Shepard had actually agreed with the Council's decision not to send a fleet into the Traverse. Space was a big place and without knowing exactly where and when Saren was planning to be it would have been far too easy for a single ship to slip past the patrols.
It would be a pointless, expensive exercise that could maybe, possibly, incite unrest among the heavily armed local populace.
However, while she had plenty of practice pulling off objectives alone or with a small group that would have been impossible with a larger force, the more cynical part of her couldn't help think her current assignment was just another token gesture by the powers that be.
Saren had been irrefutably proven guilty of the attack on Eden Prime and stripped of his spectre status, but little things like no longer having authorization or the keys to the front door wouldn't stop someone with his sort of training and experience. It certainly wouldn't have stopped her.
Unfortunately his stated goals of 'finding the conduit and bringing back the reapers' were a little vague and the only lead the Council had deigned to give her was: 'oh that's Beneziah's voice, she has a daughter, maybe she'll know more. She was last seen in the Artemius Tau cluster. You know, that giant bit of space that's composed of four star systems and still largely unsurveyed. Off you pop, have fun.'
Or in other words: give the monkeys their spectre so they'll shut up, order said spectre to the middle of nowhere so she's out the way, congratulate yourselves for looking proactive and progressive while not doing very much at all.
Oh and as an added bonus, if Saren DOES pull off any dastardly plans we can blame you because it was your job to stop him.
It was a masterstroke really.
Brilliant plan.
They'd forgotten just one thing: Shepard was bloody stubborn and she was determined to get the job done.
Of course even with the mass relays and Faster than Light travel it would still take a long time to cross the galaxy and Nikki quickly fell into a routine to pass the travel time.
She'd start her day with a shower before taking breakfast in the mess with the ship's Heads of Department, they'd discuss plans for the day and make her aware of anything she needed to be aware of.
If a situation requiring her attention had been raised over breakfast then she'd head to the relevant department to try and sort it.
If not then she'd take a walk around the ship, getting to know her crew and giving the other ranks a chance to raise any concerns they may have, before submitting herself to a morning of trawling through any available info on Saren, the geth, the two T'Sonis and the planets in the Artemius Tau cluster. Desperately trying to narrow down their list of potential target sites before arrival.
She'd then take lunch with the ground team before they all headed down to the cargo bay to run through some drills. They started with Alliance hand signals and call signs, basic protocols, quickly progressing to special tactics, various squad layouts, target practice and advanced close quarter combat.
That last utilized Garrus, Wrex and herself as dummies to show the best spots to hit and moves to use against their various species.
All the while she made mental notes of each individual's strengths and weaknesses, working on improving the defects she could and planning around the ones that couldn't be changed.
While a good leader pushed people to be better than they thought themselves capable of, it was equally as important to know what their actual limitations were and not put them in a situation where they wouldn't be able to deliver.
It was no N-school but Shepard pushed them hard every day until dinner, which she would eat with the team before checking back in with the Heads of Departments for a report on the day's events.
An hour or two later she was officially off duty, although she could be called back at a moment's notice. Her downtime was the only part of her day that didn't have a default setting. The best nights she'd get to vid call Trish but that wasn't always an option, sometimes they weren't close enough to a comm buoy to avoid horrendous lag or the civilian had other plans.
If that were the case then she'd play skyllian five against whoever was willing to lose credits in the mess or go down and tinker with the fresh out the crate Mako in the cargo hold. Talk mighty battles and thresher maws with Wrex or discuss geth and life on the quarian fleet with Tali.
Eventually she'd go to bed, waking up and hitting the gym with Ash until her alarm went off and she'd start her day with a shower.
It certainly wasn't the daily routine of most ship captains, but she'd always been a ground side officer rather than a ship side one and she'd been blessed enough to inherit a simply fantastic crew from Anderson who all knew their jobs, what needed to be done and how to do it, without any handholding or oversight on her behalf.
Plus she had an amazing XO in Lieutenant Pressly who was much more suited to maintaining the smooth running of ship side operations than her, she was happy to delegate the job to him.
"Any moment now people are going to start the whole 'Are we there yet' routine." Nikki informed her girlfriend during one of their vid calls as the days began to drag.
"When you say 'people' are we talking about your crew or you?"
"Pfft, it's not like I can ask anyone, I'm supposed to be in charge." The spectre grumbled dejectedly and Trish got the impression that if Anderson were still in command, her partner would totally be the one responsible for the childish antics.
"Supposed to be?"
Nikki waved her hand dismissively instead of answering.
"You could probably get away with asking the pilot." Trish really wasn't sure why she was encouraging the N7.
"Nah, I'd rather not push the pilot to suicide. The Villa taught me to fly shuttles not mahoosive frigates."
"I remember the days you used to moan that frigates were tiny."
"Yeah that was in the days before I was expected to be able to get to the bridge from anywhere on the ship in three minutes flat."
Trish felt an eyebrow rise involuntary, she knew Nick had to be available at all times but she wasn't convinced the regs were that stringent on the timeframe.
"And can you?"
"Not yet, I'm gonna keep practicing until I nail it though. Does the crew good to see me sprinting through the ship like a loony for no apparent reason at really random times."
"I'm sure." Trish deadpanned and they fell into a comfortable silence, mirroring each other despite the distance as they led on their respective beds, heads tilted to the side watching each other on their omni-tools.
"Trish... can I ask you something?" Nikki sounded almost hesitant as she broke the silence.
"Nope." The civilian smirked as she saw the pout on her girlfriend's face. "Oh, alright then. What?"
"How... I mean like... After Akuze, how did you know the right thing to say to me?"
Trish frowned, where is this coming from?
"Uh, I didn't."
"Yeah but you did. You knocked my head back on straight."
"Ok, you and I have vastly different memories of that time. I remember months of never knowing what to say, or which Nikki I was going to come home to, and you stalking off whenever I tried to have a conversation. Honestly? I don't know how much longer I could have held out if you didn't come round when you did, it was a nightmare."
"Sorry."
"You've apologised enough over the years, I forgave you long ago. Now what's all this about Nick? I might be able to give you a better answer if I know what you're looking for."
"I don't know, I just... There's someone on my ship... guess they remind me a bit of me back then is all. I want to help but I don't know how."
"All you can do is let them know the offer's there Nick. You can't help if they don't want it, trust me on that." Trish hesitated, if this person reminded Nikki of herself then she might not appreciate her next comment but she had to say something. "Are you sure they should be on active duty? If they're acting like you were six years ago-"
"Ah it's not that bad Trish. I don't want to ruin her career."
"I seem to remember a certain Sergeant worrying about her career getting wrecked if she so much as considered talking to a shrink, now look where you are."
"Yeah you were right that time. It's not the same though babe, there's pre-existing prejudices in this case. Some people would use any excuse to keep her down just because of who her family is. Bloody stupid really. From her aptitude scores and what I saw on Eden Prime... she could be damn good if they gave her the chance."
Trish didn't look convinced.
"Look, I'll get the doc to launch an intervention if I think it becomes necessary but don't worry, she's nowhere near as bad as I used to be. I'm probably just reading too much into it because our situations are similar. There aren't any obvious signs, I just worry she's not sleeping properly what with the way I keep running into her in the gym at night."
"You're having trouble sleeping again?" Trish asked immediately, all thoughts of the mystery woman forgotten.
"That's not what I said."
"No, you just said you're worried about your gym buddy. You wouldn't be unless these run-ins happened at a time when you both should be asleep."
"Of course you'd focus on that part." Shepard grumbled halfheartedly. Sometimes there were disadvantages to dating a genius. "I'm sleeping. Maybe not as much as most people, I seem to be waking up a little earlier than I need to but you don't need to worry, I get enough."
"Is it Akuze again?"
"No it's not Akuze. It's something... new."
The hesitation sent Trish's brain into overdrive. While Akuze remained the biggest culprit, it wasn't the only source of her girlfriend's occasional nightmares. 'New' however could only realistically mean one thing.
"Eden Prime?"
"Kind of. Not in the way you're probably thinking though. I'm sorry babe, I really can't talk about it much at the moment."
Normally that was enough to get Trish to drop a subject, it was the nature of their jobs that they each had secrets and couldn't always tell each other about their day. She doubted she'd ever learn what happened during Operation Amadeus for example. A mission responsible for more than one nightmare but that Nikki had only ever told her was: 'so classified even I don't know what I was doing there'.
However for some reason, before she could stop herself, Trish found herself inquiring: "Is it something to do with that beacon?"
There was a painful silence as the soldier stopped lounging, sitting up attentively on the other side of the call.
"What?"
"It was on TV, something about a prothean beacon found on Eden Prime? Apparently it was damaged in the attack." Trish couldn't help flinching slightly as her partner swore.
"For fuck's sake! Is there any classified information from that mission that the press hasn't told the whole damn galaxy about?!"
The civilian knew the anger wasn't directed at her but she'd still rather dispel it as quickly as possible.
"Well... They didn't say what colour underwear you were wearing."
There was an involuntary snort and Trish could see the amusement and irritation fighting for dominance in the N7's face before she dipped her head down in acquiescence.
"Sorry." Nick apologised for the outburst, knowing how much her girlfriend hated shouting.
"That's not a colour." Trish played dumb, eliciting a smirk.
"Like I'm supposed to remember! Whatever I was wearing it was nothing fancy I assure you babe. Last thing you need in the middle of combat is a wedgie."
...
Shepard's increasingly monotonous morning routine was finally broken the day they entered the Farinata system in the Hades Gamma cluster. Joker informed her of an incoming priority one call and she practically flew into the comm room to take it. Saluting smartly as Admiral Hackett's image filled the holo projector.
"At ease Commander. I know you're under Citadel jurisdiction now and don't have to answer to our chain of command any more but we've got a situation here and you're the nearest available Alliance ship-"
Despite being tactically gifted and quick thinking under pressure Shepard was still capable of making the occasional oversight. As such it hadn't even occurred to her before this very instant that the fact spectres were considered above the law and answerable only to the Council meant she no longer had to obey the orders of her superiors in the Alliance.
Or should that be 'former superiors'? To be honest the idea was a little scary, even though she had been operating with greater independence than most officers for awhile now as a result of her N Forces work.
"Admiral, I'll make you a deal." Wow Trish was right, power really has gone to my head. I would never dream of interrupting her uncle before.
"You give me any Alliance intel on the geth the second you hear about it and I'll keep fulfilling any N level missions you've got as long as I'm somewhere kind of in the area and not fulfilling a direct lead on the Spectre case."
"Deal, thank you Shepard."
"No problem Sir, now what's the job?"
"A group of fanatical biotics kidnapped the chairman of the Parliament Subcommittee on Transhuman Studies. Their freighter sustained damage and is dead in space. Get in and take them down."
Down not out, she noted his wording. Over the years she'd become very good at interpreting orders not explicitly stated. This one likely meant the situation was highly political and would only worsen if they became martyrs.
That didn't mean she wasn't allowed to kill them of course. Just that she was to accept their surrender should they actually attempt to offer it. As opposed to 'taking them out' which meant: 'the Rules of Engagement clearly state we must accept any surrender offered, so make damn sure they don't get the chance to offer'.
"What are the biotics asking for?"
"They're L2s and most of them are suffering major side effect from the implants. The subcommittee recently denied a request for reparations to all L2 biotics. Apparently they'd like the chairman to reconsider."
Great, that means they're desperate, have nothing to lose.
"Any idea on opposition?"
"No idea on numbers I'm afraid, but we've got a positive ID on the leader: Charles Eisenhardt. Ex-military, medical discharge, I'll send you his dossier. They were also seen loading equipment onto the freighter, expect traps and combat drones."
A chime alerted her to an incoming message and she opened the attached files to find not only the promised dossier but also ship blueprints of the MSV Ontario, photos to help identify the hostage Chairman Burns and a set of coordinates. She started reading even as she continued listening and conversing with the Admiral.
"I'd appreciate it if you could have a ship standing by just outside the system so I can transfer Burns and any prisoners over quickly once I've secured the ship."
She still had enough respect for Alliance command to NOT say out loud the comment floating around in her head about her ship not being a taxi service and Hackett readily accepted the request.
The call ended not long after and she hunted Pressly down in the CIC to give him the co-ordinates. The navigator quickly worked out a route which was forwarded onto Joker while she passed the ETA on to the ground team with instructions to be ready twenty minutes before.
Blueprints in hand, she returned to her room to plan. There was just one more factor to consider and she activated comms while she walked.
"Lieutenant Alenko, meet me in my office."
...
"Stand easy Kaidan, this is one of them off the record talks and there are no right or wrong answers, I just want honest ones ok?"
"Yes ma'am." He nodded but only fractionally relaxed and Shepard had to bite back a sigh and an eye roll.
"Have you heard the results of the Parliamentary subcommittee's report concerning L2 reparations?"
Whatever the lieutenant had expected the meeting to be about it clearly hadn't been that, his surprise was clearly visible on his face.
"Yes ma'am."
"And what did you think of it?"
"Ma'am?"
This time Shepard didn't manage to contain her eye roll.
"I already told you this is informal and off the record Kaidan, please stop with all the ma'am nonsense. This isn't a test and the only way you can disappoint me is if you lie so I ask again: what do you think about the denial for reparations to L2s?"
"I'm a little disappointed ma'a- Commander. Not particularly surprised, but what can you do?"
"Kidnap the chairman of the subcommittee apparently."
His jaw dropped as he was rendered speechless.
"At least, according to Charles Eisenhardt." Shepard added.
"And you think what exactly? That just because I'm an L2 I'm on their side?"
"No. I'm asking, not assuming and as far as I'm aware this isn't an Alliance wide witch hunt. I'm asking because I've been tasked with resolving the situation. We're en route to Eisenhardt's location as we speak."
"And you want to know if can be trusted?" He sighed. "I can empathize with their plight but I do not condone their actions Commander. Anyone who acts like a terrorist should be treated like a terrorist, regardless of what their cause is. I understand if you don't want to take the risk bringing me onboard."
"I'm not ordering you to sit this one out Kaidan, I trust you. I'm just giving you the option. Anderson gave me the same choice the first time I had to fight alongside batarians instead of against them." She observed him closely but other than curiosity at the mention of her past, she didn't see anything to worry about.
"I'm ready and able ma'am." He intoned, repeating her declaration to Anderson before Eden Prime.
"Alright then, we're taking the whole squad." Her voice, which had been soft during the questioning, hardened as she became fully professional, pointing at the blueprints.
"Insert here and conduct a room by room sweep. If we have to split then me and Garrus are team one, you and Williams team two. Wrex and Tali will stay back as we clear rooms to maintain corridor security."
He'd been nodding in agreement to her plan until that last bit.
"Do you really think Wrex will be content to stay back?"
"Consider it a test. He's on this boat under the provision that he can follow my orders, if he can't then he can stay behind when we leave. IF he runs off then you order Williams back to cover Tali, move up to pair with Garrus and I'll worry about keeping pace with the krogan. Any other questions?"
He looked at the annotated plan, strangely feeling happier rather than worried knowing the commander had a contingency plan for rampaging krogan and shook his head. Everything else looked solid.
"Ok, let's go brief the others."
...
At first the mission went off without a hitch. If there was one thing her new team had plenty of practice at it was clearing rooms and corridors, that scenario being the easiest to simulate on a ship without a holo deck.
Still, there was a difference between training and real life and she was pleased that the squad maintained discipline as they moved silently through the ship. Communicating through hand signals when needed.
Everything changed when they reached the cargo hold.
The crates that should have provided them with cover were stacked in such a way that they had no choice but to be funneled along the wall away from the door, it was clearly a trap but there was no other choice but to spring it.
Well that's not entirely true, there's ALWAYS another way. We could double back to life support and shut off the ship's oxygen supply, but that would also kill the hostage, Shepard thought dismissively as she double checked her shield settings were on maximum and activated her prototype tech armour in preparation to round the corner and get shot.
However rather than the expected gunfire, she was assaulted by a hail of biotic attacks as she emerged, running and gunning for the nearest available cover.
She was just over a metre out when she was finally hit, a throw bowling her off her feet. A warp landing seconds after she hit the deck.
Instead of immediately pulling herself to her feet, she rolled the remaining distance to the crate before standing.
The warp was doing something to her tech armour that no doubt Trish's work colleagues would find fascinating, but all Shepard cared about was that it wasn't shredding her body apart right now.
She used her omni-tool to launch damping and sabotage attacks in the direction of the enemy. A grenade quickly followed.
The fanatics clearly had no intention of surrendering so there was no point in prolonging the battle more than necessary. Especially when it would give Eisenhardt time to record a lovely promo video and execute the chairman.
"Wrex! Come on in and have some fun."
The krogan was more than happy to comply, ignoring such tactical considerations as cover as he charged straight for the enemy with his shotgun pumping.
A telltale blue glow gave the commander a split second warning before the cargo container she was behind began to lift.
She quickly jumped and held onto the lip of the crate rather than be exposed to the full deadly force of combined biotics and gunfire from the definitely Alliance trained L2s.
It was a quick, instinctive reaction that may well have saved her life but she still regretted it when she realised the crate was being thrown at Wrex.
The ancient battlemaster simply raised a hand, activating his own biotics and Shepard breathed a sigh of relief as as the hurtling chunk of metal she was attached to stopped hurtling.
Her relief was short lived however as the krogan made another gesture.
"Oh shi-..." The container ploughed into the terrorists, the N7 quickly dropping and rolling before the crate could crush her too. Rising with her shotgun spitting, she found herself in close quarters combat with the enemy.
Naturally her tech armour chose that moment to finally fail.
It had to happen eventually, but she was not expecting the pulse of energy that swept out, knocking down the people nearest to her. Surprise didn't stop her from taking advantage of the situation however, even as thoughts ran rampant through the back of her mind.
What the hell was that? Trish didn't say anything about that. It didn't happen when the armour ran out on the citadel. It must be a fault. I sure hope Matthias's team can replicate it when they get the suit data, it was damn useful, would be awesome if I could trigger it manually.
Once the hostiles were finally eliminated the rest of her squad made their way over, thankfully remembering to continue sweeping the area as they approached with various looks of awe, wonder and amusement on their faces.
"Well that's one way to flank the enemy." Garrus deadpanned and Wrex boomed in laughter, the two human marines trying, and failing, to repress their own chuckles. Tali was shaking slightly and Nikki was fairly certain the only reason she couldn't hear the youngest team member's mirth was because the quarian had turned off her helmet speakers.
"Yeah, yeah laugh it up. Next time you're on flanking maneuvers." Shepard threatened. "Come on, mission's not over yet."
...
Kaidan watched the commander with barely concealed admiration as they waited for the SSV Madrid to pick up the prisoners.
He still wasn't sure what was more impressive, that she'd managed to talk Charles Eisenhardt into surrendering, or that she'd even bothered attempting to try in the first place.
Sure Eisenhardt had had Chairman Burns at gunpoint, but Kaidan had heard the order to Garrus over closed comms to let her know when he had a clear shot. Let her know, but not to fire unless she ordered it.
He'd been there when the turian took the shot in Dr Michel's clinic and knew the former C-Sec officer could make it clean without endangering the hostage.
When his flanged voice claimed he was ready, Kaidan fully expected it to be game over for the former Alliance biotic.
Instead Shepard kept talking, telling the fanatics how they were all a bunch of idiots, making things worse for every other L2 out there. Increasing the public's mistrust and forcing the newer generations of biotics to go through the same hell the first generation had gone through instead of being able to make the most of the recent progress in public opinion and legal support.
If all that wasn't enough, she then proceeded to outline better plans and tactics for them to get what they wanted. Ones that they could even enact from inside prison where (she left them in no doubt) they would be going if they didn't end up in body bags first.
When she finally shut up Charles didn't just surrender, he looked contrite as well.
The final icing on the cake was when she'd motioned for Ash to take Burns out of the room. The chairman had been gushing in his thanks for her rescue, claiming he'd no idea how desperate the L2s were. Shepard had looked at him like he was muck on her boot and shook her head in disgust as she stated: "Then you weren't doing your job."
Of course, Kaidan knew not all humans were prejudiced against biotics, but there was a difference between not insulting them and actively supporting them. Especially when you had a gun in your face.
Regulations stated he had to salute the commander's insignia and anyone who earned the N7 badge was undoubtedly worthy of respect. She'd earnt his gratitude when she pulled him out the way of that beacon. Now she had something... he wasn't quite sure how to describe it other than 'more'.
It was more than her rank or her achievements that garnered his reverence, it was who she actually was as a person...
And that person was spectacular.