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Chapter 10 – Down Range
Ashley was in the mess hall finishing her lunch and chatting with a few other crew members when she heard someone call out her name.
She looked over to find Private Joans the Requisition Officer standing by the elevator. Ash stood up and bade her goodbyes to her friends, deposited her dishes in the washer and made her way over the young ensign.
"What's up, Joans?"
"All the requisition orders are in!" he answered cheerily. He turned to the open elevator and picked up a large box from the hover trolley he used to transport his wares. "The package you ordered came in as well, so here you go!"
"Really?" She accepted the offered box, grunting somewhat at how heavy it was. "The site we ordered it from said it wouldn't make it to the Citadel for a few more days."
"Well…" Joans stood straight and crossed his arms behind his back, looking proud of himself. "I may have called in a favor and helped grease the wheels of the delivery service a little bit. Besides, now you don't have to wait another three weeks before we came back to the Citadel."
Ashley flashed him a grateful smile. "You didn't have to do that, Richard. But thank you, it was very sweet."
Joans flushed a bit and his smile grew wider. He moved aside so Ash could step into the elevator. As the doors closed, she fumbled with her hands to bring up her Omni Tool to make a call.
"Go for Zorah," she heard the Quarian say on the other end.
"Hey Tali. Are you busy right now?"
"No, nothing pressing at the moment since we're in dock. Why?"
"Want to be a super friend and help me out with something in the cargo bay?"
The comm. was quiet for a moment as Tali thought. "Sure, why not. What are we doing?"
"You'll see. Oh, and get Vakarian too."
"Sounds good. I'll see you in a minute." With that, Tali disconnected and Ash closed down her tool.
"Sounds like you're really getting along with the Normandy's new crew members," Joans commented with a lazy grin.
"Yeah. Zorah and Vakarian are pretty cool when you get to know them." She was about put her Tool away when she remembered something. "Oh! I almost forgot to give you your stipend for ordering this for me."
Ash fired up her Tool to transfer a few credits, but Joans waved her off. "It's not that much; you don't have to do that for me."
She frowned at him. "You sure? You paid out of your pocket to get this thing too."
"True, but I'm not the one landing on dangerous planets being shot at all the time," Joans replied easily. "It's the least I can do to help out, so don't worry about it."
"Well, alright then." Ash couldn't help feeling somewhat confused. And the nervous set to Richard's smile was peculiar in a way she couldn't nail down.
The elevator door opening ended her musings, and Joans said, "Well, I have to get back to my station. Have fun setting your system up, Ash."
Well, it's not like he's not allowed to use my first name. So why does it feel like that should be important? "Sure. I'll talk to you later, Joans." With that, the ensign nodded in farewell and moved his trolley toward his alcove off to the side of the cargo bay, leaving Ash to wonder if she had missed something.
However, Garrus and Tali were waiting for her by the elevator, and Ash easily put her other concerns to the back of her mind, striding toward them with a grin.
"So what exactly is it that you've dragged Tali and I into, Chief?" Garrus asked.
Ash held the box out to him. "Here, hold this." Garrus narrowed his eyes at the strange command, but accepted the box with ease. Ash tore open the coverings on the top and opened the box, revealing a cache of various devices, wires, and circuit boards. "I need your help setting this up. You guys are good with tech, right?"
Ash smirked at the simultaneous glares she received from the two aliens. "I'm not going to dignify that with a response," said Tali indignantly.
"Two assault rifles, two shotguns, two side arms, two sub machine guns, and one sniper rifle," Alenko tallied as he read off of the data pad they had received with the shipment of weaponry.
He, Shepard, and Liara sat in the car provided them by Citadel Rapid Transit, on their way back from the human embassy. A shipment of new prototype weaponry had been routed there from Arcturus, the lab techs asking if Shepard and his crew could be the first to test their effectiveness. Said prototype weapons now resided in the sky car's back storage area. Now they were on their way back to the Normandy, where Shepard planned to unveil them to the rest of the ground team.
"Excuse me, commander." Sitting in the driver's seat (even though he wasn't actually driving, much to the gratitude of Alenko and T'Soni), Shepard craned his head back to see Liara in the back seat, who was looking at him with a timid expression. "I do not mean to sound ungrateful, but what makes these weapons so important we had to pick them up specifically from the human embassy?"
"We'll get to that eventually," Shepard replied with his typical 'commander grin.' "I want to wait until we have the entire ground team present. That way I don't have to repeat myself."
"Yes, I can see how that would be beneficial," Liara said quickly. She looked out the window at the view they were passing over, a faint blush crossing her cheeks. Liara had made a habit of coming around and talking with the crew more often, but obviously the Asari still had a long way to go toward being fully confident in herself.
"I don't think I like this, commander," Alenko said from beside him. "I'm all for improving our odds against the enemy, but is it really necessary to test out a brand new prototype on a live battlefield?"
Shepard sighed as he turned to face forward again. "I know it may not be ideal, but we work with what we have. I'll have Ash make sure anyone who goes out with a prototype also has a more reliable weapon to fall back on."
"Miss Williams has done an exceptional job since becoming the arms master," Liara commented in a voice laced with praise and something else Shepard couldn't quite catch. "You have an amazing ability to know where crew members are most needed, Shepard."
He glanced up in the rear view, seeing a nervous smile splayed out on the Asari's face as she watched the Citadel fly by. "Thank you, Liara," he said diplomatically, not sure what to make of this new, stranger side to Liara.
The rest of the ride passed by in companionable silence, until their sky car parked on the docking bay where the Normandy resided. As they got out, Shepard relieved Liara to go ahead and board the ship while he and Kaidan unloaded the collapsible hover trolley. As Liara passed through the air lock, Shepard and Kaidan moved to the trunk to pull out the weapons cases and load them onto the trolley.
"Liara seems to be taking a fancy to you," Kaidan said seriously at one point.
Shepard looked to the lieutenant, but Alenko gave him a mysterious glance. "Liara's dealing with a lot of stuff being thrown at her," Shepard tried. "I'm one of the only friends she has right now, so it's natural for her to look to me for guidance."
"And I'm certain you firmly believe that." They loaded up the last of the cases and closed the trunk. With that, the sky car lifted into the air and rocketed off to help some other tourist in need of transportation. Kaidan turned to Shepard with a loaded look. "I'm not so sure Liara would look at it the same way."
"Are you implying something, Alenko?"
Kaidan scratched his cheek thoughtfully. "Don't take this the wrong way, sir, but I think you're missing the writing on the wall. Liara's been nothing but agreeable with you all day, she tries moving closer to you whenever it won't be awkward, even the compliment in the car just now. I get the feeling Liara would like to be more than just 'friends.'"
Shepard looked at him dubiously, but Kaidan only shrugged his shoulders and began pushing the hover trolley toward the airlock. As they waited for the decontamination cycle to complete its procedure, Shepard thought back to his interactions with Liara T'Soni. True, she was always quick to respond whenever he entered her alcove behind the medical wing. Before she started coming out more often, Shepard was the only one to have actual full length conversations with Liara. The Asari even seemed to draw more confidence whenever she spotted Shepard nearby.
Until now he had assumed Liara was drawn in by his new found connection with the Protheans. Clutching at a familiar buoy during a period of her life where everything around her wasn't so easily recognizable. The idea that Liara may be seeking a more emotional attachment to Shepard was…
Preposterous, he decided. Liara was indeed a beautiful woman, and maybe in another life there might have been something there. But here and now, Shepard only saw Liara as a platonic friend. Besides, the most perfect woman in the galaxy had already secured Shepard's heart. And he wouldn't let anything change that.
"And I think you're grasping at straws, Alenko," Shepard finally said. "Yes, I'll admit Liara does seem a bit more attached to me than as friends go. But as I said, the entire life she's known for over a hundred years is being shaken to the point of breaking. Liara needs someone to anchor her right now. Even if it might be infatuation now, I'm sure she'll grow out of it."
Kaidan gave him a sidelong glance. "For yours, Liara's, and Ashley's sakes, I sure hope so."
Shepard resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I appreciate the concern, Kaidan, but you don't have to worry about anything. Ash and I know what we have is unorthodox, but one Asari with a crush won't do anything to come between us. I'll do everything in my power to make sure I don't do anything that will hurt Ash."
"I know you will," Kaidan said earnestly. He gave Shepard a serious look. "I'm only telling you what I already told Ash: be careful. I do honestly think you two make each other happy. You just need to be prepared for when the unexpected happens, alright?"
"I can do that," Shepard responded with a nod. Kaidan offered a small smile in return. It was then the airlock let out a ding, alerting the men the decontamination cycle had ended.
They walked onto the main bridge to find Joker and Liara in deep discussion. "So what they do is take either the jelly or the custard and inject it into the middle of the donut," Joker explained.
"You take sugary pastries and fill them with more sweets?" Liara asked with a queasy expression. "I do not think that sounds very healthy."
Joker threw his hands up in exasperation and turned to Shepard and Alenko. "T'Soni says the Asari don't have donuts. Can you believe that? It's like they don't even know what true happiness is."
"In the grand scheme of things a lack of fatty pastry treats hardly seems like something to get worked up about, Joker," Shepard said.
Joker scoffed. "Well someone has to keep the important priorities in check on this ship. Whatever, it's no big deal." He eyed the weapon cases Alenko was pushing along. "So! What goodies has Santa Clause brought us in his toy bag today boys and girls?"
Behind the pilot Shepard watched as Liara's eyes shot wide and a horrified expression crossed her face, her jaw falling open in shock. Filing that particular reaction away for later, Shepard said to Joker, "New prototype weapons, direct from the lab boys on Arcturus."
"Well that's convenient."
"How so?" Alenko asked.
"Williams just got a simulated training environment in the mail today. Her, Vakarian, Zorah and Wrex have been down in the cargo bay all morning shooting holographic targets."
"They're discharging their weapons inside the ship?" Shepard inquired, surprised.
"Naw. They're hooking up special devices to their guns, and all the rounds they fire are virtual too. Wrex tested it out by shooting a volley at Vakarian when he had his back turned."
Joker clapped his knee lightly as he let out a laugh. "You should have seen it, commander. Vakarian let out this high pitched squeal like a chicken being strangled and everyone started laughing their asses off. Vakarian's a little grumpy, but they're getting along alright now."
Shepard sighed in relief. "Well that's good to hear." He turned to Kaidan and Liara. "You two mind staying in your hard suits for a while longer? This sounds like some action we have to get in on."
"Sounds perfect, actually," said Kaidan. This was likely the best solution to his troubles in taking prototype weapons into a battlefield. Liara, who was looking at something on her Omni Tool, only nodded her head in affirmation. Joker waved goodbye as he turned back to his station, and the three of them walked down the length of the ship to the elevator.
As the elevator door began to close, Shepard heard Liara let out a quiet, "oh." He looked back to see her still looking at something on her tool, only now her shoulders slumped in realization and a faint blush graced her cheeks.
"So you mind explaining why you looked so shell shocked back there?" Shepard asked her.
"Um." Liara cast a quick, nervous glance his way before locking her eyes on the ground before her. "My translator thought Joker said Sanaya Clusee. She is one of the lower deities in the religion of Athame."
"You should probably look into updating your translator," said Kaidan. "Humans have lots of different languages, and the differences between them can become rather muddled from time to time."
"That might be best. I did look up who exactly Santa Clause is. He and Sanaya are actually not very different. The goddess also travels the world by night with a bag of toys."
"That still doesn't explain why it looked like you saw a ghost when Joker mentioned the name," Shepard said.
Liara proceeded to fidget more. "Well, Sanaya Clusee is the goddess of sensuality and bondage. She has a bag of toys, but… they are not intended for children."
The elevator lapsed into awkward silence as the Asari's words sunk in.
Liara's face had now turned to a deeper shade of blue. "I would very much like not to talk about this anymore."
"Seconded," Kaidan said quickly, his own face gaining some color.
"Motion carried," Shepard agreed, doing his best not to break out laughing.
The three of them preferred to spend the rest of the elevator ride in silence. Once it stopped and the door began to slide down, Shepard could hear the pops and booms he associated with weapons fire. They stepped out to find Tali and Wrex only standing a few feet away from the elevator at an elongated bench that hadn't been there before. Both of them had their shotguns out, and looking past them Shepard could see they were firing upon advancing 'enemies.'
The cargo bay had been turned into a battlefield. But instead of scorch marks and the acrid smell of fire mixed with death, Shepard found a series of cameras hooked up to the ceiling, each of them helping to create the field before them. Now where there had been empty space, there were bright orange-red blocks and columns Shepard assumed to be cover of varying sorts. In addition, there was a small group of humanoid holograms of the same color, varying in their size and species, trying to move forward.
Shepard noted Tali and Wrex were deliberately allowing the holograms to get close in order to take them out with their shotguns, foregoing the use of their other weapons or biotic/tech powers. Above them Shepard spied a score board of sorts. It recorded the number of points either of them got when they landed a kill. More surprisingly it also listed a series of stats, like accuracy, how much force bullets impacted with, and which parts of the body were being hit.
A voice he was intimately familiar with called out, "Shepard!" He looked to the left to see Ashley and Garrus standing off to the side, fully geared up themselves, watching the simulation play out casually. Nodding his head at Kaidan and Liara for them to follow, they made their way over with the trolley full of weapons.
"So what do you think?" Ashley asked once they were close enough, gesturing with a hand to the cargo bay now filled with orange faceless bad guys.
"I can't say I'm too keen on having people firing their guns inside my ship," Shepard said playfully. Ash rolled her eyes but grinned nonetheless. "So what exactly did you do?"
"I ordered the Live Firefight Training Simulator 3000 online. You can set up the cameras in any one room, the computer will analyze the environment, and it can simulate any number of randomized scenarios, complete with fully customizable cover layouts and a varying number of different enemies to shoot at." She nudged Vakarian with her elbow. "Garrus and Tali helped out with the tech stuff."
"By 'help,' she actually means 'did all the work while I stood there and gawked at all the pretty colors I could use,'" Garrus said wryly.
"Semantics," Ash admonished.
Shepard made an appreciative sound in the back of throat as he turned to watch Tali and Wrex mow down the advancing hoard of uncoordinated glowing men. "I've gotta hand it to you, Ash, this was a good idea." Wrex bellowed in joy as he took off the head of an advancing Salarian with a shotgun blast. Shepard noted how the stray pellets that didn't hit his target impacted on some cover and the floor. Each bullet created a tiny orange spark where they landed, but Shepard couldn't see any scorch marks or other evidence of arms fire.
"How do you get the guns to fire without actually discharging any rounds?" Kaidan asked, ever the tech fanatic himself.
"With these," Garrus answered as he withdrew his sidearm. He extended the weapon to its firing state and pointed to a small device he had attached to the side. "You connect these little modules to the weapon's firing system, and it nullifies almost all of the fired bullet's lethality. That way the gun handles exactly how it would under normal circumstances, but without the possibility of inadvertently blowing your buddy's hand off."
"Wait, you said the devices only neutralize most of the weapon's lethality?" Liara asked. "How much damage can they cause?"
Ash canted her head from side to side as she mulled over the question. "At this point the bullets have about as much force as what a paintball gun could produce. It'll hurt, probably leave a good welt, but it shouldn't break the skin." She smirked in Garrus's direction. "Or so Vakarian says."
They heard Wrex laugh in his deep voice, and turned to see him and Tali coming toward them. "You should have been there when I lit Vakarian's ass up, Shepard. I swear he jumped twelve feet into the air! Ha!" Both Ash and Tali started giggling at the mere mention of it, and the three crew members who hadn't been present found themselves laughing as well.
Garrus, for his part, subconsciously rubbed his backside but responded with a friendly chuckle. "Yes, yes, laugh at the brave Turian who put his life on the wire for science and safety."
"Aww, don't fret them, Garrus," said Tali. She walked up to him and wrapped one of her arms around his in a half hug. "I for one thought the noise you squealed when Wrex shot you was cute. You know, in a startled pet animal sort of way."
"I hate you all," Garrus muttered.
"Oh buck up, bird breath," Ashley chided. "Looks like the Skipper brought us some new toys to cheer you up."
Shepard playfully glared at her, which Ashley pretended to ignore. She had come up the cutesy pet name during their first onboard date the other day.
By the time they finished their meals, a good portion of the whiskey was gone. John and Ashley laid back in his bed, entwined in each other's arms, enjoying the company before they had to go back on duty. They were riding out the pleasant buzz associated with the state of treading the line between sobriety and drunkenness.
He wasn't sure how the title had even come up. They'd been talking about Hemmingway, eventually coming to the topic of The Old Man and the Sea. John thinks he made some remark about wanting to be a ship captain in the days before even electricity had made its mark.
"Yeah," Ash said dreamily, "I bet you would have made a great skipper." It was roughly at this point Ashley gasped loudly. She swiveled her head to look at John with wide eyes, and he could see the gears turning in her pretty noggin.
"Ash," he warned.
In response her eyes began sparkling with delight, and her mouth turned upward into a large mocking grin.
"Don't!" he tried.
"You are so totally the Skipper!" she announced while throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him into a crushing hug, laughing throughout.
John had meant to argue, to explain he wasn't a fan of nicknames, but the words died on his lips when Ashley encased his with her own.
He reflected later that Ash was awfully good at diffusing their arguments.
"Indeed we did." Shepard made a 'come hither' motion for them all and dragged the trolley over to the bench they had set up.
As he explained, Shepard relieved the weapons cases from the trolley and set them on the table. "These are the latest prototype weapons to come in from Alliance Research and Developement. They discovered the Geth use a specialized thermal clip ejection system. Now instead of waiting for a gun to cool down, we can pop the heat sink and load in the new one, allowing us to fire again in a quarter of the time it would take for the old guns if they overheated. Heat sinks also have the added bonus of adding more force to the rounds fired, allowing us to do more damage."
"This tech came from the Geth?" Garrus asked skeptically as he inspected one of the new, bulky pistols. Tali and Wrex had instantly taken to the shotguns, Liara was looking over one of the new SMG's, and Ashley and Kaidan had opted to check out the new assault rifles. True to her nature, Ash was already breaking down the rifle to inspect its inner workings and understand how it functioned. Garrus went on saying, "The Alliance is awfully quick to reverse engineer some brand new guns."
"I'd guess somebody gave them a good shakedown and told them to get their asses moving." Shepard sent a subtle wink in Ashley's direction, who smirked at the memory of an Alliance rep on the brink of peeing his pants.
Ash huffed as she put her rifle back together. "I appreciate the effort, but don't you think they could have integrated a new weapon system into something that wasn't so ancient?"
In the report Shepard had received along with the notification to pick up the guns, the techs had explained the Mattocks were the only line of assault rifle capable of withstanding the new firing system. The Mattocks had been among the first line of weapons designed by humans to use mass effect technology. The rifle had since been discontinued due to its unwieldy properties and inability to fire beyond semi-automatic.
"I used a Mattock for a while," Wrex commented idly while inspecting his new shotgun. Shepard had noticed Wrex starting to be more careful when handling his gun care. Due to Ashley's influence, no doubt. "I don't know why you humans stopped using it. That gun packed a hell of a lot more punch than a lot of the other guns I've used over the years."
"I won't deny the Mattock can drop its targets," Ash retorted, "pretty damn accurate for an assault rifle too. But these things are clunky, heavy, and having to pull the trigger for each and every shot puts you at a disadvantage against enemies with fully automatic weapons."
"Ash has a point," Shepard interjected. "These are still prototypes. I recommend anyone who wants to bring of these into the field should also make sure they bring another weapon that's already proven to be reliable." He looked around the eclectic group of soldiers, and each of them nodded their heads in turn. Shepard moved to unpack the final weapon as he said, "Good. Now there is one more gun to show off, which the lab boys have already dubbed the Viper snipe-"
"Dibs!" Ashley and Garrus called out simultaneously, like children at a toy store. They quickly glanced at each other with narrowed eyes before fixing Shepard with determined gazes, each silently beseeching him to swing in their favor.
Shepard visibly gulped, held his hands up in passiveness and backed away. He was content to let them decide amongst themselves. That, and he wasn't keen of the wrath he would incur by picking sides.
Ashley placed her hand on the collapsed rifle and pulled it several inches toward her. "You'd do well to remember, Vakarian, that Shepard made me the Arms Master. That means I get final say in who gets which guns."
"Oh I never intended say otherwise on that topic, Williams," Garrus responded in his cocksure tone. He too placed a hand on the rifle and pulled it back toward him. "And as I understand it, your job is to make sure weapons go to the people most qualified to use them. And of course we all know who the true sniper rifle master is here."
"I'm well aware of who that is," Ash retorted with a grin. Again, the rifle was pulled in her direction. "And I've seen the way you shoot, Vakarian. Lots of flare and boasting about your kills. You should leave the sniping to good old military discipline and clear headedness."
The rifle was dragged back toward Garrus. "What's the point in being the best if you can't have a little fun at the top? And I do hope you're not insinuating you're the best sniper we have, Williams. Because let's face it, that's just a competition you can't win."
"Oh ho ho!" They all turned to Wrex, who was now sporting a large maniacal grin. "Sounds like we've got a fight on our hands. And I know just how to settle it." At that Wrex began patting the main computer for Ashley's new training system affectionately.
Ashley and Garrus looked at each other, a gleam in their eyes as wide grins spread over their faces.
"What do you say, Garrus?" Ashley asked. "Sure you can keep up with me?"
"The only thing I'm gonna feel bad about is when I mop up the floor with you in front of the commander," he responded.
As Wrex cheered, Kaidan turned to Shepard with wide eyes, seemingly asking, Is this seriously happening?
Shepard only smiled bashfully and shrugged. Sure, this might be unorthodox, and he couldn't imagine any other ship captain letting their crew do this. But nothing about this mission had been ordinary thus far. Besides, Shepard was far too interested in seeing how this would play out to curtail it now.
Taking the Viper sniper rifle with him, Shepad, Kaidan, Liara, and Wrex moved off to the side while Tali inputted a new scenario into the system, while Garrus and Ashley unhooked and prepped their sniper rifles. Garrus planned on using his Equalizer V, a sniper rifle that personified the ideal of 'one shot, one kill.' Ashley opted to use her Striker sniper rifle. While she wouldn't have as much stopping power as Garrus, Ash had specially modified her rifle to boost it's already above average shot capacity. It was setting up to be a match of power versus speed.
With all the variables punched in and the two contenders prepared to start, Tali scampered away to give them room as they worked their magic. Garrus and Ashley clicked their weapons' safeties off, making sure the mass effect neutralizing modules were properly affixed. Shepard watched in fascination as the small legion of cameras created a series of cover emplacements varying in size and shape all along the empty space of the cargo bay. He also noted a two-dimensional line separated the firing range into two halves, so Garrus and Ashley had equal field to play with.
Over the system's speakers, a saccharine female voice announced, "Head to Head Sniper Shootout is about to begin. All bystanders must leave the hostile area now." The voice paused a moment, presumably checking for people not heading the order, before continuing. "Scenario: King of the Hill. Time Limit: Ten Minutes. Winner shall be the particpant with the most points when the time limit has run out. Simulation will begin in three, two, one…"
A siren blared, alerting them the game had begun. At once two holographic humanoid figures emerged at the other side of the cargo bay and took up cover positions like actual people would, laying down covering fire with their 'weapons'. Shepard noted they were two different colors, deducing the blues were Garrus's targets and the reds were Ashley's targets.
Garrus kicked off the competition by being the one to fire first; landing a headshot on the blue target that went straight through its shields and impacted its theoretical brain. An instant kill, which the score board rewarded graciously for.
Ashley followed up with a headshot of her own, also killing the red man in one hit. Even though the score board identified Ashley's rifle hit with less force, the fact it only took her one shot still earned her the same amount of points as Garrus.
Four figures came out next, two red and two blue. From there the competition truly kicked off. The waves of enemies steadily increased over time, and gradually sent out stronger units that were harder to take down but yielded more points if bested. Krogan in particular were seen more as cash cows than as threats.
The differences between Garrus and Ashley as Snipers were striking. True to his nature, Garrus excelled at exploiting the weak points of the enemies. Most of his take downs were one shot kills, packing his total tally with bonus points. Ashley wasn't as precise, preferring body shots guaranteed to hit rather than gamble with head shots, which the scoring system didn't look as favorably upon. However, Ashley's Striker was capable of firing more shots at a faster pace than Garrus's Equalizer. As such, Ashley mowed down targets more quickly than him, gaining points by sheer number of kills rather than in style.
Shepard and the rest of the crew watched in rapt attention as they went neck and neck. Whoever led in points would constantly juggle between the pair, and one never outscored the other by more than a dozen points. The scoring system awarded points according to accuracy, how far away the target was, and how many shots were required to take a target down.
Ashley and Garrus were both skilled in their craft, but even they could not completely stem the tide of enemies. Adversely, they would also lose points if their enemies gained too much ground at one time, or if they actually landed a few shots on the snipers' positions. At roughly one minute left to go, Shepard took note of one special occurrence he wasn't sure anyone else had noticed. He made sure to bring it up later.
"Thirty seconds left," the female voice of the system announced. In response, Ashley waited for her rifle to cool down completely, whilst Garrus began prioritizing more valuable targets further away. At the fifteen second mark, Ashley let loose a rapid succession of four shots upon weaker targets she had allowed to get closer. Each headshot resulted in a kill, and the rapidity of each earned her even more bonus points. However, the weapon's overheat warning began to chime, and she would be out for the last few seconds.
Not to be outdone and with only five seconds remaining, Garrus took special care to line up one last shot. Just before the last second began ticking down, he let loose a round that went through not one, but two heads, killing two targets. The scoring system awarded him a large bonus for getting a double kill with only one bullet.
"Time! The simulation has ended," the voice announced. As the holographic field and enemies began to dissipate, Ashley and Garrus disengaged their rifles and stepped back to allow themselves a breather.
"You think the real life mercs would be stupid enough to let me try that?" Garrus joked as he dabbed a cloth at the sweat on his neck. Ashley brought the back of hand up to wipe away the perspiration on her brow. She and Garrus smiled at each other as they shook hands. Shepard knew both of them enjoyed that, no matter who would win.
"Final scores tallied," the voice said, and they all looked up to the board to see the final result. "Williams, A. Score: 1118."
Ash let a huff of breath, proud. Alenko lightly clapped her on the shoulder in commemoration, and Liara gave her an enthusiastic nod.
They silenced as the machine continued. "Vakarian, G. Score: 1124."
Both of the participants' shoulders slumped, Garrus in relief and Ashley in disbelief. Ash hung her head and nodded, accepting the loss with pride. Garrus raised his hands to others, going, "Please, please, no autographs."
Ash actually laughed herself at that. She picked her head up, and Shepard couldn't see any traces of actual regret in her face.
Shepard couldn't help smiling himself. "Alright you two, come here." Garrus and Ashley stepped forward, the former holding himself with smug pride and the latter still glowing from the excitement of it all, even if she had lost. Shepard held up the sniper rifle like it was a trophy, and in a theatrical voice, said, "You both put forth a valiant effort. But, there can only be one winner. And so, as the commanding officer of the Normandy, I hereby declare the winner!"
Beaming, Garrus held his hand forward to accept his prize. And Shepard began to hand it off to him. But at the last second, changed gears and thrust the sniper rifle toward Ashley.
Now the mouths of both participants hung open, but both were out of shock, and Ash gingerly took the proffered reward from Shepard's grasp, looking even more confused than Garrus.
"Well," Garrus stated indignantly, "if I'd known the commander would pick the prettiest sniper I'd have put on more face paint today."
Shepard smirked at his friend's ire. "Oh believe me, Garrus, I still think Ash won under her own merits. Here, allow me to show you."
Shepard stepped past the Turian toward the computer controlling the training simulator, and the rest of the crew gathered around to see what he was driving at. Shepard pulled up a video feed and played through some of the recording of the firefight. He focused on one minute ten second prior to completion, and zoomed in on Garrus's field.
At that point Garrus had been dealing with a particularly difficult Krogan, who would not go down with one shot. Garrus took him down in the end, but then Shepard paused the video, scrolling over to focus on another blue target that had progressed quite far along Garrus's field.
"Uh oh," he heard Garrus mutter behind him.
"You know, Garrus, it looks like that tango has its rifle trained on you," Shepard teased. "But it also looks like a guardian was watching out for you." He zoomed in on the figure's head, which was snapped back from the sniper rifle round piercing its head. A quick trajectory calculation revealed the bullet had come from Ashley's side of the field.
They all turned to her and Ash only responded with a lame shrug as she shuffled from foot to foot. "I saw the guy come up out of the corner of my eye and aim at Garrus. I don't know what made me take the shot. I just… reacted, I guess."
"Indeed," Shepard intoned as he faced his squad again. To Garrus he said, "Now correct me if I'm wrong, Vakarian, but I'm guessing if Ash hadn't taken that one out, that unit would have landed a few good shots on you."
Garrus looked away, his mandibles tight to his face in consternation. "Maybe."
"And if it had in fact played out like that, you would have had some of your points deducted. I reckon enough that Ash would have won anyway."
"Alright Shepard," Garrus sighed out. "You've made you point. I concede defeat."
"We're all a team here, Garrus," Shepard said more seriously. "If it were one on one, I do believe you could be a better sniper than Ash."
The mild jibe made Ash snort in derision, which got a few chuckles out of the small group. Shepard went on saying, "But I don't need a sniper that can only fend for himself. I need a sniper that can watch the backs of his team mates and keep them out of trouble."
Garrus nodded, accepting the knowledge of his commander. "While that may not be as entertaining , I can see where you're coming from, Shepard. And you can count on me, no matter what."
Shepard grinned broadly. "I know I can."
"Bah!" Wrex exclaimed, ruining the sanctity of the moment. "This supposed to be about shooting guns, not this sappy crap! Come on; let's get back to having fun!"
There were a chorus of agreements, and the small group spread out to accomplish their own tasks. Ashley grabbed Garrus by the arm and dragged him off the left side of the bench. Before they were out of ear shot, Shepard heard Ash say, "Come on, you can still help me pick this thing apart if you want."
Tali went to work setting up a new simulation designed to test Liara's and Wrex's biotics, and Shepard joined Kaidan on the right side of the bench to help him inspect the new SMG's.
"So what did you think of the show, lieutenant?"
Kaidan responded with a haughty chuckle. "Can't say I've ever seen crew members work out an argument like that before. But it was fun watching Garrus and Ash duke it out. You run a good ship, Shepard."
"I try. So, what do you make of the new armaments?" Shepard picked up one of the new SMG's, though truth be told it looked more like a beefed up heavy pistol. 'Shuriken' was the name he read on the side.
Kaidan inspected the other one with a critical eye. "It can put out a lot of shots at a fast pace, but it looks like it suffers in the accuracy department. But these should be saved for close quarters and backed up with another more accurate weapon."
He brought it up and aimed down the sights, a wondrous quality to his voice as he spoke. "I still can't believe the Geth actually invented a gun that can cool down its mass effect generator and manually reload a fresh set of rounds. Hell of a thing."
"Oh, right, about that," Shepard started, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "In order to make room for the clip ejector and synchronization mods, the in-gun cooling tech had to be sacrificed. Now the guns have a set number of shots per clip and can't regenerate ammo."
Silence descended upon the cargo bay so quickly and completely it was like someone had flipped a switch. Idle chatter, the clinking of tools and weapon parts, all of it abruptly stopped. Even the dull hum of the ship seemed to become even more muted at the sound of Shepard's words.
He looked up to find all of his squad mates staring at him, varying levels of disbelief displayed in their gazes. Even the normally unreadable Tali stood stock still, staring wide eyed at him. "What?" she asked dubiously, like she hadn't even understood what the commander said.
"The prototypes don't have cooling tech," he repeated with ever decreasing confidence.
"But…" Wrex looked like a forlorn child who'd been told his favorite show had been cancelled. "Guns have literally been that way for thousands of years. Do they honestly expect everyone to go back to limited ammunition?"
"Well come on, Wrex, now they pack more punch! That should make up for it, right?" Shepard was quickly losing confidence in his own words.
Liara put her gear down and, in her very demure like way, clasped her hands before her and walked up to the commander. "Shepard, on any other given day no one would respect your opinions more than me. But that is quite literally the stupidest thing I have ever heard in the last seventy years."
Behind the Asari, Ashley shoved her hard won sniper rifle into Garrus's hands. "You can keep it."
Sometime later…
Ashley stood off to the far end of the bench they had set up as their barrier for the shooting box, fiddling with various pieces and mods for one of the new shotguns. Thus far she had failed to find a way to properly integrate both cooling tech and thermal clips into the gun.
First old as crap rifles, then Shepard says guns don't have unlimited ammo anymore? We might as well revert back to using smooth bore muskets at this rate!
Right now only she, Tali, Liara and Shepard were left in the cargo bay. Kaidan and Garrus had retired to get out of their gear and take some time to relax. Wrex had finally exhausted himself and relented to heading up to mess to get something to eat. Tali was working beside Ash, experimenting with the other prototype shotgun (What kind of Bosh'tet goes, "Yeah, we should totally get rid of a firing system that's worked for thousands of years and replace with something completely inferior," and not get fired?). Liara was only one left at the firing range, having Shepard help her to learn how to effectively use one of the new SMG's.
"So are you okay with this?" Tali asked out of the blue.
Ash looked up from her work. "Okay with what?" Tali jerked her head to side, indicating Liara and Shepard. "Should I not be okay with Liara learning how to use a new gun?"
"No you fool!" Tali whispered heatedly. Casting a glance over her shoulder to make sure Liara and Shepard weren't listening, she put her tools down and faced Ash fully. "I mean are you okay with how close Shepard and T'Soni are?"
"What?" she asked incredulously. "Liara and Shepard aren't trying to hook up."
"Do not take this the wrong way, Ashley, but you're not seeing the signs. We Quarians practically base our whole lives off of reading body language. I'm not so sure Shepard feels the same, but that Asari definitely wants to get into that human's pants."
Ash rolled her eyes and leaned to the side to peer past Tali at the duo. Shepard was acting just how she was expecting him to. Calm, collected, patient, quick to give pointers. Not at all unlike a father teaching their child to shoot a gun.
But now that Ash was paying attention, the Asari was spinning a different story. Shooting a gun in a controlled environment shouldn't be enough to make her cheeks flush that much. Shepard never noticed because he was too enthralled in teaching, but Ash could see Liara quiver slightly whenever the commander took hold of a hand or an arm to help better her stance. Not to mention she would flash the commander the largest, most endearing smiles whenever she did something right.
"Okay, fine, it looks like T'Soni has a thing for Shepard," Ashley conceded to Tali. "But it obviously looks like he doesn't feel the same way. Liara isn't going to come between Shepard and I."
"You're not going to go up to Liara and tell her to stay away from your man?" Tali asked incredulously.
"No, Tali, I'd like to think I'm more mature than some preppy teenager in high school. Even if Liara does make a move, Shepard's smart enough not to let her get her hopes up."
Tali shook her head. "You humans become stranger every day. On the Flotilla if you found out another woman was making advances on your mate you are almost obligated to confront them about it and tell them to back off."
"We're all adults here Tali. I'm sure it won't come to that."
"Fine. You're so confident about it I'll let you deal with it." Tali crossed her arms as she narrowed her eyes at Ash. "Though you should probably know Shepard isn't the only one with a secret admirer."
Ashley rose her brow at the Quarian. "Are you saying someone's eyeing me up? Please tell me it's not Wrex. I don't have it in me to break those two hearts of his."
Tali let out an exasperated sound and jerked her head again. This time Ash followed the direction to Requisitions Officer Joans, who had his back turned to the cargo bay as he checked out his wares.
"Richard? Seriously? The guy's more like the little brother I never had."
"I assure you he doesn't see you as a big sister. You don't see the signs like I do, apparently."
Ash leaned her hip on the bench and rested her hand on it. "Do enlighten me."
Tali paused a moment before saying, "I noticed he was acting strange when he stepped out of the elevator with you earlier. Nothing extreme, just nervous, so I decided to keep him in a peripheral view throughout the day."
"Mildly creepy," Ash commented.
"Whatever," Tali dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Anyways, I noticed he was constantly sneaking glances at you while we worked on setting up the range, and he only ever picked his head whenever you were the one talking. And I'm fairly certain he did something unorthodox in the elevator before you stepped out."
Ash shifted her gaze away and chewed the inside of her mouth. "He might have refused to let me pay him for his part in ordering the training system."
Tali canted her head in the Are you serious? way. "And that didn't raise any red flags?"
"Can't a guy be nice to a girl without an ulterior motive?" she retorted defensively. But now that Tali had brought it up, all of a sudden a dozen other minor things came to the forefront of her mind. How Joans would always gravitate to her table if they shared a lunch shift. How he almost instantly took her grandfather's side despite not knowing much about what happened on Shanxi. Or how Joans magically procured mods that were supposed to be hard to find for her.
Ash blew out a breath of air as her shoulders slumped. "Is it really that bad?"
"I daresay you're liable to break the guy's heart when you tell him you're not interested."
Despite the gravity of the situation, Ashley found herself smirking. "Well, good to know I can be desirable when I'm not even trying."
Tali rolled her eyes behind her mask. "You're incorrigible, Williams."
"I can't help it if people find Shepard and I so attractive," she stated innocently.
The Quarian only shook her head and took a step away. "I'm going to get something eat. Just think about what I've said, alright?"
Ash was silent for a moment as she considered the command. "I still think you're being paranoid. But yeah, I'll keep it in mind.
Pausing only a second, Tali gave her a swift nod and started off toward the elevator. As she walked away, Ashley cast a surreptitious glance over toward Joans. The man looked up and caught her eye at just the right time, instantly brightening while he gave her a small wave. For her part, Ash managed a convincing enough smile and sent a smaller wave back as she returned to her weapon.
Richard was a nice guy, she could attest to that. But he just wasn't her type. There was nothing distracting her from Shepard.
Ash glanced over as Liara let out an unceremoniously loud giggle at some stupid joke Shepard said.
The two of them were going to be fine.
Right?