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Estella Shepard trailed behind Captain Anderson through Arcturus’ hallways towards the docking area. She’d gotten in from Earth late in the night shift and had woken up with only just enough time to grab food and coffee before her scheduled meeting with her CO. If it’d been anybody other than Anderson, she wouldn’t have cut it so close.
“Did you get a chance see your family while on leave?” Anderson asked over his shoulder.
“Some of them, sir,” she answered, barely managing to keep pace with him. “Peggy’s still on the Benjamin Davis, but I stayed with Lu and saw mom for a bit. The end of her leave matched with the beginning of mine. She says hello, by the way.”
“She still enjoying her posting on the Kilimanjaro?”
“Very much so.” Shepard waited until a gaggle of servicemembers, bags hoisted over their shoulders, passed by before continuing, “Between you and me, she managed to talk her way out of another promotion so she could stay on.”
Anderson gave a short laugh. “Why am I not surprised? The day da Silva and Hackett find a way to convince her to accept that damn promotion is the day we know the world is ending.”
“That sounds about right, sir,” Shepard agreed with a smile. Her mom loved the day to day of serving on a ship, interacting and supporting those serving underneath her. Becoming an admiral with the potential of getting stuck behind a desk was her mom’s worst nightmare. So far, Hannah Shepard had managed to talk or work her way out of moving up in the ranks. None of them were sure, however, how much longer she’d hold out against Admiral da Silva’s increasingly creative attempts at promoting her XO.
They stopped at a closed door. Shepard forced herself to remain at ease and not fidget. Anticipation raced through her, not unlike what she felt at Torfan, or during those first days at the Academy, and with the legion before that. Much like then, for good or ill, she knew that what lay behind these doors would change her life forever. She didn’t need Apollo’s gift of prophecy to see the turning points of her fate when they were so clearly marked.
“Here she is,” Anderson said without preamble, hitting the door switch and walking through. “Say hello to the SSV Normandy.”
She followed him, drinking the sight of the new ship. The Normandy was like nothing she’d seen before. She was sleeker than Alliance frigates normally were, all curves and smooth lines. The ship was proportioned differently too, at least that’s what it looked like at first glance. Some might attribute it to the turian influence. Others might point to the changes needed to house the Normandy’s prototype systems. Both might have some truth in them, but she doubted it was the full story.
Shepard walked closer and ran her hands along the hull of the Normandy and gave a small smile. The ship might have been a collaboration between the turians and the humans, but she could see the touch of Vulcan’s children in its design. Possibly Hephaestus or Athena’s children as well if she was feeling generous towards the Greeks. Their handiwork was unmistakable. She would bet that most of the changes to the standard frigate design came from them.
“She’s beautiful, sir,” she told Anderson, not able to tear her eyes away from the ship.
“She truly is,” Anderson replied, pride threaded through his voice. “Come on, I’ll show you around before I brief you on what this tour will look like.”
Shepard reluctantly turned away from the ship and followed Anderson inside. Someone on the Normandy’s build team had managed to incorporate the TARDIS charm, giving it more than enough room for its proposed crew. Whoever had woven it into the design was good, Shepard thought absently, taking in the strange shape of the CIC. She’d only noticed it because she was looking for demigod touches. For mortals like Anderson, it wouldn’t be noticeable at all. At most, they might absently think about how roomy the ship was for its size. She could see traces of other charms out of the corner of her eye but they were unfamiliar to her. She’d take a closer look once the Normandy started its shakedown cruise.
“She might take some getting used to, but I think the Normandy will be something special,” Anderson said at the end their tour. He leaned against the railing in engineering and looked at the ship’s drive core.
“We just need to make sure everything’s working first,” Shepard replied with a half-smile. Even with the drive core off, she could feel its effects on her biotics. She kept away from the railing, not wanting to risk the potential static shock.
“That we do.” Anderson turned away from the core and walked back towards the exit.
They were leaving the dock when Anderson stopped short. “Lieutenant Alenko, I wasn’t expecting to see you quite yet,” Anderson said, returning the salute a tall, dark-haired man offered.
“I just wanted to make sure I knew where I was going. Wouldn’t want to get lost the day I have to report for duty, sir,” the man replied.
“At ease, Lieutenant. Commander, meet Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. He’ll be under your command as part of the marine contingent. Lieutenant, this is my XO, Commander Shepard.”
She held out her hand for Alenko to shake.
He glanced down to the tattoo of crossed spears and SPQR over a series of lines on her arm before meeting her gaze. “Ma’am,” he said and took her hand. His face was impassive but there was a curious look in his eyes.
Shepard swallowed her surprise at Alenko’s reaction. The only people who saw the marks signifying her service to Rome were either demigods or whose godly lineage wasn’t too far back. While some Roman demigods had a tendency to continue their service with the Alliance, the military was large enough that encounters weren’t common. To discover another demigod serving directly under her was unexpected to say the least and made her nervous.
“Nice to meet you, Lieutenant,” she answered, doing her best to keep her voice even. He wasn’t Roman. Aside from the fact that she didn’t recognize him, there was no tattoo on his arm. Greek, most likely. Possibly Norse but she doubted it. She’d only ever encountered one Norse demigod while on a quest and Alenko didn’t remind her of them.
“If you need anything, son, let me know. We have a few days before the shakedown starts and I want to make sure that we’re as prepared as can be,” Anderson broke in, giving Shepard an excuse to look away from Alenko. Her skin itched and she was sure it wasn’t due to her biotics.
“I will, sir. Ma’am.” Alenko saluted again before making a quick exit.
Shepard watched him go, thoughts whirling in her head. It was one thing to have demigods involved in the design process of the new ship. To have two demigods of two different lineages serving together? That was a little too close to a quest for her peace of mind.
Later that night, Shepard walked through a deserted, out of the way hallway on the station. She stopped at a dead end and carefully placed her hand on a worn panel. “Senatus Populusque Romanus,” she muttered. The wall glowed and a doorway appeared. She quickly stepped inside and let her eyes adjust to the sudden brightness.
Altars circled the perimeter of the room. Several had items on them, gifts from demigods to their divine parent either departing or arriving from deployment. In the center of the room stood a statue of Lupa with Romulus and Remus.
This space had been here since Arcturus had been built, a place where demigods could make offerings and pray to the gods of Rome. Shepard was sure that the other pantheons had similar spaces scattered around the station. The gods’ survival depended on worship and remembrance after all, even with humanity scattered to the stars.
Shepard carefully made an offering and said a quick prayer to Jupiter, king of the gods and lord of the skies. She then turned to the altar a few places down, still close enough to Jupiter’s to occupy a place of honor. She placed her gift of Coffee Crisps and a current copy of the Alliance magazine on Mars’ altar, taking a minute before looking at the statue representing the god. Normally the candy bars would have been the extent of her tribute, but she needed to ask her father something.
She hadn’t spoken to him in years. Not since the aftermath of Torfan. Oh, she still made her offerings but it was done more to keep from drawing any divine wrath down on her. Peggy didn’t quite understand but Lu did. Lu had never been comfortable being a daughter of the war god.
To her knowledge there had been no Great Prophecy in years. That didn’t mean, however, that threats didn’t exist. The Sibllyne Books that Ella the Harpy recited were a little vague on galactic affairs.
Is there a reason that a Greek demigod is on my ship? she thought, meeting the statue’s eyes. Was this chance or was it something else? There was nobody else in the room with her but she didn’t feel comfortable asking the questions aloud. That would make it too real.
A flash of light and a puff of smoke appeared. Blinking, she looked down to see her offering had vanished. Shepard slowly exhaled and unclenched her hands. Well then. It wasn’t a yes, but it was still a reaction from the gods. The Normandy’s shakedown cruise just became a lot more interesting and dangerous than she’d been expecting.