With clear disdain and exasperation: I am terribly sorry for all my readers who want faster updates, but I can't guarantee the speed of publication. I am committed to finishing this work, and hope you enjoy! R &R if you feel so inclined :D
P.S. I triple checked for grammar errors, but every writer knows how they manage to pop up seemingly of their own accord!
EDIT (minor):I saw a few typinng/transitional mistakes I had to get rid of, and now time to start chapter 3!
Seven months earlier
"You know" Shepard began, breaking the usual morning silence plaguing the lab. "I read that quarians were one of the most social species, but you've barely spoken a word since you got here. Are you uncomfortable being the only one of your species on the colony?" She had only been a part of the project for two weeks, and already had been improving the power source. However, she seemed even less socially adept than him, which was quite a statement.
Although the extranet was limited with current social interactions, articles written before the exile specifically stated how emotional the species was. Much like the asari, volus, and elcor, the quarian people had removed the institute of full-scale war among their species prior to spaceflight. The hanar were surprisingly aggressive, but after contacting other species, their Church of the Enkindlers finally managed to establish peace; a similar case was with the salarians. No race was perfect, but krogans, vorcha, batarians, drell, and turians were seen as more aggressive species, and he had no doubt humans would have been included in the list if they were known nearly five hundred years ago. Three thousand six hundred and twenty seven pages of social and biological information on all those species. And he remembered every single damn page.
Daro glanced over at him immediately, her head tilted in the slightest amount. It'd be foolish to assume that means confusion. "No, this planet has been better to me than the Citadel ever was." Something about her posture seemed off, though her voice was unchanged.
"Was the Citadel really that bad towards your kind?" Shepard asked cautiously. "I've never been out of Alliance space, myself."
The woman scoffed lightly, responding. "They treat us like thieves and beggars." With a slightly angrier tone, she continued. "Few individuals hire quarians outside of ship maintenance, and even then we get paid less for our labor."
"How is that legal?" He inquired, genuinely surprised at her change in inflection.
Daro answered, her voice back to normal. "Most pilgrims won't have another chance to find a job, so they don't report the discrepancy."
John quickly turned his head to her, a tinge of anger presenting itself in his voice. "Is Kassa paying you under-the-table? I can go talk to the director if you want." She again tilted her head slightly, which allowed him to conclude its meaning. "Sorry, under-the-table means working in a non-official matter, so they can pay you whatever you want."
"No, I'm being paid fairly by this company." Daro replied. The lab remained silent after that for a moment, John nodding at her words and went back to working. Quietly though, he heard the slightly metallic voice add. "But, thank you for your concern."
Shepard picked up the firing chamber of a prototype pistol, walking over and taking a seat next to the woman's workbench. After placing it on the bench, he inquired. "I've read a lot about quarians, how your vision is sharper than many species and the best engineers in the galaxy likely inhabit the fleet. Why don't you take a break and tell me a little about your people?
Although unseen by Shepard, a small smile formed on the woman's countenance and she put down her work. "Very well, what do you wish to know?"
Chucking, Shepard replied. "Anything, really. The quarian people have been pretty insulated since the formation of the fleet. Uh, no pun intended."
The seeds of a new friendship were sowed as they worked together, Shepard learning more from the conversation itself than the words themselves.
A couple weeks later
The sound of the slap resounded throughout the small laboratory. Loud enough that anyone inside would not have been able to ignore it; thankfully, their team hadn't increased in size. Furthermore, as they were the last two out of the building, it was entirely devoid of onlookers. John Shepard was quite nonplussed, and managed to retain his temperament. Daro'Xen's eyes were narrowed into slits, a pissed off quarian if one were to hazard a guess. Her voice accentuated the point, coming out in nearly a growl. "I cannot believe you would even suggest such a thing!"
Shepard could already consider Daro a friend, likely due to the fact they spoke nearly all day while working. It was refreshing to work on the pistol without the overbearing silence as it used to be. Already he had learned a lot about her culture, the fleet, and even a few conversations about geth technology. Today, however, a simple question could not have been taken in a worse way.
Although he felt the strong urge to verbally lash out at the irate quarian, he was more flustered at her reaction. He raised his voice, but it gradually decreased as he spoke. "You just said over half your damn salary goes into living expenses, and taking your rent out of the equation would minimize that."
Daro seemed unfazed at his rebuttal, and returned. "And? You think I'm going to sleep with you just to save some money?"
At this, Shepard raised his hands defensively, allowing his confusion to snake itself into his voice. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop a small chuckle from escaping at her words, which seemed to anger her even more. "Who said anything about sleeping with me? I said there's a guest bedroom, and it really hasn't been used in a long time. It's just wasting space right now."
She stared at him, the glowing slits of her eyes slowly returning to their original size, and she softly replied. "Keelah John, I'm...I'm sorry for hitting you." He hadn't known the woman for long, and alien body language was still a difficult thing for him to recognize, but even he could tell she was unaccustomed to making mistakes. Just like himself.
"Keelah?" He questioned, never having heard a quarian word without translation.
Daro answered still with the unusually reserved voice, concerning him. "It directly translates to 'by the homeworld', but is used as more of an exclamation of surprise." Shepard nodded, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly as he thought best how to phrase his next question.
"You learn something new every day." He responded with a smile, then took a step closer to her, somewhat startling the female. "Listen Daro, when I offered you a place to live, I meant just that. I wasn't trying to insinuate any sexual relations between us. I guess there's a difference in cultures, because humans share living quarters on certain occasions in a completely platonic fashion." She shifted her feet nervously, seemingly unsure how to respond, and he continued. "Don't worry about it, though. My parents were fine with it when I pitched the idea, but if you wouldn't be comfortable with it then there's no reason to relocate."
Xen sighed, finally breaking eye contact for a moment. "Shepard, I truly appreciate your offer, and I wish I could accept, but I have little to give in return. It would be a waste of resources towards your clan's living space."
Yeah, definitely thieves and beggars. Sometimes I wonder how people could say things about an entire race without even getting to know one. He closed the short distance between them and put a hand on her shoulder. Quarian women were generally taller than their male counterparts, and the study he had read described it as the likely catalyst for a matriarchal society. However, even though Daro was nearly six feet tall, Shepard's tall frame still stood a head taller than her.
Still gently grasping her left shoulder, he gently countered. "On the fleet, you'd be right. To live with us you'd have to make yourself useful, or everyone would suffer. The difference is here we have more than we need to survive, and it would be more wasteful to have an unused resource when a friend could greatly benefit from it."
Daro silently stared at his eyes for an inordinately long moment, causing the human's mind to race. Maybe she's never had a friend from another race? Actually, I bet that's exactly it. He was surprised that he could note the changing expressions just by her silver eyes and an outline of her extremely humanoid nose. Realizing himself, he hastily removed his arm from her shoulder with a muffled 'sorry'.
"Okay..." She said quietly, though he wasn't sure if it was more for herself than for him. In a more normal voice, still tinted with gratitude, she continued. "If you're sure... I would greatly appreciate it." Daro looked up at him, and he was sure there was a smile hidden under the smokey visor. After a moment she continued. "I will go get my things and message you when I arrive."
As the quarian walked away, Shepard couldn't help but feel inextricably strange at his behavior. On Sur'Kesh, he ostracized himself from social contact simply because that's how he preferred it. Yet here after a couple of weeks, he was inviting a friend to live with them. Not only did he believe it was truly the right thing, but he was looking forward to the company. Daro had been an excellent conversational partner at work. As she neared the exit, his eyes moved on their own accord, tracing her hourglass figure, the small of her back, and down her waist. He admired her shapely legs, ending at a very alien pair of feet, before his retinas ended on her posterior. The same shapely rear he had caught himself staring at during her brief tenure at Kassa. He chucked to himself as she left, and finished putting away his materials. Who knew an alien woman's... assets could be so distracting.
Current Time
I don't think they'd ever let a quarian into a chess tournament. The unbeatable poker face would be a clear advantage. Shepard inwardly sighed as he finally decided to sacrifice a pawn for the sake of stalling her offensive. More often than not, he would defeat her at the game. Today, however, his mind was elsewhere, and his poor strategy was brought to light quickly. With little hesitation, a bishop came and swept away his pawn, leaving Shepard's queen in an exposed position. Daro had only been playing chess for a few short months, and she already seemed to have a tactical grasp reserved for veterans of the game; it was usually not enough to defeat John's bright mind. Her quick and effective grasp of a the game was no surprise, though, considering he had seen first-hand how intelligent she was. He tried another move which would likely end in the death of another pawn, and hoped she didn't see the counter. The quarian quickly took the sacrificial lamb, and continued her offensive on the chessboard.
When Daro had joined in Shepard's development of the Arc pistol, (although privy to admitting it in conversation) he had been at a plateau. Unable to increase the power level, he had been stalling for time by increasing the efficiency of its unique thermal clip. The addition of an individual of his caliber of intelligence with a completely different technological background had been the reason for their success. He had estimated that it would take at least another year for the invention to hit the shelves, but with her addition it had barely taken seven months to complete. Obviously, their director was enthused, but the two had another reason to celebrate. Shepard and her were substantially wealthier now due to the success of the Arc Pistol on the market. One of their final breakthroughs was a system to alter the large ampere burst with minimal effect and weight increase. The original optimal power level which would tear through shields and could be fatal at close enough ranges was now complimented by a weaker setting which could take down an individual non-lethally even through light armor. Released to the public only a few weeks ago, it had been well-received by corporate security firms, likely a few shell companies intermediating for mercenary groups, and even the human Alliance had made a small official purchase. Shepard tried his luck, and sent his queen out to take her bishop.
The general usefulness of the weapon soon caused it to gravitate out of solely Alliance space, expedited greatly by the population of the colony. Apparently, Mindoir had more metallurgic resources than the humans would be able to process in a reasonable time, and the Alliance had contracted a few non-human corporations to assist. This had created an interesting environment on the 'human colony', of which humans only were two thirds of the population. It had mostly been an influx of turians, but eventually, a sizable number of asari, salarian, and even a single elcor company had started mining the uninhabitable wastes of Mindoir. Although a win-win situation financially for both, it still created a slightly inflated housing and food market due to the influx of workers, while opposing chirality prevented large scale dextro local food production. Unfortunately, Daro's mind was not preoccupied, and she easily saw through his ruse. His queen was quickly removed from the battlefield. He tried to hide his king behind the paltry sum of units he had left, but it was to no avail. In a few more moves, Shepard's king was trapped.
The both of them currently had the living room to themselves, and Daro could see something was wrong. Leaning back on her favorite recliner, she crossed her legs and questioned. "That was not even a challenge, John. That move was available to set up for the past two rotations." Shepard scratched the back of his neck, eyes still focused on the chessboard. The quarian continued in a more serious, but not cold tone, finally getting his visual attention. "Tell me John, what has you distracted?" Shepard sighed as he stood, walking over to the large window. Her curious glowing eyes followed the human as he relocated.
In the past six months, Daro had become the closest friend he had ever had. Although salarians were a social species, their emotional differences had kept him from having a true best friend throughout most of his education on Sur'Kesh. Earlier while in the human educational system, Shepard was much younger than everyone else; he would more often than not keep to himself, absorbed in his studies. Inside though, he had been lonely, though he hadn't realized it until she came into his life. Now John had come to rely on her, a crutch against the mentally demanding job they both had; even if he tried, he had never been able to hide his emotions from the inquisitive female. Conversing with a quarian was only slightly different than with humans, with very similar mannerisms. The only big difference he had noticed, and it had definitely brought them closer as friends, as the lack of trepidation her species had about discussing their emotions. Humans would likely be embarrassed to clearly put out their feelings, especially to the opposite gender. With her though, the words flowed like water, and he often felt better simply by chatting with her. John was sure, though, she valued their friendship as much as he. Daro had made that abundantly clear on his birthday just a couple of months ago.
John was sitting on the couch while his sister sat in the kitchen, both on their omnitools. She was enjoying a ridiculous new movie about a hanar spectre, while Shepard was merely surfing tech blogs for an interesting conversation. His dad was outside working on the farm equipment, while his mom was likely at her Alliance office. Although his father still limped slightly from his injuries during his service, he had never allowed it to stop him from doing the job he loved. He had already received a few gifts from his parents, the main one being a brand new Katana shotgun. Although a basic model, it still was a military grade weapon, and he wasn't sure what strings his parents had pulled to get one in his possession. John was disappointed, though, since their alien guest hadn't arrived from work yet. Usually Daro just rode back with him, but today she had said she needed to finish something, giving no hints to the mystery.
As if the suited woman had read his thoughts, the door opened revealing the quarian in question. He smiled as she hadn't knocked, a habit she ended quickly after her beginning trepidation at 'intruding' on a human living space.
"Hey Daro!" Squeaked Tara from the kitchen, though her mind was more focused on the amusing elcor arguing with the hanar. Miss Xen responded in kind, and instead of taking her usual spot on one of the recliners, she sat on the seat right beside him on the sofa.
Shepard couldn't stop the smile from his face at her arrival, but it quickly was replaced with a concerned look as he noticed her nervousness. It wasn't really with her facial expressions, but the inconspicuous movements of her fingers and the slight foot tapping revealed her anxiety. "What's up Daro?" He questioned as casually as possible.
"I know that today is your 'birth day', and I wish to offer my congratulations on your blessed day of creation." Her diction always was more advanced than most casual conversations, but even then he could hear the honest happiness behind her words. There was a tinge of apprehension, and he quickly noticed she seemed to only get nervous when she was being entirely honest. It was vulnerability. Before he could thank her, she continued. "I read that humans give gifts to commemorate this day, especially the year you become an adult." Daro's eyes expanded slightly, an expression he had finally mastered, a smile. She reached into one of her waist's suit pockets and pulled out a small, what appeared to be polished steel band and handed it to him.
The band had the same pattern as Daro's realk, her veil, though without the coloring. Shepard took the proffered band, surprised by its light weight. He saw a strange set of symbols, but Daro's accented voice broke his thoughts and refocused his vision towards her. "It is what quarians call a hij'zan, the band of clan harmony. It signifies the bond between two different clans, showing the only thing that separates them are name and blood."
"It's beautiful." He said sincerely, then turned his attention to the inside of the band. Unknowingly, his countenance turned into a slight frown as he attempted to read the symbols."I'm assuming this is Khelish, but I don't have a clue what it says."
Her timorous demeanor appeared to increase due to what looked like a displeased reaction, and she crossed her legs nervously as she replied. "It says 'may peace and joy always find those who freely give to another." She looked as if she was going to say more, but was silenced when he stood up and offered his hand. Daro took his hand, and was subsequently gently pulled from the couch. Before she could even exclaim her surprise, she found herself in a warm embrace.
"Thank you, Daro. This is wonderful, and I know I'll always treasure it." Although he had embraced the quarian on a few rare occasions to celebrate an innovation or traversed past a technological plateau, neither side let go as they normally did after a short moment. "He leaned by where her auditory sensors where located, and whispered. "For what it's worth, you've been a part of our 'clan' since the day you walked in that door." He leaned back, and her smile was obvious as he gazed at her visor. She looked as though she would retort, but an entirely too inquisitive voice called from the back door.
"Oh ho ho, what have we here?" His father's voice accompanied a shit-eating grin as he walked towards the two. They quickly separated from their embrace. His dad's limp was more pronounced after working out on the fields, but his mind was as sharp as ever. His eyes widened as he saw the band in his son's hand, and likely could make out the pattern on it. Shepard's father continued as he saw a red tint appearing on John's cheeks. His words came out with the same jocularity as his preliminary statement, but this time it was focused on his alien acquaintance. "So, what's this, did ya propose to my boy or something?" He ended with a chuckle; the elder Shepard had the satisfaction of seeing his son's face redden immensely, but the quarian answered.
"What!? No, it's not about a mating contract, but sometimes that's how they.. what I meant to say is it isn't about...it's to show companionship... Keelah not like that!" She stopped herself as her words belittled what she was trying to say, Shepard's father's grin making her defense increasingly difficult. Thankfully, the younger Shepard came to her aid.
"Oh don't mind him, he's just being an ass." His dad scoffed at the indignation, but listened attentively as Shepard explained. "It's like a family heirloom, dad. You give one to a friend that may as well be family." He managed to get it onto his wrist, its resting place every morning for a long while to come; it opened at the bottom to allow a snug fit on his wrist
"Yeah, I bet that's exactly what you were thinking when I walked in." He deadpanned. "Well, I'm going to hit the sack pretty soon, that damn tractor's guidance system still can't keep the thing in a straight line."
"Alright, well goodnight dad." John said, then turned back to the quarian. "Want to see how much juice I can get out of my new shotgun?"
As he expected, her eyes brightened at the thought of tinkering with a weapon. "Sure! But if you try to put exploding rounds again..." She poked a finger at his chest in mock indignation.
He sighed, gesturing her to follow him. "Seriously? That was like two months ago, and you have to admit, a shotgun with that kind of raw power..." Their voices trailed off as they walked to the basement where all of his personal tools were located. The forgotten elder Shepard chuckled, wondering if his son truly was that oblivious to the writing on the wall.
John's thoughts were interrupted as he remembered Daro was still waiting on a response. He looked back at her, those glowing orbs waiting patiently for his answer, though she was now standing. "I think when all this is over, when we're done with the second version of the pistol and..." He paused, and his voice became noticeably quieter." when... you go home... I think I'm going to join the Alliance."