Chapter 12: Service
"Kelly, I'm going to have to ask you to step away from that computer," said the Commander as he glared at the woman standing before him and drew his pistol to point it squarely at her.
Laced with panic, she stood up and said, "Is something wrong, Commander? Why are you pointing a gun at me?"
Shepard looked at her dubiously and said, "I could ask you what you're doing with Miranda's computer." Walking closer to her, he continued, "Or how you have her password?"
The smile vanished from Yeoman Chambers face as she realized the depth of her trouble. As she looked like she was getting ready to make a fateful decision. She darted down to press a button on the keyboard, stopped only by the firing of Shepard's weapon at point blank range. Looking straight at her, he fired.
The console was gone.
"Look what you did!" she shouted as the shrapnel from the computer had cut Chambers such that she was bleeding in a few location.
"Dr. Chakwas can fix you, if I allow it," said Shepard.
At just that moment, the discharge of the weapon had brought Miranda running into her office to see what had happened. Looking at Shepard, then at Chambers, she put two and two together. Her eyes narrowed as she walked past Jared and toward Kelly.
"Miranda, it isn't what it looks like…"
Her protestation was interrupted by a strong slap across her pretty face, as Miranda sent Kelly flying into a bulkhead. Kelly shrieked and prepared to get up to attack the other woman, but Miranda used her biotic pushing ability and pinned her against the wall.
"Who are you working for, you little bitch?" she asked.
Jared was tempted to intervene, but as interrogations weren't necessarily his strong point, he simply watched Miranda show this side of herself he had rarely seen before.
Unable to resist any longer, Kelly spat her response like an accusation, "I'm working for humanity. I'm working for who we all were supposed to be working for, Miranda."
"The man knew those who had worked with Shepard before had a tendency to go soft. I'm not surprised about the others, but who would have thought that you would become his little mistress?"
As soon as the words escaped her mouth, the yeoman was given cause to regret them as her body was powerfully slammed against the wall with biotic power. Miranda was livid.
"Who died and made you captain of this ship?" asked Miranda. "If it wasn't for Shepard, you'd be food for some Reaper freak."
"Exactly," Kelly said as she looked past Miranda to Shepard, "We have a real enemy coming, and we don't have the time to play nice. I know better than anyone what they can do, and we need Cerberus to lead this fight."
She laughed wickedly, showed an evil expression and said, "Do you really think you can scare me after what I've been through already on that Collector vessel?"
Just like everyone else on board the Normandy except for Shepard's strike team, Chambers had been taken prisoner by the Collectors and removed beyond the Omega-4 Relay. Fortunately, the Commander was able to save them just in the nick of time, a fate far better than the abducted colonists received.
Chambers continued, "I'll tell you what you want to know. Yes, I was keeping in touch with the Illusive Man, and considering he built this ship and this captain, he has a right to know what is happening with his investment."
While Miranda held her in place, Jared thought about her position. She always knew every message coming in, was responsible to ensure the well-being of all crew members, and was a psychologist who had always seemed just a bit too naïve for her own good. Shepard had been known to have a soft spot for women, as well, and that was probably no accident either.
The ginger haired woman rattled on, "Don't think I am ungrateful, Commander. I appreciate all you have done, and we would be dead without you. But this is a war, and I will do whatever it takes to see those slimy bastards dead." She looked sincere as she continued, "I know what they did to me, and I'm going to get even with them."
Here was a motivation he understood, and Jared motioned to Miranda to release her.
From her position several feet above the deck, she felt out of the air and collapsed onto the ground. Shepard looked over at Lawson as this wasn't what he meant, but she only shrugged as she kept eyes focused on the girl who was collecting herself.
She stood, straightened her uniform, and awaited whatever judgment.
"Did you know your Cerberus may have just started another war? The entire news network is full of stories about how our crew slaughtered the Batarians and now I'm a planet-killer."
Chambers responded, "I said no such thing. My job was merely to report on what was happening."
"Bullshit," replied the man who was getting angrier at her deception. "If you were just reporting, why go through this elaborate deception to indict Miranda? If you hadn't done this, I would never have known…"
"I have orders from a higher authority, Commander," said Kelly. "I'm a good soldier. I do what I am told."
"You're not a soldier on my ship, anymore. You'll be going to the brig, and you can stay there until I decide what to do with you."
Shepard called for two of the security detail to take the Yeoman to abandoned quarters and make sure she remained confined there for the remainder of this journey. As she walked past Jared and Miranda, Kelly held her head high but said nothing.
After she left, Shepard went to look at the destroyed computer, seeing the few blood stains on the ground from the impact. He wondered what she had been writing, and who was pulling her strings as he thought about what had happened.
Looking over at Lawson, he saw she was shaking with anger still, and she spoke, "I cannot believe he put a mole on my ship. After all I did for that man, he still didn't trust me. He never trusted me."
The Commander didn't know what to make of those statements, but he knew Dr. Lawson had been an important Cerberus operative for many years. He would also be mad if someone didn't believe in his mission, even though he had initially seen Miranda as watching him in perhaps the same way Kelly was watching her. Games within games continued, never seeming to come to an end.
He looked at her, speaking in his earnest voice as he told Miranda, "I trust you."
In that moment, her anger turned to hot tears, and she threw herself on Jared. As the moisture trickled onto his face, she whispered, "And I love you." In this moment, Shepard couldn't deny his own feelings and kissed her deeply.
She smiled tenderly, but then took a step back, and said, "But he will pay," with the emphasis placed heavily on will.
Shepard only nodded as he watched Lawson walk through her office.
"EDI, do you know what message was being sent?"
"No, Commander, the information was lost during your ballistic solution."
The virtual intelligence's sense of humor was improving thought Shepard, but before he could do much else, a patch came through on the line.
"Commander," spoke the familiar voice of the helmsman, Jeff "Joker" Moreau. It seemed only the computer ever called him Jeff, as the rest of the crew knew him simply as Joker. Crippled by Vrolik Syndrome, a malady that made his bone structure extremely brittle, he made up for his lack of physical prowess by proving himself one of the best pilots in the galaxy.
"What is it, Joker?" was his reply
"We're ten minutes from Arcturus, and they're instructing us to land there."
"Affirmative, Joker. I'll be ready, Shepard out."
He didn't have as much time to investigate this scene as he would like, but with duty calling it seemed there was no better option. As he said this, Kasumi walked into the room.
"It seems like you two had quite the party. Why wasn't I invited?" she said with a smile.
Miranda blushed a little bit as she still hadn't fully recovered herself, but Shepard said, "Now really isn't the time. I just learned we had a spy on our ship and…"
"How fascinating," was the reply by the master thief. "And now you have other things to do. Why don't you let me figure out what had happened here?"
The offer came as a surprise to the Commander who hadn't devoted much thought to what position Kasumi would have going forward. While everyone else either had some other mission to follow, or had disappeared at the Citadel, she had remained for reasons he had yet to determine. As he was thinking about whether or not she could be trusted, the thief's intuition answered his question.
"Commander, if I wanted to cause you trouble, I wouldn't have been caught." She smiled in her disarming way. "Trust me, and keep an eye on Jacob, will you?"
She walked over to the computer and looked at the pieces. "I love the cowboy approach."
Shepard simply shook his head and motioned for Miranda to leave the room with him. They walked to the elevator and back toward the bridge. Jacob was already there waiting, as he must have been informed by Joker that the landing would happen momentarily.
"I heard there were some fireworks downstairs. Everything alright?" asked Taylor as he checked each of his weapons and made sure his uniform looked crisp and ready for presentation.
"Same as it ever is," replied the Commander.
"That bad?" replied Jacob.
"It appears Yeoman Chambers was a spy the entire time," said Shepard. "But she won't be telling any more secrets."
"Good. I hate loose ends."
Their conversation complete, the three simply waited as Joker maneuvered the ship toward the massive Arcturus Station. Home to both the Fifth Fleet and the Systems Alliance Parliament, it is a torus over five kilometers long and heavily defended. Orbiting the gas giant Themis, the strategic value of this system was being the only point of entry to the Sol System via the mass relays.
As the ship moved forward to dock, Shepard looked at Miranda and Jacob and told them, "I don't know what to expect here, so let's not say anything more than we need to do."
A soft whirring noise indicated docking was complete and the passage between the vessel and station was being pressurized. A green light indicated it was safe to enter, and Commander Shepard stepped forward with Lawson and Taylor flanking him.
Upon opening the door, the Commander was greeted by an unfamiliar face. Standing before him was a man who looked to have already seen his share of combat, having a strong build and a lean athletic look. He wore the uniform of a sergeant, and spoke with a baritone voice.
Saluting sharply, the man said, "Sergeant James Vega, Commander. Welcome to Arcturus. The admiral sent me to escort you to his quarters."
Returning the salute, something he had not done in many years, Jared was reminded that he was entering a world that would seem foreign to him. While he was more approachable than many other officers, perhaps because of working with teams of highly unique specialists, most in the Systems Alliance were by the book.
"I'm not sure the rank still applies," he said to Vega as the sergeant escorted them up the walkway and into the main station.
"The Admiral said you were still the Commander," replied the sergeant. "It's an honor to meet you, sir. You're something of a legend in these parts."
Shepard laughed at that, "I just do what is necessary to get the job done."
"Reapers, Collectors, now the Batarians, you take them all down…" he began to list off the enemies.
"What did you say, Sergeant?" asked Shepard as he listened to the list.
"The Batarians?" inquired Vega. "They had it coming. They've been a thorn in our side for years, and most people here are happy you struck back, taught those raiders a lesson they hopefully won't soon forget."
"Listen," said Shepard, "It's never a good thing to kill people. Yes, there were Batarians who were bad men out there, but there were a great many more innocents, and if you think I wanted them dead, you better think again."
Taking a step back, Vega said, "Woah, no offense, sir." He offered apologetically, "I'm just telling you the scuttlebutt."
After that, the conversation stopped, but Shepard took the silence as an opportunity to catch up as he walked through the station. It was some distance to the Fifth Fleet headquarters since the Normandy had to dock at a private berth, as a vessel currently not part of the Navy. Seeing this station where almost everyone was human was a rare sight for all three of the companions.
As they walked, onlookers couldn't help but peek at Shepard. A few children pointed while adults whispered but all seemed to look upon Jared with pride and admiration. The first Specter from humanity, the savior of the Citadel, and those were only the parts they knew. Few knew about the Collector missions, but rumors had swept across the galaxy of his many feats. His favorite was killing a thresher maw with only a rifle and some grenades, which with a heavy assist to Grunt, was actually true.
As he walked through the political section of the station, he couldn't help but notice who had the most digital posters placed throughout the aisles. Terra Firma, the political party that wanted to put Earth first, seemed to be coming into the ascendancy. Shepard had never really cared for their positions as he respected aliens and made good friends with many different species. They had sought his support once before which he politely declined since he had no desire to make any new enemies either.
After a few more minutes, they finally reached the headquarters of the Systems Alliance fleet. Sergeant Vega escorted the Commander and his crew past security and into a conference room where they were told to wait.
It was a spacious room, with enough seating for eight or nine people. The room was structured such that there was a table for a small group of speakers, with three seats, facing a semi-circular table that looked down on them. From his time here, Shepard knew such rooms were often used for hearings, and he expected such today.
Once seated, a series of Admirals entered the room, with Admiral Hackett standing at the center. There was enough brass in this one room to start a war or see a man hanged. Out of respect, Shepard rose and waited until all were seated.
"Please be seated, Commander" spoke his friend.
Reading a prepared statement, Hackett said, "The Systems Alliance thanks Commander Shepard for his service in the rescue of Dr. Kenson who died in defense of her colleagues at the Alliance installation. In recognition of his bravery in this and countless other actions in defense of humanity, Commander Jared Shepard is hereby awarded the Medal of Honor for brave and valorous service."
Not knowing what to say, Shepard simply said, "I am honored, Admiral."
The Admiral continued reading, "Furthermore, with the full consent of the Systems Alliance Parliament, and with the support of Counselor Anderson, the request by Commander Shepard for reinstatement into the Systems Alliance fleet has been accepted. With the consent of the Commander, the Normandy will be reintegrated into the Human fleet."
Shepard found it too good to believe that something was actually going right, but he wasn't about to question it, "The Normandy is back where she belongs."
Hackett only nodded as he continued, "Dr. Miranda Lawson shall receive a commission into the Systems Alliance Navy as a Lieutenant Commander, remaining posted on special assignment to the Normandy unless otherwise instructed by the Admiralty, if she so consents."
It was a higher rank than she had expected, as Miranda knew her situation would be the most difficult, but she rose, saluting, "Sir, it will be my honor to serve you, humanity, and the fleet."
Hackett nodded, and continued, "Jacob Taylor shall be reactivated into the Systems Alliance Navy while being awarded a field commission of First Lieutenant, remaining posted on special assignment to the Normandy unless otherwise instructed by the Admiralty, if he so consents."
Jacob rose, simply saying, "Yes, sir."
Hackett said, "Good. Lastly, Commander Jared Shepard, in addition to your reinstatement, it is the opinion of the Systems Alliance Parliament that in recognition of your outstanding service that you be granted a promotion, hereby earning the rank of Captain, continuing in the excellent role you have undertaken with the Normandy."
Shepard didn't know what to say, so he simply stood up, and said, "Thank you, sir."
Hackett put down the datapad and said, "Lieutenant Commander Lawson and Lieutenant Taylor will need to be formally sworn into service. Sergeant Vega, please escort them to Commander Felix so we can get them up to speed."
Vega stepped to over to Miranda and Jacob who looked over at Shepard before he gave them an imperceptible nod, and they departed.
Admiral Hackett said to Shepard, "Captain, I'll see you in my room in fifteen minutes. My adjutant will be here shortly to escort you."
After making his statement, Hackett arose as did all the other admirals and they left the room, leaving Shepard alone in this empty place. He thought about what he had expected, and found himself wondering what just happened. No inquiries, no hearings, and a promotion seemed entirely too easy.
A door opened at the side of the room, and a familiar voice said, "Captain, I'm to escort you to the Admiral."
The last time he had heard that voice was in anger and accusation, but he would never forget it so long as he would live, even as her words had cut him deeply when last they spoke. He looked up to see her brown hair running down her shoulder as she was dressed in her formal blues as opposed to the white and red suit she usually chose to wear. She had a small smile on her face, and looked upon her former skipper with kindness instead of accusation.
"Ash."
Author's Note: I hate waiting for cliffhangers to resolve themselves, so I continued Shepard's story line for another turn here. I'm introducing Vega now since he will be in Mass Effect 3, but I have no idea if my character will mesh with what BioWare is designing. It should be interesting. I also will be developing Kasumi more.
I really appreciate your reviews, and the logic behind the saboteur as well as the Batarian situation was compelling. I've often thought Cerberus would want to see humanity more militarized, and the benefit of being ready to face one enemy would only help when the Reapers came. Comments and speculation is always welcome, as I am ad-libbing most of what I'm writing at this point.