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Maya Shepard hadn’t been on a starship – at least not a warship – since she’d left home for college. It was bittersweet, standing near the bridge of the Normandy. She’d spent a lot of years yearning for a home with ground under her feet. And yet, being on her brother’s ship felt very much like coming home.
Their mother just happened to be on Arcturus when the Normandy was scheduled to arrive. Maya was living on Earth now, and it had been several years since her, her brother, and mother had been in the same room. So, she took a shuttle to Arcturus to surprise them both.
And surprise them she did. Commander Quinn Shepard lost his decorum for about ten seconds when he scooped her up in a hug so tight it pushed the breath from her lungs.
He looked good; all things considered. The message he’d sent them painted a pretty stressful picture, and Maya was certain he’d left a lot of details out. Still, command seemed to suit him. Quinn had always been more Hannah Shepard than Maya. She was more like their father; long may he rest.
Quinn gave them a tour, introducing them to crew as they went. The pilot didn’t even get up from his seat, giving a lazy two fingered salute as they passed. Maya glanced at her mother and brother, baffled, but they didn’t seem concerned.
The XO, Pressly, practically jumped out of his skin saluting their mother. When she smiled, saying ‘at ease’ in a friendly but professional tone, he shook her hand like he wanted to keep it for a souvenir.
They headed down to the bottom level, where Maya and her mother were introduced to the multi-cultural part of this multi-cultural mission. The krogan was as taciturn as Maya expected. The turian was friendly and polite. The quarian talked her ear off about living on Earth while the engineer explained the ship’s advanced drive core to their mother.
On the crew level, they were introduced to a curious asari and an assortment of human crew, including Dr. Chakwas, whom Maya remembered from one of her mother’s previous postings.
“Look at you!” she said, hugging Maya fiercely. “You were a teenager last I saw you.”
Dr. Chakwas and her mother got caught up in catching up, so Quinn led Maya back out to the mess hall, where a couple more of the human crew sat at the table, a deck of cards in front of them.
“One of these days I’m going to beat you at this,” the woman said, contemplating a set of cards in her hands.
The man across from her snickered, grinning. “Doubtful.”
The woman smiled when she spotted Maya and Quinn.
“Sir. Did you lose your mother?”
He huffed out a laugh. “No, we lost her to Dr. Chakwas. She’ll come out, eventually.”
“Too bad,” the woman replied. “LT here got his autograph book out and everything.”
The dark-haired man kicked her under the table, earning a half-hearted ‘ow’.
Quinn put a gentle hand on the small of Maya’s back and introduced them by their name and rank, as if Maya cared about the last part. But that was her brother. Military brat to the core.
Maya shook hands with the woman first – Ashley – and the man – Kaidan – after. Her brother slid into the seat next to Kaidan and Maya followed suit. They slipped into an easy ‘get to know you’ conversation, though Ashley seemed to be the more extroverted of the two, asking Maya questions about what she was going to school for.
“A lawyer, like our father.”
“JAG?” Ashley asked.
Maya shook her head. “Not if I have a say in it. I don’t think I have the stomach for the military.”
Quinn smirked. “We’re always told I’m a carbon copy of our mother and Maya is our father to a ‘t’.”
Kaidan snorted softly, shooting him a conspiratorial smile. “I can believe that.”
This was the heart of his crew, Maya realized. The ones he’d formed the closest bond with. Not just coworkers, but friends.
But Quinn sat a little closer to Kaidan than Ashley. And his smiles were a little softer, his laugh a little deeper.
To anyone else, it might have been imperceptible. But Maya knew her brother. He’d never brought a person home to meet the family, had never confided in her about matters of the heart – and they confided to each other in everything. Quinn likely didn’t notice this subtle difference and would deny it and be embarrassed if Maya brought it up, so she didn’t.
But she watched their interactions, cataloguing the subtle shift in Quinn’s behavior when she spoke to Kaidan as opposed to Ashley.
Friends. For now.