Chapter XVI

Daniels and Donnelly's report demonstrated clear evidence that the Keepers were steadily repairing vast parts of the Charon Relay and that the soundwave emitted by the relay was calling the Keepers.

With the report, Shepard convinced the Council to allow the Citadel to be moved closer to the mass relay. A small fleet, led by the Normandy, was scheduled to relocate the deep-space station. The fleet's ships were equipped with powerful traction beams. These beams were designed to push or pull massive structures in space. Moving the Citadel would take exceptional coordination from the commanding officer, and naturally the task had been given to Shepard. The Normandy was still undergoing upgrades, but as the Alliance's flagship, it was ready to fly at a moment's notice. All the ship needed was a pilot and a crew. The Alliance had assured Shepard that she would have the necessary personnel to successfully accomplish the mission.

On the day of the mission, Shepard had slipped out of the apartment just after 0500 hours. She wanted to give the Normandy a visual inspection before meeting the temporary crew.

The ship was deserted. The repair crew had cleared up and evacuated merely hours earlier. Shepard planned to walk through every deck, starting with the shuttle bay like she did in the past. The ship's inventory had been limited to emergency supplies. At a quick glance, all items seemed to be accounted for. Both shuttles had been restocked and were fully operational.

Next, the engine room's logs showed that Engineer Adams had recently checked the ship's engines and noted that the setting had been optimized for short range displacement. Updates and comprehensive tests had also been performed on most of the auxiliary systems. Only minor design improvements had been made throughout the third deck, since the primary focus of the repairs had been placed on the navigations.

Shepard had fond memories of her rounds of the ship. Talking to her crew one on one seemed to calm them as much as it would calm her. The conversations were usually about the missions, but sometimes they were more personal. Shepard always felt honoured when her crew confided in her. It was a chance for her to get to know the members of her crew a bit better.

When the elevator doors opened on the CIC, Shepard was surprised to find her former first officers lined-up on both sides of the galaxy map controls and her old crew in formation surrounding the room.

"Attention! Commander on board, ready for inspection," exclaimed Kaidan.

Shepard went around to inspect the soldiers. They looked sharp-rested. Everyone had shown up, even the soldiers posted on the original Normandy. It wasn't a dangerous mission, but having people she knew and trusted back was uplifting. Shepard was especially impressed with Kaidan, who had been able to keep this welcome a secret from her.

At the end of her examination, she paused, looking once more at her crew in appreciation of those who had been lost and the brave soldiers who were again by her side.

"It's been a crazy ride-life changing-and yet you are here, ready to serve. I am honoured to continue working with every single one of you. Now, soldiers, to your posts. We have a ship to fly."

All the soldiers moved hastily to their respective posts or to the elevator, while Joker, Kaidan and Shepard walked to the bridge.

Turning toward Kaidan, Shepard asked, "How did you ever pull this off without me noticing?"

"I distracted you with other things," replied Kaidan with a smirk that made Shepard's knees weak.

"Ew! Gross," said Joker.

"Ahem, Joker, are all navigations a-go?" retorted Shepard, choosing to ignore Joker's comment.

"I need to double check a couple of settings and tweak the new features. We should be good to go in 20."

"Good, I'll give the heads up to the Council and the fleet."

By the afternoon, the Citadel was successfully transported 100 kilometres from the Charon Relay. Early reports confirmed that the Keepers had multiplied significantly-sighted in every sector of the relay and working persistently. It was still too early to tell, but Daniels suggested that the Charon Relay could be fixed within 6 days, which meant that work on the relays close by would start soon.