Everything seemed to be business as usual…. More or less. Steam billowed from the kitchen, carrying hints of coffee and browning meat. Gardner certainly wasn't wasting the rations she'd bought. The noise level was easily half what was normal at breakfast. Many members of the crew were just whispering amongst themselves. Shepard's gaze searched the room until she found the reason why. Moving towards the unoccupied end of the main table with a tray heaped with food, was Drayson. Despite wearing Cerberus fatigues, he still stuck out like a sore thumb. Thanks, in no small part, to his aloofness and rather attention-grabbing cybernetic eye. Retrieving her own breakfast, Layla nodded at Garrus as she approached Drayson's table. They could talk later, whatever it was. Whenever it was urgent, he made a point to come directly to her quarters.

"Harvey," she said as she set her tray down. She took a seat across from him at the otherwise empty half of the table. A few members of the crew actually stood to eat their meals. "Popular, aren't you?" He looked up from his food just to roll his eyes at her. Shepard couldn't help but blink at the amount of food in front of him. Eggs, bacon, toast…. They were all heaped so high they barely fit on the tray. "Sure your eyes aren't too big for your stomach?"

He grabbed another slice of bacon and took a bite. "I'm hungry," he replied bluntly. Immediately, he returned his full attention to his meal. Shepard merely nodded in response, taking a spoonful of oatmeal before scanning the room. It was somehow even quieter than before. She noticed Harvey eyeing the bowl in front of her, his nostrils flaring slightly as steam curled up from the pile of oats, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

"Sweet tooth?" she asked as she took another bite. He tilted his head. For a moment, he seemed perplexed by the question. "Yeah, maybe," he muttered. Letting his fork clatter against the table, he focused on her. "What is this, Shepard? Keeping me company, trying to build trust, or are you just watching me?"

"You're awfully suspicious for the odd man out," she shot back, taking another bite.

"I see. You're afraid."

Shepard held his gaze. "Wow. You're brand new. I'm not afraid of anything."

"Is that right, Shepard?" Harvey paused, setting down his fork. For a moment- just a moment- his left eye flared a brilliant red. Layla felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, every inch of her screaming that something was wrong. Her right hand twitched to where her gun should be.

A slight feeling of dread crept up on her as she realized she wasn't armed. She fought it down. "So you have a few biotics," she bit out. "So do I. Doesn't mean I couldn't destroy you in a fight."

Jack's voice rang out beside her. "We talkin about fighting, now?" she took a seat next to the commander, half a sandwich in hand. She gave Layla a rough, but playful shove. "I was just getting bored… Whose ass do we get to kick?"

Shepard shoved her back, almost snorting with laughter as Jack nearly lost control of her sandwich. Jack had been on the ship for just a couple of weeks, but she and the Commander were fast friends, it seemed. Even Grunt had commented on it, asking if the two were related. It wasn't too much of a stretch. Layla and Jack were much the same, except for the fact that the Commander's path in life had been swayed by her father and the Alliance. With her personality and without those influences? She might have been in one of Purgatory's cells, right next to Jack.

Layla took another bite of her oatmeal, idly creating a small quasar with the cinnamon sprinkled over the top. "I get the impression Harvey here thinks I'm afraid of him. I was just reminding him who's in charge."

Jack took another bite before throwing the rest of her sandwich down on Shepard's tray. She examined the blonde for a moment before shaking her head. "He's got some muscle on him but I wouldn't be worried about that shit. Won't matter if he doesn't know how to fight." She looked directly at him, sizing him up. "He's a biotic, right? Put him next to me and see how long he lasts. Analyze him or whatever while I'm kicking his ass."

Shepard finished her meal, narrowing her eyes at the man across from her. It wasn't a bad idea. Quantifying his abilities would definitely go a long way towards putting herself and the rest of the crew at ease. Jack was busy eyeing the empty tray in front of Harvey. Watching him set down his fork for the last time, she shook her head. She looked down her nose at him as if she were wearing glasses. "That was fuckin impressive."

Decisively, Layla tapped her spoon against the side of her empty bowl. A quick sparring match couldn't hurt anything. They were still almost a day out from Haestrom, after all. She rose from her seat, scanning the room for Garrus. "The two of you, suit up and meet me in the shuttle bay in fifteen. There's something I need to take care of, first."

Making her way over to the corner where the turian sat, Shepard gave him a gentle slug on the shoulder before taking a seat beside him. "What's up, Garrus? EDI said you were looking for me."

He tracked Harvey and Jack's movements for a long moment before replying. "Please tell me you appreciate how insane this is…"

"Of course I do. I'm just… out of options."

"There are always options," Garrus shot back in his usual biting, but gentle way. "Do what the Illusive Man wants. Take him out on the field. Let him take point. If he happens to get injured, well, no one could blame you for not getting him back to Chakwas in time…"

For a long moment, Layla said nothing. Between the two of them, they had a tendency to take a lot of drastic actions that they didn't need to. Even worse, she always wanted to. "If things take a turn… I'll give it some thought," she said, finally. "Still, no one died last night. Could also consider giving him a chance. You know we need all the help we can get."

Garrus sighed. "Isn't that why we're on our way to get Tali? Drayson is an unknown entity."

"So was Cerberus, and yet here we are." She stood, shaking her head. Her voice shifted from gentle to commanding in an instant. Her gaze locked onto his. "Whatever it takes to complete the mission."

The gentle, orange glow of the active consoles warmed the atmosphere of the empty shuttle bay. Wires, crates and instruments made the room feel less empty, but not by much. The main runway was clear for the moment. It would make a good sparring area.

Shepard was setting up a camera to record the match. Once it was rolling, she looked up at Jack and Harvey. "Biotics only, no weapons." The other two didn't respond, each of them already sizing up their opponent.

They circled each other on the floor for a few moments. He had to know that even with armor and shields, this was a risky match. The way he moved and didn't take his eyes off of her… he wasn't worried. Not in the slightest. He had balls, she'd give him that. "I'll even let you get one in for free," she bit out, her form slowly beginning to pulse and glow with the brilliant azure of her biotics.

The corner of his mouth twitched upward into a smirk. "Foolish of you." Planting his feet, Harvey's expression barely changed. The same golden pulse from before swept throughout his body. Shepard visibly tensed at the sight, but this time, she stood firm. She needed to watch this.

As if to underscore the point, Harvey rushed Jack immediately, striking her with a blinding Reave blast far stronger than appropriate for sparring. She stumbled back into one of the consoles, her shields visibly beginning to disrupt. Composing herself for a brief moment, she used a firm Pull to force him closer, immediately following up with a shockwave blast directly to his chest that sent him flying across the room. He collided with two stacked crates at an unforgiving speed. A sharp exhale as he landed on his stomach.

Shepard smirked, panning the camera as Jack stalked over to him. Harvey still hadn't managed to get back to his feet, his shields critical. Despite that, the golden pulsing of his biotics didn't waver. He staggered to one knee, his hair obscuring half of his face as he eyed the approaching threat. Jack's eyes widened in surprise as she found herself yanked backward into a Singularity. Suddenly, Harvey was back on his feet. A sudden, explosive pulse of energy radiated in the area around him.

All at once, Jack found her shields disabled. "What the-?" she didn't have time to get the question out before another Reave pulse hit her, leaving a deep, bleeding gash in her shoulder. She faltered, stumbling as she nursed the wound. A sudden, sharp Throw knocked Harvey off balance, disrupting his next attack. Shepard ran over quickly, examining her friend's wound with narrowed eyes.

"What part of sparring did you not understand?!" she was practically yelling at Harvey as he leapt to his feet. The biotic field around him was still pulsing; he seemed eager to continue.

"I wasn't aware she was so weak," he said bluntly. "Forgive me."

Jack wrestled away from Shepard, charging up a new attack. "I'll show you weak, you smug son of a-"

Layla snatched the biotic by the back of her neck, holding her in place. "That's enough." Jack snatched away but didn't attempt to attack him again. She started to say something but stormed off instead, swearing under her breath as she left the shuttle bay clutching her shoulder. Shepard hoped she was on her way to the med bay and not to some corner to sulk in. She turned to face Harvey with a sneer.

"Drayson, you were a Marine, you should know better than-"

"No," he cut her off abruptly.

She set her jaw, staring at him. "No?"

He powered down the shields on his armor and leaned against one of the consoles. "Can you be a Marine if you don't remember it?"

Shepard blinked, thinking she had misheard. "You don't remember serving? At all?" He shook his head no.

"How is that possible? Cerberus restored me with all of my memories intact."

He gestured towards the scar on his face and his crimson, cybernetic eye. "Brain damage."

Layla took a step towards him, tilting her head slightly as she considered his words. "Wait.. if you lost your eye and suffered brain damage, wouldn't that wound have been-"

"Fatal?" A tense silence hung in the air between them. It seemed as if that single word was still echoing off of the metal walls. Despite that, he didn't break her gaze. "Yes. It was."

Shepard didn't know what to say. She was having a hard enough time with coming back from the dead and realizing that a large part of the life she had before was gone, likely never to return. Her tone softened, if only slightly. "What do you remember?"

Harvey folded his arms across his chest with a sigh. She watched him idly scratch the stubble that lined his jaw. His gaze was fixed straight ahead on the hatch doors. "I remember... waking up in a Cerberus lab, hooked up to over a dozen machines and missing my left eye." He shifted his gaze back to hers. His expression was unreadable, despite her best efforts. "Consider yourself lucky, Shepard. You got the better end of the deal."

She scoffed. "I'm not so sure about that," a moment of hesitation as she considered her next words, "there are plenty of things I wish I could forget. Just.. start over." Harvey stood upright, a dismissive 'hmm' before he turned to leave the bay.

He paused at the open door for a moment. "Forgetting doesn't change what needs to be done."