· x ·
Samantha Traynor stood at the communications station nervously tapping her foot. She pressed the speaker of her headset tighter against her ear, more for something to do with her fingers than for any other reason. She was listening intently to the ground team's radio channel even though she knew full well that EDI monitored everything. Traynor just felt more useful when she paid attention. Just in case.
Static filled her ear as it always did just before someone spoke. "T'Soni," Shepard's voice sounded detached as she barked the asari's name, "right flank. Vega, you take left. I'm going right up the middle. Eyes open, people, and keep low."
While Liara chose not to respond, Vega's excitement was clear. "Oorah, Commander!" he cried, sounding like a kid who'd just been let loose in a candy store. Before his mic clicked off, Traynor imagined she could hear the enthusiastic stutter of his assault rifle. Her stomach turned molten at the sound.
She tried to picture the three of them as they might appear on the battlefield and found it difficult. Their personalities were so different that Samantha wondered how such a motley crew could be expected to work together seamlessly.
James Vega was young and vibrant, every ounce of muscle honed for battle, danger, glory. While he might seem blockheaded, Traynor had caught glimpses of the underlying intelligence he kept closely guarded. The Alliance didn't choose N7 candidates without some reason, after all. Not that Samantha would ever admit to knowing that hush-hush little detail.
She could imagine him powering his way through foes, much as Shepard was rumoured to do, with little fear and perhaps a smidgen of unhealthy zeal. Unlike Shepard, though, James was not likely to be his own worst enemy.
At the thought of the commander, Samantha's stomach performed an uncertain flip-flop. Her mind wandered to the incident in the elevator. It had been three days. Shepard had very clearly been avoiding the specialist, which was actually just fine with Samantha considering she didn't quite know what to make of the situation.
Shepard was perhaps one of the surliest people Samantha had ever met, yet she had felt an immediate draw. If asked, she would be hard pressed to put her finger on exactly what quality she thought might redeem the rigid woman. She suspected that many people who met the commander felt the same way. But Shepard had undeniable charisma, regardless of how unpleasantly she behaved. Sometimes Samantha wondered how much of it had to do with her stunning beauty. Even with the eerie red glow of her eyes and the garish scars that crossed her face like country roads on a vintage paper map, the commander would be considered striking. And Traynor was no more immune than anyone else.
She swallowed hard, thinking that the commander's red glowing eyes and scars weren't the scariest thing on the ship that she had been exposed to. Aside from the Reapers, nothing frightened Samantha quite like the soft blue gaze of Liara T'Soni. Granted, the asari had never been anything but cordial, but there was something just slightly off about her. It was as though a deep seated volatility were laboriously working its way to the surface similar to a dormant volcano, unpredictable in its stability.
At least with Shepard you knew exactly what she was thinking because she told you, albeit generally amongst much verbal diarrhea. Liara, on the other hand, seemed to perceive a person's very soul, filing away every single indiscretion while she smiled pleasantly.
"Commander!" Vega's voice, amidst a jumble of static, burst over the earpiece startling Traynor out of her thoughts. "You've got a deuce advancing on your six!"
"Shit, I'm already up to my eyeballs in husks. T'Soni, wake up! A little help, please? A stasis field would be nice, or a singularity—fuck, anything!" The clipped annoyance was evident in Shepard's voice.
"Lola, I don't see her—" James began, his voice dropping off abruptly before he cursed. "Oh, damn! Blue is about to be in for a world of hurt."
There was a moment of hissing silence before Liara finally weighed in. "Nothing I can't handle, Lieutenant Vega," she muttered, as though speaking around clenched teeth. The distinctive click of her mic followed a strained grunt of effort.
"Impressive," James whispered, barely activating the headset, presumably awestruck by something Liara had accomplished.
"Jesus, Vega, think you could stop staring at the shimmering asari and give me a hand?"
"Keep your panties on, Commander. I got this."
"You'd think you'd never seen biotics before, LT."
"No one has seen biotics like that, Lola."
Despite the gravity of the situation, Samantha couldn't help but chuckle at their banter. It helped ease the tension that had been building within her as soon as she heard that the commander might be in danger. Knowing that Vega would do his best to keep Shepard safe made her feel—
Traynor went rigid. She dropped her hands to her sides and ceased the tapping motion of her foot.
"Specialist Traynor?"
Samantha blinked at the sound of her name and looked up to see EDI standing next to her, regarding her with an inquisitive expression. "Y-yes?"
"Are you all right? Your heart rate just spiked."
"I—uhm, yes, of course," she replied, unable to explain to EDI about the frightening realization that she had just come to: she was far more concerned about the commander's welfare than she had any right to be.
"Your pupils are dilated and you are sweating." EDI cocked her head, eyes travelling over Traynor with a clinical curiosity. "You are experiencing fear," she concluded.
"EDI, thank you for your concern, but—"
Shepard's voice in her ear saved Traynor from further scrutiny. "Everyone okay?" the commander asked, breathing hard.
"Five-by, Commander," Vega responded immediately.
"T'Soni?" There was an elongated silence. "Report!" Traynor's stomach dropped, dread flooding the vacancy. Her mouth went dry. She looked down at her hands, wringing them together as she listened with escalating apprehension. "Lieutenant, where is T'Soni?" Another lengthy pause followed in which Traynor imagined Shepard's steadfast composure slipping ever so slightly. "Liara? Goddamn it, report!"
Traynor looked up to see EDI's resolute expression as the AI turned away, already in the process of alerting Doctor Chakwas to possible casualties.
· x ·
Author's note: Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and comment! I hope you continue to enjoy this story that has miraculously managed to run away on me.