video, backdated to pre-plots

[thebioticwoman]

[Shepard has settled into her quarters, and the background to her transmission is a thrilling expanse of undecorated wall with a little bit of couch cushion visible near the bottom of the frame. She herself is a red-haired, pale-skinned human woman with green eyes and a calm, no-nonsense demeanor, wearing what looks like it could be a military or merchant marine uniform, though it has no obvious insignia or rank.]

My name's Shepard. I just got here, obviously, and I have a question. The staff was polite about it, but considering one of them nearly dropped his datapad when I floated the idea, there's obviously something they're not telling me...why is "Spectre" a bad codename?

[She could just freakin' Space Google it, but this is a good icebreaker. Besides, she doesn't have her omni-tool and she finds the omnicomm interface unreasonably clunky and inflexible.]

Comments

[thebioticwoman]

How did you figure it out when I didn't use my rank?

[She thinks that's probably plainly enough a joke even in text. Shepard has to be forced out of her uniform even when she's on leave she knows she's obvious.]

What about you?

[mylawn]

[Oh, it reads. Maybe he's smirking a little behind the screen. You'll never know.]

Army, special forces.

[thebioticwoman]

[Shepard is unaware that this means they should have a rivalry, since the Alliance makes no formal distinction between ground and naval forces. As far as she's concerned, "marine" is just a career path, not a separate service.]

There a lot of us here?

[mylawn]

[No competition here--he says "Army", but really he means "Army and then an international peacekeeping force". His is something of a special case.]

A few.

[thebioticwoman]

[Non-traditional career paths are the best career paths and certainly don't lead to political disillusionment and vigilantism.]

No problems with the no-kill rule?

[Yes, Shepard, definitely open that can of worms again.]

[mylawn]

[It's a good thing 76 doesn't give a shit.]

I understand the intent behind it but in a situation like the one we're in it can be limiting and creates unnecessary risk.

[There. That's...tactful.]

[thebioticwoman]

[That actually was pretty tactful, gold star for Jack.]

From what I can tell, the Legion's supposed to function more as police than soldiers. I can be a cop, but I don't know how well that'll work when the Chronoblivion situation heats up.

[mylawn]

[There's still a diplomat in there somewhere...]

That's what I mean. All well and good when we're superhero cops, but this is a situation that calls for taking the gloves off.

[thebioticwoman]

It should be pretty obvious when things flip from peacekeeping to war.

[Not that anyone ever listens to her about that.]

[mylawn]

You'd think.

[thebioticwoman]

Skeptical?

[mylawn]

Aren't you?

[thebioticwoman]

People usually get their act together when it matters. Just for once I'd like them to do it before everything's on fire, though.

[mylawn]

Speaking from experience, huh?

[thebioticwoman]

It might have come up once or twice.

[mylawn]

But only once or twice.

[It's never once or twice.]

[thebioticwoman]

I'm not keeping careful count.

[It's been happening a ridiculous amount given that she spent two of the last three years dead.]

[mylawn]

After the first few times it's sort of pointless to keep track.

[thebioticwoman]

You go to war with the politicians you have, not the politicians you wish you had.

[The Council is going to put her in an early grave--oh wait.]

[mylawn]

[oh no...he feels this...so deeply...]

Preaching to the choir.

[thebioticwoman]

I don't have any reason to assume history is going to repeat itself here [this is a lie, she's just being diplomatic because she knows the conversation is public] but it's still better to be prepared.

[Anyone know where there's a state-of-the-art warship she can steal on short notice?]

[mylawn]

[76 would argue that he definitely has reason to assume history will repeat itself here, but he also knows that he's something of a pessimist, and paranoid to boot. He'll keep a lid on that, for now. Exasperated joking about the situation is easier.]

Best you can do for now.

[thebioticwoman]

[For someone with her life experiences and body count, Shepard is a very trusting optimist.]

Speaking of, tell me there's a target range.

[mylawn]

There is a target range.

[thebioticwoman]

You're my new favorite.