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Shepard Finds Her Soul Mate	By : KTT2123 Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 5865 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect nor its characters. I am making no money from this.

Chapter List
- 14
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Kelly informs Shepard that Admiral Steven Hackett is on vid-com. It’s only been a week since the last time she heard from him. Wondering what he could possibly want from her so soon after visiting the Normandy crash site, Lily enters the comm room and opens the call. “Commander Shepard,” he greets her. At her nod, he continues “Commander, the Alliance is hoping you are willing to investigate a sensitive matter for us.”
Shepard raises her eyebrows in surprise. A bit of disbelief is evident in her voice as she responds “I wasn’t aware the Alliance trusted me with sensitive matters anymore, Admiral.” She thought it was pretty obvious after Horizon that they didn’t. Kaidan sure in hell didn’t, and even Anderson didn’t seem to truly trust her. If the two Alliance soldiers who knew her best didn’t, why would any of the Alliance?
Hackett is a bit startled by that comment but masks his reaction. “Commander, I don’t know where you got that impression but the Alliance still believes in your integrity and dedication. You may not be with the Alliance currently and have ties to Cerberus but I still believe in your loyalty to us.”
Pure, utter shock is written with crystal clarity all over her face. She is obviously taken aback at that statement of unwavering trust, especially coming from someone so high up in the Alliance. *Why don’t you tell that to Anderson or Alenko? Neither of them seemed too sure about my integrity and they sure don’t seem to trust me.*
The Admiral is honestly stunned by the intensity of her astonishment. He knows that some of the Alliance have their doubts about her now that she is with Cerberus but she shouldn’t know that. As far as he knows she has only had contact with Anderson and Alenko since her death. Steven doesn’t know what happened to make her absolutely certain that the Alliance believes her to be unworthy of trust. *What the hell happened to make her so confident that the Alliance has no trust in her? To make her believe that the Alliance doubts her integrity and has no faith in her? Shepard has integrity built into her very bones.* Hackett is unable to hold back his own surprise, “Shepard, I don’t know what happened to make you feel that way. But I want you to know that despite you working with Cerberus and the rumors that they might be behind the abductions, I still have absolute trust that you have humanity’s and the Alliance’s best interests in mind.” Steven watches carefully as she absorbs his words.
He and Shepard have never been close, not like she is with Anderson. But they have a mutual respect. Hackett is well aware of how remarkable she is. In fact, he has never seen another soldier like her and doubts he ever will. And Steven finds he cannot allow her to continue to believe that the Alliance, that he, doesn’t trust her. He imagines she has enough to worry about considering she has recently been resurrected, is working with a very questionable pro-human organization and is fighting to save colonists from the Collectors, without her believing she has been deemed untrustworthy to her own government and former colleagues.
Hackett remembers the message he received from Major Caleb Antella of the Internal Naval Affairs after Shepard was spotted on Omega and her ties to Cerberus became apparent. More than once, Antella had requested he be able to interrogate Shepard about the two years she was presumed dead and her desertion of the Alliance. Of course, Hackett had immediately denied his requests.
Liara T’Soni had informed him immediately after she had handed over Shepard’s body to Cerberus in hopes that they could resurrect her. He and the asari had formed a beneficial but clandestine, professional relationship after Shepard’s death. Without delay the Admiral had contacted his mole in Cerberus, one that no one, not even within the Alliance, knew of. The mole, a tech genius and a man like a son to him, kept him well informed about Shepard and Project Lazarus. Steven had known everything about what happened during those two lost years. Cerberus spent the whole time bringing her back. He even knew that the Illusive Man had thankfully denied Miranda Lawson’s request to implant a mind control chip in Shepard. Hackett had been worried that Cerberus would try to ensure her loyalty through mind control and had a plan in place should that happen. Steven was glad that the plan hadn’t been necessary.
He had known when she had awakened. His mole informed him that while she consented to work with Cerberus, she made her distrust of the organization and the Illusive Man especially, known. Hackett’s inside information made it easy for him to trust Shepard, unlike the rest of the Alliance. Because he knew what had happened during those two lost years. Secretly, he wished that he could share his intel with some of the others such as Anderson and Alenko but he could not risk his mole, at least not while Shepard is still working with Cerberus.
*How the hell is it that Hackett trusts me but Anderson and Kaidan don’t? It doesn’t make any fucking sense!* Shepard shakes herself from her musings. “Thank you, Admiral. That means…a great deal to me. Now, what can I do for you?”
Hackett feels relieved at the topic change. He had definitely not been expecting the bit of bitterness and the total shock in her voice at a simple vow of trust and he finds it made him somewhat uncomfortable. It feels almost invasive to see the emotions she normally guards so well. In the past, interactions between Shepard and himself have always been entirely professional, without a trace of emotion. They both are experts at masking their emotions, her failure to do so shows how truly shaken she was. Steven is unsure how to deal with this new side of Shepard and is much more comfortable talking about missions than personal matters with her. Because while he knows her as a soldier, he doesn’t know her as a person, very few people outside her crew do.
“There is an Alliance distress signal coming from Kobayashi in the Yakawa System. Kobayashi is a planet known for its lawlessness and slave trade. A group of marines were sent there a month ago to try to break a slavery ring. The marines have been out of contact for two weeks and they activated their distress beacon two days ago. We need you to find out what happened to the marines. What makes the rescue of these soldiers so important is that one of them is the only child of a very high ranking Alliance official and a close, personal friend. Her mother begged me to rescue her daughter. I do not know what you will encounter when you find them but if negotiation is needed, I know of no one else with a better chance to get them out alive than you.”
Shepard takes a minute to absorb the information before nodding firmly “I will plot a course for Kobayashi immediately.”
“Thank you, Commander.” It is the first time she has seen a flicker of the human behind Hackett’s professional face. The worry he feels for the marines and his friend’s daughter is apparent on his face.
“As soon as I know something I’ll let contact you.”
LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV
Shepard along with Garrus and Jack soon land on Kobayashi. It isn’t hard to find the distress beacon where it had been hastily turned on and tossed near the camp the marines had set up. The missing squad must have been ambushed. Their tents and supplies lay abandoned, only their weapons and the soldiers themselves appear to be missing. The three split up to search the camp for additional clues. Shepard finds an audio-log lying near a pile of the marines’ dog tags. The tags have obviously been left as evidence that the marines had been taken by force. Alliance soldiers never willingly part with their dog tags. From the broken chains, it is clear that the dog tags had been literally ripped off their necks. Lily quickly plays the audio-log message.
A hard, male voice is heard making demands. “We have your Alliance soldiers. The only way you will get them back unharmed, or mostly unharmed <harsh laughter> is to trade them for Shepard. Once we have her in custody, we will release the bait. Send Shepard and her squad to these coordinates. No one else. We see anyone else and the hostages die.”
Garrus and Jack hear the unfamiliar harsh voice and come over to hear the log. Shepard plays it again, wondering who this is and why he is asking for her specifically. This was supposed to be a simple hostage situation. Now, she finds out they, whoever they are, took the soldiers just for leverage to get her. *As if Kuril’s feeble attempt to capture me wasn’t enough? Mere prison guards against me and my squad, laughable! Now, whoever these jokers are! Why is someone always after me? Will there ever be a time when people aren’t trying to kill or capture me?*
“Well, that’s a fucking trap,” Jack blurts out, saying what they all are thinking.
“They are asking for you, specifically. What the hell is going on?” Garrus asks sounding worried. *Why is it always Shepard? Why are they always after Shepard?*
“I don’t know. Hackett said nothing about this.” Shepard had fully expected for most of the marines to be dead already. She hadn’t expected they would be taken hostage for leverage to get her. Lily quickly calls the Normandy on her omni-tool and demands to be connected to Admiral Hackett immediately. In less time than she expects, she’s connected.
“Commander, Miss Chambers said it was important.”
“Yes, some new information came up and I believe you need to hear this.” Shepard plays the audio-log. She sees a flicker of surprise on Hackett’s face before he can hide it.
“Shepard, I know nothing about this. I had no idea they were captured to get to you.” He wonders if his friend’s daughter was targeted specifically because of him, because of his connection with Shepard or if it is just a coincidence. Hackett can see the same thought is running through the Commander’s mind.
“I thought as much.”
“Commander, do you want Alliance backup? Whoever this is has clearly set up a trap, whether to capture or kill you.”
“Thank you for the consideration, Admiral but my squad is the only backup I will need. I’ll inform them of the situation and they’ll be ready to enact a rescue if necessary. If they need help, my Yeoman will call. Even if they wish to kill me, I doubt whoever is behind this trap will be able to resist gloating before trying to kill me, which will give my teams time to attack. If they need more assistance, my Yeoman will be in touch.”
“Of course, Commander. Godspeed and be careful.”
Shepard quickly comes up with a plan. “Garrus and Mordin, you are with me. The rest of the squad will be divided into three units in the event of my capture. Miranda, you will lead one, with Grunt and Samara. Jacob you will lead the second, with Jack, Tali, and Zaeed. Thane, you and Kasumi are going together. You will be my eyes and trail behind my squad. If we are captured, we are relying on you to follow us and keep the other two units up to date on our location. I am betting if they intend to capture us, they will want to move us. It’s what I would do.” At the nods of her crew, she takes Mordin and Garrus with her and departs. Her other teammates are all suited up and on planet, ready in case they need to rescue her.
Garrus is silent as she makes plans, worried about her walking into a clear trap but grateful to be going with her. There is no way he’d let her leave him behind for this. Vakarian feels better knowing they have backup in place if this mission goes sideways. Unsurprisingly, Shepard has made the Cerberus crew into hers, first and foremost. They all are loyal to her and all of them would fight to the death to get her back.
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Shepard Finds Her Soul Mate