Ashley
- May, 2186
The visit to Sarah's had not gone well; Ashley had been preoccupied with the special assignment. Thomas had been at home as well, for a brief shore leave to see his daughter. To her annoyance, Thomas had suggested naming her 'Messalina', which Ashley shot down.
"I thought you wanted that, Ashley." Abby was home from her flight attendant job aboard a civilian liner, and still in uniform when the sisters all gathered around the baby. Abby had also wanted to join the Services, but after Dad's death, she opted for civilian life.
The baby was such a small thing, cradled in one arm, she was still pinkish, and sleeping.
"Shepard's incarcerated." Ashley replied, turning to Thomas and Sarah. "I think you'd want to refrain from naming your daughter after someone who's under arrest."
"That's bull, Ashley." Thomas shook his head. "Everyone knows that Shepard did the right thing."
"Emily Wong wrote a lengthy article criticizing the Alliance's arrest of Commander Shepard. I've scrapped it for you, if you're interested." Sarah offered.
"Emily Wong would sing praises of Shepard's grace even if she'd seen her dancing." replied Ashley, dryly.
"I would have thought you'd be the first one defending her, Ash." Thomas shrugged.
"Not sure who she is anymore." Ashley spoke to herself.
"Welcome aboard, Lieutenant Commander Williams." The synthetic voice chimed as Ashley entered the familiar yet different interior of the SR-2 Normandy. Synthetic voices annoyed Williams to no end. What was the point of keeping a VI door keeper for a battleship? Besides, the Normandy was undergoing security rehaul. It had been in dry docks, taken apart, put back together over and over again as the Alliance engineers scrutinized the Cerberus designs.
A young deck officer hurried over to greet her.
"Specialist Samantha Traynor, ma'am." She was carrying a stack full of data clips that clattered to the floor as she saluted. Ashley bent down and helped her collect them. "I'm here overseeing the Alliance systems retrofit of the onboard ship functions."
"What's with the VI?" Ashley jerked her thumb in the general direction.
"Oh, EDI?" Samantha seemed to brighten up. "She's the ship's weapons and navigation assistant VI. Isn't she the smoothest thing?"
Ashley stared at the younger woman. "You don't get out much, do you?"
They walked down the aisles of consoles. The ship was larger than the SR-1. Specs had showed about twice the length.
"Command didn't exactly specify what you were here for ma'am." Traynor ventured.
"Investigating, kid." Ashley reached the door which she had assumed had opened to the stairwell, but was surprised to find a corridor extending farther into the ship.
"That leads to the new 'War Room', ma'am." Traynor explained. "It's a new tactical setup fitted with Quantum entanglement communicators."
"Pretty heavy stuff for just a frigate."
"Oh!" Traynor seemed miffed. "The Normandy's not just simply a frigate. It's practically a cross between your smaller... well Normandy class frigate, you know the SR-1-"
"Yeah, been there." Ashley shrugged, looking around, and finding her way to the elevators.
"-And a cruiser. But far more advanced than either. She's decked out with bleeding edge technology, Thanix cannons, cyclonic barriers-"
"Uh, huh." Ashley entered the elevator, hoping to lose Traynor, but the young woman hopped on, chattering.
"-And of course, the most awesome VI I've ever met."
Ashley squinted at her. "You're really into female synthetic voices, or just the Normandy VI?"
That shut her up. Ashley flicked on the omni tool to locate the mainframe, which seemed to lead her across the med bay, to what would usually have consisted of Liara's room back on the SR-1. Samantha Traynor was now tagging along anxiously.
"Are you following me, Specialist?" Ashley turned sharply, scrutinizing the girl.
"Well they did tell me to help you around the ship."
"Who's 'they'?" Ashley squinted.
"Admiral Hackett-"
Ashley pushed Traynor out of the Med bay and locked the door behind her. It was jarring to be on the 'new' Normandy. The old ship had so many memories. It was her first major battle, and for her her career had been coasting along smoothly. She had told herself several times that it was just good judgement. Shepard's reckless behavior had placed the entire Normandy crew in jeopardy over Alchera. The Normandy had been her first ship, and now it was dead and replaced by this Cerberus contraption.
Just like Shepard.
Well, she was here to find out just how deep Cerberus went.
"Computer, open the Core."
To her annoyance the computer blocked her entry.
"I am sorry, Lieutenant Commander Williams. Access to the Core is restricted to-"
"I have authorization from both the Second fleet command to which this ship is impounded, as well as the Disciplinary Council to which its former CO is subject to. I can well blast a hole in this ship and drill my way through if that suits you, better."
There was a hesitant pause, which was odd, before opening, "Access granted."
There was something weird going on. Ashley's hunches screamed at her as she entered the Core with heightened suspicion.
"I want all files concerning project 'Lazarus'."
Unbeknownst to Ashley, the ship began sending a series of simple binary codes to an encrypted address "01001000/01000101/01001100/01010000".
"How you doing, LC?"
Ashley had been poring over the data concerning Shepard's resurrection. The data had been run through the analysts a billion times over, but the issue had still remained unresolved: Was Messalina Shepard the woman she claimed to be?
The Lazarus data, compiled by one Miranda Lawson, was clear and succinct. Cerberus had received Shepard's body via Liara T'Soni. Clone parts were substituted only in forms of stem cells programmed with termination sequences to self destruct once their assistant functions were completed. No whole organs or tissues were used. Hence Messalina was truly Messalina constructed from the cell up. Ashley shrugged; Whatever the lingo, the Alliance scientists were satisfied that Shepard's body was indeed Shepard's body.
What mattered was still up for grabs: Whether Shepard's mind was still her own. And the person who had just overruled her security lock down of the Core to intrude upon her investigations was just the person she wanted to see.
"Joker," Ashley flashed a predatory grin as she stalked over to the young man in the wheel chair, surrounded by security guards.
"Uh-oh." Joker replied, dryly. "I was expecting something like, 'how'd you get in here?' Or, 'Joker!', more happily. But just 'Joker', like that makes me think that you were expecting I'd come running."
"You can leave him with me, boys." Ashley excused the guards.
"No! Don't go, fellas." Joker hollered after them. "She's going to cripple me."
"Get out of the wheel chair, Joker." Ashley glared at him. "I know you can walk."
Joker waited until the guards were out of the room before he got out of his chair. "Do you know how awkward it is for those goons to trail me around doing nothing? Better to have them push my divan, you know? Also it tends to accentuate my disability, which is good when I'm called in for trial. Gains a lot of sympathy points."
"Yeah, really funny." Ashley smiled. "So is your illegal AI."
Joker nearly stumbled back wards, which would have actually cause him to get crippled again.
"She's not an AI." he defended weakly.
"No kidding." Ashley slowly began pushing Joker towards the wall. "Secret's safe with me, Joker. That's not what I'm here for. But if you want, that COULD be what I'm here for."
Joker visibly gulped.
"How you been, Ash?"
Ashley let him go, sitting down on floor as Joker eased himself to a position across her, but out of arms length.
"Fine, you know, same old same old." Ashley shrugged. "Doctor Chakwas seems to be off the hook. Not so lucky in your case."
"Tell that to Shepard." Joker's face twisted into disgust. "She saves the Galaxy and now they're punishing her for it."
"Tell me about it." Ashley agreed.
"Yeah, right." Joker shrugged.
"No. I mean: TELL me about it." Ashley shifted emphasis.
"Don't tell me you're agreeing with them!" Joker shouted. "After all we've been through!"
"All you've been through, Joker." Ashley replied, her vague anger at being left out of the Normandy resurfacing. "It was always Shepard and you, Shepard and Liara. Always planning and cooking things up. You never trusted me on anything. You made me cover for you when we were looking for the Reapers in the Omega Nebula, but Shepard never trusted me with sensitive information, did she?"
"Is that what this is all about?" Joker frowned. "Hell, yeah, she's never trusted you as much as she trusted Liara, or me, or Garrus, or Tali. Do you know why?"
Ashley boiled in anger.
"EDI," at Joker's prompt a globe like holographic projection popped up.
"Yes, Jeff." The computer's voice had softened noticeably, no longer under the pretense of being a VI.
"EDI here is an AI." Joker continued addressing Ashley. "EDI, can you play back any conversations you had with Shepard?"
The recordings immediately ensued. Shepard's voice filtered through the speakers over their uncomfortable glaring.
"'Good job, EDI...'
'I won't know what to do without you...'
'You're an invaluable member of this crew...'
'You have to make decisions for yourself, EDI. It's a part of what's being, well, sentient...'
'You know if Joker keeps asking you to make moaning noises, you can always simulate it in his voice-"
"No, not that part." Joker cut EDI off.
"What do you want to tell me, Joker?" Ashley's face turned livid. "That she trusted the damn computer more than me?"
"That's not the point, Ash." Joker replied. "Shepard was open to everyone. She accepted cripples, Cerberus, turians, quarians, asari, salarians, AI, anyone with a semblance of rational thought ... and Wrex. Shepard could accept everyone if they believed they could work together. She never discriminated."
"She'd do that for anyone who followed her ideals." Ashley countered. "She never really changes her tune, does she? Either you follow her lead, or she ditches you."
"You know when we were going after Saren, Shepard would wait patiently through everything the Council threw at her. I'd used to bug her to terminate communications. Annoyed the hell out of me that those ingrates would question her actions. But she never did, did she? She always heard them out. Let them say what they wanted. That's what made her special, Ash. Don't tell me she ditched you for your views. You know what she told me after Horizon? She had Garrus and me up in the cabin. Garrus told me he wanted to shoot your face for what you said to the Commander."
"Why that skull faced-" But Joker shooed her down.
"Shepard defended you, Ashley. She said that she knew where that was coming from, and that she was sorry TO you. Not FOR you. She said she was sorry that she couldn't earn your trust, and she was sorry that she shut you away because... you know... Kaidan."
Ashley was silent.
"If you still think she's a mind controlled robot, I can vouch for her that she isn't. She's the same frustrating, all encompassing, leave-no-one-behind Space Jesus. She'll never hug you, because that's her thing. But she'll never leave you."
Ashley collected her data clips and got up without a word. Walking to the door she turned around one last time before she left. "Thanks, Jeff."
Joker looked on at the door closing after Ashley, deep in thought of his own. He hoped Ashley got the message. The two had always been bitter, but Jeff Moreau prided himself of his instincts.
"Shepard never said that, Jeff." EDI interrupted. "In fact, Vakarian, Shepard and you have never conversed following the incident on Horizon."
"I'm sure she wanted to, EDI." Joker replied, quietly. "That's what the Commander was like. She'd never talk about what she thought. But she always acted on it."
"Shepard actually commented about Lieutenant Commander Williams when she was alone in her cabin." EDI informed him.
"Oh? What did she say, EDI?" Joker asked, intrigued.
Shepard's voice replayed through the speakers.
"'Stuck up, bitch. Aim for the eyes, Boo.'"
Joker smacked his dry lips. "Yeah, let's keep that one a secret, EDI."
Ashley exited the Normandy, still thinking about Joker and Shepard. Hailing down a passing floater she made her exit.
"HQ." she directed the vehicle before patching up Admiral Hayes.
"I got what I came for, Admiral." Ashley reported as she exited the Normandy and entered the vast dry dock.
"Any conclusions?" Hayes's voice was mixed with static over the communications, but unmistakably anxious.
"No," Ashley shook her head. "Just a name. Miranda Lawson."