, but no bigot. Kaidan, sitting nearby and listening to the conversation, spoke up before she collected herself. "Hey, why don't we all ease up on the insults, and try to stick to relevant points."
"Good advice," Kara agreed. It was the first anyone noticed her, but she had been standing in the shadows. Her appearance ended every conversation in the room, crowded as it was with most of the ship's compliment of thirty-nine personnel and marines.
Sayuri stood, gesturing that Kara should take her seat. She wore a pistol on her hip. "Not much of a speech," she whispered, as they passed each other, and she took up a watchful position near the stairway.
"So, you have relevant points you want to raise?" Kara asked, watching the lieutenant while taking Sayuri's empty seat.
He shrugged, uncertainly. Not knowing how she would respond to what he had to say, perhaps. "What the hell were you thinking, Commander," he asked, at length. "Ma'am… Sir."
"Kara," she suggested, smiling. Hadn't she asked the same question, herself? "Are you questioning my sanity in general, or were you wondering about something specific?"
Both, she guessed, judging from his half-smile. "You're asking a lot," he continued, softly. Fortunately, the attention of the entire room was focused on them, though they may have had trouble hearing. "Our careers, maybe our futures. I've no desire to spend the rest of my life an exile."
She found it an encouraging statement. Self-interest was a basic, honest objection, more so than concern for duty to the state. "I won't make any promises I can't keep, Kaidan. Maybe they'll claim I led you astray; maybe they'll call you a traitor. I don't know. Whatever happens, I'll do my best to protect those who followed me."
She feared it was still an empty promise, as the Alliance would demand what she had already refused to give. He did not realize this, seeing only the truth of her intent and not the limits of her abilities. It was a common flaw. "Saren needs to be stopped, sir. If the Council thinks you're the one to do it, I'll go along, but this attitude of yours is only going to hurt us."
"I know," Kara replied softly. She let her eyes finish the sentence with her usual defiance. She wasn't going to let that stop her.
"Then the only question left is; why?"
It was the question, the only important one. Some, like Kapoor, believed she wanted power. It was up to her to correct that impression. She looked Kaidan in the eye. "Tell me about BAaT."
The question took him by surprise, but it faded quickly to a grim stoicism. "You know about that? How?"
"You weren't the only survivor," Kara said. The Biotic Acclimation and Temperance training program, abbreviated to BAaT, was the Alliance's first attempt at turning eezo-contaminated teenagers into trained biotics. Run by Conatix Industries, which purchased the old FTL research facility at Gagarin Station for the task, conditions there had been brutal. It had lasted from 2160 to '69, when it closed abruptly; the government had the entire program classified. The corporation folded soon after.
By the time Kara had gotten her first implant, just before her eleventh birthday, some of BAaT's early graduates were out and teaching biotics at other Alliance facilities, including Arcturus Station. The description her instructor had given them had been bad enough. Later, she learned that things had only gotten worse, as the program continued to produce any real successes.
"Survivors," Kaidan grunted. "Yeah. I was thirteen when they found me, and I remember that I didn't want to go. They didn't care, though—the Alliance had issued orders that all children with biotic potential could be seized for training. They'd seen what turian biotics could do in the First Contact War, and wanted that advantage."
Although the war had provided an excuse to push biotic research forward at a dangerous pace, it wasn't the first questionable experiment involving eezo and humans. Conatix had been responsible for several 'accidents', which conveniently exposed entire population centers to the element in the mid fifties.
"They brought us out to Gagarin Station, where the program had been running for about five years. We were totally isolated from our families and friends, and treated like raw recruits. At the time, humans didn't know anything about training biotics. The older students had never really learned to focus their abilities, so Conatix decided to hired some turian mercenaries to do the training.
"They arrived six months after I did, and they treated us like shit. One of them used to say that humanity was too useless to survive, and that if we didn't train harder the Hierarchy would come back and finish what it had started. A third of the kids broke, and died, in training accidents, or they just… gave up."
Kaidan was staring into his cup, as he finished. They were unpleasant memory, certainly, but the sorrow in his eyes suggested something more.
"Conatix did business almost exclusively with the Alliance government," Kara said. "Parliament authorized the removal of children from their parents, and refused to lift the communications blackout. Gagarin Station used to be military R&D, and they sold it to Conatix for a fraction of its worth. The Defense Committee sealed and classified the records. Must I go on?"
"So you do not trust the Alliance?" asked the ship's assistant medical officer, and chief field medic, Lieutenant Ehigha Eze, standing behind Alenko. "Why did you not resign years ago?"
A good question, to which Kara didn't really have an answer. She'd been comfortable, she supposed, and disruptive enough that she felt like she was doing some good. "Perhaps I was simply waiting for the right moment."
"I do not think that is now," the doctor replied. "The Alliance wanted a Spectre. They would not have interfered with the Council's orders, if you had kept your commission. Now they want to make an example of you."
"You think this is about appearances?" Kara inquired, raising an eyebrow. The dark-skinned man raised his hands, palms up. "Is it so hard to believe that I meant what I said?"
Ehigha folded his arms across his chest. "In my experience, very few people tell the truth when their own interests are concerned."
"The truth, Ehigha, is that you're right. The Alliance wanted a symbol, and I don't want it to be me. You're from Earth, right?"
He nodded shortly. "I grew up in Nigeria, on the west coast of Africa."
Kara's knowledge of Earth consisted mostly of history, and extended only mildly into geography. She could name the seven continents, and some of the major nation-states of the last thousand years, but not much beyond that. Imperial powers had exploited the people and resources of Africa for as far back as she recalled. The exploiters had changed from Europe and the US to India and China, but the results remained the same. "Then you know what I said about the Alliance is true."
"Yes," he admitted, "but it's your intentions I am not sure about."
"My intent is to stop Saren, not to harm the Alliance."
"I guess it just comes down to trust," Ehigha said. He frowned, rubbing his hand across his mouth. "Okay. Chief Aoki says you're worth following, and I… I trust Doctor Chakwas' judgement. I am in."
Kara nodded in relief. Losing the medical staff wouldn't be as instantly devastating as the engineering crew, but it would raise the risk factor immensely. Marine officers were trained in first aid, but that was no substitute for a proper doctor, especially one with Chakwas' training in xeno-medicine.
Satisfied, at least for the moment, Ehigha moved to the back of the crowd, leaving space for those who still had their doubts. Kara checked her omnitool; forty minutes to go.
"Despite what Lieutenant Eke says, trusting you isn't the biggest issue," said Charles Pressly, the ship's chief navigation officer and third in command, pushing past a pair of marines, to fill the doctor's spot. "You are—or were—an Alliance officer. It's that you trust us less than your alien pals.
"Did you know she's got a krogan guarding the armory?" he continued, turning his attention to the crowd. "There's an armed turian on the command deck. She gave that quarian tramp free access to engineering. What's next, a contingent of batarian shock troops?"
"Pilgrim," Tali asserted, irritably. Kara hadn't noticed her arrive, but she was standing next to Sayuri, along with Adams and another junior engineer. "I'm a Pilgrim, not a tramp."
"She's not a spy, either, Charles," Adams added. "She's here to help the commander, and after what happened on Eden Prime, I wouldn't be so quick to turn her or any of the others away. Tali'Zorah is the one who got us evidence that Saren was behind the attack, and the turian, Garrus helped rescue her. It seems to me like they're on our side."
"That's it?" Pressly asked. "Just 'I like her,' and we're all expected to go along?"
That argument sounded as though it lead to throwing insults. "Commander," Kara said, interrupting them before it could continue, "I intend to assemble the best team I can, and I'm not going to discriminate based on species. If you can't work with them, you should go."
The navigation officer sighed. "You can't expect me to just walk away and let you take the ship."
"No," Kara agreed, letting her gaze move along the row of men and women that sat opposite her, and the others that stood behind them, meeting the gaze of each in turn. She knew their names, and recognized their faces, but hadn't spoken with most of them. They had no reason to trust her, aside from the commander's pins that adorned her discarded uniform. "That's why Wrex is guarding the armory. This isn't a mutiny, and it isn't up for discussion. I am taking this ship. Your choice is to stay, or go."
Pressly growled angrily, his face red, but there was little he could do. "I'll go," he said, with a dramatic shrug, pushing through the crowd on his way to the stairs. There were twenty minutes left, according to her omnitool, but she saw no point in arguing the decision.
Once he was gone, Kara didn't wait for anyone to take his place. "If anyone wants to talk to me in private," she announced, "I'll be in my cabin."
Kara sealed the airlock herself, sighing in irritation. She had lost thirteen personnel, just over half the crew, and seven marines. At least they had not attempted to organize any resistance, and forced her to respond in kind. Wrex's imposing presence on the command deck, fully armored and clutching his assault rifle, may have helped with that.
Turning to the nearest station, she activated the intercom. "All hands, this is Shepard. Prepare for departure." Best to be gone immediately, before the Alliance could muster resistance. They would already know what she had done, and their response would be quick in coming. "Garrus, get those docking clamps released. Moreau, you ready?"
"Ready to fly, cap'n," the pilot joked, turning in his seat.
Kara held back a sigh. It was easier to let the title pass unchecked. He was young and cocky, but also one of the best light warship pilots of his generation. Whatever doubts he faced internally, he had declared his side with a joke; as long as I get to fly. Soon, she hoped. "Garrus?"
"The Normandy's port systems access has been locked down. I'm attempting to send the release command through my CSec account. It'll take a few minutes," the turian growled from his seat at the forward console.
Kara brushed her fingers nervously through her hair. Everyone moment of delay was one more in which the Alliance could organize to stop them. It would not take long to send a squad of marines with cutting gear to try and retake the ship. At the same time, the Alliance's warships could move to blockade the local mass relays, which the Council's Citadel Fleet would not take kindly to. The first she could handle, but she had no desire to be the cause of an incident between the allied fleets.
"Captain, we've got company," declared Ensign Brynja Ásdísdóttir. She had been the second watch operations officer, previously, and a recent Academy graduate. Top of her class, brilliant, and hard-working, her type normally had the heads too filled with notions like duty and honor for much in the way of independent though. Yet, here she was.
Kara leaned over the young woman's shoulder, to study her display. Sixteen marines, in full battle gear, had formed up on the dock, just outside the airlock. One of them had a cutting torch. "They'll try and hack the controls first, Brynja," she said. "Hold them off as long as you can, but let them through the outer door before they start cutting."
"Yes, sir," Brynja said weakly. Given her age, and the tenseness of the situation, her self-doubt was understandable.
"You can do this," Kara said softly.
Brynja turned her head, determination fighting with fear behind her cool blue eyes. Silver hair, worn just long enough to be tied back, framed her narrow face. Her eyes darted away, shyly, and back again.
Laying her hand on the blond woman's shoulder, Kara smiled confidently. She had no choice but to trust the young officer's intentions.
Brynja's lips twitched in response, and she nodded slightly, then turned her attention back to the console.
Kara had considered the possibility that not everyone who stayed behind did so honestly, and might make plans to undermine her mission. Right now, as she turned towards Garrus, Brynja had the perfect opportunity to simply open the airlock, and allow the Alliance back in.
"We're running out of time, Garrus."
"They changed the encryption on their docking protocols," the turian grumbled. "I can't bypass it."
"Let me try," said Tali, who had been following Kara about since they left the mess. There hadn't been much for her to do, since the talking stopped, though she had—rather charmingly—attempted to match Wrex's intimidation value.
The turian vacated his chair. "Sure," he agreed, as the quarian took his place.
Kara leaned over the nearest console, and switched the intercom on again. "Wrex, you'd better get back up here. Bring my pistol."
She surprised even herself, there. She had assumed, consciously at least, that if the marines breached the ship she would let them take it without a fight. Likely the Council would decline to support her—they had not pre-approved her commandeering the Normandy—and she would spend the rest of her life in a cell. Did she really intend otherwise, endangering not only herself, but her crew?
"Captain!" Brynja cried, her soft voice sharp with panic. "They're about to break through!"
"Hey, stay calm," Kara told her, wishing she could take the same advice. Instead, she struggled to keep her thoughts focused on what needed to be done. She pulled open the airlock's access panel, and threw the manual lock. The marine would have to cut through the inner door, but it wouldn't take them long. "Tali…"
"I'm in, Kara," the quarian said excitedly. "I'm releasing the clamps… done!"
"Get us out of here, Moreau."
"Aye, sir," he muttered; quiet as it was, she could hear the relief in his voice. They had all taken a risk, and to fail even before escaping the Citadel would have been embarrassing. Now, at least, they could say they'd made a go of it.
The ship backed quickly away from the docking ring. As they turned, she could see an armored figure dangling over the edge of the platform, the other marines attempting to pull them up. In the low gravity, it was a relatively easy task.
Once they were clear of the Citadel, Kara made her way down the deck to the tactical display. The Normandy's thermal imaging systems were sensitive enough to detect the heat emissions from a ship's hull at extreme range, though the gasses of the Serpent Nebula reduced that by three-quarters. It was still far enough to see the cluster of ships, hanging about near the relay she'd hoped to use. From the size and shape, it was a combat group, a heavy cruiser and a half dozen escorts, one of several that the Alliance contributed to the Citadel Fleet, and an opposing turian patrol.
There were five relays in local space, and only two would take them in the direction of the Attican Traverse, and their first objective. She had chosen the primary relay, which would take them faster and farther, and though it was the more obvious choice, she had to assume that a fleet waited at the secondary relay as well.
"Bynja, activate the stealth systems," she ordered, over the intercom. Ordinarily, they would have been close enough for tracking on the visible spectrum, rendering the ship's thermal sinks useless, but she hoped the nebula would screen them, and allow them to disappear.
"Stealth systems active," Brynja reported. "External hull temperature is falling."
If all went well, they would be through the relay before the fleet could relocate them. If not, they would have to rely on speed and Council protection to escape. Was the Alliance really willing to risk a fight with a turian fleet in order to stop her?
"Captain," Garrus said, his mandibles closed in a tight frown. He had followed her back, and taken up the first officer's post. "I don't like the chatter I'm hearing. Too much tension."
That was troubling, certainly, but there was nothing she could do about it, except remove herself from the field.
"Wait—there are orders coming in from the flagship. Any ship that does not immediately return to its station will be subject to disciplinary action. Any ship that opens fire will be ejected from the Citadel Fleet."
There were seven species that contributed ships to the defense of Citadel space, some of which shared historical grievances. Harsh measures were sometimes necessary to maintain discipline, and prevent any minor incidents from escalating. This was just the sort of decision that might come from the fleet's asari admiral, without any intervention from the Council.
"The human captain has agreed to stand down," Garrus reported, his mandibles loosening slightly. "The turian fleet is turning off."
"Relay in five hundred kilometers," Moreau reported from the helm. "Initiating linkup."
If all went well, they would be gone in fifteen seconds, accelerated across the galaxy to speeds of over four hundred light years per hour, until they emerged from the exit-relay in about a day. It would leave then in salarian space, safe from interception by more Alliance ships.
"Hitting the relay in five… four… three… two… one…"
Kara breathed a sigh of relief, as they accelerated forward, hundreds of light-years from the Citadel in an instant. The change from normal speeds to extreme FTL was barely noticeable, protected by the powerful mass effect fields that the such speeds possible. "Garrus, I'm putting you in command," she said, stepping down from her post. "I'll have third watch drawn up and ready in four hours."
"Of course, Shepard," the turian nodded.
Kara brushed her hair back, as she headed below deck. Duty officer wasn't the only post she worried about filling. Moreau was the only qualified pilot she had left, and she was short on operations and tactical specialists. She would have to see if anyone could be borrowed from Engineering, or even the remaining marine contingent. That was, she reminded herself, how she had first taken up an XO's duties.
AN: I don't like Kara's speech, which is as good an explanation as any for why you're getting a combined chapter. Maybe it's just me, though. I can't imagine her going on for half an hour or anything, and it does say what it should.
As for the rest, well, surely you have your own opinion by now. I mostly added some contrary opinion, in the mess, and someone told me that I didn't go on about BAaT enough, so there's that, too. Added more Tali.
As always, the management encourages your comments.