"I hear congratulations are in order." Trish stated as she answered the call.
"Uh, what?" Nikki was temporarily thrown off balance, she'd been stuck in a purgatory of paperwork for what felt like eternity and hadn't had time to call since before Eden Prime.
"My girlfriend, first human Spectre." Trish clarified and the newly appointed spectre's face fell.
"Dammit, I was hoping to be the one to tell you that." She practically whined.
"Sorry Nikki, press beat you by a couple of hours. My work colleagues were asking if it's my Shepard in the news and of course you hadn't told me anything..." The older woman was teasing but clearly milking this for all it was worth.
She had been at home when the five by five message reached her. She had taken one look and gone back to getting dressed for work, safe in the knowledge that her partner was ok and blissfully unaware of whatever it was that the N7 had felt the need to reassure her about.
It wasn't until she reached the office that she heard about the horrors of Eden Prime and could only imagine how much worse it would have been if she'd heard of the Normandy's involvement before she got Nikki's little note.
She had constantly checked her omni-tool during her lunch break in case Nikki tried to get in touch but there was nothing further from the soldier.
The press, on the other hand, were much more communicative. Reveling in such juicy gossip as the fact the attack was suspected to be the work of the geth. The first sighting of the sentient machines outside the Perseus Veil since the quarian exile.
It wasn't until just before the end of the day that Matthias had called for her to come quick to the staff room and she'd joined the crowd around the TV screen to watch the historic moment happening on the Citadel.
"Luckily there was video of the ceremony and I'd recognise that beautiful behind anywhere."
"Nice try love but my 'beautiful behind' was wearing armour."
"Did I say your ass? I meant your face."
"What, the back of my face?" They continued joking around for a bit before Nikki suddenly asked: "You're not upset are you?"
"What, that I found out from the press?"
"No, I meant the news not the messenger. I know you weren't exactly thrilled when my MOS got changed to spec ops, spectre's going to be even more dangerous, and there's unsociable hours." She added the last bit in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"I'm used to unsociable hours! Honestly Nick? I'm going to worry when I know you're out in the field regardless of what your official rank or role is, but I'm proud of you. I was proud when you made N7. Hell, I was proud when you made Sergeant! It's no big deal. Well... I mean obviously it's a big deal. Being spectre. First for humanity and all that, but as far as 'us' is concerned? Nothing's changed."
"Well, I don't know about that... there's no-one outranking me on the ship to tell me to stop using up the bandwidth and get back to work anymore." Nikki declared, causing Trish to laugh.
"Will you look at that, not even a full day in the job and already taking advantage. They always said power corrupts."
"Good job I've got you to keep me honest then."
"Pfft, we can but hope. Just promise you'll still be careful."
"I promise. Anyway enough about me, what've you been up to?"
"Nothing historic or newsworthy I'm afraid."
"Terrible, letting the side down again." The N7 teased and they shared a chuckle.
"Some of it is slightly classified if that helps salvage your opinion of me."
"Hmm, maybe... How slight is slightly?"
"I definitely shouldn't tell you about it and if I did you probably wouldn't understand what I was talking about anyway."
"Ah come on babe, I never understand what you're talking about when you discuss your work. I just like hearing the passion in your voice when you're babbling away in tech speak. Then again, you could read the phonebook and I'd happily listen to your voice."
The civilian simply scoffed in response.
"Which vid did you steal that line from? We don't even have phonebooks anymore."
"Meh, fine. The phonetic alphabet then."
"Really? Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtro-"
"Wait! I just remembered... I got some feedback for you about Project Delta. It can withstand one and a half shotgun bursts at practically point blank range."
"One and a half?" Trish repeated with a shake of the head. You didn't need an IQ as high as hers to do the math. "And which part of being hit in close quarters by at least half a shotgun blast constitutes you being five by five?"
"Hey! In my defense that didn't happen until several hours after I sent the message."
"Fine. Send me the suit data, I'll make sure Mathias's team gets it."
"Ah, about that... I wasn't wearing my armour at the time..."
"You WHAT!?" Trish exploded. "What the fuck happened to you being careful?"
"Come on, I was on the Citadel! I wasn't expecting to be the target of assassins."
"Assas-... Nick, stop talking! Seriously, just shut up, right now please."
Thankfully the soldier obeyed and Trish took several deep breaths to calm herself before speaking again.
"So, obviously you're still alive. Are you actually alright? You're not too badly wounded are you?"
The other end of the line was quiet but it wasn't the ominous silence of her partner trying to decide how much to tell her.
No. Even without video Trish could picture the slight twitch of movement at the corner of her N-baby's mouth.
"Oh for... You bloody great child! You're allowed to speak when I ask a question you know!"
Shepard stopped trying to repress her smirk.
"Of course I'm alright."
"Oh, of course you're alright. It was only assassins. Plural, I note. Who needs armour when facing assassins?"
"Babe, you're overreacting."
"I'll decide the appropriate level of reaction thank you!"
"Seriously, they weren't even very good. I should probably be offended that Saren thought they had any chance of stopping me."
"Ah, disappointed in the level of service are we? And on a scale of one to dead how would you rate your assassination attempt today?"
Nikki couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her throat.
"Hmm, I reckon about a two. Poor execution, only a minor flesh wound, nearly cleared up already. Not even gonna scar."
"Hmph." Trish clearly wasn't impressed but at least the worst of her anger had burnt away. "And how would you rate your medical care afterwards?"
"Excellent. My lieutenant helped patch me up as soon as the area was secured and I was in a med clinic less than half an hour later."
All technically true. The fact that she hadn't actually received any first aid while in Dr Michel's clinic, just more gunfire, was completely beside the point. Trish didn't need to know that.
"Doc Chakwas gave me a full check up when I got back to the ship and she says I'll be fit for being shot at again by tomorrow. Although she suggested I try to wear armour next time."
"You bloody well better."
Nikki had no witty retort to that.
"So... I take it it's true then? What they're saying on the news?"
"I don't know babe, you're gonna have to be a bit more specific. What are they saying?"
"That you're going after Saren. That he was behind the attack on Eden Prime and he's been stripped of his spectre status."
"Hmm, you know I can't confirm, or deny, those sorts of rumours." She replied with enough inflection to do just that.
"Sounds like trying to find a needle in a haystack to me."
"More like looking for hay in a needle stack... If it were true. Which I can't-"
"Confirm or deny, yeah I know. Just promise you'll be careful. Whatever it is you may be up to."
"I'll do my best."
...
The vision from the beacon didn't make any more sense after a repeat viewing, Shepard decided as she woke in her new room.
It felt strange having an entire cabin to herself. Space was at a premium on Alliance ships, frigates even more so, and while it had been years since she'd had to hotbunk, she'd always had to share a room with at least one other officer, sometimes more.
A brief glance towards the clock revealed they were still in the middle of the night shift and she had another three hours until her alarm was due to go off to start her day.
While she'd never had to deal with beacon induced visions before, she had more than enough experience with traditional nightmares to know better than to stay in bed. So, she dragged herself to her feet, threw on her PT kit and headed to the ship's small gym.
She hadn't really expected anyone else to be working out at such an insane time but she had to admit, she wasn't entirely surprised to find Chief Williams in there hitting the heavy bag.
Nikki didn't interrupt as she conducted a quick warm up and stepped onto the treadmill. She hadn't been running long when the chief launched a final, powerful roundhouse at the bag, making the whole thing shake, before picking up her hoody and water bottle and heading for the door.
"You know, if the doc finds out I was here and let you leave without doing a proper cool down she'll probably skin me alive." Shepard called out and Ashley jumped in surprise.
"Argh! What the- Oh, sorry ma'am... didn't see you there."
Nikki chuckled as she continued jogging. Not turning her head from its forward facing position.
"Clearly. Relax Williams you don't have to stand on ceremony in the gym. Or the mess. Or the head. You do however have to do a cool down after any gym sessions so Chakwas can't blame me for any preventable injuries you pick up."
Ash warily made her way back over to the exercise area, she hadn't really considered what she was doing to be a workout, she had just needed to hit something... repeatedly... She wasn't about to tell her CO that however and she WAS breathing rather hard, so she found a mat and worked through some appropriate stretches.
Shepard cast a quick glance at her subordinate, wondering if she should offer some type of comfort to the younger marine. However despite being one of the few people onboard who could truly understand what the 212 survivor was going through, she didn't really know what to say.
She also had to admit that if an officer tried to get her to talk after Akuze she'd probably doubt their sincerity. Maybe even think it was a trap to catch her out and kick her out the service. She certainly wouldn't have appreciated it.
Then again, she certainly hadn't been a shining example of the healthy way to handle trauma.
Before she could make a decision Williams finished her routine and left the gym. Nikki sighed before focusing back on her own workout, letting her brain empty out before bringing it back round to bear on a plan for the day ahead.