Chapter 6:

The MSV Kennedy

Shepard had already seen the inside of the Kennedy, but he was no less impressed with its smooth and natural look. It may have been the marine in him talking, but the ship almost made him feel right at home. There were three decks: the Combat Information Center, or CIC; the crew deck, which also held the captain's quarters; and the engineering deck, which shared its space with the shuttle bay. It was an old-styled look, with most modern ships having four decks or more, but Shepard liked the classic look and feel to the old ship. There was more history in these halls than in any existing Alliance ship currently in service. There were rumors the Admirals wanted to decommission it soon, but Shepard knew better. To decommission this ship, they'd first have to get through its captain.

Foster glared up and down the halls, scrutinizing every detail of his ship to make sure nothing was amiss. He'd been captain of the Kennedy for more than thirty-two years, and he'd be damned if he allowed anyone to fuck it up now. Any mistake he saw, he'd immediately get one of his crew to fix, usually by a sharp bark of "Fix that goddamned thing!" Shepard couldn't help but be impressed by the pure authority of the captain, as well as the expected intimidation. Commander Anderson also seemed to have a high amount of respect for the man, but after a few years of service, that was most definitely understandable. After a brief yet entirely unnecessary tour of the ship, Foster gave Shepard and Anderson leave to explore more of the Kennedy and talk with the crew, so long as they "get your asses to your stations for takeoff." Shepard didn't have to be told twice. He immediately went to the mess, hoping to catch a few crew members and introduce himself. The next several hours, if not several days, were going to be spent with the crew of the Kennedy, and he figured he needed to get to know the crew if he was going to be a productive member of the team. There were four crew staff sitting around the table in the mess hall, talking about the upcoming assignment. "How the hell am I supposed to know?" one of them asked. "I'm just a soldier."

Another one, a female, replied, "You're a sergeant, Riley. You're supposed to be fully briefed on this stuff."

Riley snorted. "Yeah, right. You think the captain tells me anything? Especially with that Commander Anderson's lips pressed firmly to his ass? I'm as out of the loop as the rest of you."

The third crew member looked up and paled when he saw Shepard. "Uh, guys?" he spoke up, getting the attention of the other two. The woman looked over at Shepard and flushed slightly, while Riley's arrogance eroded from his face.

"Lieutenant," he said stonily.

Shepard nodded. "Sergeant," he replied.

The woman rolled her eyes at her shipmate and stood up, offering her hand to Shepard. "Dr. Michelle Thomas, Lieutenant," she said, a genuine smile on her face. "It's nice to see you again."

Shepard's brow furrowed slightly as he tried to remember her. "I'm sorry, my memory from the last time I was here is a bit shoddy."

Michelle smiled understandably. "I'm the… well I was a medic at the time, now I'm a medical officer. I work on the Kennedy with Dr. Chakwas and she's teaching me a few things for when I get assigned to another ship, which should be after this mission-" she stopped when she saw Shepard's amused expression. "I'm babbling, aren't I?" she asked, mortified at herself. Shepard just shrugged, and she continued. "Anyway, I patched you up after Akuze,"

Shepard nodded, understanding. "Well, thanks. No one ever told me exactly how bad it was. You mind sharing?"

She smiled grimly and nodded. "It could've been worse, but not by a whole lot. You had too many broken bones to count, and were covered in blood. You were shot in the leg," she threw a glare to Riley, who only waved slightly to the chatting duo, "but nothing life-threatening, thank God."

Shepard's eyes fell back on Riley, who made himself appear as busy as possible with his drink. "What's your story?" he asked.

Riley shrugged. "Alliance brat since the day I was born, joined when I was eighteen, bested my entire class, and here I am," he finally looked over at Shepard. "A lot like you, huh, Lieutenant?"

Shepard shook his head slightly. He and Riley were almost night and day. Shepard was a good soldier, but he never "bested" anyone, never wanted to. He worked with units for a reason. He hoped he'd never have to work an assignment on his own, even if Akuze had proved to him that that was exactly what he'd have to do sometimes. "I'm more of a team player than an Omega varren," he said, amusedly noting the angering expression of Riley.

The other shipmate at the table chuckled slightly, and got up to shake Shepard's hand. "Corporal Frank O'Brien," he introduced himself, his voice thick with an Irish accent. "Heard about Akuze, Lieutenant. Hell of a thing, that. Seems like you've got someone looking out for ya."

Shepard nodded slightly. "Maybe so, Corporal," he replied, though he personally didn't believe the idea himself.

A fifth person joined the group briefly, asking Dr. Thomas for her help in the medbay. She left, and Shepard chatted with Corporal O'Brien for a bit longer, before being called to his station in the CIC. Callus was there as well, and seemed a bit surprised to see Shepard. "Expecting someone else?" Shepard asked.

"Kinda, yeah. With Udina's permanently terrible attitude, I figured you'd be sent back to Grissom by now."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Shepard smirked, and Callus laughed.

"No, I'm actually glad that you're here. Other than Commander Anderson, you seem to be the only human here with any real common sense."

"Well, don't let Captain Foster hear you say that. You'll be tossed out the nearest airlock faster than you can say 'belay that'."

Callus chuckled again and turned away. "Thanks, I'll remember that."

Shepard looked at the turian for a moment. Despite his composure, Shepard could see suffering in Callus, grieving over his father's loss. "How you holding up?" he asked.

Callus shook his head. "I'm fine," he replied, looking over at Shepard. He noticed the unbelieving expression on Shepard's face and sighed. "Dhalen wouldn't want me grieving. It's not our family's way. When his father was murdered by a krogan, he didn't grieve. He found the bastard and took him out. When my mother died, he didn't grieve. He took care of me and my brother and sisters, and raised us to be fighters. I'm sure as hell not going to disrespect his image by breaking down and crying. It's just not the right thing to do. So I'm going to find this son of a bitch, whoever he is, and I'm gonna make him pay. That is how I honor my father. Not by grieving."

Shepard nodded. He understood what Callus was going through, in a way. He noticed Captain Foster giving him a glare that told him to get back to work. "I should go," he said, slipping past Callus and moving to his station.

Joker's voice came in over the PA. "Final prep for takeoff is complete. We are ready to get going."

Foster nodded. "Take us to the Thal System in The Strike Abyssal," he commanded.

"Roger that. Coordinates for Altakiril punched in. We are away."

The Kennedy shuddered as it left the dock, turning to face Earth's atmosphere. The thrusters went to full blast, and the ship soon found itself out of the planet's orbit before engaging its FTL drive, sending it into faster-than-light speed. It would be about eight minutes before they hit the mass relay, and another hour before they arrived at Altakiril. After the relay was cleared, Foster gave non-critical crew members leave to rest, but warned them to be ready to relieve their shipmates as needed. Shepard took a shift at a heat-load monitor station, but other than that he hung out in the lounge, talking with O'Brien, Callus, and Thomas. Riley insisted on being on the engineering deck to tend to the weapons, which was fine with Shepard. He didn't like the sergeant, for reasons he couldn't quite figure out. He reminded him of the less presentable members of the Reds years ago. He also checked his message. Udina had cleared him for temporary N7 status, though he was sure Admiral Hackett had more to do with this than Udina. The armor had already been delivered to the ship and was waiting in Shepard's locker. Shepard sighed as he went down into the engineering deck and, ignoring the less-than-subtle glare from Riley, he opened his locker and found his armor sitting there. It was a fairly standard Onyx IV moderate armor, but there was one thing that stood out on the chestpiece. Shepard lifted it up and ran his thumb over it, as though it was a drop of paint that could be rubbed off in a matter of seconds. But there, undeniably, was the symbol he'd been working two years to earn.

Captain Foster's rough voice pulled Shepard out of his thoughts, and he placed the chestpiece back into the locker, taking one last look at the N7 symbol branded on the piece near the left shoulder before closing his locker and jogging back to the CIC.