glowing eyes

Shepard did not close the door to his cabin tightly. If he was assigned to this ship and to this crew, then it is necessary to immediately make it clear to the inhabitants of the frigate that the new senior officer is available for communication. Let them see that the door to the cabin of the senior assistant commander of the ship is ajar, that he does not hide anything from his new colleagues, is always ready to help, is always ready to answer a question or just chat, talk. Even when Shepard was walking away from Chakwas, he felt the watchful, studying, questioning and perplexed, in short, the most diverse views of his new colleagues. He considered this normal: a new person in such a post always arouses the increased interest of the old-timers, because now he is actually the second officer after the commander of the ship.All the Inhabitants of the frigate, who are below him in rank and status, will somehow decide for themselves an important question: how to contact John Shepard now. Of course, they will not make this decision immediately or soon, and not all ship's crew members will make this decision final. Andersonhelped him a lot by giving him the opportunity to work with the "big" reader beforehand, study the materials of the "small" one, and now he has provided him with the materials of both the small and large readers for personal use, so to speak. The copies of the materials, as it turned out, were contained in one of the ordinary readers lying on top of this neat stack, which now "decorated" his desktop. Shepard also liked the new, never–before-used laptop of the officer class - the commander appreciates his assistant and wants him to have the best tools for his work. Shepard unpacked the bag that Dayna had packed and which had already been delivered to the cabin by the frigate's watchmen, put some of the food in a small refrigerator, and put some on the shelves of the kitchen cabinet. In the cabin, as it should be, there was a small service for six people – just in order to arrange a tea party or a meal together for the ship's officers. It will be very good to use the service when discussing many issues and problems. Beautiful dishes created according to civil standards are somewhat relaxing and at the same time create a more acceptable environment for communication. After sitting down in an armchair, Shepard made himself comfortable for a few minutes – now this chair will become a working chair for him for a very long time, he will have to spend many hours in it and he needs to get used to it. Having prepared herbal tea for himself in a large half-liter cup, Shepard took the cup by the handle, got up, and went to the porthole, which was covered with an armored tire. Of course, you could have dialed the code on the omny-tool or laptop and removed the lid, but the captain turned on the wall screen and selected the sensor camera built into the cabin window from the menu.It turned out faster, and the image of the Arcturus station could now be changed widely. For several minutes, Shepard stood motionless, getting used to this view, getting used to the idea that the assignment to the ship had once again taken place and now he was the commander of an amphibious unit of a special reconnaissance frigate, not just a special forces officer with the rank of captain, but the senior assistant to the commander of the ship. So far, there was no need to force habituation, and Shepard calmly and unhurriedly glanced at the contours of the station's hull, watched as military combat and auxiliary ships, boats, and shuttles approached and left the station's giant "pancake" mooring complex. When he "shadowed" Anderson during the commander's rounds, he tried to remain silent more, but carefully looked around, memorizing more details. Andersonprobably liked this behavior of the new senior assistant: he clearly valued reticence more than eloquence, although he appreciated people who could speak clearly and to the point. If he, the best graduate of the n-Seven Academy, had to lead the crew of a problem ship, then, as the bypass showed, Anderson coped with the difficult task to the fullest.In a short time, he managed to bring both the ship and the crew "to their senses", to the standard, to introduce them into the framework and encourage them, and not only to make them work properly. Now Shepard had to maintain and develop this state of affairs, and he felt he was ready to do it the right way, and he was ready to learn a lot from Anderson. Distracted from the contemplation of the Arcturus station, Shepard activated most of the cabin's systems and control panels, customizing them to suit his needs and requirements. Major Chakvas may have considered the executive officer's cabin, which Shepard had inherited, to be an enclosure, but... each person has their own perception of the surrounding reality and their own priorities. After dimming the general and overhead lights to a minimum, the captain turned on the spotlight above the table, sat down in an armchair and pulled a stack of readers towards him. Working with documents was now becoming one of his main activities in his new position. Right now, he tried not to think about how abnormal it was to combine the position of senior assistant to the commander of a ship with the position of commander of a frigate landing group. Yes, he was taught to take such situations calmly, because in a critical situation there is no time to think about paper-thin bureaucratic regulations. And yet, a certain worm in the back of his mind clearly signaled: abnormal, abnormal, abnormal. Reading the lines of text files, Shepard typed texts on the keyboard of his laptop, filled out the "formatting" of documents, noting that, passing by the door of his cabin, members of the crew the frigate involuntarily slow down their steps, sometimes even trying to look inside the cabin.Well, he didn't mind, that's why he left a gap. Let them watch, let them listen, let them get used to it. The officer of the watch informed the crew of the Normandy over the ship's speakerphone that there were fifteen minutes left before departure. The frigate's departure time, as the captain understood, was constantly being adjusted, but for the first flight of the newest ship, which retained the status of "prototype", this was usual. Shepard, noting the new departure time on his omny-tool, spent another ten minutes reading the information from the last reader in the stack – he did it, although there were a lot of files in each reader and there was plenty of information in them. Rising from the table, the captain habitually changed into a light armored suit. Departure is departure. If you have to go to the Star Map now, then you need to be prepared for any eventuality. Yes, it may be unusual for the ship's crew members, but as the XO, he will now make sure that light armored suits become common for all the inhabitants of the frigate. Andersonwon't mind–he'll get it right. And the rest of the frigate's inhabitants will have to get used to it. By the way, why the inhabitants of the frigate? "To the Normandians." It will be clearer, more resonant and more correct. After leaving the cabin, he closed the door completely. He felt the puzzled stares of the crew members. Nothing. Get used to. And then they themselves will be surprised at how they used to use uniforms instead of spacesuits. The helmet is attached to the belt and – forward to the Map.A few dozen steps and ahead is a pedestal on which a Star Map is installed. Anderson looks up from the screens located on the frame of the Map, nods, taking in the figure of the assistant with an attentive, even tenacious look. There are no chairs, Shepard thought, but it would be necessary to install at least two chairs here by the Map. Standing, of course, is good, even toning up to some extent, but the upcoming flight... will be difficult. So the chairs won't hurt. The XO stood next to the commander and connected to the ship's special communications network. The usual departure procedure, nothing special. The Spectr Turian does not appear in the CIC. Either the Normans had already taught him not to interfere, or something else. Many consoles of the "necklace" of the CIC are empty. Yes, there is a lot of information in the readers studied by John about the problems that arose on board due to the understaffing of the crew. They took those who are generally difficult to do without on board, and the rest ... left under various pretexts in the Parking Field, from where the Normandy came to the Arcturus. Military policemen in their dim uniforms froze at the portals of the entrances to the CIC. They are also very interested in the new senior assistant. They feel that he doesn't like their presence on the ship. They understand themselves that this is not normal. But – the order, the service, the protocol, the ritual. Twelve policemen instead of the same number of specialists from the ship's crew. It will have a very negative impact. Very. Shepard was sure of that. His even convinced. The frigate smoothly moved away from the station, went beyond the "outer raid" - the space allocated for parking for ships whose presence in the immediate vicinity of the Arcturus was not necessary. Turn, the ship clearly sets course for the repeater, accelerates. This maneuvering and acceleration, as Shepard understood, would take several hours. Of course, you can fly away from Arcturus in a "fire" order. This is a military station. This is not the situation or the case right now. Therefore, the Normandy leaves quietly. Regularly, as experts would say. Andersonwatches as the XO works at the consoles and screens of the Star Map. Yes, the main space here is occupied by a virtual screen, which usually displays all navigation information in three dimensions, but there are plenty of screens and remotes in the "frame". Some are hidden, some are half–hidden. Only those who are currently being worked with and those whose information is important are open.The rest have been extinguished, put into standby mode, or deactivated altogether. “The ship is on course. Takeoff and departure are completed” The chief pilot of the frigate Moro reported on the audio channel of the commander's speaker. The speakerphone duplicated the report – the information is publicly available, so isolation was not required. “Accepted,”– Anderson replied, habitually raising his eyes to the ceiling for a few seconds – the sensors of video cameras and the "heads" of microphone complexes were traditionally located there. – “Shepard, you're free to go.” “Yes, sir," the captain nodded and stepped off the pedestal. All. Now, for the next few hours, he really isn't involved in something urgent and mandatory. He should have walked around the ship himself, but... for several minutes he had been feeling a sense of danger. No, the ship or the crew were not in danger – there were no such signs. None of them were known to him, at least theoretically. He was in danger himself. Not from the crew members, no. From the inside. And it was annoying. Having now decided to circumnavigate the ship alone, Shepard strenuously recalled whether there was a room on this small-sized reconnaissance frigate that would not be occupied by one of the crew members now and in the very near future. Memory helpfully prompted and the coordinates of the small Salon, and the captain decided: if he gets worse, he will not go to the Medical Bay, but will try to reach this room with a panoramic porthole. So far, the commander of the ship has not given the command to close all the portholes without exception with armored tires, so it is quite possible that the porthole is also open there. It was a big porthole, if he remembered correctly. Probably, because of the presence of a "window to space", this room was called a salon. Moving from post to post, from compartment to compartment, exchanging short, strictly businesslike phrases with crew members, Shepard always tried to keep in mind the route to this cabin. When he came out of the engineering bay, the feeling of danger was gone. There is an understanding that it may come back later. In a few days. Maybe earlier. *** It's back. Exactly a few days later at the same time. Shepard had been feeling the threat of his return all these days. And when it hit… He tried to move to this salon as quickly as possible. I stood for a few minutes, resting from the overload caused by the fear of not being able to make it. The feelings and sensations were too new, this state was too new. He couldn't find any analogues to them in his memory, no matter how hard he tried. Probably, several pages of text could have been filled with a description of this "cocktail", but in those minutes when he was flattened in a locked salon, he was clearly not up to making detailed descriptions. Fortunately, according to the daily schedule, he had "free hours" that he could spend the way he wanted. Within the acceptable limits, of course, but… These few days... It was a good thing that there was no need for a military reconnaissance ship to rush headlong along the route to the exit point in the area of operations. Shepard consistently, no longer in a survey, but in depth and in detail, got acquainted with the ship and the crew. He did not like to consider himself a know-it-all and found many supporters of this position among those who taught him at the Academy. A new ship, a new crew required work, required study. They demanded attention. So, all this had to be given and provided. This is what John Shepard was doing for several days before he was "covered". It was difficult to describe all the feelings he had experienced during those few hours. I also had to think about the fact that this is an echo of Akusa. Most likely, it was. Shepard couldn't remember anything else in his life that was as complex and ambiguous, maybe even completely misunderstood by himself as it should be. Yes, when he felt like he was "covered" and walked slowly towards this salon, he already felt that his teammates were looking at him with concern and bewilderment. Not all of them, some of them. They look at him with concern, but they believe that he can handle it. For some reason, it seemed to Shepard then that Chakwas would not be able to determine exactly and completely what was happening to him then. It was also good that he did not lose consciousness, did not experience particularly severe physical weakness, but the fact that he was noticeably deaf for several minutes ... or maybe for several tens of minutes – it was. It was definitely there. And there was an external inhibition, too. It took him a long time to get out of this lethargy, this deafness. He went out slowly. And what was the hurry if he was still alone in this salon? The "free hours" are not over yet. The door to the salon is closed. No one bothers him. The chief mate needs to retire to a room other than his cabin–no questions asked, the cabin is empty, and there's not even much furniture there. So the Normans did not bother him. Somehow they understood. And how – Hes don't even want to specify – every intelligent being, as you know, has its own understanding. Own, personal. Few people remember this constantly and clearly, but they should.… It took Shepard a long time to realize what he had gained in those few hours. He rinsed it out then in those lonely hours a little. And, as he realized, he would obviously not be able to learn how to use everything he had gained right away. You'll have to learn it gradually, maybe even situationally. Did he know then what he had received? No. I didn't know, but I had to use some of this newfound potential very soon. As it turned out, in order to overcome the annoying abnormality of the situation with the ship, crew and mission. And then he became deaf and half-blind, with great difficulty standing on his feet and feeling how he was twisting. He's twitching inside. Not only physically, but also mentally, and spiritually. Transforms, complements, and changes. He was able to track some things, but not others, because there were not enough human resources and capabilities for everything that happened to him at that time. Normal human resources and capabilities. The usual, standard ones. It wasn't until hours later, but days later, that he realized that next to these resources, he now had completely inhuman, and according to some signs, extragalactic ones. And then, in those moments, he just really wanted to remain the same person, and, as it turned out, he succeeded.