Just a side note: I do not know where this is headed in terms of 'who Shepard will end up with'. It's an exploration of both Liara and Traynor's thoughts about Shepard, given that in my headcanon they both fall for Shepard (at least for Fem!Shep in the case of Traynor) regardless of whether you romance them. Also har har this is my first fan fic so bear with me.
I'm also trying to keep Shepard ambiguous, but I am making the assumption that all squadmates that could survive, survived. If you have any recommendations or things you'd like to see lemme know. I'll also have to repeat dialogue verbatim sometimes, but I am avoiding game canon as much as possible.
"…medical attention!"
Shepard could barely hear Liara. It was as if it was all collapsing on her now. The war, the reapers…and now this. Liara was staring at her, desperately looking for some kind of reaction, some kind of acknowledgement.
"We have to leave the Sol system."
The tone of Liara's voice and the look on her face…she could see it was overwhelming Shepard very suddenly.
"I know."
Two words was all she could manage at that second.
"The Citadel is our best chance. We can find help there."
Shepard took a breath and gave the order to head to the Citadel. The world stopped spinning. Things were clearing up.
Words came easier now.
Thoughts were more coherent. Cuts and bruises were nothing. They survived Virmire, Saren, Freedom's Progress…they'll sure as hell survive this.
Samantha wanted to make a strong first impression on the Commander. She'd heard a lot of stories, seen all the vids. This woman was a goddess amongst the rabble.
Samantha had done her own research on the Commander and her squad, though. There was something captivating, something so powerful about this woman. It was hard to believe she was actually here, on the ship. Samantha had seen her in passing when she went from the comms room to her personal cabin, and hadn't dared to interrupt her when she had such a serious look on her face.
That said, that look was what made her nervous now. If Samantha failed to make a good first impression she might find herself scrubbing the deck during her final days.
The elevator doors opened and Samantha found herself more nervous than before. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then let it out before stepping forwards, into the unknown, as it were.
Samantha boldly made her move forwards to the cabin and began her recital when…oh no. The asari, Dr. Liara T'soni, was there.
As she made her leave she seemed bothered. Samantha began to worry that she'd interrupted something, but she couldn't let that stop her. She began her introduction again, this time uninterrupted. Though she was a little unnerved by how much the Commander was paying attention.
Suddenly she broke into a small smile, "Slow down, Specialist Traynor. You're doing fine."
Samantha found herself ease up a little bit. Still, she was speaking to the most influential human in the history of the universe.
Commander Shepard seemed relaxed, almost casual, about this meeting. Perhaps when you're that famous you don't need to worry about impressing a grunt like Samantha.
Samantha added how honoured she was to serve under the Commander. EDI then came on over the intercom, and at her behest, the Commander appeared to consider actually keeping Samantha on the ship.
"Wait…since when does a virtual intelligence make requests?"
"EDI's an AI, fully self aware."
Suddenly Samantha broke out of her caution as all her suspicions were confirmed. She allowed herself to savour this moment – it wasn't every day you got to see through an AI's deception.
The moment soon faded and was replaced with minor embarrassment. Samantha had spent quite a bit of time talking to EDI and asking her pointless questions just to hear that voice of hers. It helped her grind through the days back when they were dry-docked on Earth.
After apologizing to EDI, Samantha very suddenly remembered where she was. There she was, the most famous human in history, listening to Samantha apologizing for hitting on an AI.
Samantha hurriedly offered to give the Commander a tour of the ship, after which she made a swift exit and hurriedly took the elevator back down to the bridge.
Once inside the elevator Samantha shook her head and silently cursed herself for being such an idiot.
Great first impression, Traynor. She thinks you're an idiot.
Still…there was always tomorrow.