1/5

Hall stood in the debriefing room, he scratched at his freshly shaved scalp by the Mohawk that he had left behind. Right now he was on the" most advanced starship ever built" and he couldn't say that he was impressed, it was the latest twist on the oldest principles of warfare: secrecy. Apparently the captain had requested his transfer once it was known his unit was wiped out. Unfortunately, that captain had lost this command just before Hall put his boots down on the Citadel.

The doors opened and Shepard, the poster child for success in Special Forces, stalked into the room. "I want you to know I didn't request your transfer, Hall," she said, "You're insubordinate, a loose cannon and a remorseless killing machine."

Hall squeezed the bit of tobacco against his teeth to get a quick bit of nicotine before speaking, "I missed you, too," he said, clearly trying to antagonize her.

"Shut up, Hall, I'm your commanding officer."

He rolled his eyes and continued to speak out of turn, one of his many traits that got him transferred to the 212, "if you really don't like me so much, leave me here or transfer me. I'm not going to tip toe around and you know you can't intimidate me into being like you."

She glared at him for a moment before continuing, "I would consider those things except I think we're on the one mission you were born to be useful on." Hall, with a dumbstruck look on his face, stared at Shepard and waited for her to continue rather than cut in. "We're chasing after a rogue Spectre which has years of field experience and is known for his cruelty. I expect we'll be fighting unimaginable odds with only a couple fire teams and this ship. That means if you can ignore the sirens call and recognize just a handful of faces as friendlies you can shoot anything and everything you want once the shooting starts," she put extra emphasis on the last four words.

He worked over the chew and responded, "sounds like fun, when do we start?"

"You don't start until you agree to keep your finger off the trigger until I say you can."

"It's been five years since that friendly fire incident, Commander, and that was ruled an accident," Hall smiled, Shepard gave him a sharp look, "finger off the trigger until you say so. Anything else?"

"Yeah, you shoot anyone you're not supposed you I'm leaving you on the next black rock I find. I'm a spectre now and wouldn't have to answer to anyone about it."

Hall laughed at that, "That's not your style; you'd rather the high-noon quickest on the draw showdown before you'd leave anyone behind like that."

"Get out and stow your gear, I'm sure we'll find some dark corner to dump you in. Try not to make any enemies."

2/5

Hall picked up his bag and left the debriefing room and found his way to the mess. He sat down at the table and pulled a bottle of whiskey out and set it on the table in front of him before getting a cup with ice. He was four cups in before the man that had been working at a console came over. Hall glanced at the man's collar to see he was a staff lieutenant before indulging in another swallow of chilled whiskey. "That help?" he asked.

"Help what?" Hall asked back.

"I just thought …" Hall was surprised the Lieutenant wasn't already threatening him, "You're working at it pretty hard." Hall just stared at him with a semi annoyed look on his face. "What's your name Marine?"

"Sergeant Brian Hall, LT, lets skip the part where you try to be my friend than read my file which will change your mind about winning me over. I'm a sign that this mission is going to kill people, maybe all of us." Hall went back to drinking.

"What's your problem, Hall?"

Between sips Hall said, "Read my file."

The Lieutenant went back to his console and ignored Hall, Hall gladly ignored him back. Ten glasses in Hall corked the bottle, put it back in his bag and went to find an empty bunk.

3/5

"You were the only other survivor of the 212" The Lieutenant from yesterday spoke as Hall stepped from his bunk.

Hall stopped and looked at the other man, "What's your name LT?"

"Alenko"

"Well, Alenko, is that all?"

"You've had a varied career, you've been passed for promotion so many times that Shepard is now a commander and you're a Sergeant despite having been in the same graduating class."

"Why do you suppose that is?"

"I don't know."

"Did you not get to the court martial for shooting an officer? That's really the best part."

"It was ruled an accident" Hall smiled at that response, he then collected a ration and went to the ramp once Alenko left the conversation at that.

4/5

Hall walked in the CIC and didn't see Shepard anywhere so then went back down the ramp and into the elevator. He had finished most of the flavorless nutrition of the MRE once the doors opened. He walked into the hold and found Shepard talking to a Turian. He thought about interrupting but then saw Williams and decided that talking to her would be the better overall plan. He crept over and jumped onto the table, landing in a sitting position. "What the f …" Williams stopped once she realized who has so rudely interrupted her work, "You're alive," she said in a mix of shock and disbelief.

"Yes I am."

"They said you were on an operating table, weren't going to make it."

"I was and I almost didn't. I'm a 'modern medical miracle' is what the surgeon called me. I got a pretty cool scar from where they opened me up," Hall said, rubbing the scar under his uniform, "the lung was too badly damaged and my heart was getting ready to give up. Fortunately mechanical hearts and lungs were perfected a hundred years ago and well before medigel else I'd probably be a corpse. The first surgeon just stitched it back together and pumped me full of medigel which I ended up almost drowning in that while my heart tried to explode then an older doctor had a different idea and went with the "outdated" practice of synthetic replacement."

"So does that mean …" Williams started.

"… that I don't have a heartbeat?" Hall finished, "I don't, it's a heart whirrrr now."

Hall smiled at his attempt to be silly and Williams laughed once. Hall hopped off the table and saluted as Shepard walked over to the two of them, Williams joined him in the salute. "I missed the joke, what was funny?" Shepard asked.

"That I keep not dying despite so many attempts for the otherwise," Hall said to continue his regular attempts to antagonize the Commander.

Shepard frowned and said, "Can I have a word, Sergeant?" She then took a step away from Williams and waited for him to follow, which he did. "Is this why you have gone down the command chain rather than up, you have to aggravate your commanding officer until all they want is to get rid of you?"

Hall assumed a position of standing at attention, he'd been through hundreds of these conversations in his time and prepared himself for another, though this one came much quicker than the others, "I don't know, Commander."

Shepard made a quick dismissive gesture with her hand while she said, "I didn't say to stand at attention, you're not being court-martialed, we are having an informal conversation." Hall softened his stance and started following the commander with his eyes rather than staring off into space. "We don't have to fight our way through this deployment, I'm not asking you to change, and I'm just asking you to not expect me to be out to get you."

"Seems to me you were threatening to leave me on a black rock less than 24 hours ago."

"I was out of line," Hall scoffed at that statement, "Hall, you're the black sheep of spec ops, the guy no one wants to work with and apparently a magnet for trouble since they put you in the most rear position the can find for you and two weeks later the worst loss of life in military action since the first contact war happens to your unit. I was stressed and not ready to deal with you, just now seeing you smiling and joking with Williams reminded me that you're just a soldier like everyone else and that I had been unfair to you. I'm sorry, can we start over?"

She offered him a hand to shake. Hall cautiously reached out and shook her hand which made Shepard smile. "We can start over."

"Where can we put you that you'll be comfortable?"

"I see that Williams has already taken over the armory, the position that is officially open is probably working on the Mako but I see you have a Turian working on that," Hall stopped and drew in a breath while thinking of where else is an easy fit for him.

"If you don't mind working with a Turian, his name is Garrus Vakarian, then we can put you there. This is an alliance ship, after all."

"Never had a problem with any species, just members in them."

"Let's go meet him then" Shepard walked over to Garrus with Hall in tow, "Hall, this is Garrus Vakarian, he was a detective on the citadel. Sergeant Hall transferred onto the ship yesterday."

"I was investigating Saren," Garrus offered his hand in the Human tradition, "that is what brought me to the commander."

Hall shook the hand Garrus offered, "The previous captain requested me by name for this ship before the Alliance took it from him."

"That must have been quite the honor," Garrus said.

"I suppose it is," Hall responded flatly, "probably the first time my name has been associated with a positive request in a decade."

"Hall is going to be working on the Mako," Shepard took a step away; "I'll leave you two to discuss how to divide the work on it." When there was no objection she went over to Williams.

"So, Vakarian, I'm going work on the guns."

5/5

Hall sat on the Mako, he had disassembled the autoloader for the cannon and was polishing and oiling them to smooth perfection. Shepard was making her daily rounds; Hall paid her no mind while he busied himself about his chosen job. "Hall, I need this thing operational in twelve hours and I need you suited up at the same time." Hall assembled the part of the autoloader he had taken apart. "Did you hear me Hall?"

He put the last piece in place and closed up the armor plate and hand tightened the screws. "I did, I'm about thirty seconds away from completing half of your requests." Once the screws were in place a few turns on each with a screwdriver had the plating secure. He slid off the Mako and landed on his feet. "You want me suited up?"

"We're landing on Feros, word is there's Geth there."

"It's a colony and there's bound to be civvies about."

Shepard gave him an annoyed look, "Your shooting scores are regularly perfect or near perfect, just shoot around anything without a flashlight head." She turned and left.

I wonder what it's like to be the poster child, the one that does everything right no matter what because even when you fuck up someone is there making excuses for you. He wiped the grease that was still clinging to his fingers; I doubt she could hack it as me.