"I've not got long, we'll be hitting the mass relay soon." Shepard let her body relax, leaning slightly against the back of a chair as she stood with arms folded in the comm room. The hologram of her partner flickered slightly but there was no lag as they managed to hold a realtime conversation across multiple star systems.
Somehow she'd managed to get away with wearing the more comfortable and practical basic uniform rather than the formal dress blues that every other officer onboard seemed to currently be sporting.
"It's a beautiful ship Trish, I'm just not sure what I'm doing on it."
"Come on Commander, you deserve it."
"Deserve more paperwork? Yeah, great. I swear, if this is your uncle's idea of nudging me into a non-combat role I'll-"
"Relax. You're far too good at your job for that. No matter how much I'd prefer it if you were safe."
"Trish..."
"Yeah I know, I'm sorry Nikki, I shouldn't have said..." She was interrupted by a clock alarm in the background and she held back a groan. "I've got to get to work."
"Ok. We're going to be comms dark for a few days, nothing serious, just fully testing the new systems. I'll message when I can. Love you babe."
"Love you too sweetheart. Take care of yourself."
"Always." Shepard left the comm room with a spring in her step. Even after all these years the sight of Trish, even just in holographic form, always brightened her day.
She acknowledged the nods and salutes of the crew as she made her way through the CIC to the cockpit, noting Nihlus standing in her target spot and stopping just behind him. If she wasn't entirely sure what she was doing on the ship that went double for the turian spectre.
"Approach corridor locked in." The pilot updated. "Relay is hot. We're a go."
Shepard felt the strange sensation inside her that she always felt during a relay jump. Everybody who experienced it described it in a different way but the closest thing that what she felt reminded her of was a sudden stop in a too fast elevator, only sideways.
The stars changed in the blink of an eye as they were instantaneously transported to another part of the galaxy but she had barely two seconds to take in the new sky before they were accelerating again, the whole visible spectrum blue shifting before them as they returned to FTL speeds.
It was a magnificent sight and one so few people got to see. Unless you were on a ship with an observation lounge or had a job where you were allowed in the cockpit, most other ranks would never get the chance to witness it.
Barging in to use the window if she wasn't on duty during a jump was one of the few abuses of her rank she allowed herself, ever since first experiencing it two years ago. Somehow the novelty still hadn't worn off.
"Alright, next relay is in three hours so unless you've got a reason to be here..." Nikki smiled at the flight lieutenant's attempt to clear the room without blatantly giving his superiors an order.
"See you in three hours Joker." She turned on her heel, noticing as she did how the spectre followed her. She wasn't in the mood for his games so when she reached the CIC she stepped up to the galaxy map where Anderson was proudly surveying his new domain, throwing him a crisp salute.
"Sir."
Out the corner of her eye she continued to watch Nihlus who, without a handy excuse to stop anywhere in the CIC, had to keep walking. The slightest quirk to the captain's lips told her he'd cottoned on to what she was doing.
"Come to give a status report on the cockpit Commander?"
"Aye Sir. View from the window confirms the fancy tech isn't lying, we really have blue-shifted and Joker hasn't broken anything yet, neither the ship nor himself."
"Very good. Carry on."
"One more thing Sir, is there a reason Nihlus is shadowing me?"
Anderson had been hoping she wouldn't ask about that, he didn't like hiding things from her but he had his orders. He wouldn't insult her by denying it or calling her paranoid though.
"Sorry Shepard, all information regarding the spectre's presence onboard is classified on a need to know basis."
If it had been Rizzi in front of him she'd probably say something along the lines of: 'but I'm an N7, I need to know.' Malhotra would have just nodded with a brisk: 'understood'. Kai Leng would probably have tried to threaten the information out of him, but then Leng was always a loose canon. Nobody at the villa mourned when he was kicked out the service.
Instead the brass had chosen Shepard to be here and she gave a carefree shrug as she leant back against the rail, her lips morphing into that damn smirk of hers.
"Classified, riiiight. Are we talking twenty questions classified or I've got to go apply my villa skills to your computer classified?"
They both knew she wasn't usually so casual with ship-side superiors but years of having each other's backs on ground missions had established a bond that overcame 'little things' like regs and the chain of command. She never questioned orders and was professional in front of others, so he tended to let it slide. Mainly because most the time he enjoyed their banter.
He shook his head, focusing on keeping his lips under control and managing to force something that hopefully looked like a glare on his face.
"Don't you have something else to be doing Commander?"
"Not really. I'm off duty, you've got the deck, nobody's shooting at me and someone forgot to pack a Mako for me to tinker with. I'm not fussy you know, I would have accepted a Grizzly. 'Loves long hikes in the countryside' sounds great on a dating profile but looses its charm when you're under fire."
He couldn't hold back the laugh at that, startling a few people nearby, including Lieutenant Alenko who must have been within hearing distance of the previous remark as he made his way towards the cockpit.
"Sorry Shepard, I know you like your toys but we need the space in the cargo hold." He noticed his slip up at the same time he noticed the change in her grin from teasing to victorious.
"So we're picking something up. What's the payload Captain?"
"I can't answer that question."
Her smile switched to positively evil upon hearing the staple villa response to interrogation and she moved closer, lowering her voice so only he could hear as she recited:
"Boots-boots-boots-boots, movin' up and down again."
"I'll move my boot up your arse if you're not careful Shepard."
"Seven, six, eleven-"
"One more word and I'll pump that foul poem into your sleeping pod speakers all night, every night for the duration of this posting."
She chuckled, holding her hands up in surrender and taking a half step back. They'd both had more than enough exposure to Rudyard Kipling's blasted Boots poem during SERE training at the villa.
"I'm good thanks."
Nikki's attention was drawn to noise behind her and she half turned to see the doctor had finally succeeded in tracking down the youngest member of the ground team, only to be cornered in turn and subjected to incessant questioning.
"Please tell me I was never that young Sir."
"Only if you tell me the same."
"You? Hell Anderson, you were old when Jesus was a lance corporal."
"I walked straight into that one. Go, dismissed, find someone else to bug. I've got a ship to run."
This time her salute reeked of cheeky mockery instead of crisp professionalism as she turned to leave. He knew a few officers who would have cried insubordination at that but he just shook his head with a smile.
...
Three hours later she was strictly professional as they briefed her in the comm room. The only thing that could even potentially be interpreted as cheeky being the glib, 'I already figured that out' when the turian informed her their mission was more than a simple shakedown run.
Anderson thought she took the news of her testing for potential Spectrehood in stride, but it was hard to be sure, her face remaining completely neutral with no more emotion than if he told her to storm a bunker or infiltrate an enemy stronghold.
He didn't see her reaction when Joker forwarded the distress call, too busy focusing on the video himself, but an independent observer might have noticed how completely they mirrored each other. Eyes narrowing in concentration, scrutinizing every millimeter of the screen for details. Eyebrows raising and frowns furrowing at the exact same moments.
The video was awful, shaking so much as to be indecipherable. Chaos and confusion was rampant as marines fought and died, but without ever getting a glimpse on camera of who was firing at them.
"Joker, reverse and hold at thirty-eight point five." Anderson ordered just as Shepard opened her mouth intending to request that they rewind a couple of seconds.
The monstrous ship revealed on screen was like nothing any of them had ever seen before, the three spec ops soldiers sharing a silent glance as the possibility of a first contact scenario crossed their minds.
The other alternative, that one of the existing galactic powers had managed to build something this big and completely different from all existing ship designs without even a rumour leaking was just as bad.
"Commander, grab Jenkins and Alenko and suit up. Nihlus, we'll meet you in the cargo hold. This mission just got a lot more complicated."
...
Shepard snapped the last of her colossus armour into place, the traditional N7 paint job of black with red and white stripe distracting the casual viewer from the fact it wasn't standard issue. Most villa graduates preferred to buy their own weapons and armour rather than rely on the rubbish the Alliance provided, but few could afford anything as impressive as what she was wearing.
While all decisions concerning Trish's career had always been left up to the civilian, there was no denying that Nikki had benefited greatly from her girlfriend's ongoing employment by Kassa Fabrication.
Despite being light armour, the colossus had better shields and damage protection than even the most advanced models of heavy armour that Aldrin Labs supplied the Alliance with.
Of course she could have had even more protection if she went for a medium or heavyweight version, but the lightness meant she could stock up on an abundance of weapons and extra kit and still march all day without feeling over encumbered.
It had become a running joke of Anderson's that she had a gun for every occasion.
"The mission's yours now Shepard." The man in question stated as Nihlus exited the ship alone at drop point one.
She nodded, physically and mentally prepared as much as humanly possible for the mission ahead. Which admittedly was nowhere near as prepared as normal considering there was absolutely zero intel to plan with.
Still, while she preferred to have a solid plan with multiple contingencies ready to deal with as many variables as possible, she had more than enough experience of just winging it on missions as well.
She just couldn't help herself as Joker brought the ship in to hover over the second LZ though, a hand going to Anderson's shoulder as she leant in to shout above the noise: "Hey, Sir! That looks like a perfect spot for a mako drop!"
The captain shook his head with a wry smile as he yelled back: "Get out before I throw you out."
The short jump down to the ground was more than enough to become fully professional once more, the team kneeling down in a tactical formation and sweeping the surroundings to check for hostiles as the ship lifted off from their position. Jenkins' earlier lust for 'some real action' fading when faced with the prospect of finding it on his home planet.
They were several klicks out from the dig site and moved out at a steady pace with the corporal on point. Sticking close to cover and taking extra care rounding corners but it didn't do any good.
The adrenaline that had been flowing through her veins in anticipation spiked when Jenkins suddenly went down with no warning.
Quick pulses of light and his death scream the first signs of the two drones that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
A distant corner of her brain noted their presence hadn't appeared on her HUD, that they were like nothing she'd ever seen before, and they seemed to utilise some kind of pulse weapon technology.
However none of that got in the way of her main focus, laying down fire with her assault rifle until they disintegrated into multiple little non-hostile pieces.
She ceased firing but remained crouched and alert for what seemed like eternity to Alenko before she signaled the all clear and he rushed to Jenkins' side.
It was obvious even before he reached the marine that he was too late.
He looked up to find Shepard had moved to a new position but was still scanning their surroundings, covering him as he closed the eyes of his fallen comrade.
"Ripped right through his shields. He didn't stand a chance."
The commander nodded an acknowledgment of his words, having already made the same assessment.
She'd mourn later but right now she was still on mission so she compartmentalized.
It was yet another skill she'd had plenty of practice at.
"Mark the navpoint, we'll come back for him later. Right now we need to focus on getting that beacon."
...
They'd destroyed several more of the drones and were nearing their target location when they finally heard signs of life and resistance; the familiar staccato of a standard issue kessler pistol.
They crested the hill in time to see a soldier clad in white and pink phoenix armour destroy one of the drones then keep running, pulling herself behind the cover of a rock formation as she gasped for breath, being followed by something new.
Shepard quickly switched weapons to her sniper rifle, dropping prone and aiming center mass while the biotic started hurrying down the hill to assist the unknown woman.
The commander's first shot knocked one of the robots over, a hole ripped clean through it's chassis but it remained functional, trying to claw itself back to its feet.
With no knowledge of the bipedal machine's... is it still anatomy if it's not organic? Whatever... Shepard didn't want to risk overheating her rifle while failing to discern its weak spot so she switched aim to the second synthetic, disabling it with a similar shot so the others would be able to rain hell upon both targets without having to worry about incoming fire.
She added a few more shots of her own and once both hostiles were thoroughly incapacitated she made her way down the hill to rejoin the others. Seamlessly switching back to her assault rifle on the move.
The other woman's eyes widened slightly at the N7 on her armour, stiffening to attention but thankfully not issuing a sniper check salute in the middle of a combat zone.
"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You the one in charge here ma'am?"
She nodded an affirmative, catching Kaidan's signal that the chief was free of serious wounds out the corner of her eye and signaling him to keep watch as she pulled the chief down behind the rocks to continue their conversation in comparative safety.
"Commander Shepard. What's the situation Williams?"
"We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to double back to the beacon but were caught in an ambush. I've been fighting for my life ever since."
"So far we've only seen the drones and those two, have you seen anything else? Any organics with them?"
The chief shook her head.
"No ma'am, I think... I think they might be geth."
That was a surprise, although thinking about it she supposed she could kind of see the quarian-iness of the bipeds' design.
For a brief moment Nikki regretted not paying better attention in history at school, but she quickly dismissed the thought when she realised it was highly unlikely Mrs Lewis covered where to shoot a geth to ensure maximum damage in her classes anyway.
Her Alliance instructors had also failed to impart such potentially useful information. It probably had something to do with the fact that:
"The geth haven't been seen outside the Perseus Veil in over two centuries." As Kaidan reliably informed her.
"Doesn't matter, they're here now. Let's concentrate on stopping them taking the beacon. Williams I could use a third, you game?"
The chief nodded and they set out once more, all desperately pretending they couldn't see the spikes the geth had used to impale the colonists in what they assumed must be some kind of sick psychological warfare.
...
The dig site had been empty, the spikes turned out to have a far more horrifying purpose than simply twisted decoration, and the handful of survivors pointed them in the direction of the spaceport.
Which was how they ended up looking down at a set of phantom armour lying in a puddle of blue blood.
"Well... shit..." Was all Shepard could think to say as she noted the single gunshot to the head from close quarters.
The wound was wrong for a sniper rifle and there was no way a geth unit could have got that close to the spectre without being detected.
Her suspicions were validated a moment later by a nearby dockworker who only narrowly managed to avoid being shot by the marines as he revealed himself and claimed another turian, Saren, was responsible for the murder.
Shepard knew the name of course.
At times it felt like half the turians she'd met in Blackwatch seemed to revere him and want to be just like him.
The way they told it he was like the ultimate blend of Rambo, Batman, Riddick and the Terminator. Although they claimed not to understand any of the humans' cultural references.
She marked the dead spectre's position on her nav and updated Anderson on the situation before forging ahead once more.
The giant claw-like ship raising to the air made her worry that they were too late, but the fact there were still geth opposition present made her feel there was something they were still protecting.
Something worth pushing forwards for.
She found that something on the other end of the train tracks.
Something she hadn't seen since her villa training days and she swore out loud once again.
Nuclear warheads attached to an explosive charge. Each one enough to blow up an entire city block and on a timer. Completely illegal in Council space of course. Saren had been kind enough to leave her four of them, along with multiple geth platforms including a sniper and a couple with heavy weapons.
And I didn't even get him a card.
It was a miracle the three of them were still standing at the end of it and needless to say the commander's sweat wasn't just from the running around.
She was operating on fumes by the time she found the beacon, but she didn't let that prevent her from searching the rest of the docks before radioing the Normandy that the objective was secure.
Green light suddenly appeared and she turned to find the lieutenant being dragged towards the beacon.
She didn't know what was happening, didn't waste time trying to figure it out or think about what she was doing.
All she knew was she'd lost enough people today and she sure as hell wasn't losing anybody else. She ran towards him and jumped, intending to use her momentum to push him out the way.
It half worked.
Kaidan went sprawling away onto the deck but now she was caught in the beam, pulled closer and closer.
Her head reeled in agony, as if her skull was being crushed together in a vice and being ripped apart by a claw hammer at the same time.
Visions streamed through her head on fast-forward.
Technically she was still conscious, but she was completely unaware of the beacon exploding, launching her across the air and landing heavily on the ground a short distance away where she finally, mercifully, passed out.
...
Author's note: And here it is at last, over 40 chapters later and I finally make it to the first game's prologue!
Thanks to everybody who has read, followed, fav-ed and especially reviewed so far, it really does encourage writers to keep going when we know people are enjoying our work.
Just in case anybody wanted some clarification about Shepard's class in this, I'm cheating slightly and going with the Andromeda power system where you can put points into anything regardless of specialty. She is not, and never will be, a biotic but she is trained to reasonable proficiency in all weapon types including offensive and defensive use of an omni-tool. (Top 5 in her class for pretty much everything but the only thing she was actually no.1 at was the driving courses and possibly bomb disposal. Yeah there are better Alliance snipers out there, better close quarter specialists and people better with electronics, but they all tend to have a significant weakness in some other area. She's the best all rounder).
Also it really bugged me how they even have a line of dialogue in the game from Ashley saying 'every marine a rifleman, every rifleman zee-gee certified' and then proceeded to make the badass N7 unable to use an assault rifle if you chose the wrong class. So yeah, EVERY member of the alliance can use assault rifles including Kaidan (I know he can in ME3 but not ME1). Ashley uses BOTH sniper rifles and shotguns as well as her assault rifle and everybody else will use the weapons they're assigned in ME3. If a squadmate has an ability in an early game and then loses it in a later game then they get to keep it if necessary for the purpose of this story.
As for equipment and talents, Nikki's been an N7 for years, she has plenty of both. Think of it like playing New Game+ except so long after your original playthrough that you can't remember what's going to happen next, but you've got a vague premonition it's about to go to shit.
Oh yeah, the bit were Shepard is talking to Anderson about boots and numbers, she is actually quoting from a poem called Boots by Rudyard Kipling, which is played on repeat during several different countries military SERE training. It is vaguely mentioned in the N1 training chapter that she was nearly driven mad by it and as a fellow N7 Anderson also suffered through it. They're basically just pissing about and threatening to torture each other (in a good way. Like friends do).