XII: Once More, Unto the Breach
Normandy SR-2 Combat Information Center, 20:30 earth-time
Miranda Lawson had been having a rough day, to say the least. Several more clashes with Shepard had resulted in both a humiliating reprimanding and a large amount of work due to wasted time, the latter of which required her attention for the rest of the night. However, an elongated briefing with the Illusive Man following her "talk" with Shepard had delayed her even further.
No rest for the wicked, I suppose…
She switched off the console in the Comm room and made her way to the elevator, the heels of her boots clicking rhythmically with each step. After a short ride on the elevator, she arrived at the Crew Deck. Tossing her jet-black hair, she stepped out of the elevator, bypassing the kitchen.
Damn, looks like it's closed.
A few steps later, she arrived at her door. Suddenly, her foot made contact with something. She looked down at her feet, and saw a tray, with several plates of food and a bottle of water, with a note:
"Because you seem to have a problem following my orders –S"
Miranda's lips curled into a smirk as she picked up the tray.
"Well played, Shepard. I'm almost impressed."
Normandy SR-2 Starboard Observation Deck, 23:04 earth-time
Exhausted after all the fighting and follow-up reports, Shepard made his way to the Starboard Observation Deck.
I think we've all earned ourselves a drink or two.
He strolled through the door and found Garrus sitting on one of the couches, tapping away at schematics on his data tablet. The Turian glanced up at the Commander.
"Shepard. Glad you came. I was wondering whether or not you'd be too tired to hang out for a bit."
"A lot of things have changed recently Garrus, but my inability to refuse whiskey and good company hasn't."
Vakarian chuckled.
"If it did, I'd be highly suspicious of what Cerberus did to rebuild you."
Shepard shuffled over to the bar opposite the observation window, grabbed two glasses, one of his prized bottles of Macallan 25, and a rare bottle of vintage Turian whiskey.
"No need for the Turian malt, Shepard. You got me hooked on that Macallan. Best damn stuff I ever had…even humans get it right once in a while."
Shepard laughed heartily. He had forgotten how nice even simple banter with his closest friend was.
"I suppose there's a hint of truth to that Vakarian. On the bright side, you'll never drink that caustic Turian swill again."
Shepard handed Garrus his glass and clinked it with his own before sitting down in the chair a few feet away from the couch.
"You might be right there. To the Normandy, another brush with impossible odds, and me being there to cover your ass."
Again, Shepard laughed.
"I'll drink to that. All joking aside though Garrus, it really is nice to have you back. How are you holding up on the new Normandy?"
Garrus took a sip of the whiskey and exhaled audibly.
"I'll be honest, it's a lot to get used to, particularly with the ship's Cerberus outfitting and the AI. I'm glad to have Joker at the helm, though. I've missed that crazy bastard."
Shepard nodded and took a small sip of whiskey.
"I bet. Did you get a chance to familiarize yourself with the ship's forward batteries during the day?"
"Yeah I did. Actually I was just looking over some schematics on my tablet before you came in. I took a look around, did some minor calibrating, and talked to the engineers. They seem to know what they're doing…for humans."
Shepard chuckled at Garrus's quip.
"Any opinions of our setup down there?"
Garrus put his whiskey down on the table beside him and picked up his data tablet, thumbing through the schematics.
"So far, from what I've seen, the forward batteries are pretty solid. There's always room for improvement though…"
Garrus's mandibles twitched upwards into what Shepard could only characterize as a childish grin. The Turian was like a kid in a candy store when it came to bulking up the firepower of any and all weapons he could get his hands on.
"I'm not sure whether I should be scared or not, Vakarian. Care to explain a bit?"
Garrus handed the tablet to Shepard.
"Of course, take a look. They're just blueprints and right now, but I'm coming up with a major upgrade to the forward battery. If we mine enough resources, I should be able to fit it to the ship. Of course, I need to tweak the design and mechanics of it a bit. The upgrades would nearly double the battery's draw from the drive core, so I'm trying to boost the efficiency. Even though these designs are primitive at the moment, the end result should give the Normandy considerably more firepower. I know I say it a lot, but this time we really don't know what we're up against, and as you humans say, better safe than sorry."
Shepard nodded.
"Brilliant and batshit crazy as usual, Vakarian. I love the idea though. In time I'll get you the resources. Keep me updated on the progress of the designs every once in a while?"
"Absolutely Shepard."
There was a brief moment of silence. Garrus took a long sip of his drink, then turned to the Commander again.
"With all that's been going on, I haven't had a chance to ask you how you're dealing with all this. Two years gone, and now you've got a category 5 shitstorm on your plate? Christ Shepard, I certainly couldn't handle it. How are you doing? And don't dance around this one. Spill it all."
Shepard cleared his throat after downing the remainder of his whiskey.
"It's a lot to take in, I'll admit."
The Turian shook his head.
"You'll have to do better than that."
The Commander sighed. He then spoke, slowly getting up to fetch the bottle of whiskey.
"Well Garrus, I guess if I can't talk to you, who can I talk to?"
Vakarian nodded.
Shepard brought the bottle back, poured himself another glass, and offered the bottle to Garrus, who did the same and set it back on the table beside him.
"Shit, Garrus. How do you talk about what's happened? Where do you start?"
Garrus shrugged.
"Two years ago, but I'm just taking a shot in the dark."
"The SR-1 incident may have happened two years ago, but to me it's still fresh. Losing so many friends, feeling like you failed your crew…you never get used to that. I died with those thoughts."
He paused to take a pull from his glass.
"And next thing I know, I'm being woken up by Miranda Lawson on the Lazarus station, to find that I was resurrected by Cerberus, and that the Collectors have been abducting hundreds of thousands of colonists. What's worse, the Reapers are behind it all. I just…I haven't quite made sense of it all yet. I haven't actually gotten a chance to get back from it all and figure it out. And I don't think I will, or any of us, for that matter. With Saren and Sovereign, we knew what we were up against."
Garrus nodded.
"Definitely Shepard. I can't say I've ever had anything like what happened to you happen to me, but I get where you're coming from. All of this new stuff at once…it's insane."
"Exactly. Now, our enemy is a complete unknown. We don't know what their endgame is, and we only have a basic grasp of their methods. I'm guessing that, compared to what we'll have to face on this mission, Saren and Sovereign will have been a walk in the park."
Garrus grunted.
"I get that feeling too. It's too early to really tell, but from what I've been briefed on, it's a suicide mission."
Shepard set his glass down and scratched his head.
"That's what I've been told…"
Shepard chuckled, looked up at Garrus and flashed a grin
"…but I always did have trouble listening to others."
Garrus snorted.
" Damned if that isn't true."
"It's gonna be hard as hell, but I think we can pull through it. We may not have the whole team together, but anything's possible, and as long as I'm in command of this ship, I'm not gonna let a damn thing happen to it. Cerberus or not. I failed once before, and it got us all into this mess. I'm not going to do that again."
"Sounds more like the Shepard I know. The new team, from what I can tell so far, is capable of handling their shit. I've briefly spoken with Mordin, and that Jacob fellow in the armory is pretty knowledgeable with firearms. As you can imagine, he and I had quite a bit to talk about. I'm not sure about that Lawson woman though. I'd watch out for her. She doesn't seem like much of a team player."
Shepard chuckled.
"If anything, I'm the one not being the team player. She and I haven't exactly seen eye to eye, especially when it comes to Cerberus. She certainly had a lapse in judgment with refusing to help you, but I think she's come around from it. I really think she has. I totally understand your distrust of her, as I initially felt that distrust, but we have to work as a team here. Like her or not, she's a hell of a shot, an even better biotic, and she's brilliant. I think if we can all try to put this behind us, we'll all be better for it. I told her the same thing, and she seems to agree as well."
"Jeez, you're not coming on to her, are you Shepard?"
Shepard scoffed.
"Don't be ridiculous."
After a brief silence, Shepard sighed, rubbed his head, and downed the rest of his whiskey. Garrus immediately picked up on his body language.
"It's Ash. You miss her, don't you?"
Shepard nodded slowly, his hand moving to his temples, as it always did when he was seriously stressed about something.
"Yeah. Have you heard from her?"
Vakarian shook his head.
"No. After you died, the members of the team went their separate ways, I guess. There wasn't any bad blood, I just don't think that any of us knew what to do without you at the helm."
"I just wish I could get through to her, and try to explain everything. God, I wonder if she even knows about me being back and all…if she misses me or not."
Garrus shrugged.
"It's hard to say. You've got to accept the possibility of the worst though, Shepard. While all this may be fresh to you, it's been two years for her. She might have moved on."
Shepard nodded.
"That's what I'm worried about."
"Understandable."
"But as much as I want to use all the means I have to talk to her, the mission comes first. There's a lot of work that needs doing at the moment, so I have no choice but to put that on the backburner for the time being. Ash would understand."
Garrus leaned back in the couch.
"Yeah, I think she would. Maybe we'll see her sooner than you expect."
Shepard cracked one of his signature half-smiles as he looked through the starboard observation window.
"As much as the odds are stacked up against us this time, I think we can take 'em. What do you think, old friend?"
Garrus laughed as he tossed back the rest of his whiskey.
"As long as I'm there to drag your sorry ass through the mud when the going gets rough, Shepard."
"Easy there, Vakarian. I think we've both had our share of brushes with death."
"Fair enough. Call it even?"
"Absolutely."
The two friends laughed for a while. Once the laughter had died down, Garrus picked up the bottle.
"Damn, out of whiskey…a feeling I know all too well now, thanks to you."
"No worries at all Garrus, there's plenty to go around behind the bar in the captain's stash, but perhaps another time."
"Agreed. I think we both need some rest. I'll stay here and work on the battery schematics for a few more minutes, but you should head upstairs and catch some shut-eye. You look like hell."
"You're one to talk."
"Touché."
Both shared a laugh. Shepard slowly rose from his chair, threw the bottle away, grabbed the empty glasses and washed them.
"Alright, I'm gonna get some sleep. See you tomorrow, Garrus."
"Likewise, Shepard. Thanks for stopping by."
"Anytime, friend."
The Commander then walked out of the Observation deck, rode the elevator to his quarters, and stepped inside. After removing his combat boots and pants, he thoroughly washed his teeth and face, and rolled under the covers of his bed, almost instantly falling asleep. For the first time in many nights, John Shepard enjoyed a peaceful sleep, until….
"Commander, the Illusive Man would like to speak to you in the Comm Room. EDI out."
7/2: aaaaand we're back! Finally got some time. The semester's over and I'm enjoying a vacation in Italy. Expect another chapter within the next few weeks! Comments and reviews are always appreciated. Thank you so much for reading! I think y'all can guess what's coming up next...
