Chapter 47: A Day Off… Kinda

Rah sat in the waiting area of Huerta Memorial's cybernetic surgery wing. He sat in one of the chairs closest to the doors leading into the hall where the operation rooms were. His head was down, his eyes closed, and he had an earpiece from his omni-tool in one ear with one of his music playlists blaring.

As much as he told himself that he didn't care about the stares from the others in the room, he felt slightly put off by them. He knew that if he was in his Alliance uniform, he'd draw more unwanted attention than his current clothes. Jack had shoved the outfit into his hands before they left the Dawn earlier that morning, demanding that he wear it.

"If you're not going to look like the Alliance officer you are, then you're going to look like my fucking boyfriend." She'd commanded him.

Rah had simply chuckled before putting on the combat boots, black cargo pants, one of his N7 shirts and a leather jacket with the sleeves ripped off. With all of this on and his ink, he looked more like a gang member than a guy waiting for his girlfriend to be out of surgery. Compared to the others in the waiting area, all of them civilians, he was very much out of place.

Rah opened his eyes and looked to his right when he felt someone sit in the chair next to him. Sitting in the chair, was a young Asari girl. The Asari was looking up at him with wide eyes of curiosity and confusion. Around the room, Rah could feel the collective breaths that everyone in the room was holding.

"Hello there little one." Rah smiled to the girl, pulling his earpiece out and shutting down his omni-tool. "How are you this fine day?"

"I'm alright." the girl replied, her gaze moving to his arms. "Why do you have so many?"

"Some have meaning, others just look cool." Rah chuckled with a grin.

"Do they hurt?"

"Only when I first got them." he gave her a toothy grin. "Why so interested?"

"They look pretty," the girl responded and lifted up on hand, but hesitated. "Can I touch one?"

"Go ahead." Rah chuckled to her and turned his arm towards her, presenting her with his family's broken sword tattoo.

The girl slowly put one finger on the ink, then her whole hand. She made a face of confusion, clearly not feeling what she'd expected.

"It doesn't feel like I thought it would." The girl pouted.

"It's an old tattoo. The newer ones feel much different. Sadly, most of mine are old now." He replied softly.

"Get away from him sweetie," a rough man's voice spoke above the two of them, almost in a growl. "You don't know what he is."

"You're right, you don't." Rah replied, smiling up to the rough face the glared down at him. "For all you know, I'm a mass murderer. I could be the lowest piece of trash this galaxy has ever seen. For all you know, I could be a doctor, or a priest. I could be one of the most respected people in the 'verse, and you wouldn't know. All you have to go off of, is how I dress."

"I told you to get away from him," the man snarled to the Asari girl.

"But he's an N7 daddy! You told me that N7s were some of the greatest people you knew!" The girl pleaded back, pointing to the marking on his shirt.

Neither Rah now the girl's father had the chance to respond. The doors that lead into the rest of the wing opened, and a nurse in crisp scrubs stepped into the room.

"General Carmine?" The Nurse asked, reading from a clipboard in his hands.

"Yes?" Rah asked, standing up.

"Lieutenant Commander Naught is out of surgery, I will take you to her recovery room." The nurse replied, rolling his eyes at the man standing in front of Rah.

"Awesome." Rah grinned back to the nurse before turning to the Asari's father. "Like I said, you wouldn't have known."

Rah left to follow the nurse, leaving the man to gape at his back.

The nurse lead him through a winding series of corridors until they stopped in front of a door to one of the rooms. The nurse lead him in to find Jack laying on the lone bed in the room with one of the hospital's doctors standing over her.

"How'd it go?" Rah asked the room.

"Everything went in smoothly, there is no damage as far as I can tell, and no signs of rejection yet." the doctor read from a file he was holding. "We'll need to keep her here a few days until we're certain the amp took."

"Thanks doc." Rah smiled to the doctor before reaching Jack's bedside.

"That you Boyscout?" Jack asked, her words slurring and eyes barely open.

"I'm here Princess." Rah replied with a grin. The doctor put a hand on his shoulder before telling him to not stay too long. Both the doctor and the nurse left them to their privacy.

"How you holding up?" Rah asked, sitting on the bed with her.

"Higher than a kite," she yawned. "But like shit too."

"Well it could be worse," he smirked. "It could be raining."

"Ha ha." she yawned, rolling her eyes.

"Get some rest alright? I'll be back in a little bit when you wake up. Just try not to destroy the place if I'm not here."

"No promises." Jack replied softly before falling asleep.

Rah placed a light kiss to her forehead before leaving the room. He had some business to take care of in the hospital before he could take care of a matter of galactic importance.


"Major Alenko?" Rah asked when he stepped into the room of Shepard's old friend.

"Yes?" Kaidan Alenko replied from his spot in his bed. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, you can." Rah replied coolly, extending out his hand. "My name is General Robert Carmine. I'm an old friend of Shepard's."

"General… I…" the man stuttered and began trying to stand and salute and completely ignoring Rah's outstretched hand.

"Relax Major. I'm off duty. Just here to talk to you about something that's come up recently."

"Has something happened to Shepard?" Kaidan asked, a worried look coming to his battered face.

"I'm not here about her, I'm here about you." Rah folded his arms over his chest, giving the younger man a cold and even stare. "I'm here about your unjust promotion to Major and the offer that Udina has given you."

"Wha- unjust?!" Kaidan's eyes went impossibly wide and a dangerous look came into his eyes.

"Yes, unjust," Rah reiterated, his voice snapping Kaidan into listening to him. "As far as I can tell, you should not have been promoted past Second Lieutenant."

"May I ask why, Sir." Kaidan's voice held a hint of defiance in it, yet like the good little soldier he was, he stayed inside the lines of regulations.

"You're a good man Alenko, Shepard herself put that into your file. You are not however, fit to effectively lead troops put under your command. From everything that I've seen and read about you, you are too much of a 'by the book' person to make the choices those put in charge are required to make."

"The regs are there for a reason Sir."

"And that reason is one you clearly don't understand," Rah cut him off before he could say anything more. "As a leader, as a person in charge of the lives of everyone under you, you need to realize that the reg are a guideline. They're not there to be followed to the letter, they are there to give NCOs and grunts something to follow until their officer decides to toss them out the window.

"As a leader of any sort, you need to be able to tell what regs you give a shit about and what ones can go screw themselves. I had hoped that you would have learned that while under Shepard, yet you clearly did not."

"Why are you telling me this Sir." Kaidan's voice bordered on defiance and disobedience. Rah's words hadn't stoked the flames that needed to be stoked for Rah to consider letting him keep his rank.

"Because it leads into my next topic. You are hereby demoted back down to the rank of Second Lieutenant and re-assigned to the Crucible project. As soon as you are fit for duty, you will report to Major Anne Summers for further orders. If you chose to ignore these orders and take the Spectre promotion that Councilor Udina has offered you, I will be forced to take action. Understood?"

The air was thick and heavy between the two men. After several minutes of Kaidan glaring that Rah's uncaring features, he grit out a reply.

"Understood. Sir." Kaidan spoke, barely keeping the words for being spat at him.

"Good. Get well soon Lieutenant." Rah turned on his heel and left the room.


"Good, everyone's here." Rah grinned to the screen in his cabin on the Dawn. He looked to the four faces that filled the screen, most of them with curious looks on their faces.

He'd asked Admiral Hackett, Primarch Victus, Clan Chief Wrex and Shepard to meet with him over a vid call. He hadn't told any of them however, about inviting the others.

"So how'd Sur'kesh go?" he asked trying to break the ice a bit.

"We got the job done." Shepard replied with a shrug of her shoulders and an nod from Wrex. "Killed some Cerberus, but got the job done."

"What is this about General?" Hackett asked, keeping his voice neutral, though Rah knew better.

"This is about the war, and what needs to happen if we're to succeed." Rah replied, looking to each person in turn. "A simple alliance between our races, one that is only as good as the words as those of us that are here, that's not what we need. That's not what the public needs to here. We need to do more if we're to rally every man woman and child to our cause with that of our troops."

"Did you just-" Shepard began, her eyes wide.

"Yes Shepard." he cut her off, his voice cold. "If we have any hope of surviving this war, and beating the Reapers, we need everyone to fight, and no one to quit."

"What are you suggesting then?" Victus asked, his tone professional, yet curiosity lying just underneath.

"An official alliance, between not only our races, but open for the other races to join as well." Rah elaborated. "In Earth's history, during the first two of our global wars, there were two opposing factions. Both of them made up of different countries that rallied to one another's aid. We need something like that. Something for the public and for our troops to rally behind."

"Interesting idea." Wrex mussed. "But I won't commit-"

"Until you've got your cure. I know. We can use the cure to publicly present this alliance. We use it to show that the Krogan are joining to the aid of the humans and the Turians. We make this something to be rallied behind. We use this to show that even with our pasts, even with all of the blood between our peoples, we are united and one against the Reapers."

Silence hung in the air between all of those on the call.

"If we do what you are suggesting General." Hackett spoke up, his words carefully picked as he spoke. "We would need someone to be held responsible for this, both for its successes and it's failures."

"I can be that person Admiral." Shepard sighed, glaring at Rah. "I'm the most known out of all of us, and I can be used as the figurehead for this."

"Knew you'd agree Sarge." Rah smiled to his friend. "And don't worry, if everything goes right, you'll go down in history as the person that made this all possible, or not at all and we'll all be dead. Win-win either way."

"So this is just a public alliance?" Victus asked for clarity.

"For now. If we manage to do the impossible, then it'll be the groundwork for peace after the war." Rah replied with a nod.

"My people have got nothing to lose." Wrx shrugged.

"You've got me too General." Victus nodded.

"And humanity is obviously included." Hackett spoke, a slit roll to his eyes before he caught himself. "Keep me posted General, Shepard."

Hackett disconnected from the call. Victus and Wrex did as well only a second after.

"Never knew you were a politician." Shepard chuckled and Rah let his shoulders slump.

"Yeah well, soon as we're done with this whole thing. I'm retiring to somewhere to find some peace and quiet." Rah replied, dropping into his desk chair. "Maybe open a restaurant."

"You? Opening a restaurant?" Shepard gave him a quizzical look.

"Yeah, love cooking. Even though I don't need to work another day in my life after this with my pay. I'd get stupid bored, stupid fucking fast."

"Even with Jack?" she chuckled. "Pretty sure you won't get 'bored' of her any time soon."

"You know me Sarge, once I'm committed to something, someone, I'm fully committed."

"And that's why you'd be a good politician." She chuckled back.

"Later Sarge." Rah replied with exasperation before closing the call.


A/N: There we are folks! Hope you all enjoyed! Just lettign you all know, i've been in the mood to write some fluffy stuffs, so the next couple of chapters will be light and well... fluffy. I won't spend too much time on it however, and I'll still be moving the story along, just a bit slower than normal.

Thank you all so much for continuing to read! Please let me know what you all think! I'm always open to hearing what it is you all like and dislike about the story.

Until next time!