Chapter 11

"Humanity advanced so quickly in the past couple of centuries." Xen said. Harry nodded.

"It's been a unique experience to watch our species go from driving around in ground vehicles propelled by internal combustion all the way to faster than light space travel. A lot of us think perhaps we advanced too quickly, but Pandora's box is already open." Harry said.

"Pandora's box?" Raan asked. Harry retrieved and slid a data tablet towards her.

"That contains a large assortment of human culture and history. You should have been able to see this on the extranet... I'm working on that by the way." Harry said with a grin.

"Fascinating." Raan said, scrolling briefly through the table of contents.

"I'd appreciate if you could reciprocate at some point. There is a wealth of information on Quarian civilization available on the extranet, but given the amount of corrections our archivists have to make on the extranet on a daily basis, I'm guessing a lot of it is garbage." Harry said. Gerrel nodded.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Rael said. A notification popped up on Shepard's omni-tool and she looked down.

"We've got to get going. They sent us a lead on a recent Geth attack, a human colony called Feros." Shepard said.

"Geth?!" Gerrel said

"The spectre we are hunting is working with Geth, how have you not been informed of that? Nevermind... Fucking council.." Shepard said. Harry nodded.

"Be careful, and keep them as spread out as you can. The closer they are to each other the smarter they get." Xen said.

"Thanks. It's been a pleasure." Shepard said, standing and shaking their hands be fore leading Harry back into the Normandy. Once they were in the airlock and the pressure equalized, they sat down in preparation for the decontamination cycle.

"So, How's your first day as a frigate commander so far?" Harry asked, grinning at her from behind his helmet.

"It's not what I expected. What was your first command like?" Shepard asked. Harry grinned.

"Did I ever tell you that story?" Harry asked, raising his arms and turning so the decontamination spray could reach there.

"No, I asked Mom and she said it was your story to tell." Shepard said.

"It was aboard the Demeter, a cruiser. I transfigured a cargo crate into a coffin and Captain Jenkins was the only one that got the joke." Harry said Shepard laughed, remembering that the ship Dracula traveled to London on in the titular novel was called the Demeter.

"We were on a supply run between Mars and Io when we were jumped by a wing of secessionist fighters. They had a saboteur on the ship, so when we spun up our turrets two of them exploded, followed shortly by the weapons console right next to where the captain and the XO were standing. Captain Jenkins was knocked out, and unfortunately XO Pascal was killed immediately. The navigator was the ranking officer on the bridge, but he froze up and didn't respond when we begged him for orders." Harry said. Shepard looked at him, spellbound. The decontamination sequence ended, and they started removing their hardsuits.

"This was before the Alliance mandated escorts on supply runs, and the nearest help was hours away, so we were effectively on our own." Harry said, stripping down to his compression suit. Shepard gulped and looked away when she caught her gaze lingering a little too long. She found herself extremely self-conscious about undressing in front of him for the first time since she was a teenager.

"I tried a few times to get him to respond but he was just locked up. I ordered him back to his station and assumed command. Technically that was an extremely actionable act of insubordination, but later he defended my call, explaining everything. I ordered all sections to lock down and all hands to arm themselves." Harry said. He looked up and saw Shepard was still in her compression suit.

"You ok, Janey?" Harry asked, pulling his uniform top over his head.

"Uh, yeah.. of course." Jane said. Harry smiled kindly and approached her, giving her a quick hug.

"I'll wait outside." Harry said, stepping out of the airlock. She sighed in relief before changing into her uniform. When she left, Harry was leaning against the wall chatting with Garrus.

"Yeah, I agree the widow is a great gun, but pound for pound the mantis is superior." Harry said.

"God, Finally, a Human with a common sense." Garrus said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Commander, I have some suggestions about our ground team loadouts, can you give me your omnitool address?" Garrus asked. She nodded and exchanged addresses with him.

"I'll send them when I'm done in Engineering later. Thanks." Garrus said, taking his leave.

"Listen, Harry... about-" Shepard went to say before Harry interrupted her.

"So after we locked the sections down the secessionists docked with our aft docking bay. I waited until I could hear the pressure release, and ordered the helm to run. Those old cruisers were tough as hell, so we took off and still had half of their docking bay attached. When the captain woke up, he put me in for a commendation and now they call that the "Potter maneuver." Harry said with a grin. Jane smiled fondly, of course he'd recognize her discomfort and give her an out.

"Well I'm glad my first command is a bit less dramatic so far." Shepard said.

"So far. Give it time, I've been reading upon Saren, Dave is right he's a devious little shit stain." Harry said.

"Tell me about it. Admiral Anderson and I were talking about him earlier. I can't believe Saren ruined his chance at becoming a spectre." Shepard said. Her stomach grumbled loudly, causing Harry to laugh, and gesture for her to follow him to the mess hall.

"Don't feel too bad. Anderson's already beaten Saren in one regard." Harry said.

"What's that?" Shepard asked.

"Saren was up for command once in the Turian navy. He was denied. His command competency was deemed to be lacking, he never made it above their equivalent of Lieutenant Commander. Dave went from his first command to being promoted to Admiral in less than a month." Harry said, grinning. The walked into the Mess and saw that it was sparsely populated. Liara, Tali, Ash and Joker were sitting there chatting.

"Admiral on deck!" Joker said, laughing as Ash and Tali stood to salute.

"You're right Joker, the waste reclamation systems do need to be cleaned and flushed. Thanks for volunteering." Shepard said.

"Aww crap." Joker said, wincing and clutching his left hand.

"Apt words there, Flight Lieutenant." Harry said with a grin. He paused for a moment.

"Jeff, have you been taking your potion?" Harry asked. Joker nodded.

"Yeah it just doesn't seem to work as well as it used to. Nothing's broken, I tripped on the way out of the cockpit and caught a railing, now my wrist is mad at me." Joker said.

"May I?" Harry asked. Joker nodded.

"Episkey." Harry said. He groaned, then sighed with relief shaking the hand.

"Go talk to Karin when you can, I'll see about modifying the potion. I'll also check with Elizabeth to see if they've made any progress." Harry said.

"I appreciate it Adm... Harry." Joker said.

"Hold off on the reclamation unit cleaning until Dr. Chakwas clears you, Joker." Shepard said.

"Will do Commander, but I should be fine. It's really not a labor intensive job." Joker said.

"Harry, was that magic?" Liara said. Harry nodded.

"Episkey is a minor healing spell. It can completely heal small breaks and fractures, like a finger bone or a small rib. For larger breaks it will set the bone and stabilize it but it still takes a few days for it to heal properly." Harry said.

"If you don't mind me asking, Lieutenant, why didn't you go straight to the infirmary?" Garrus asked.

"I have Vrolic syndrome, otherwise known as brittle bone disease. There's no cure but there is a potion that reinforces my bones, before I had that though I had to deal with a lot of breaks and pain. I got so used to it that it didn't really register until just a few moments ago." Joker explained.

"Spirits you made it through basic and flight training with that? I've seen tons of pilots wash out for far less than that." Garrus said.

"Jeff likes to joke around, thus the nickname, but he's actually a total badass." Harry said with a grin.

"Damn right I am. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm missing my stories." Joker said with a grin.

"I'm heading to the Infirmary now, Shepard. I should be fine long before we reach the relay." Joker said.

"Good to know. Keep me posted." Shepard said.

"Aye aye." Joker said, making his way out of the mess hall.

"Remarkable.." Liara said.

"I hate that the potion is losing effectiveness." Ash said.

"I'm sure Elizabeth will jump right on it. Karin won't want her favorite patient to suffer." Harry said with a grin.

"So Commander, can you tell us about our next objective?" Tali asked.

"We think he's somewhere in the Traverse but that's a whole lot of space to sift through, we're following up on a lead provided by the council. There was a Geth attack on a world called Feros, we're going there first. Tali, your knowledge of the Geth is going to be vital on this mission. I'll have a proper briefing ready before we get there." Shepard said.

"Who's gonna be on your team, Commander?" Ash asked.

"We're going down in two teams. Tali and Kaidan will be with me, You'll be leading Harry and Garrus." Shepard said. Ash frowned.

"Commander, I'm just a gunnery chief" Ash said.

"You're 'Just a gunnery chief' because a bunch of Alliance brass are short-sighted dipshits that can't read service records. You've been involved in dozens of combat missions, and your leadership competency scores rival Kaidan's. If I had the authority I'd promote you to Lieutenant based on that alone." Shepard said.

"I can't believe people think General Williams was a coward, he saved so many people." Kaidan said.

"I served under him at Shanxi and for several engagements after. If General Williams as a coward, I'm the chaser for the Holyhead Harpies." Harry said.