Anderson
- January, 2183
"Lieutenant Commander Shepard, reporting for duty, sir."
"He's a tough son of a bitch." Fleet Admiral Hayes had told her before she sent her off from the Everest.
"Sir?" Messalina set down the two cups of coffee on the Admiral's desk. Hayes was the fleet commander, and commanding officer aboard the flag ship of the Second fleet. Shepard had been the Marine Commander of the 15th Battalion, which served as the HQ Marine detachment of the flagship. But even if Shepard was not a subordinate reporting directly to the Commanding Admiral, Admiral Emily Hayes had directly been involved in Shepard's N7 training since her junior years. At first it was an odd pairing that Special Forces Command had appointed her. Rear Admirals, as Emily Hayes was back then, rarely baby sat Lieutenants. But Messalina later found out it was a combination of the camaraderie of the Second fleet, which had been closely related with all the major offensives of the First-Contact war and the Skyllian Blitz, and the glaring and undeniable significance of the Star of Terra that acted in bringing the two together.
Emily Hayes had also been a close friend of Alan Shepard and a CO of Hannah Shepard. To Emily Hayes, Messalina was like the daughter (or more likely, granddaughter, considering her age) she never had.
"You're just like your mother." Hayes sipped her coffee, which she usually prepared herself, but Messalina had a knack for making what she called 'Admiral's coffee'. "I know you don't like to hear that."
Messalina shrugged. No, she didn't. But Emily Hayes had the annoying habit of continuously contrasting the two women whom she had the pleasure of guiding along in their careers.
"I had Alpha wing sent back to Arcturus duty." Messalina leaned back. "Must bore the hell out of Hannah."
"Did she say that?" Emily smiled. "She was the best navigator I've ever had; I'm repeating myself - habit of the old and dying. Make sure you let your words sink in."
"I don't mind." Messalina looked out the window at the view of Mars. Second fleet was overseeing nearly a half of its core command flotilla in routine maintenance. It also coincided with major personnel transfers, as was Shepard's case.
"I'm sorry you couldn't return to your beloved 103rd." Hayes continued. "But the interjection to transfer you to the Normandy came from way up beyond the brass. The brass, I can handle, but orders seemed to stem directly from the Alliance high council."
"Didn't know they were concerned with a lowly marine like me." Messalina had been planning on finishing her N7 tour with the 103rd, the division she began with back on Elysium. She had been hoping to reunite with some old friends. It had seemed almost in the box and as routine and smooth a transfer as she could have hoped for. At first she thought it was her mother fooling around, pulling the ropes to have her daughter follow in her footsteps as a full fledged naval officer than a marine. Accusatory remarks between mother and daughter was one of the reasons that Emily Hayes had to stage an intervention on Messalina's transfer day.
"So, it's not your mother, young lady. Do I make myself clear?" Emily Hayes glared at Messalina, before reaching out to tussle her hair.
"Okay." Messalina rolled her eyes. "I bet Hannah tattled on me, right?"
"Drop it."
"Okay." Messalina fidgeted about. "So you were telling me about Captain Anderson."
"N7, just like you." Emily emptied her cup. "One of the best and brightest of the early N7 program."
"I know that." Messalina rolled her eyes. "He's practically holds the Marine pantheon. Don't you think I'd have heard all the legends about the man?"
"I knew him back in the day when he was turned down Spectre candidacy."
"Oh?" Messalina arched her eyebrows. Messalina, like all the other Marines of the Alliance fleet, considered David Anderson their God. He was a legend among marines. N7, Spectre candidate, Super Space Marine who then went on to command his own ship, and a legend at even that. Bigger than life, and what was more interesting was that despite all the glory the Alliance could heap on him, he always bore the stigma as the man who failed to make Spectre, dashing the hopes of humanity for who knew how long until the Council would look at humanity again.
"He's stubborn." Emily sighed. "You'll love him. He actually reminds me more of your father."
Messalina was surprised again. "You knew my Father?"
Emily nodded. "A good soldier. A bit too much of a... what's the word...Paragon, if you must. Straight forward, but kind and considerate. Your grandfather always said he was a bit too philosophical. 'Space Jesus' is what he used to call him. Very different from Hannah."
"Grandpa never talked about Father. Nor did Hannah."
"Hannah was all fire within. She burned of ambition and fury. John, on the other hand, went all Buddha on your mother. They never fought because John never got angry. It always surprised me how such a calm and thoughtful young man could enlist in the Marines. It dismayed Alan as well. Your grandfather once told me that he had raised a Naval Admiral, only to see him become a grunt."
"Wish I'd known him."
"I always supported John's decision to become a Marine. Not because I had foresight, but I just believed that he would never make a hasty decision. And I proved right. John was a great Commander. Always calm and valiant in a bullet storm. I can remember when John first introduced Hannah to me. I could see that your flaming mother had been smitten by him. Damn shame."
"Shanxi?"
Emily Hayes nodded. "General William's army. John died only a few days before Williams surrendered the garrison."
"I never knew."
"I was still with the Second fleet back then. I found John's body." Emily looked off into the distance.
Messalina wanted to feel sad. But she never knew her father and could find little sorrow beyond regret to muster. She had forgiven the Turians long ago for her grandfather. And Alliance history among the stars ever seemed to mean that sacrifice always followed progress. She was just one among many, and she had always begrudged her mother because she always seemed to fight against what fate threw at her. If only Hannah could accept the misery that had plagued their family as the Shepards were embroiled in galactic history perhaps they would have found peace with each other.
"Welcome aboard, Commander." David Anderson returned the salute and extended a hand.
"It's an honor, sir." Messalina picked up her baggage and followed Anderson's entourage on board.
"Charles Pressly, ma'am." Staff Lieutenant Charles Pressley, the navigator was nearly eight years older than Messalina, but looked older. He was a 'mustang', an enlisted man who climbed the ranks to commission, which told of volumes of his skills as a navigator. Messalina, who had first worried about his chronological seniority being in the way, soon relaxed when she noticed he kept on staring at her in awe and admiration.
"Lieutenant." Messalina shook his hand.
"I served aboard the Agincourt before my officer'c commission. I saw you on Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz. I was also with you in the Second before I transferred over to the Fifth."
Messalina nodded, understanding why the man seemed so bewildered by her.
"I've always felt indebted to the Agincourt."
Pressly laughed nervously. "What's there to thank? You single-handedly wiped out the entire Batarian ground forces. We were there just to pick up your scraps."
Anderson's cough interrupted Pressly's nervous babbling. Pressly apologized and hurried off to his station as the CO and new XO entered the Captain's quarters.
"Take a seat, Commander." Anderson hunkered down on his soft recliner.
"Thank you, sir." Anderson was a huge man. In his early fifties, he was still extremely well built and muscular, with thick arms that even a ICT in training would admire. As Emily Hayes had told her, he was actually bigger than his reputation.
"Oh, and congratulations on making N7." Anderson poured them each a glass of brandy from his drawer. Messalina picked her glass up and returned the toast.
"It's an honor, sir."
"Don't give me that stiff 'sir', thing." Anderson chuckled. "Your reputation precedes you, Shepard. Emily Hayes seemed to have ran out of paper with the glowing letter of recommendation. I also received a note from Admiral Hackett. Who's ass do I have to kiss to get such surplus of laurels?"
"Sir?"
Anderson smiled. "Just pulling your leg, child." He finished his glass. "The Normandy is something of a political band wagon, Commander. It represents the harmony and cooperation between humanity and those damn Turians."
"I heard surprisingly little about the ship before coming here, sir."
News on the Normandy was bountiful, but once you removed the meaningless clout about 'cooperation' and 'Turians' and 'new step for the Systems Alliance in the Galactic Community', there was practically nothing that was known about the ship beyond its fragmented silhouette that was handed out during a press conference.
"We've mostly served as a Liaison to the Citadel Council." Anderson explained. "Like a test bed to see if humanity could handle the more delicate matters. We've often been deployed places that the Council would not dare publicly ask the Alliance to go. Retrieving STG operatives, Spectres, Serrice Commandos, you name it. That's where you come in, Commander."
"Sir?"
"My Marine Company Commander, Lieutenant Alenko, he's a bit youngish. Less experienced to lead a ground crew on some of our more sensitive missions."
"I see, sir."
Anderson shook his head. "No, no. Kaidan Alenko is a top of the line Marine. Normally he'd be going places. But Normandy's missions often requires something more than what your average Marine Commander can do. Alenko will still be Commander of Marine Company Normandy. I just want you to assume command in certain sensitive missions that would require your attention."
"Understood, sir."
Anderson took a moment to scrutinize Shepard one more time.
"Other than that, you'll be the XO, running the day to day operations, keeping the men in line and the ship afloat. I heard this will be your first position as an XO."
"Yes, sir."
"XOs are the mother of the ship's crew. This assignment will probably prepare you down the road when you make higher positions; I remember my time when I was XO on board a dreadnought. It's a valuable experience. You get to know your crew better. Chastise them, encourage them, make them better officers. It's quite different from heading a Marine company where you're more like an older brother to a string of young and frightened men."
"Yes, Captain."
"Remember that, Commander. Knowing your crew and being buddies with them is different. Your reputation is that of a Lone wolf. One of the best operatives in the business. You work alone, because you don't trust anyone else to do the job."
"Sir?" The sudden change of tone surprised Shepard.
"I know men like you, Commander." David Anderson now glared at her. "You always try to take on the world with your bare hands. You're a stranger to help. You bear the weight of the world. Because you never trust your men enough. Well I'm here to tell you that you can forget about me giving you a good review."
"Sir?"
"You're a hell of an officer, Shepard. The whole bloody Galaxy knows that. I'm here to make sure you become a great officer. So, I'm going to spam your service records with unsatisfactory reviews until I see you truly leading men. I know you're great at what you do. You're the best. But I think you can be more. So I'm not caring whether you do your job well from now on, Shepard. I want you to make everyone else do their job well, also. Understood?"
Tough son of a bitch, Messalina thought to herself as she made her way to the officer's quarters.