Forward by Author: Holy cow, people read my last story. Thank you all who read it, and especially those who reviewed it. I was able to correct some embarrassing spelling mistakes. Here is the first chapter in in a story that I think that I will have alot of fun writing. A Shepard/Garrus total fistbump destruction macho bromance. Sorry to say that Shepard Tali fluff was a little light this chapter, but I do plan on there being more of it to satisfy those who desire that content as well, because that was the big critique in my first story. But enough rambling, please enjoy.
Mass Effect: Office Work
Chapter 1
Commander Shepard sat in the living room of his Silversun apartment on The Citadel. The artificial morning sunlight streamed in from the floor to ceiling windows, giving the room a pleasant warmth. The big screen TV on the wall was tuned to the Alliance News Network, with a piece about how Neo-Cerberus groups had the potential to handicap arrangements between species cooperation. Shepard thought the danger Neo-Cerberus groups posed would have been obvious, but not all species in the Galaxy had a history of radical groups based around the advancement and promotion of their own race. Though the Batarians and Krogans were probably used to the rhetoric of radicals, and paid no attention.
Following the end of the Reaper War, the standing council races (except the humans) lost a lot of favor with the other space faring species. The Turians, Asari, and Salarians were all blamed from failing to take appropriate preventive action for The Reaper invasion, and for not helping out other races as they should have when Reapers started harvesting the populations on planets. The Humans were the only Council race that was lauded for its actions, mostly due to key figures such as Commander Shepard, and Admirals Hackett and Anderson. Even despite the fact that the Human Councilor Donnel Udina was caught assisting the radical human terrorist group Cerberus invade The Citadel. The NCG's affiliated with the Council races were focused on regaining their authority or returning themselves to their 'former glory'.
On the other side, races that were not part of the Council before The Reaper War had gained far more relative influence since the end of the fighting. Volus, Krogan, Batarians, etc. all now had more influence than in the previous centuries. The Reaper War gave the smaller races an opportunity to prove that they were equal in power and greatness to the Council races. The non-council races felt that the Council owed them, as the smaller races fought to support the Council system of government. Neo-Cerberus groups within these races were attempting to assert the power of their races, or diminish the power of the Council races.
Shepard thought that all NCG's were fools and morons. Cerberus was evidence of what happens when a groups pursuits advancement at the cost of others. Eventually these groups would start to do damage to others to promote their own agendas and ideals. Such was the nature of terrorists and criminals. Such was the nature of monsters, Shepard thought, no better than The Reapers.
Only three races seemed to learn this lesson. The humans, the race that the original Cerberus was trying to promote, were so embarrassed that they had such an aggressive, centrist group in their midst that the Terra Firma political party publicly disbanded. The Hanar and Drell, who both had strong philosophical/religious beliefs, had built up all of their relationships off of coordination. Lastly there was the machine race of Geth, who lacked any political ambition beyond that of self-preservation and optimal growth.
Shepard came out of his thoughts to realize that the news was now showing a weather report. He looked over to a staircase leading to the second floor of the apartment to see his quarian girlfriend Tali coming down the stairs. She was wearing her regular environmental suit adorned with purple wraps. Her quarian physiology prevented her from living outside the suit in most locations, even on a space station such as The Citadel. She was only able to walk around their house on the quarian home planet of Rannoch without becoming sick. Luckily quarian immune systems are highly adaptive, so hopefully Tali would soon be able to traverse Rannoch without any sort of artificial environment.
"How does the day look?" Tali asked Shepard.
"Weather looks good. That's the great thing about living aboard a space station. Weather is always great." Shepard said grinning.
Tali walked into the kitchen around the corner, likely to get a breakfast of nutrient paste. Shepard faced the TV again, but thought about what his new mission would be. As a Council Spectre, he was charged with handling critical missions that concerned the welfare of the entire galaxy. The Galaxy seemed stable at the moment, but then again, Saren was a hero to The Galaxy until his corruption was unearthed, and few people believed The Collectors even existed. Shepard guessed that he would have to wait to see what looming threat he would be tasked to deal with.
Tali walked back into the living room with a tube of nutrient paste in her right, three fingered hand, and a data pad in her left. Shepard assumed that Tali was working on stuff for the Quarian Embassy. "What is the big emergency today?" Shepard asked pointing to Tali's data pad.
"This? Oh this isn't work," she stared, "This is fun."
"What is so fun, and is it something that I can have fun with as well?" he asked with his eyebrows raised hopefully.
"This is plans for a girl's night tonight, and no, you cannot have fun with it. In fact the presence of any persons carrying a Y chromosome would defeat the entire purpose." Tali said mocking Shepard.
Shepard raised his hands in defeat. "Fine, you have fun tonight. I am sure that Garrus is more than willing to spend time with me after work. Speaking of which…" Shepard got off the couch he was sitting on and began to walk to the front door of the apartment. "The Normandy is docked, and I told Garrus that I would pick him up on my way to the Spectre offices." As he passed Tali on the way to the door he embraced her in a hug and placed a kiss on the visor of her environmental suit's helmet. "I love you." Shepard said affectionately.
Tali returned the hug and buried her head in Shepard's neck. "I love you too. I am glad we have more time."
Shepard reluctantly let go of her. He wanted to spend more time off, but knew that he had to get back to work. "Hey, I call you as soon as I can."
"You'd better." Tali said in playfully menacing fashion.
Shepard could only grin as he turned to the door and went on his way to work.
Shepard got a ride from Citadel Rapid Transit from the Silversun Strip to Dock D24 where The Normandy was parked. While driving, Shepard couldn't stay still at all. His knee kept jumping, his eyes wandering, his hands scratching. Shepard knew he was experiencing some form of cognitive disassociation. He either wanted to get to The Normandy and start solving problems of go back to the apartment and stay there all day spending quality with Tali.
When he finally arrived at the dock, Shepard was pleased to see that it was mostly empty. He did not want to have to talk about what he had been doing for the past six months, mostly because he wanted to keep his private life private. The only people there were the usual C-Sec guards, an Avina VI, and a few miscellaneous maintenance workers. As Shepard walked the length of the dock, he grew more comfortable, more determined. Shepard realized that he was back home, and that there was no reason to be worried.
The Normandy looked as it should. The alliance frigate was docked, but a quick glance showed that it was built for speed and precision, and it was not meant to be docked for long periods of time. The engines were powered down, and the docking lights blinking steadily. To Shepard, it looked less like a ship in its berth, and more like a crouch predator, ready to run.
Just as he was about to open the door to the airlock, it was opened from the other side and Shepard was met with the surprising sight of Dr. Chloe Michel. The red haired doctor was in her hospital uniform, and carrying a bag that likely contained her medical supplies. When her eyes met with Commander Shepard's, he noticed that the doctor was equally surprised.
"Commander," Dr. Michel said with a heavy accent. "What are you doing here?"
"I may have been on medical leave for six months, but I am still in command of The Normandy. What are you doing here?" Shepard asked. He already knew the answer though. Shepard knew that his turian best friend Garrus had started dating the human doctor during The Reaper War. Despite the level of cooperation between species, cross species couples were still a minority population, except for the asari. Because Shepard was a human in a relationship with a quarian, he knew that it could be hard to admit to someone.
"I…um…I uh…" Dr. Michel stammered. "Well you see…"
Shepard began to chuckle at her discomfort. "I know about you and Garrus." he said finally.
"Yes. Ok. Well I was just visiting." she said
"It's a tad early in the morning to be visiting. My guess is you spent the night." Shepard said with a grin. Dr. Michel averted her gaze then. "Hey it's fine. I'm fine with it. I'm glad you two have each other."
Dr. Michel let out a sigh of relief. "Well thank you for understanding."
"I'm with a quarian, so I understand better than most." Shepard said. His grin then turned wicked. "But I still have to make fun of Garrus for catching you make your escape."
Dr. Michel smiled at that. "I left him on the crew deck in his office." as she left to get a ride.
Shepard turned to face the frigate and walked confidently through the airlock. As he walked onto the bridge, he was greeted with the familiar atmosphere of dark lighting and orange displays. The neutral smell of metal and recycled air filled Shepard's nostrils. Lastly the familiar hum of electronics and background energy reminded Shepard that he was back where he should be.
As Shepard stepped onto the walkway, he was greeted with a familiar voice. "Well, well. The prodigal son returns." came the voice of The Normandy's pilot: Joker Moreau.
"Aw, I missed you to Joker." Shepard responded sweetly. "How were the six months without me?"
"Boring, but then again, everything is now that there is so rarely impending threats of death and extinction on a galactic level." Joker said deadpan.
"Yeah, peace and quiet is overrated. Where is Garrus?" Shepard asked.
"He's in the XO office on the crew deck. Did you see the doc?"
"Yep."
"Gonna make fun of him?" Joker asked.
"You know it." Shepard smiled.
Shepard walked away from the cockpit. As he walked through the rest of the bridge the crewmen game him comments of welcome and appreciation. He was pleased to see Samantha Traynor still on board. The sight of so many familiar faces brought a smile to Shepard. Shepard stepped onto the elevator at the back of the bridge and pressed the button for the crew deck.
The elevator began its decent. When it opened again Shepard stepped out to the sight of the wall memorial that was on the crew deck. Shepard's gaze fell to the name that was at the center of the wall. Admiral Anderson was the last name to be added, and the sight of it reminded Shepard of what happened on The Crucible. Shepard stood there for a few moments, and slum look on his face as he recalled his friend.
"It was a nice ceremony, for what it's worth." came the voice of Garrus from behind Shepard.
"Thanks. I'm sure he would have appreciated it." Shepard said somberly.
"Come on. Come into my office. I fill you in on what is going on."
Shepard followed Garrus into the XO office that he had clearly taken over. Garrus had moved in after Liara left. The massive computer had been replaced with a weapon bench which had a Krysae sniper rifle with various components and mods strewn about it. Glyphs station had been replaced with a pedestrian desk and computer terminal. Finally, in the area where the station that Liara used to coordinate her Shadow Broker network, Garrus installed a terminal with a viewing array and a number of heavy duty, insulated cables running into the wall. The biggest thing that Shepard noticed was actually a small picture frame with Dr. Chloe Michel and Garrus. It sat next to a flower in a vase atop the night stand by the bed.
Shepard pointed to the picture. Here was his chance to make fun of him. "You big, mushy, softy. You stare at this every night before you go to bed, and every day when you get up. Don't you?" Shepard said, trying to make Garrus uncomfortable. It worked.
"Well…I…um…"
"I ran into her outside The Normandy to. So she obviously spent the night. You are such a dog. Did you tell her you love her? Human women love that. How whipped are you at this point? How often do you two talk? Has she started implying marriage? Do you have a drawer at her place?" Shepard asked these questions without giving Garrus time to answer.
"OK. You can stop. I get it. Ask me something about The Normandy. Please." Garrus pleaded.
Shepard burst out laughing. It was a nice change of pace for Shepard to poke fun at Garrus' love life as opposed to Garrus making fun of his. "Fine. What's up with the terminal?"
"Oh that. I just wanted to be able to calibrate The Normandy's weapons without having to go all the way to the Main Battery."
"It's like fifty feet away." Shepard criticized.
"And this saves me fifty feet of walking."
"Is there anything else that I need to know?"
"Yes. I want you to meet someone." Garrus opened up his omni-tool to communicate with someone. "Atlas, could you please come to my quarters?"
"Affirmative." a voice on the other end responded.
"After you and Tali took you absence, James went to ICT, Liara and Javik went to Thessia for research, and Williams went back to protect The Council. So The Normandy was left without a full ground team," Garrus started. "In addition to this I wanted to try and find a way to fix EDI, since she was fried when The Crucible was fired. I managed to find a person who would be able to help with both of these problems." Garrus finished proudly.
At that moment a massive red and black Geth Prime unit walked into the room. "Greetings Shepard Commander. I am Unit P-Zero-Seven, though I have been given the moniker of 'Atlas' by the Normandy crew. I am pleased to make your acquaintance." said the robot.
"Atlas has been serving as a heavy weapons specialist for the ground team. In addition he has been working to rebuild EDI. I figured the Geth would be the best people to talk to about fixing a synthetic life form since they are synthetic life forms. Turns out they were more than willing to get one of their own to The Normandy as well." Garrus with a proud look on his face.
"Smart." Shepard said while nodding.
"Atlas, give Shepard a rundown of the repairs you have made to EDI." Garrus said.
"Certainly Vakarian Spectre." Atlas turned to face Shepard. "I have recovered the second most recent version of EDI's operating system, dated right before the Battle at Cronos Station. I have also repaired and connected the sensors within The Normandy's hull connected to her quantum blue box computer. Repair to the computer hardware and AI memory systems is currently 31% complete." Atlas said in a monotone fashion.
"I thought the process of fixing a destroyed AI back to its original state was impossible." Shepard stated.
"Negative," Atlas started. "There is a small likelihood any being could accomplish it without proper knowledge and training. Geth possess both requirements. Though the process is complex. An analogy: It is like piecing together a shredded document, but EDI is similar to a whole book."
"In addition, Atlas also assists Engineering with analysis, repairs, and optimization. On top of that he is operating our Cyber warfare programs as well, though he not as good as EDI is in either task. No offense Atlas." Garrus finished.
"Though I understand the concept of offense, I am incapable of feeling it." Atlas said reassuringly.
"Thank you for the update Atlas. You may return to your duties." Shepard dismissed.
"Affirmative. I look forward to further unit interaction and cohesion." Atlas walked out of the office, his head almost bumping the door frame on the way out.
"Well that was something I hope you would have told me sooner." Shepard said, staring at Garrus sternly.
"Hey, Spectre privilege applies to me now as well." Garrus defended. "Now are you going to complain about this, or do you want to go see what insane, borderline suicidal mission that The Council wants to send us on?"
"I gonna have to go with borderline suicidal insanity."
"Just like old times?"
"Just like old times." Shepard said fondly.
The two walked out of the office, intent on seeing what trouble they would be getting into together again.
A/N: I hope to update this within the week, but I know that my life has the tendency of making thinks like school and work a priority. Sometimes is suck to have a good work ethic