Shepard would probably never say it out loud to any of her crew, but her whole body was tingling with the rush of being granted Spectre status. The first human Spectre; it was hard to fully grasp. She had never been one to downplay her own ability as a soldier, but she never talked herself up either. Shepard had built her entire career on focusing on the mission rather than the glory, but somehow glory still found her. She knew she was a skilled soldier, she wouldn't have been a commander otherwise, but she never in her wildest dreams really thought she'd actually be the first human Spectre.
She was still riding that high when she reached the docking bay. Udina and Anderson were waiting for her outside the Normandy. Anderson had a somber look on his face, Udina still wore that sour expression of his. He couldn't even manage a smile or 'congratulations' for Shepard.
"Good, you're here," Udina greeted her. "The news is already spreading quickly. I heard two asari on the elevator discussing that there was a human Spectre now. This puts us one step closer to a seat on the council."
"Is something wrong captain?" Shepard asked, ignoring Udina.
"Nothing wrong," he faked a smile. "I'm very proud of what you've accomplished today Shepard. The Alliance is as well. That's why they've decided to turn control of the Normandy over to you. Beginning immediately, you are the new captain of this vessel."
"What?" Shepard turned to Udina, eyebrows furrowed. "Why is Anderson being dismissed as captain?"
"You act as if it were solely my decision, Shepard," Udina feigned upset. "Anderson and the alliance have reached a mutual agreement. Anderson has had a long, respectable career. His talents are needed here on the citadel now. He's not retiring, just moving on to a place where his skills can be more efficiently used. Which opens up room for your skills to utilized to their fullest extent. A Spectre needs her own ship. The Normandy is yours now."
Shepard didn't accept the explanation, but she wasn't going to press it further with Udina. She shook Anderson's hand, though she wanted to break protocol and hug him. The man had been there for her for the past 11 years. He deserved better than this.
"It has been an honor and a privilege working under your service, captain. And it's an exceptional honor to take over your ship for you."
He shook her hand and smiled, a real one this time. "I wouldn't leave her in anyone else's hands, Shepard."
"Where are Alenko and the girl? You should get going. The faster you leave, the faster you'll find Saren," Udina said.
"My crew are gathering up supplies before we live. And the girl has a name. It's Ashley Williams."
Udina rolled his eyes. "Fine, yes, whatever. We have some info for you. Leads for you to follow. The first is that this Matriarch Benezia has a daughter, Dr. Liara T'Soni. We believe if you find her, you can gain more intel on Benezia and possibly identify her location. Dr. T'Soni's last contact was from somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. I suggest beginning your search there."
"Thank you," Shepard said. As much as she hated Udina, he could sometimes be helpful, when it suited his own needs.
"In addition, there have been reports of geth near a human colon on Feros, and sightings on Noveria as well. Considering that before Saren's involvement on Eden Prime, the geth rarely ventured past the veil, it would be prudent of you to investigate these sightings as well."
"I'll have Joker map the coordinates," Shepard assured him.
"Good luck," Udina said. "Send word if you find anything on Saren."
He left without fanfare, leaving Shepard alone with Anderson. She was glad for a moment of privacy to speak openly with him.
"Tell me the truth, captain. What's really going on?"
Anderson shook his head. "A lot of politics at play. Udina's forte, not something I like to get involved in, but I guess I have no choice now. The decision to hand the Normandy to you still makes sense, though. You know the crew, you know the vessel, and you do need your own ship now. The alliance had high hopes for me when I was your age, but I never quite met their expectations. At least you have, Shepard."
"The Normandy will be worse off without you aboard, captain. It won't seem right," she sighed.
"I'm sure you'll manage, Shepard." With no one around, he allowed himself to give her a quick hug. "Go out there and do us proud."
"Captain," she saluted, her watery eyes betraying her emotions.
As soon as her salute was finished she wiped her eyes quickly, before any evidence of her sadness could be seen. Anderson gave her one last handshake and headed for the elevator back down to the Presidium.
Shepard turned to the Normandy and stood staring at it for a moment, trying to take in that the entire ship was under her command now. She had become a Spectre and the captain of the Normandy all in one day. It was enough to make her head spin, if she'd had time for such a thing. Instead, she stepped forward and headed into the airlock to greet the crew as their new captain.
The Normandy was perfect evidence of what species could accomplish through cooperation. She had been a joint effort between the humans and the turians and it showed. It was a flawless specimen, in Garrus' eyes, the nicest ship he'd ever stepped foot on. Every inch of it was clearly designed with function in mind. The cockpit was state-of-the-art; the bridge, with its map terminal, was the largest of its kind; and that was just what Garrus had seen so far.
Shepard had been waiting for them when he and Tali and Wrex arrived. It turned out, she informed them, that she would be replacing Anderson as captain of the ship. It was a smart move on the part of the Alliance: the first human Spectre would need a ship to give her unlimited travel access and why not one with a crew that was already loyal?
They met the pilot first, a short man with a face covered in stubbly hair. This was a common sight amongst male humans, a fashion choice it seemed. Garrus was still perplexed by all the places humans seemed to grow hair. It was a way to differentiate males from females, certainly, but not in any permanent way like a turian fringe or a krogan hump. Plenty of male humans shaved the hair off of their faces, again seemingly for aesthetic purposes.
The pilot went by the name of "Joker", though his real name, Shepard explained, was Jeff. Joker had been particularly annoyed with Shepard for telling them that. He was a pleasant man, Garrus decided. In fact, he'd heard jokes at the man's expense, it turned out. Joker had a disease that turned his bones brittle. The turians used to joke that the Alliance kept pilots with brittle bone disease to give their officers a fair fight. He would keep that joke to himself.
Shepard gave them a tour of the rest of the ship. The bridge and command center were well staffed. An officer named Pressly served as the ship's navigator. He was wary of Garrus and the other aliens, though he didn't say as much. It could be seen in his body language and the scent he was giving off.
Down a flight of stairs to the either side of the central elevator, Shepard led them to the crew quarters. There was a dining area, a medical bay, bunk rooms, and Shepard's own cabin. The ship's doctor was friendly, an elderly human with vibrant white hair. Garrus trusted an older doctor better than a young one; she had experience, and her career had been spent in the navy, so she knew how to heal battle wounds: that was important.
As they were touring the dining area, Tali thought to speak up. "Shepard, my apologies for interrupting, but…does this ship carry any dextro foods? Garrus and I can't eat your levo foods."
Shepard rubbed the back of her head and looked sheepish. "I don't actually know, Tali. I'll look into it. If we don't, I'll make sure the mess sergeant orders some for you."
"I don't mind paying for my share," Garrus said. "It's the least I can do for…"
Shepard shook her head. "We'll take care of it. Don't worry about it."
Garrus knew this level of kindness was coming from the commander herself, not from the Alliance in particular, based on his past experiences with Alliance officers. He appreciated the gesture immensely. Both he and Tali gave series of 'thank yous' before Shepard shushed them and moved on with the tour.
The central elevator took them down to the cargo bay. It was a vast room, filled with weapons lockers and a large off-road vehicle, but devoid of any crew. The vehicle was an old mako model with a turret on top. The turian military hadn't used them in years; they were difficult to steer, but built to withstand hard hits. He would have to see what he could do to improve the ancient thing.
A series of cots had been set up along the far wall of the cargo bay with bedding folded neatly on top. Shepard sighed when they reached the cots.
"Unfortunately, there really isn't any extra space in the crew quarters right now, so we've had bedding made up for you all. The extra-large cot there is for Wrex. And Garrus, we found one that's a little longer for you, to accommodate your height. To be honest, I think they're cots built for alien prisoners, but it's all we had."
"Thank you, Shepard," Tali said. "It's more than enough."
"Turians can sleep on anything," Garrus said proudly. "A cot won't be a problem."
"Do you think my ass is that fat?" Wrex laughed. The cot they had provided for him was comically large, even for a krogan.
"Maybe it won't be once we get you into battle," Shepard shrugged.
"Hah! I like it here already," the krogan said.
"Don't feel like you have to stay down here all the time," Shepard said. "You're part of the crew now, so the crew quarters are for you as well. And tell me if anyone is giving you a hard time. A lot of the Normandy's crew aren't used to having aliens on board their vessel. And a few of them even lost family in the First Contact war. But whatever your ancestors did isn't your fault. I want you to feel welcome here.
"We're going to set a course for the Artemis Tau cluster first. Apparently Matriarch Benezia has a daughter who might be able to point us in the right direction. I have to go map out the coordinates with Joker and Pressly. Make yourselves comfortable. And I'll check about the dextro food with the mess sergeant as well."
She dismissed herself, heading back up to the command center and leaving Garrus, Wrex, and Tali alone in the cargo bay.
"No windows," Wrex complained.
He hadn't brought much of anything with him besides a duffel bag containing his weapons and armor. He dropped the bag next to his oversized cot and sat down.
Garrus also hadn't had much to bring. Turian culture was so focused on military lifestyle that he'd learned early in life to pack lightly. He'd brought his weapons, his armor, and a few pairs of civilian clothes. He'd had a small apartment on the citadel, but it wasn't filled with much; nothing he desperately needed to bring with him. He didn't know how long he would be gone with Shepard, but considering the months of time he'd put into investigating Saren, he couldn't imagine the hunt for him would be short.
Tali set about unpacking her bag as Garrus unpacked his. She had a bit more than he or Wrex had brought, a lot of pieces of old tech, weapons, items for maintaining her enviro-suit, shield boosters; he thought she would never stop pulling things from her bag. Wrex watched her, curious, but silent.
"Is it typical for quarians to carry so much with them on their pilgrimage?" Garrus asked.
Tali didn't look up from unpacking as she replied, "We never know how long we'll be gone. Some of these are things I've gathered so far, ultimately junk, but some of the tech seemed promising at the time. Our enviro-suit maintenance gear is probably the most important thing we have to bring with us. It's less weight to carry than it looks like. Who knows how long we'll be out here with Shepard? I know that I'll find something to bring back from my pilgrimage with her, but it could be a long time before I'm able to go back. Some quarians are gone for years. Some never come back."
"I have a cousin that's married to a quarian," Garrus admitted. "I always wondered how that worked."
Tali stopped unpacking and stared at him.
Wrex laughed, "Seems like it would be hard to do anything fun with that suit on."
"I was talking about leaving the flotilla," Garrus said. "But I suppose now that you mention it…"
"Men," Tali muttered. "If you really want to know, it involves a lot immune boosters and a cold that can last a few months…if it doesn't kill you."
"Doesn't seem worth it."
"I guess if you loved someone it would be," Tali shrugged.
"What's love got to do with it?" Wrex rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.
Garrus privately agreed, but didn't say as much. Turian culture had never stigmatized sex the way humans seemed to. But he supposed he could understand the quarians need to conflate sex with love. If having sex meant risking your life, it really wasn't worth it just to blow off some steam. Still, he couldn't quite imagine such a life.
Tali grabbed a few pieces of tech from her tidy pile of things. "I'm going to go talk to the engineers and check out the ship's drive core. I've never been on a ship quite like this. I'm intrigued to find out how she runs."
If he found it difficult to read human expression, Garrus thought quarians were a complete enigma. Their tone could reveal a certain amount, but with most of their face obscured behind their masks, it was hard to get a read on them. He couldn't decide if Tali was insulted by the topic of conversation that had come up, if she was just young and naïve and embarrassed by it, or if it didn't really bother her at all. For as long as he'd lived on the citadel, he realized he didn't really know much about alien culture. He supposed his stay on the Normandy would change that.
He decided to explore the ship once his things were organized. He invited Wrex, but the krogan wasn't interested, so he went alone. The drive core was on the other side of the elevator on the same level as the cargo bay, so he visited that area first.
It was a quiet ship, even in engineering. Tali was having a civil, but heated conversation with the chief engineer, a man named Adams, about the ship's maintenance systems. Garrus sidled past them to observe the drive core and meet the engineers. They were all pleasant, as humans went, and seemed to have no qualms with his presence on the ship. He wondered if the other crew members would be as placid about a turian on board. If some of them had lost family in the First Contact war, he very much doubted they would warm up to him, but he wouldn't know until he met them.
After he'd explored the drive core, he headed up to the crew quarters. Here, he received more wary looks than he had down below. Three of the crew members seated at a table in the center of the quarters were whispering to each other as they looked at him. Their whispers were too low for his translator to pick up, but he was sure he could fill in the gaps. Kaidan and Ashley were having a conversation in the corner, so Garrus wandered over to where they were.
"Hey Garrus," Kaidan smiled in greeting. "Settling in okay?"
"Just fine. The Normandy is a magnificent ship."
"She is, isn't she? Sorry about shunting you guys down to the cargo bay. The bunks up here aren't really built for aliens. And honestly," he lowered his voice. "Some of the crew aren't very friendly towards turians. It's probably safer for you and Wrex to be down there anyway."
"It's no imposition," Garrus assured him. "I thought I might see if I could improve the firing capacity and steering fluidity on the mako. I haven't seen one in years, not since I was in military training, but I remember how hard they were to drive."
"I'm sure the commander would appreciate that," Kaidan said.
"I'm having a station set up down in the cargo bay for weapons maintenance," Ashley explained. "So I'll probably be down there keeping you company from time to time. If you need your gun polished, just let me know."
Kaidan stifled a laugh and turned away. Ashley's eyebrows furrowed. "What? …Oh! Really, Kaidan? Not what I meant."
"I'm afraid I'm in the dark here," Garrus said.
"Double meaning," Ashley shrugged. "Kaidan was being immature."
Garrus thought about what she had said for a minute and assessed it for a second meaning. "Oh." He said finally.
"I think Officer Strickland might like you to polish his gun, Ash," Kaidan grinned.
She punched him in the arm. "Grow up! I'm going to go see how much they've gotten set up in the cargo bay," she marched off.
Garrus laughed and left Kaidan to sort out his paperwork on the nearby terminal. He visited the doctor in the medical bay next and spent a few minutes discussing her knowledge of alien biology. It turned out she'd actually served on the frontlines in the First Contact war and had treated some of the captured turian soldiers. She seemed to harbor no animosity toward the turians, though. She told Garrus that in treating the enemy soldiers, she'd learned that they weren't so different from the humans. This further solidified his decision that the doctor was trustworthy.
The crew continued to watch him unsurely, so Garrus decided to take the elevator up to the observation deck Shepard had briefly mentioned during their tour. She hadn't taken them due to the speed of the elevator and her need to meet with the navigator and the pilot sooner rather than later.
The elevator was interminably slow. Garrus decided he would have to find out where the stairs to and from the cargo bay were located or else he would go insane having to ride the damn thing up and down all the time. Surely there were stairs to the observation deck as well. He would ask Shepard when she had a moment, if she ever did.
After an inordinate amount of time, the elevator finally opened up onto the observation deck. It was a long chamber, the length of the rounded top of the ship, with a few chairs and couches and a small bar that was not well stocked. Large floor-to-ceiling windows allowed a view in all directions. They were still docked at the moment, so the view was nothing spectacular, but Garrus imagined it was quite impressive when traveling at FTL speeds. He took a seat on one of the couches and sat by himself, staring out at the docks and falling into his thoughts. It had been a long day. He'd never imagined when he met with Udina early that morning that by the end of the day he'd be part of the crew of an Alliance vessel, under a human Spectre, chasing Saren through the traverse, but he was happy it happened.
Shepard had Pressly and Joker set a course for the Artemis Tau cluster, then set Kaidan to checking the extranet for any news on Liara T'Soni, to help narrow down their search once they arrived. The mass relay was just outside the citadel and would only take an hour to reach, but once in the cluster, it would be several days' journey to whatever system and planet Dr. T'soni might be on. Hopefully by the time they reached the cluster, they might have some clue about what system to find Dr. T'soni on.
It had been an immensely long day for Shepard. It was hard to keep track of time with galactic travel. She felt like she hadn't slept since Eden Prime, though she knew she had, several times on their journey to the citadel. She'd never imagined when they arrived that she would be leaving as a Spectre.
She'd addressed the crew before the aliens arrived, but she took the intercom one more time, to announce they would be departing for the Artemis Tau cluster. It was a short address, one to keep the crew apprised of the mission. She didn't have the energy to talk for much longer. As tired as she was though, she didn't want to retreat to her cabin in the crew quarters. Nothing in there was hers yet. Up until an hour earlier it had been captain Anderson's. She didn't want to be reminded of that at the moment, so she headed up to the observation deck to try and clear her head.
Taking the elevator was a daunting thought, one that Shepard simply didn't have the patience for at the moment, so she snuck around into the back of the med bay where a set of ladders led up to the observation deck or down to the cargo bay. They were technically for emergency use only, but Dr. Chakwas wasn't going to question the new captain of the ship, and she had let Shepard get away with it before she was captain anyway.
The observation deck was never busy despite its typically stunning views. Most of the crew stayed down in the crew quarters playing cards, or watched the view from the bunk room. So Shepard was surprised to find she wasn't alone when she reached the top of the ladder and climbed out onto the deck.
Garrus was seated on one of the couches, watching as the Citadel faded into view before the jump to FTL was made and the system shot by in a whirl of stars and space debris.
"Commander Shepard," he greeted her with a nod. "How are you adjusting to your new role?"
Shepard sat down next to him on the couch and stared out the window.
"I think I'm still processing it. I need to sleep, to be honest."
"It's been a long day," Garrus agreed. "I see you took an alternate route up. Good to know about that. You weren't lying about the elevator."
"It's horrible. I've been begging Anderson to have someone fix it for years. Everything else on this ship is state of the art, you'd think the elevator would run more smoothly. You'll want to use the ladders to get in and out of the cargo bay on a regular basis. But I didn't tell you about them. They're for 'emergencies only'."
"Avoiding the elevator could be classified as an emergency," Garrus suggested.
"I like your thinking."
"I took the liberty of researching a bit about Dr. T'soni," he explained, bringing up some information with his omni-tool. "I was just sitting here staring off into space, I figured I could make myself useful. It looks like her area of expertise is Prothean history and culture. There's a bit of news on the extranet that she was heading to Therum to examine some Prothean ruins there."
"Wow," Shepard exhaled. "You didn't have to do that. I had Kaidan looking into it. But thanks. That will really help us a lot after the jump through the relay."
"I want to contribute more than just my bullets," Garrus shrugged. "Speaking of which, I wanted to make some updates to the mako down in the cargo bay. Kaidan didn't seem to think you'd mind. Calibration and repair are sort of hobbies of mine."
"Useful hobbies," Shepard laughed. "If you want to make any changes to that old piece of crap that will make it more manageable to use, be my guest. Driving that thing is a nightmare."
"I'll get to work on it soon," he assured her.
They sat in silence for a moment, both of them staring out the window, lost in their own thoughts. Shepard thought about how unusual it was to be sitting side by side with a turian on an Alliance navy vessel. How many turians had even willingly stepped foot on Alliance vessels? Nihlus was the first one she'd ever seen, and the Normandy had been built with the help of the turians.
"How are the crew treating you so far?" Shepard broke the silence.
"Kaidan and Ashley are pleasant. As are the engineers. Some of the other crew members don't seem very fond of me. I guess I can't blame them. I know plenty of turians who would have the same reaction to a human aboard their ship."
"I'm sure they'll warm up eventually. If they don't, I'll have a word with them."
"I'm still not sure why you brought us aboard," he admitted. "I mean, I'm not complaining, but I am surprised."
"You and Wrex and Tali have more than proven your worth. I need skilled soldiers with me when we take on the geth. Not all of my crew can handle that, but I think that you can. Plus, Tali's tech skill will be a huge asset against them as well."
"Well, I appreciate you taking me on," Garrus said, looking directly at her. His steely gaze so intense that after a moment, she had to look away.
"I'm surprised you agreed so readily. Wrex is a bounty a hunter and Tali's on her pilgrimage. I would have figured you might have family or something tying you to the citadel, being C-sec and all."
Garrus laughed. "I'm married to my work. I have some friends in the agency, certainly. No one I'll miss enough to skip out on a chance to reign in a rogue Spectre without any red tape to hinder me."
"Sounds like me," Shepard said. "Married to my work, I mean. I can't imagine life outside the navy. Though…what we're doing now, this is Spectre work, not Alliance work. It's an adjustment to realize I only have myself to answer to."
"My father hates the Spectres because of that," Garrus said. "He's a C-sec man through and through. Very by the book. He was always telling me, 'Garrus, do things right or don't do them at all'. He thinks it's dangerous the way Spectres are granted unlimited power. Saren doesn't exactly make a strong case for the Spectres either. But I think that sometimes you need people to push through all the bullshit and regulations and just get things done."
Shepard watched him as he talked, his mandibles flaring, clearly impassioned by the topic. "Sounds like a point of contention for you."
"I've spent most of my life following in my father's footsteps. But eventually I realized that I'm not him. And there are aspects of myself that will never live up to his ideals. I have to do what I think is right," he turned to face her, those bright blue eyes boring into her again. "I think what's right for me, right now, is traveling with you, Shepard. I've never met another human I would have said that about."
As usual, she didn't know how to take any praise aimed toward her without a stoic or absent response. She decided it was time to get some rest, but she was pleased that the turian felt she was a worthy commander to follow. Turians prided themselves on their military prowess; it was a real compliment for one to want to be part of her crew.
She smiled, "Thanks, Garrus. I think I'm going to get some sleep."
"Good idea," he nodded. "You want to be well rested. Should I pass along the news about Therum to the pilot?"
"That would be great. Go and find Kaidan and let him know too."
She stood up and headed for the ladder back down to the crew quarters. The crew quarters seemed to be bustling, but Shepard wanted nothing to do with it. Kaidan tried to stop her for a conversation, but she asked him for a raincheck. The lieutant was a sweet guy, and she felt bad shutting him down so harshly, but the lack of sleep was finally hitting her and she needed to lie down.
Entering the captain's cabin felt wrong. All of Anderson's belongings were gone and the bedding had been changed out. Now the cabin was devoid of any decoration or personal touch. She would have to add something to make it feel right. She had a picture of Anderson awarding her the Star of Terra, maybe she would put that on her desk.
She climbed under the covers on the bed, finding the mattress firm and uncomfortable, though still better than the bunks she was used to sleeping on. As soon as her head hit the pillow, her eyes were closed and she was out like a light.
A/N: Posting a little early just because I have so much written ahead I guess. Thanks again for favorites/reviews. Chapters will start delving a little more into Shepard and Garrus' relationship now.