For N7 day. A little piece by our favorite N7 agent and a dear friend who had a chance but gave it up.
"You should have kept with your training. If you had became an N7 agent you could be doing a lot more for the problems here." Shepard notes looking around the broken bar. It was the same bar she had been poisoned at the last time she had visited Omega. Garrus had asked the commander out for a few drinks and she had chosen this location. In the middle of preparation for a war, occasionally a break is good.
"If I had stayed in the N7 training program there was no guarantee that I would have been picked to continue. Besides I'm glad I didn't." Vakarian replies ordering a common turian drink. Of course Shepard needed to prove she could still handle anything given to her, and she wanted to get drunk fast tonight. Who knew when her next chance would be. It was the same drink that had poisoned her last time, but hey second time's a charm, right?
"Why's that, Vakarian?" Slowly she places the cup to her lips and takes a small sip.
"If I had finished training, and by some long shot had made it into the program I doubt we would be in this bar having this drink." Garrus finishes as he sets down his empty shot cup.
Shepard eyes the empty glass. "Should have known."
Garrus looks at his commander with confusion. "What?"
"You drink shots. Short, quick, and powerful. Seems to be the kind of qualities you like best." Shepard teases with a wink.
"Don't pretend you don't enjoy it, Shepard." He raises his empty shot for a hollow cheers.
"You're right, but I still think you should have stayed in the program. Then at least you would have realized your dream. I didn't think my death would ever affect you so much." Shepard admits looking up at the far too bright lights above. "I never thought it would affect anyone at all." She silently admits.
Garrus watches his commander and old friend carefully. He knew she grew up on the streets of Earth as an orphan. He knew that the closest person she had ever even thought to consider as family was Anderson. Garrus also knew that Shepard threw everything she was into her training and her job. It took him a long while to break through the tough outer skin of hers, but it hadn't taken him long to see through. What was that human phrase, ' birds of a feather' or some such.
"Of course people were affected by it Shepard. You are a good friend, and an even better leader." She laughs bitterly. Slowly she takes a much longer drink from her glass now.
"Death. It's overrated anyways." Another joke. Another deflect. The weight of it all was getting to be far too much for her. Garrus was seeing the signs of cracks growing. Her guns weren't as accurate anymore. Her eyes were always dodging across the room. Shepard was faster now, running on instincts that had been trained into her over years of practice.
"Then I hope you won't be attempting it again Shepard." Garrus replies cooly.
"Of course not, but you can't either. There's no Shepard without Vakarian afterall." She adds with a wink.
Garrus order another set of shots. He raises one of the tiny cups up to her. "To the N7 agents."
"To N7 agents." Shepard agrees with a small smile. For one moment her eyes seem a little brighter before she closes them into her smile. Shepard finishes her drinks and orders another. Taking a deep breath she lets it out through her nose. A sign she was trying to not regret the taste of a poor drink. Garrus had gone out with her enough to tell. The N7 are elite soldiers, but Shepard was a poor drinker.