Actions

Work Header

Chapter 6: Epilogue

Chapter Text



PRIVATE BERTHING, COMPARTMENT 3-380-14 — SSV EINSTEIN SA-C-01

03 MAY 2170 — 07:26:18 GST

Noah woke to the sound of the Einstein humming all around her. The mass effect core had a strange effect on her, she’d found. Her mouth would sometimes taste like citrus and iron, and she had difficulty adjusting to the artificial gravity of a warship. All of the sailors she avoided seemed to be able to move along just fine, slipping up and down ladderwells to and from their destinations with patterned ease. She couldn’t imagine being so comfortable in a place like this.

A knock at the door of her berth.

“Come in,” she called out, adjusting her clothes to cover the bruises as best as possible, which, admittedly, wasn’t much. Her entire body from head to toe was a patterned tapestry of black, purple, and a sickly yellow-green. She really had been beaten all to hell.

How she was still alive, she had no idea.

(A lie, Noah thought bitterly. You’re alive because of him, and you let him die.)

The door slid open, revealing an exhausted and harried-looking Lieutenant David Anderson. 

“David,” she said, nodding curtly just to irritate him. She saw it work, watched as his jaw clenched and then unclenched. It brought her amusement to see him get so bent out of shape over a name. 

“Noah,” he returned, taking a seat nearby. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” she said, and it wasn’t a lie. “But still not great.”

They’d buried John Shepard two weeks ago. He’d been laid out in a metal container that was said to be airtight and nearly impenetrable, the plexiglass viewing port only showing her father’s upper torso and head. His name had been laser-etched onto the matte black surface, along with his birth-to-death dates and his former Alliance rank. David had given her the trifold flag himself, saluted to her father’s corpse as the Search-and-Rescue marines who’d found her slid the hardcase into the airlock. 

The idea was to launch the case into a long-term solar-synchronous orbit, and with little interference and a lot of time, eventually her father’s final resting place would be within the star of Horus. She found it poetic. Her father would have hated it.

Since then, Noah’s sole focus (or so Karin had demanded) had been to heal from her experience planetside. Physically, at least, Noah was well on the way to recovery; the stitches on her facial cuts had begun dissolving, leaving bright, pink scars behind. The bruising that covered most of her body had begun to fade. Her knuckles had scabbed over, her nailbeds regrowing. 

She felt something closely resembling a human now, and that was…good. It was good.

David hummed. “It’s only been a couple weeks. Take the time you need to heal. Everything else can wait.”

“Can it?” Noah asked with a raised brow. She’d heard the announcement over the 1MC just like everyone else: Rear Admiral Steven Hackett was aboard the SSV Einstein. She knew he’d want to speak with her, or about her, eventually. Probably sooner rather than later.

David shrugged. “If Dr. Chakwas informs him that you’re unable to withstand rigorous questioning at this current time, even Hackett can’t technically overrule her.”

Noah snorted. “She’ll eat him alive.”

“Got the measure of our good doctor already, have you?” David asked, risking an actual smile for once. It looked strange on him. Noah wasn’t sure she liked it.

“You’re both easy to read,” Noah admitted quietly. At his frown, she hastily added: “It’s not a bad thing, really. Means you’re honest. After the raid, I don’t think I could have handled talking about everything if it hadn’t been you in there with me. Anyone else would have treated it like an assignment.”

“It was an assignment,” David argued, but his heart wasn’t in it. He had the good grace to ignore her disbelieving scoff, and then he dropped a bomb on her. “I’ve received word that your mother is en-route.”

Noah blinked once. “Why?”

He didn’t outright tell her that that was a stupid question, but his expression said enough. “Right,” she said quickly. “Can you—I don’t know, tell her not to come?”

“I don’t have that authority,” he replied. 

“Shit,” she muttered, hiding her face in her hands. “Shit, okay, um. When’s she gonna be here?”

David looked very nervous, and it put her on edge. “That’s actually why I came down. When I said en-route, I meant that she’s already onboard. She wants to see you.”

Noah looked away from him; the kind, understanding expression on his face was unbearable. He seemed like a good man, reminded her of her father in a way. Stalwart, tall and proud. Dutiful, if a bit too serious. She wondered what David Anderson would have done down there on Mindoir. If he thought she was a monster, too, for what she’d done to survive.

“Yeah, alright,” she mumbled, still looking out the porthole to her left. The blackness of open space greeted her, distant stars shimmering light years away. As he exited the room, Noah clenched her fists and sighed. “Shit…”

Ten minutes later, the guard on her door knocked and opened the door. A woman stepped in, donned in Alliance dress whites. She was taller than Noah, her skin a shade darker, but she could see her mirror in this stranger. The same coarse, bushy curls, though her mother’s were cut short to regulation standard. The same freckled face, full, red lips. Thick, dark eyebrows, same heavy brow. The same button nose. The only differences now were age and Noah’s scarring wounds.

Familiar amber eyes met her own, and the woman inhaled a sharp gasp.

Hana Shepard took a hesitant step forward, fists held rigidly at her sides. She looked so uncomfortable, Noah almost wanted to laugh.

“Mum,” Noah said in greeting when it became clear her mother couldn’t speak. She tried for a smirk, but felt more like a grimace. “Been a while.”

Her mother flinched at the sound of her voice. “Christ alive, Noah…”

“What are you doing here?”

Before the raid, Noah might have allowed her mother some sympathy for the disappearing act all those years ago. She might have given her mother some forgiveness, if she wanted or needed it. She may have even entertained the thought of reconnecting one day, if they could air out their issues and just…talk. Now, though, Noah wasn’t feeling very forgiving.

Her mother’s brows inched closer to her hairline. “What am I… I thought you were dead, Noah; they told me—”

“That batarian raiders attacked the colony,” Noah said, cutting her off. She heard her own voice like an out-of-body experience. She sounded older, harder. “That they took or killed everyone. Destroyed New Eddie, turned it to rubble.”

“Yes,” her mother sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

Noah silently watched her mother for a while. She had bags under her eyes, stress lines on her forehead and around her mouth. Her nails were bitten to the quick, faint lines of dried blood around the cuticles. The slacks of her dress uniform were wrinkled around the waist and ankles, the sleeves of the jacket lightly stained around the cuffs. She was a mess. 

Noah glanced up, meeting her eyes again. “Dad didn’t make it.”

“I know,” Hana said quietly, and Noah was shocked to see actual pain in her eyes. Her mother scoffed, shaking her head. “We did love each other, once upon a time. Don’t look so surprised.”

Noah scowled, crossing her arms. “I just didn’t think you could feel sadness,” she bit back, tilting her head. “Or love.”

“That’s…” her mother trailed off, hanging her head. “Okay, maybe I deserve that.” She ignored Noah’s answering scoff and continued. “Alliance command pinged me the moment the Einstein weighed anchor above the colony. I… I got here as fast as I could. Admiral Hackett let me come as part of his entourage.”

“Why?” Noah demanded. “They must know you haven’t seen me in ten years.”

Her mother nodded. “They do. But legally, I’m your guardian now.”

Noah hummed, finally somewhat appeased at having her curiosity sated. Her mother was here because she had to be. Not because she wanted to be; that made things easier for her. “So, what happens now?”

“What do you want to happen?”

“I…” Noah blinked. “I don’t know.”

She had the very beginnings of a plan for her life, such as it was now. When she turned eighteen, she’d enlist in the Marine Corps. She’d spend the rest of her life ensuring that another Mindoir never happened again, no matter the cost. She’d find the colonists who’d been taken and free them. She knew it was wishful thinking, but Karin had told her that having goals would help her move past what happened to her. 

Maybe she could go to university on the Alliance’s dime, get a degree. Be an officer, like her mum. But she’d held the responsibility of other lives in her hands now, and found she liked it very little. 

But all that was in the near-future. In the here and now, Noah had very few options. She wasn’t an adult, couldn’t survive on her own. She had no money to her name. 

Her mother began to speak, but was interrupted by another knock on Noah’s door. The guard opened it and then stood at rigid attention as an unfamiliar man stepped in. 

He was tall—taller than her father had been, but lanky. Older and white, with the beginnings of faint wrinkles crossing his forehead. He had a goatee of coarse brown hair streaked with gray, and piercing, cold blue eyes. Eyes that moved from Hana to Noah quickly, as if they were puzzle pieces he intended to make fit into whatever picture he was putting together. 

Her mother stood firm, but straightened her back and nodded at the interloper. “Sir.”

“At ease, Commander,” the man said, turning to face Noah. He studied her, and Noah had never felt more like some scientific specimen in her life. “I’ve been told you went through hell down there.”

He said it so casually, so clinically uncaring, that Noah’s spine went rigid. With a bit of heat in her voice, she said: “It was them or me. I did what I had to.”

From the spark in his eyes, Noah figured she’d said the right thing. His cold gaze shifted into something warmer, approaching approval. He relaxed his stance slightly, shoulders drooping by centimeters, and offered his hand to her. “Admiral Steven Hackett.”

“Noah Shepard,” she returned, shaking his hand. She felt very confused. She glanced from him to her mother, and saw a fuming, murderous look on Hana Shepard’s face. 

“I wanted to ask you a few questions,” the admiral said, taking a seat across from her, “if that’s alright with you.”

Deciding to ignore her mother’s anger, Noah took a seat as well. She clenched her fists in her lap. “Go ahead. Sir.”

“I’ve read through Lieutenant Anderson’s reports,” he began. He tapped the desk with his forefinger a few times. “When you and your father escaped from the drainage system beneath New Edmonton, you said that you were ambushed by a batarian captain wearing a gold hermetic seal on his armor.”

Noah closed her eyes, forcefully repressing the sounds of screaming and gunfire. She swallowed thickly. “That’s right.”

The admiral hummed and removed a personal datapad from his pocket. He swiped at the screen and typed for a few seconds. Finally, he passed the ‘pad to her. “Is this him?”

Noah frowned and read the entry:

SA Naval Criminal Investigative Service

WANTED FUGITIVE

Okorem Dran’fapos

Date of Birth: [REDACTED]

Place of Birth: [REDACTED]

Sex: MALE

Race: BATARIAN

Occupation: [REDACTED]

Height: 2.1 METERS

Weight: 92 KG

Eye Color: BLACK

Scars/Tattoos: N/A

Aliases: Hemenos Grapnhak, Ikorok Kray’shyr

Known Assosiates: ELANOS HALIAT, TALYTH OKEER

WANTED FOR: MURDER, EXTORTION, PIRACY, SLAVERY

The moment she saw the mugshot accompanying the entry, she knew it was him. She could see the smug confidence in his shoulders, the cruelty in his beady eyes. She could remember how he’d screamed and screamed after her father shot his kneecap off, how he’d begged for his life afterward. 

“Yeah,” she whispered. “That's him.”

She saw something akin to victory in Admiral Hackett’s eyes then. He took the datapad back and pocketed it, folding his hands together on the desk. “I know it’s no consolation for what you’ve lost, but you and your father did a great thing together—the deaths of those raiders will prevent further loss of human life in the future.”

“How?” she asked.

Hackett frowned, as if debating what was safe to tell her. “Previous pirate raids on Alliance territory have been officially disavowed by the Hegemony. We know they ordered it, they know they ordered it, but without proof we can’t retaliate without censure from the Council races.”

Noah nodded. “But…”

Hackett smiled grimly. “This changes things. A slaver raid on a merchant ship crewing fifty is one thing, a colony of ten-thousand is another. And confirming Dran’fapos’ involvement in the raid on your home implicates the Hegemony External Forces directly. The Council won’t be able to turn a blind eye this time. You’ve done us all a great service, Miss Shepard.”

Noah blinked at him. “Excuse me?”

Hackett either didn’t catch the censure in her tone, or didn’t care. But Noah caught her mother’s eyes behind the man, wide-eyed and shaking her head. Noah didn’t care. Her father had been murdered, thousands of her people had been murdered, and he wanted to act as though it was as service?  

She clenched her teeth, raining in her growing temper. Making a scene now would only get herself and her mother into more trouble than it was worth. Still, she couldn’t contain all of the venom in her voice when she replied: “I hope it was worth it, sir.”

He seemed to catch onto her anger then, but to her ire it only amused him. A faint smirk lined his lips as they stared each other down. She’d seen worse things than an old man trying to intimidate her, and he’d likely seen worse than a teenage girl on the verge of throwing a fit. Still, he blinked first and nodded. 

“I won’t keep you any longer,” he said, rising to his feet. Noah watched him move to the exit, wary but oddly respectful. Steven Hackett reminded her of her father in ways that David didn’t—the cool detachment in the face of adversity, the ruthlessness. He opened the hatch to leave her berthing, hesitated, and turned to face her. “I was told you want to join the Corps when you reach your majority. That true?”

“Yes, sir.”

He gave her a close-lipped smile. “Good. I’ll have Anderson write you a commendation. I hope to see you groundside, Miss Shepard.” He turned and nodded to her mother. “Commander.”

And then he left. 

Hana released the breath she’d been holding and leaned back against the far wall. Noah raised a brow at her. “Is he that scary?”

“The Hatchet?” her mother said with a faint, nervous laugh. “He went CQB with turian special forces during the war and came back without a scratch. Yeah, kid, he’s scary.”

Noah shrugged. “Seemed nice to me.”

“He likes you,” her mother said quietly. She seemed distressed by that fact. “Which means you’ll be on his radar forever if you do end up enlisting. He’ll have an interest in your career, one way or another—can’t say if that’s good or bad.”

Noah couldn’t think of anything to say to that, so she changed the subject. “When do we leave?”

Her mother’s eyes went wide in shock. She recovered quickly, at least, clearing her throat. “Medical wants to do a final checkup later today. If you’re cleared, we’ll take a transport back to the Berlin. Few days for relay transit, we can be at Arcturus before the week is out.”

Noah nodded silently. She’d known from the moment David had told her that her mother was coming to see her that she’d have to live with her from now on. At least, until she turned eighteen. That’s how things worked. Her father was gone, and her mother was stable enough to support a teenage daughter. It would be an adjustment, likely an impossible one, but Noah reassured herself that it was only for a couple years. 

After that, she could leave and never turn back, which is exactly what she intended to do. 

“There’s… something else,” Hana murmured. She looked both irritated and nervous. Before Noah could tell her to spit it out, she shook her head and sighed. “We had an OPSEC leak—one of the civilian technicians got hold of your testimonial and forwarded it out. ANN got their hands on the entire transcript. Medical records, everything.”

Noah said nothing.

“You’re all over the news,” her mother finished.

Again, Noah said nothing.

“It’s…it’s honestly probably a good thing in the long run,” Hana said. She gestured helplessly, hand twisting in midair. She started pacing. “Navy brass isn’t being painted in a good light, of course, but we dropped the ball on this one. Mindoir’s being labeled as a ‘mishandling of Alliance resources.’ Hackett’s taking the hit—his reputation can take it.”

“Do they know…everything?” Noah asked, finally breaking her silence.

Her mother sighed. “Yeah.”

Noah looked at her hands, scarred and permanently stained red and black, to her broken, shattered nails. She thought of burning buildings and black ships cutting across the night sky, of knives coated with blood and muscle. She pictured her father’s face, laughing, crying, pinched with pain, and utterly relaxed, blank in death. She swallowed down flashes of memory, the stinging heat of bullets whizzing past her face, her knife slipping into the raider’s neck, the feeling of her hands soaked in blood. 

And now, all of that was out there. Every bit of her pain, rage, and shame, up for public display.

She looked up, bracing her forehead against the porthole. Closed her eyes. 

“Fuck.”


OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT OF A.N.N. BROADCAST

04 MAY 2170 — 22:00:00 UTC

JACOB MAGNUSSEN: Tonight, breaking news as we come on the air—a deadly raid in the Attican Traverse. 

[Interlude, cut for relevance]

JACOB MAGNUSSEN: Good evening, I’m Jacob Magnussen with the Alliance News Network. Thank you for joining us tonight. We’ve received final confirmation of a tragic attack on the garden world of Mindoir that occurred just over three weeks ago. The current casualty figures are estimated to be in the thousands, with that number steadily rising. The satellite images coming in—Alliance Navy recovery workers investigating the destruction. 

[Satellite imagery of New Edmonton remains is shown. Approx. 200 relief personnel are on the ground, searching for survivors and prepping ground for A.T.G. transports]

JACOB MAGNUSSEN: Authorities have confirmed that a single survivor of the raid was recovered by 103rd Batallion marine search-and-rescue. Sixteen-year-old Noah Shepard, daughter of Alliance Navy Lieutenant Commander Hana Shepard, was found in the rubble of the destroyed capital city of New Edmonton. Dictated transcripts of Miss Shepard’s ordeal planetside have been recovered by ANN analysts. Stay tuned for more.

JACOB MAGNUSSEN: The Systems Alliance Defense Initiative has been left adrift in the wake of this inhumane assault on one of our most beloved colonies.  SADI Intergalactic Public Diplomacy Directive Spokesperson William Haseda had this to say concerning the gruesome attack:

[An Alliance press conference is shown. One man stands before a podium as reporters from hundreds of news stations press him for information]

WILLIAM HASEDA: Alliance Navy intelligence has reported that the invaders disabled the FTL comm buoy in the days preceding the raid on Mindoir. Multiple distress calls were sent out from both the city’s defensive stations and the colonial militia outposts, but due to the nature of technical interference, were unfortunately and ultimately unheard. 

WILLIAM HASEDA: The Systems Alliance Defense Initiative takes the safety and prosperity of the citizens under its protection very seriously, and we are rigorously investigating exactly how this attack occurred, as well as how to prevent further loss of life in the future. I understand you all have questions, but this attack was completely unprecedented. More information will be relayed to you as it comes. Thank you.

JACOB MAGNUSSEN: The lack of concrete information concerning what extranet talking heads are referring to as the ‘Rape of Mindoir’ has many questioning just how effective the Alliance Defense Force is at protecting human interests. Pro-human extremist group Vox Humana has released unconfirmed confidential reports that the attackers were, in fact, batarian slavers. SADI Intelligence spokeswoman Amanda Muir has denied those reports.

[An image of Noah Shepard from before the Mindoir attack is shown on screen. In it, she has an arm around her father, smiling widely]

JACOB MAGNUSSEN: We will have more information regarding this tragedy for you in the coming days and weeks. For now, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the victims, and with the Daughter of Mindoir, Noah Shepard. Godspeed, Noah. Thank you, and good night.

Series this work belongs to: