Mass Effect: After the Smoke Falls

Reunion Pt. 1

Robert and Shepard, now dressed in boots, jeans, a white shirt, and a black leather jacket, left the hospital and headed towards Docking bay D:24, the designated place of the SSV Normandy SR-2. Like the SR-1, the Normandy was a stealth fighter that Shepard commanded during the Reaper War, it’s slick curved chasis and the white paint showed signs of wear and tare. Shepard gave a small smile, it was like being reunited with lost friends, which he knew he would be. Many creatures paid no mind to the War hero and his clone, so much had gone on that they were too busy to pay attention to people’s faces.

“Shepard. This way.” Robert said as he led him to the elevator leading to the Normandy’s docking tubes. The door slid open and a figure stood there, arms crossed. He was human, with suave black hair and a 5’o clock shadow. He wore an Alliance Spectre shore leave uniform and battle scars on his arms and face. This was Kaidan Alenko, a soldier who served under Shepard during the Sovereign/Geth Invasion.

“Kaidan.” Shepard said with a smile.

Kaidan returned the smile and held out his hand. “Commander. It’s good to see you alive. Again.”

Shepard shook Kaidan’s hand and looked him over. “How’s the past for months been treating you, Major?”

“Good. Well, as good as any clean up mission after a huge war can go.” Kaidan said. He looked over at Robert . “Your Doppelgänger isn’t like the one that tried to kill you on the first Citadel, that’s for damn sure. He’s been helping with thieves and rouge geth. Isn’t that right Leautenant?”

“Yes sir.” Robert saluted.

“Rogue Geth? I thought all but those that were uploaded to  Quarian suits were destroyed.” Shepard asked.

“Ah yeah, I forgot Hackett hadn’t told you. See, past the Alpha Relay, you know the one we destroyed to keep the Reapers at bay for as long as we could?”

Shepard nodded grimly. “The Relay’s explosion caused the near extinction of the Batarian race. How couldn’t I forget.”

“Apparently there was a Geth patrol that was stationed in the Alpha Relay.” Robert informed. “They were still uploaded to the Geth Consensus, that’s how they figured out the Crucible destroyed most of their species. They managed to leave that area of space and have been causing Hit-and-Run Gurella style attacks on our borders.”

“Hasn’t the Alliance been doing anything?” Shepard asked.

“With our forces spread as thin as they are, Its been damn hard to keep track of rouge Geth.” Kaidan said. The lift to the Normandy stopped and the doors opened into the airlock area. The inside was silvery white, the cockpit to the left, and the Command Information Center (CIC) to the right. The pilot’s chair swiveled around and a young human man clumsily stood up. This was Jeff “Joker” Moreau, the Normandy’s helmsman. He limped over to Shepard, his  Vrolik Syndrome making it difficult to stand upright.

“Commander! God its great to see you again. Alive, again. Just like old times?” Joker said with a smile.

Shepard gentley patted Joker on the back. “Maybe. We’ll have to see what Hackett says. I wish I could be retired though. I need a vacation.”

“Or two at least. You’ve been spaced how many times now?” Joker said.

“Two. Once if you count the SR-1 explosion, and when Shepard activated the Crucible.” Said a artificial female voice. A silver female robot walked from the co-pilot’s chair. “Shepard, it is good to see you again.”

“EDI?” Shepard asked. Hackett already told him about Joker rebuilding the Normandy’s AI, who had a sort of relationship with the helmsman, but he didn’t expect her to recognize him.

“Your surprise is understandable. My form was nearly destroyed when you activated the Crucible, but luckily Jeff was able to rebuild me up to that point.” EDI said.

Joker nodded. “She gave me one hell of a heart attack when we landed on some godforsaken planet trying to escape the beam.”

Robert coughed. “We should really get moving, Wrex isn’t a patient guy.”

“How would you know?” Kaidan asked. “You only worked with him up until Vermire.”

Shepard looked over at his clone. “You killed Wrex on Vermire?”

Robert shrugged. “The VI world didn’t give me a viable solution, so I had to kill him.”

“And he chose Ashley over me.” Kaidan butted in.

There was an awkward silence, then Robert broke it. “Well anyways, we should really rest up. Shepard if you need to talk to me, I’ll be at Life support.” The group split up back to their posts, leaving Shepard alone in the corridor.

“It’s good to be home.” He said with a smile.